“If You’re Hurt and Can’t Fight…” – Dana White Led UFC’s “Abuse” Comes to Light in Controversial Accusations by Francis Ngannou on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’

Francis Ngannou is a man of great change, and it resonated deeply in his decision to leave behind the UFC and join the PFL. In a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Ngannou appeared as a guest and called the curtains on why he was pushed to make this stark decision.

By now it is common knowledge that the frustration majorly came from his contract. Ngannou wanted to change things up and that did not sit right with Dana White and Co. He disclosed some interesting conditions that he wanted to change, and here’s what we know.

Francis Ngannou exposes the ‘abusive’ contract extensions

Francis Ngannou is no stranger to the business. He spoke openly about how extensions work in the UFC world. Basically, if a fighter denies a fight, their contract gets extended about 6 months so they can take the next fight whenever that may be. So there is no real leeway for the fighter to have a say in the matter. If the UFC wants them to fight, they’ll have to.

“First of all, I wanted contract without extensions,” Ngannou laughed before stating. “Because I have seen how they can abuse of those extension . . . the extension is that because they say, if you deny a fight, they can extend you for six months or something. If you’re hurt and can’t fight, they can extend you for six months or something. But the problem, the UFC is the judge and the party . . . you have no say.”

The restrictions placed on the fighter by the UFC contract bothered him to no end. He injured his knee during a sparring session right before he had to fight Ciryl Gane at UFC 270. He ended up with an MCL and an ACL that was badly impaired. However, the extension meant he would get into one fight or another whether he liked it or not.

“. . . my contract, originally supposed to end in May 20th of that year. So if my contract ends on May 20th of that year, that means the championship close kicks in which is one year. . . I was in Cameroon on May 19th. So one day before my original contract which was 14 months, expired and then the championship kick in, I receive an extension letter.”

Ngannou was suffering from COVID-19 when he received his extension letter in Cameroon, right before the Gane fight. It is no wonder that the fighter felt pushed.

Ngannou didn’t quite get all he wanted

Apart from the extensions issue, Ngannou had some other conditions such as retaining the freedom to box. He also wanted to have his sponsorships for himself. However, those conditions also didn’t end up playing out well with the Dana White-led UFC. He recalled how he lost out on $1 million because UFC got the sponsorship crypto.com which was originally coming his way.

Also Read: What Were Francis Ngannou’s Comments on UFC CEO Dana White on the Joe Rogan Experience?

All of these reasons eventually built up to Ngannou leaving the UFC for good. He didn’t want to feel trapped and tired anymore. The fighter always had a passion for boxing and now he’s going to get what he asked for.

However the question that remains is, will he come to sorely regret it? We’ll find out on October 28th as Ngannou takes on Tyson Fury in Riyadh.

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