Francis Ngannou’s manager shares his thoughts on the UFC’s reaction to the heavyweights recent monumental announcement.
After what has been years of frustration, Ngannou once again proved many doubters wrong when it was announced that he would be the next opponent of Tyson Fury. ‘The Predator’ will earn a payday reportedly worth it least $10 million and the spotlight that comes with such a massive event. All this while still under contract with the PFL, where he signed a lucrative deal along with other personal benefits earlier this year
After a long feud with the UFC which ended in Ngannou turning down an offer to fight Jon Jones in order to test free agency, it became clear that the promotions president Dana White grew frustrated. He has taken shots at Ngannou over the past few months, even labelling his fight with Tyson Fury as a ‘gimmick’.
Francis Ngannou manager speaks on ‘gimmick’ fight
Appearing on The MMA Hour, Nganou’s manager Marquel Martin discussed the actions of White, accusing him of trying to tank the Fury deal.
“Dana is one of the best promoters that we’ve ever seen,” Martin clarified. “I’ll always say that. So when we saw it, we just kind of [were] like, ‘Of course.’ Right? Of course you would say, on one end, it’s a gimmick fight and then on the other hand, it comes to where it’s like, ‘Oh no, we’ll put that on.’ So I’m sure that they wanted that fight.
“I think they really wanted to just mess up our chances, to be quite honest,” continued Martin. “I think, for whatever reason, there’s a sour taste in their mouth when it comes to Francis. And yeah, they don’t want Francis to be able to have that opportunity. Right? I think that was clear to us for a while. For what reason? I don’t know, you have to ask them. But it’s a moot point.”
Ngannou and Fury will box in an exhibition match on October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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