Francis Ngannou signs with PFL

[Wild]

On Tuesday, the PFL announced the signing of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou to a multifight deal exclusive to MMA. Although it was a lengthy process since Ngannou became a free agent this past December, having fought out his UFC contract and waiting out his championship clause, it was an easy deal to get through, at least according to Ngannou.



View: https://twitter.com/francis_ngannou/status/1658489647415304192?s=46&t=5XrZHnZc8NrGsve1ffhPnw



View: https://youtu.be/ti4hI7GfAIU

 

[jason73]

as if PFL has the kind of money francis was looking for . maybe he could fight geronimo dos santos or that guy fedor fought that worked at the tire store for a place in the million dolllar tournament though . francis needs to read the art of the deal

 

[jason73]

Francis Ngannou clears air on ONE, ‘joke’ BKFC courtship: ‘I think Chatri was just performing’

Francis Ngannou reveals his negotiations with Chatri Sityodtong, responds to the ONE Chairman’s previous comments.

www.mmafighting.com

looks like he better make PFL work because he burned the rest of his bridges already. the only one he hasnt publicly shit on is scott coker and bellator doesnt even have the kind of money to be interested i francis in the first place

 

[Thuglife13]

as if PFL has the kind of money francis was looking for . maybe he could fight geronimo dos santos or that guy fedor fought that worked at the tire store for a place in the million dolllar tournament though . francis needs to read the art of the deal

That goof Brett Rogers?

 

[jason73]

That goof Brett Rogers?

quite literally in the sense that goof means chomo/sex offender in canadian slang

 

[Rambo John J]

Contract Details are interesting
I say power to him and good luck
UFC offered good money but UFC makes you their bitch ass house boy

Some of the more noteworthy features of Francis Ngannou’s deal include:

• It is for only 2 or 3 fights
• Guarantees a “high 7-figure” purse for each fight
• A split of the events net profits
• A signing bonus or salary to serve as a brand ambassador for PFL
• The right to have his own sponsors in the cage
• Non-exclusive with regards to boxing
• No champions clause or other extensions
• A minimum salary (possibly as high as $1 million) for his opponent.

I wonder how much he can get paid for sponsors alone? UFC dudes get tiny Reebok money haha if that is even still going on...
I think he should Box somebody first before he does a PFL fight. He is almost assured to lose the boxing fight if he fights a top guy

PFL has some good leverage for luring a good HW with the potential 1 million fight purse, problem is finding a guy with high enough of a stock to make a buzz to gain viewership.

It is interesting to see someone bail and stick to their guns, looking forward to watching it play out.

Francis is the Linear HW Champ I believe

 

[Thuglife13]

• A minimum salary (possibly as high as $1 million) for his opponent.

Francis "Ford Escort" Ngannou is now the PFL money fight?

 

[Rambo John J]

Francis "Ford Escort" Ngannou is now the PFL money fight?

He drives an Escort?

That image looks shopped to me

 

[jason73]

it doesnt matter what they pay him or who sponsors him . no one cares who the PFL champ is . that is like being the best player in the CFL . yay . no one cares . who even is the champ right now? no one knows without googling it and we are all hardcore mma fans here . so therefore who is going to pay big money to sponsor somebody who will get no attention in a promotion nobody even watches . at the end of the day if it was about money he would have stayed with the ufc. if it was about fighting the best...he would have stayed with the ufc . he couldnt have boxed but the minute he was no longer ufc champ nobody was interested in boxing him . he has it twisted that guys want to box him because he is francis ngannu people wanted to be able to say they beat the UFC champion. that is the name recognition value . the championship holds the value not francis . so now he is going to fight a couple bum...cash a couple checks ...then what? he coud have made 20 mil and still been respected if he resigned with the ufc . francis thinks he is king shit though . you can tell by the way he dropped his team and coaches as soon as he started to see big money . francis is about francis but francis isnt real smart

 

[Rambo John J]

Africa does probably have a ton of great HW talent, if more of those guys get into GYMs training Combat Sports at an early age it could be quite an influx of bigger fighters...Tough market to break into though I would think, not sure if PFL will be the one to do it.

Imagine putting on a huge MMA event in Africa. Sounds difficult.

 

[Thuglife13]

He drives an Escort?

That image looks shopped to me

100% real trust me bruddah...


View: https://twitter.com/btsportufc/status/954428964063232000

 

[jason73]

PFL

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) presents MMA in the sports-season format where individual fighters compete in a Regular Season, Playoffs, and Championship.

www.pflmma.com

lol . lmao even

 

[jason73]

Africa does probably have a ton of great HW talent, if more of those guys get into GYMs training Combat Sports at an early age it could be quite an influx of bigger fighters...Tough market to break into though I would think, not sure if PFL will be the one to do it.

