“Eat what you kill!” — Dana White
Francis Ngannou will make his highly anticipated return to mixed martial arts (MMA) later this month (Oct. 19, 2024) against Brazilian giant, Renan Ferreira, headlining PFL Super Fights: “Battle of the Giants,” which will take place at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion will take a break from boxing after getting knocked out by Anthony Joshua earlier this year (watch highlights).
UFC CEO, Dana White, was asked about his former Heavyweight champion’s foray into professional boxing and the massive “life changing” multi-million paydays he has earned, comparing it to if he had stayed with UFC.
“That’s not necessarily true,” White told Kevin Iole. “It’s not really true. That’s the bulls—t that the public believes, but that’s not the truth. Total bulls—t. That’s that whole myth that makes everyone go, ‘ahh, lets f—king go to boxing’. It’s f—king bulls—t. Boxing don’t work. Boxing doesn’t f—king work … it takes a f—king Saudi trillionaire to make boxing work.”
According to Forbes, Ngannou banked a $10 million payday for his controversial bout with Tyson Fury back in Oct. 2023 and a $20 million purse for Joshua just a few months ago.
For what it’s worth, White has been on record saying Ngannou would have been the highest-paid Heavyweight of all time if he had stayed in UFC. “The Predator” revealed he made $600,000 for his final UFC fight.
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