Former undisputed UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou has been urged to hurry up with his expected transition to professional boxing later this year by veteran welterweight contender, Matt Brown, as fans continue to grow impatient with the Batié native.
Ngannou, a former undisputed UFC heavyweight titleholder, has been sidelined since January of last year, most recently headlined UFC 270, successfully unifying the promotion’s divisional titles with a unanimous decision win over then-interim gold holder, Ciryl Gane.
In January of this year, Francis Ngannou departed the organization following the completion of his UFC contract in December of last year, resulting in his removal from the official heavyweight rankings, and stripping as official division champion.
Penning a deal with the PFL (Professional Fighters League) recently to boot in a monumental agreement, Ngannou, who will compete on a pay-per-view format next year in a promotional debut with the Peter Murray-led promotion, is slated to make a transition to professional boxing first, however.
Francis Ngannou has been tipped to beat Deontay Wilder in potential future fight
Linked with a slew of fights against the likes of former champions, Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua, and current undisputed WBC heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury – Ngannou has been urged to make a quickfire move, by the above-mentioned, Brown.
“He (Francis Ngannou) needs to go for the big payday,” Matt Brown told MMA Fighting. “It sounds like he wants to be a serious professional boxer maybe, if he’s talking about doing a warmup fight to get into it. I guess that’s a different path but now you’re taking a risk. Maybe you’re not that good. You don’t know.”
“You haven’t f*cking boxed, bro,” Brown explained. “You weren’t in the Olympics. You didn’t do an amateur career. You don’t f*cking know. When you don’t know, go for the payday. Go for the f*cking payday. What are we doing here? Quit f*cking around here. Get the payday and be done with it.”