Imagine putting on a huge MMA event in Africa. Sounds difficult.

africa doesnt even have a ton of heavyweights . they have 2 billion people and 1.99 billion of them weigh 97 lbs

 

[Rambo John J]

it doesnt matter what they pay him or who sponsors him . no one cares who the PFL champ is . that is like being the best player in the CFL . yay . no one cares . who even is the champ right now? no one knows without googling it and we are all hardcore mma fans here . so therefore who is going to pay big money to sponsor somebody who will get no attention in a promotion nobody even watches . at the end of the day if it was about money he would have stayed with the ufc. if it was about fighting the best...he would have stayed with the ufc . he couldnt have boxed but the minute he was no longer ufc champ nobody was interested in boxing him . he has it twisted that guys want to box him because he is francis ngannu people wanted to be able to say they beat the UFC champion. that is the name recognition value . the championship holds the value not francis . so now he is going to fight a couple bum...cash a couple checks ...then what? he coud have made 20 mil and still been respected if he resigned with the ufc . francis thinks he is king shit though . you can tell by the way he dropped his team and coaches as soon as he started to see big money . francis is about francis but francis isnt real smart

I agree with most of this.

He couldn't negotiate to fight anybody for 3 months after UFC let him off his contract, so that kind of killed his buzz and boxing possibilities...UFC contract knows how to stick it to guys that leave and don't resign

Is UFC HW division really about fighting the best though? Champs in that division barely fight and they choose matches carefully. The best guy often never even gets a shot during his prime because of nationality or other bullshit reasons.

I don't think he made a good decision for $$$ or for Legacy(whatever that means), but I do think it is nice he said fuck off UFC, your not the only place to fight so don't act like it.

One think about UFC HW division I can't get over is they held the Title Fight with Stipe in the fucking Apex center, that sucks for the winner and the loser(stipe)...it was pathetic, I don't care about pandemic but that was fucking sad to watch that match occur infront of 49 people in a garage...

View: https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1376025509251923970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1376025509251923970%7Ctwgr%5E6085bdb585650b0af087f1bb806ad8cbf37ff5c6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mmafighting.com%2F2021%2F3%2F28%2F22354012%2Fstipe-miocic-vs-francis-ngannou-full-fight-video-highlights


Oddly we don't even know if Francis is healthy, knee surgery and in hindsight the Gane victory looks a lot easier than it did previously because of Gane's obvious lack of ground skills and understanding.


Ideally he would have jumped right to the boxing fight, but apparently that wasn't a lock when he left UFC...that does look to be a missed opportunity...could have done a boxing match and then signed back to MMA, this way the order is messed up and as you say his boxing appeal is not nearly the same since UFC has a new "champ"

I wish K-1/Glory was still huge, that would have been a great place to go put on some big fights for him

 

[Rambo John J]

africa doesnt even have a ton of heavyweights . they have 2 billion people and 1.99 billion of them weigh 97 lbs

Haha

I be there are a lot of big motherfuckers, not sure what they are training though

NFL has all the HWs IMO, they are just untrained in combat sports and decided to make 30 million a year guaranteed whether they are healthy or injured.

 

[Rambo John J]

100% real trust me bruddah...


View: https://twitter.com/btsportufc/status/954428964063232000

haha
stupid stats and dana sucking him off is pretty funny

 

[Wild]

it doesnt matter what they pay him or who sponsors him . no one cares who the PFL champ is . that is like being the best player in the CFL . yay . no one cares . who even is the champ right now? no one knows without googling it and we are all hardcore mma fans here . so therefore who is going to pay big money to sponsor somebody who will get no attention in a promotion nobody even watches . at the end of the day if it was about money he would have stayed with the ufc. if it was about fighting the best...he would have stayed with the ufc . he couldnt have boxed but the minute he was no longer ufc champ nobody was interested in boxing him . he has it twisted that guys want to box him because he is francis ngannu people wanted to be able to say they beat the UFC champion. that is the name recognition value . the championship holds the value not francis . so now he is going to fight a couple bum...cash a couple checks ...then what? he coud have made 20 mil and still been respected if he resigned with the ufc . francis thinks he is king shit though . you can tell by the way he dropped his team and coaches as soon as he started to see big money . francis is about francis but francis isnt real smart

 

[Rambo John J]

PFL

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) presents MMA in the sports-season format where individual fighters compete in a Regular Season, Playoffs, and Championship.

www.pflmma.com

lol . lmao even

So true

There is nobody there, I knew that already.
Half of those guys are 205ers or LHW/HW tweeners

Like I said the guy they need for a super fight isn't on their roster

They don't even have Werdum under contract anymore? I remember him subbing a guy who fake tapped and then TKOed him...it ended up a NC.
Is Werdum signed by anyone right now? Looks like he is on good supplements and in good shape but to be honest he isn't who I would want for a Francis fight at his age.

