Days after Francis Ngannou‘s release from the UFC contract, he reveals the contract details he was offered, the money he was offered, and the opponents he wanted to fight. Ngannou revealed the 3 opponents he wanted to fight IF he signed with UFC again.
In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Ngannou revealed the details of the contract he was offered. “I wanted a 3 fight deal…no extension”, Ngannou revealed in the interview. Ngannou was going to make around $2,000,000 for the Jon Jones fight itself, like Brock Lesner in 200.
Ngannou revealed that he would’ve wanted to fight Jon Jones first then Stipe Miocic and then Jon Jones again in his 3 fight contract. “Out of 3 I wanted Jon Jones twice”, Ngannou said. Francis wanted to fight just 3 times with no extension and he wanted to fight Jon Jones twice, hopefully, all 3 being title defenses.
In a parallel world, the fight to see would’ve been Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou fighting for the Heavyweight title. But clearly, fans can no more see that but see the next best thing in Jones vs. Ciryl Gane for UFC 285.
Related: Heavyweight division alive again! Stipe Miocic wants winner of Jon Jones vs Ciryl Gane
Dana White reveals Francis Ngannou didn’t want to risk it
Dana White in his UFC Vegas 67 press conference revealed the headline fight for UFC 285. He also revealed that the UFC Heavyweight title was vacant, as Francis Ngannou was stripped of his title.
“He was at a place where he didn’t want to take many risks with his belt”, Dana White said as he announced that Ngannou was no more under UFC’s contract. According to Dana, Ngannou didn’t want to fight many fights that would risk him losing the belt hence, the hold-up in the division.
If Ngannou was still under contract, he would’ve potentially fought in place of Ciryl Gane for a title defense. Fans have been expecting this fight, ever since the return of Jon Jones was rumored. There is no doubt Ngannou vs Jones would have been the biggest fight in UFC heavyweight history.
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