Parting ways with the Ultimate Fighting Championship was a
carefully considered decision for former heavyweight champ Francis
Ngannou.
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Ngannou left the promotion at the beginning of the year after
contract negotiations spanning over a year fell through. While the
major bone of contention between the two parties was Ngannou
wanting to compete in crossover boxing matches, “The Predator” also
had other demands. The Cameroonian had touched upon important
issues like like health insurance for fighters, a fighter advocate
at board meetings and a new sponsorship deal.
At the end, Ngannou was absolutely sure about exiting the UFC when
he did. The 37-year-old went on to secure a multi-fight deal with
the surging rivals of the UFC, the Professional Fighters League. He
later secured a boxing match against Fury, which went down in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Oct. 28, reportedly resulting in a payday
of more than $10 million for the former sand mine worker. “The
Predator” lost a controversial split decision despite shocking the
world with a third-round knockdown against the WBC heavyweight
champ.
However, in a recent interview on “The MMA Hour,”
Ngannou claimed that he wouldn’t regret parting ways with the UFC
even if the Fury fight or the PFL deal never came about.
“You have to understand something: Things have played out for me
perfectly, maybe even more than anyone expected,” Ngannou said.
“But let me tell you this: Let’s say after the UFC, after [leaving
the UFC], I didn’t have any of those contracts, whether it was the
PFL contract or the Tyson Fury
fight contract, I wouldn’t regret it. You know, it wasn’t an
overnight decision. It was a decision that I thought about. I
thought about it many times.
“I’m not doing what I don’t want to do just because, I mean, just
to please somebody. No, I don’t do that. I can’t do that. It’s just
beyond my capability. Never regret, but I think things been playing
out even better than I have expected. I couldn’t even script this
out. This is so beautiful. Why would I regret it? Everything’s been
good.”