Who are the up and coming HWs in other Orgs?
Is there even accurate rankings for big guys?
Any good Russians coming up?(oh wait we can't use Russians for big fights because USA "stands with Ukraine")
There has to be a better list of top HW fighters than this one which is all UFC fighters

Sherdog’s Official Mixed Martial Arts Rankings - Heavyweight

Jailton Almeida’s heavyweight run has been like an avalanche: deliberate and steady at first but picking up frightening momentum as he continues to wipe out everything in his path.

www.sherdog.com

I love HW fights but talk about a shitshow

They should have just let Overeem keep roiding out IMO
That was entertaining as shit

 

[jason73]

Bloody Elbow - UFC, MMA and Boxing News

Bloody Elbow has been a leading voice in combat sports since formation in 2007 and has earned a global reputation for expert analysis, opinion and news.

bloodyelbow.com

this might help their roster

 

[Rambo John J]

Bloody Elbow - UFC, MMA and Boxing News

Bloody Elbow has been a leading voice in combat sports since formation in 2007 and has earned a global reputation for expert analysis, opinion and news.

bloodyelbow.com

this might help their roster

Ahh, I had forgotten about that rumor/possibility

This is who they have/had...not sure what contracts are expired...list is from Feb 17th 2023
Not great names but certainly some really good fighters
Heavyweights

Name	Nickname	Country	Record
Kasim Aras	–	–	7-1-0
Sergei Bilostenniy	–	Russia	10-2-0
Christian Edwards	–	–	5-2-0
Fedor Emelianenko	The Last Emperor	Russia	40-7-0
Tyrell Fortune	–	United States	12-3-0
Davion Franklin	All Day	United States	5–1-0
Marcelo Golm	–	–	10-3-0
Wladmir Gouvea	–	–	1-0-0
Javy Ayala	Eye Candy	United States	11-8-0
Jake Hager	Rock Hard	United States	3–0-0
Ali Isaev	–	–	9-0-0
Daniel James	–	–	14-6-1
Tim Johnson		United States	15-9-0
Sergei Kharitonov	–	–	30-8-0
Cheick Kongo	Kongo	France	31-12-2
Vitaly Minakov	–	Russia	22-2-0
Valentin Moldavsky	–	Russia	11-2-0
Steve Mowry	–	United States	10-0-0
Oleg Popov	–	–	14-1-0
Gokhan Saricam	–	Turkey	8–1-0
Kirill Sidelnikov	–	–	13-7-0
Said Sowma	–	United States	8-4-0
Linton Vassell	The Swarm	England	20-8-0

 

[Papi Chingon]

Good for him. He did it his way and got what he wanted. I have no idea what the UFC was offering him, but he walked away the baddest man on the planet and has rights to keep saying so. He has a year to figure out who he will box and work that deal out. He will be paid for that fight very well. I don't know how well, but it will be a very good payday. If he is KO'd in the first 3 seconds, perhaps his brand is hurt, but he received a signing bonus and has the guaranteed fights on his PFL contract. Whether that is 2 or 3 really doesn't matter since it's what he wanted. Then he has the sponsorship money which is a really big deal. It sounds like he will end up making more than the UFC was offering, and he won't be a slave. If his exit strategy was only a few years down the line, he's all set up for that, plus potential future earnings on the Africa endeavor.

 

[Judobill]

The PFL? What a fucking retarded move.

 

[Jesus X]

quite literally in the sense that goof means chomo/sex offender in canadian slang
View attachment 86100

Lol that is extremely gay and predatory. That guy who had his ass grabbed will probably be paranoid his whole life using bathrooms.

 

[jason73]

Good for him. He did it his way and got what he wanted. I have no idea what the UFC was offering him, but he walked away the baddest man on the planet and has rights to keep saying so. He has a year to figure out who he will box and work that deal out. He will be paid for that fight very well. I don't know how well, but it will be a very good payday. If he is KO'd in the first 3 seconds, perhaps his brand is hurt, but he received a signing bonus and has the guaranteed fights on his PFL contract. Whether that is 2 or 3 really doesn't matter since it's what he wanted. Then he has the sponsorship money which is a really big deal. It sounds like he will end up making more than the UFC was offering, and he won't be a slave. If his exit strategy was only a few years down the line, he's all set up for that, plus potential future earnings on the Africa endeavor.

they offered him a 3 fight deal with the first fight being jon jones for 8 mil

 

[Papi Chingon]

they offered him a 3 fight deal with the first fight being jon jones for 8 mil

With this he can do any other combat sport he wants (ie. boxing) any time, can have his own sponsors, has 2 or 3 fights (not sure why there is ambiguity here), gets a signing bonus, gets a position within the company, and is not a slave after his fights are up. It states high 7 figures for each PFL fight, and the $8m the UFC offered is also high 7 figures. His boxing match when he gets it signed up will be for more (one time payday because he will be embarrassed). HW's gets TONS of money from sponsors. I don't see how he isn't going be be not only making more in this deal, but far better off.