Former UFC middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold has heaped praise on former promotional heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou for taking a stance against the organization, claiming “yes men” has landed the Dana White-led outfit into it’s current standing.
Ngannou, a former undisputed heavyweight champion under the banner of the UFC, has been sidelined from active competition since headlining UFC 270 back in January of last year, successfully unifying the heavyweight titles in a unanimous decision victory over then-interim gold holder, Ciryl Gane.
Departing the promotion back in January of this year following the completion of his contractual obligations in December of last year, Francis Ngannou has yet to ink terms with any promotion to make a return to mixed martial arts.
Linked with an immediate transition to professional boxing, the Cameroonian is set for crunch talks with Singapore-based promotion, ONE Championship this weekend, as he continues to find himself tied to a potential move to the Chatri Sityodtong-led mixed martial arts promotion.
Francis Ngannou backed by fellow former UFC champion, Luke Rockhold
Leaving the UFC in unceremonious circumstances, in which the above-mentioned, White insisted Ngannou would never be welcomed back to the promotion, former middleweight titleholder, Rockhold has backed the former heavyweight best in his exit.
“Francis (Ngannou) – he’s a real man with f*cking balls,” Luke Rockhold said during a recent interview with MMA Fighting reporter, Damon Martin. “And he can make a decision. There’s too many ‘yes’ men in the world. The UFC is where it is today because all those motherf*ckers are ‘yes’ men. And they’re just playing their game so the UFC is going to keep playing their game and keep controlling the fighters.”
“If there weren’t as many ‘yes’ men – if there were more Francis Ngannous, and Luke Rockholds, and people that had a f*cking pair of balls, we’d have an even f*cking playing field,” Luke Rockhold explained. “We’d have an even f*cking playing field. But there’s too many b*tches in the world.”