Former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou has labelled certain mixed martial arts promoters as two-faced amid his continued hiatus from active competition, as the Batié native remains sidelined from the sport since January of last year.
Ngannou, a former undisputed heavyweight titleholder under the banner of the UFC, most recently headlined UFC 270 back in January of last year in a unanimous decision victory over former interim gold holder, Ciryl Gane in the pair’s title unification clash.
Departing the UFC back in January of this year, Ngannou’s contractual obligations with the organization came to an end last December.
And in the time since, Ngannou has been linked with a slew of potential moves including a transition to professional boxing, as well as deals with ONE Championship and the PFL (Professional Fighters League).
Earlier this week, however, talks with Singapore-based organization, ONE Championship came to a screeching halt, with promotional boss, Chatri Sityodtong claiming Ngannou had rejected a $20,000,000 guaranteed contract to link up with the mixed martial arts outfit.
“He (Francis Ngannou) was asking for a seat at the board of directors, he was asking for him to determine his opponent’s pay,” Chatri Sityodtong said. “We offered him $20,000,000 guaranteed, the money was wasn’t enough, he wanted all of these other non-financial terms that didn’t make a lot of sense.”
“We obviously can’t give a seat at the board of directors, that doesn’t make any sense, he would be a fish out of water [in that position],” Sityodtong continued.
Francis Ngannou takes issue with MMA promoters in wake of UFC exit
And appearing to respond to Sityodtong’s comments, Cameroon knockout artist, Ngannou posted a picture of DC Comics character, Two-Face – with the caption, “some promoters, man”.
Winning the undisputed UFC heavyweight title back in March 2021, Francis Ngannou stopped former two-time division champion, Stipe Miocic with a devastating second round knokcout in the main event of UFC 260 title rematch in Las Vegas, Nevada.