The Ultimate Fighting Championship is widely regarded as one of the leading MMA promotions across the globe. UFC has transformed the lives of several MMA fighters by providing them with the platform to become superstars. Despite this, the UFC remains under constant criticism from a section of the MMA community because of the fighter’s pay and sponsorship issues. During his recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience MMA Show, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou revealed something similar. He stated that he had lost a staggering $1.2 million sponsorship deal, which was more than he had ever earned from a fight.
One might say that things are looking up for ‘The Predator’ since his departure from the UFC. He has seized the opportunity to chase his boxing dreams, with a reported $10 million payout for his debut fight against Tyson Fury on October 28th in Saudi Arabia.
In addition, the Cameroonian-French heavyweight has inked one of the most lucrative deals ever for MMA fighters with PFL. However, he is still disappointed about the loss of a significant crypto wallet sponsorship deal.
Francis Ngannou revealed the UFC cost him a $1.2 million sponsorship deal
Francis Ngannou was featured on episode #146 of the JRE MMA podcast hosted by Joe Rogan. They talked about various topics in the episode, including Ngannou leaving UFC, contract discussions, and a potential fight with Jon Jones.
‘The Predator’ revealed that he was offered a huge sponsorship deal from an undisclosed crypto wallet. However, UFC signed a deal with crypto.com which put an end to the heavyweight’s sponsorship offer. He said:
“After the Stipe [Miocic] fight, I had a deal on the table for over a million dollars for a cryptocurrency wallet. So I was going to have like, I think, $1.2 million, which is the money that I never had in the fight. I was going to have that in the sponsorship and the deal was this close to signing and then they announced the crypto.com deal. And then the party pulled off“
Upon discovering this, Rogan inquired whether he had contemplated a collaboration with crypto.com. However, Ngannou responded that it wouldn’t be fruitful, as they had already finalized a deal with the UFC. Such a sponsorship issue was one of several reasons why Ngannou chose not to renew his contract with the UFC.
Why Ngannou didn’t renew his UFC contract?
Francis Ngannou was becoming one of the biggest UFC stars with his knockout power and clinching the UFC heavyweight title. Despite his rise in stardom, fissures began to emerge in the relationship between UFC president Dana White and the heavyweight. Thus, when he was offered a $8 million UFC deal, Ngannou decided to walk away from it.
The former UFC star revealed that he chose to reject the deal due to the freedom aspect of it rather than money. According to a report from BBC, he demanded fighters should get health insurance, and some added perks. Moreover, Ngannou also wished to venture into boxing, which was his dream since growing up.
However, he realized that with the UFC, he would not be able to make his wish come true. Thus, he chose to leave the leading MMA promotion and, after a few months, signed with the PFL.
Now, ‘The Predator’ is gearing up for his highly anticipated boxing showdown against Fury. Regardless of the outcome, the MMA community is thrilled to witness Ngannou step into the boxing ring. However, only time will reveal whether his decision to sign with the PFL was right or wrong.
