White 'Hopeful and Confident' He Can Get a Deal Done with Ngannou

UFC heavyweight champion Ngannou (17-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) has vocalized his dissatisfaction with his current deal, which he recently fought out. But because he retained his title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270, the championship clause in his contract resulted in an extension.

Ngannou has taken a stance, though. Not only does he think heā€™s under-promoted and under-appreciated, but he wants boxing to be part of his UFC deal ā€“ which has caused him to bump heads with White. But White said he isnā€™t trying to push his champion out the door.

ā€œHeā€™s been in Cameroon visiting his family, so heā€™s supposed to get back here in the next couple of weeks and weā€™re supposed to get together,ā€ White told ESPN. ā€œListen, in the history of this company, the only guy that weā€™ve ever not signed was Fedor (Emelianenko). I mean, itā€™s the only guy we could never sign. So, you know, Iā€™m hopeful and confident that we can get a deal done with Francis.ā€

Ngannou is expected to undergo knee surgery this month, which likely will force him to the sidelines for the remainder of the year. Ngannou said he came into the fight with Gane with his knee already compromised, but was able to show new wrinkles to his game by using his wrestling to bounce the Frenchman out of the ranks of the unbeaten.

NO LOVE Ngannou

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If street judas can get a raise so can ngannou

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Ngannou ainā€™t gonna get that fight with Fury.

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He knows he can make more money in a single fight with Fury than he would likely get in his entire UFC career. Conor McGregor made a 100M in a single fight vs PBF, which was likely more money than EVERY mma purse in every organization for that entire year combined.

Itā€™s tough to blame him for wanting either out of the contract or with a big addendum.

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But to be fair it was Conor being a UFC star that allowed him to build his whiskey brand and sponsorship deals that have exceeded that 100M he made in the Floyd fight. I donā€™t know how much he has made outside of fighting but his UFC platform put him in a position to do most of that. Without becoming a UFC starā€¦ none of the brands, businesses or sponsorships were gonna happen.

Would anyone even want to watch him box the undisputed king of boxing? It wouldnā€™t be much of a match. Whose forking over 100s of millions to watch? Idiots I presume.

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and I cant tell you how or why ?

No

And there is no 80M or 100M purse waiting for Ngannou in boxing. He wonā€™t look ok doing it like Conor eitherā€¦ he is gonna get trashed and it could hurt his UFC brand because his brand is different than Conorā€™s. There is a lot of money there for a Ngannou who stays in MMA and I canā€™t see much being there for him in boxing since he is not a global star outside of MMA like Conor was becoming.

This seems to be more about Ngannou wanting to chase a childhood dream of boxing and he wants to have the freedom to do it. With Twitter followers as a metricā€¦ Ngannou is just a Masvidal level star at this point.

and theres not a huge genepool of HWT MMA Fighters

ā€” ā€˜The only guy that weā€™ve ever not signed was Fedorā€™

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Only is thereā€™s some sort of rules that give Francis a chance. It would be an absolute joke otherwise

Not a big deal if he canā€™t. Media trying too hard to make a superstar our of Ngannou, which heā€™s not. Heā€™s a good fighter but nothing exceptional. Was a punch away from getting knocked out by Miocic again but got to him first.

Dana wouldā€™ve avoided this entire ordeal if gave Miocic what he deserved coz he wouldā€™ve beaten Ngannou. Unfortunately for White, Miocic became for evil to the lesser of two evils when compared to Ngannou.

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Their going to pass him by

Who cares if it hurts his UFC brand if he makes in one fight boxing what he makes in 20 UFC fights. He could make $20m+ boxing easily