After many years in the UFC, former Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has left the UFC for the PFL!
Joining the PFL!
The PFL has landed a former UFC Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou! Ngannou signed with the promotion after he and his former employer UFC could not agree on a new contract. The 36 year old fighter signed reportedly a two fight contract and will begin fighting sometime in 2024. Ngannou will also be the chairman of PLF Africa that will also begin 2024 with the fight starting in 2025.
PFL Contract:
The details also include that he will fight in the Super Division. The Super Division is similar to how other promotions do it. Normally, the PFL has a regular season, a postseason and championship in their respective weight class. However, the Superfight division does not really have a weight class. The fighters that are in the Super Division included Youtuber turned boxer/fighter Jake Paul and two-time lightweight champion Kayla Harrison. The fighters in the Super Division earn 50% of the revenue from their fight. According to Ngannou: He made it clear in numerous interviews that his talks with the UFC broke down primarily over non-financial issues, including length of contract and universal health care for athletes. Last but not least, the details of the contract include Ngannou being able to box which before he signed with the PFL, had rumors of fighting Tyson Fury and even Deontay Wilder.
Ngannou last fight
The former Heavyweight champion last fought back in 2022 with a win over Ciryl Gane in unanimous decision. He also fought back in 2021 with a win over the champion before him, Stipe Miocic. Ngannou sat out the remainder of the year because of a knee injury. He is 12-2 in his last 14 fights with his last two fights being championship bouts.
Why Ngannou left the UFC!
Francis Ngannou joined the UFC back in December of 2015 and was there until 2022. He first defeated Stripe Miocic in 2021 to capture the Heavyweight belt. He ended up having the one title defense as he defeated Ciryl Gane in unanimous decision back in January of 2022. It ended up being his last fight in the UFC as he eventually could not agree to terms on a new deal with the UFC. It was rumored that he would fight Jon Jones for the title. However, it did not happen as Jones returned back to the Octagon and Ngannou left for a different promotion which ended up being the UFC. According to Ngannou his talks with the UFC broke down primarily over non-financial issues, including length of contract and universal health care for athletes. After he did not sign, UFC President Dana White was not pleased with Ngannou and did not believe that Ngannou would not return back to the promotion. This was White comments towards Ngannou after he did not resign and went ahead and reached a deal with the PFL: "Based on what I know about the deal, which is not much, it makes no sense to me," "You're going to pay a guy not to fight for a year, and it's already been like 14 months. He's fought three times in the last three years. "It's just not what we do here. It's not what we do. And the day that we released him, I knew exactly what was going to happen. Francis wants to take zero risks, doesn't want to take any chances, and he obviously didn't want to take a chance with Jon Jones — and after we saw what happened with Ciryl Gane, I don't blame him. I think the outcome would've been exactly the same, and I'm sure most of you do and I'm sure Francis does too."
Closing
Ngannou is set to make his debut in mid-2024, with an opponent yet to be selected. According to the former champion, Ngannou will keep his eye on his next opponent in the Heavyweight division. Neganu had rumors of fighting Jon Jones and others before he left the UFC. Jones eventually took his UFC Heavyweight belt after he defeated Cyril Gane via submission back in March.
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