Francis Ngannou’s manager, Marquel Martin was the victim of a vicious and racist text message just days before UFC 270.
Ngannou won his first heavyweight title defense over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. The buildup featured heated back-and-forths with his former coach, Fernand Lopez, and accusations of lying and brutal past sparring sessions.
In addition to the buildup to his fight, Ngannou was dealing with a significant knee injury that nearly forced him out of the fight. He has also been in ongoing contract talks with the UFC that have allegedly gone nowhere in recent months.
But things turned from bad to worse for Ngannou and his team after Martin received a nasty text message which he shared on social media.
During a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Ngannou was asked about the viral text message that Martin received this past weekend.
“I think someone is very pissed off. Which means we’ve been doing the right thing. I don’t have any guesses or any clue [of who it is],” Ngannou said.
Francis Ngannou Doesn’t Know Who Sent The Inflammatory Text
Speculation went rampant on social media following the text message’s posting, with some believing it could’ve come from UFC president Dana White. However, there is no evidence that is the case.
What we do know is that the text came from a 702 area code, which is in the Las Vegas, NV area. It was more than likely someone close to White who had access to management contact information and knew about the various issues the two sides have had.
White didn’t put the belt on Ngannou after he was given the decision win, and White hasn’t explained publicly why he declined to do so. As of right now, the heated relationship between Ngannou and the UFC brass doesn’t seem to show any signs of cooling off.
Do you think Francis Ngannou and the UFC will come to terms on a new deal?