Francis Ngannou Exposes Reality of Dana White & Co.’s Offer To Fight Jon Jones

Before a potential Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall became the talk of the town, there was speculation of a fight against Francis Ngannou that ‘The Predator’ might have had. Ngannou was allegedly offered a huge amount of $8 million to fight Jones along with a three-fight contract with no extension. However, this fight never came to fruition because of contractual disputes and related connotations.

Interestingly Nagannou and UFC CEO Dana White had different versions of the stories of why the fight did not happen. Unfortunately, the contract extension had some clauses that the former heavyweight champion wanted to change but it never happened, and he left UFC after his contract ended. But all was not cloudy for him as he joined PFL and recently revealed that the payment was way better!

Francis Ngannou compared his payment for the Jon Jones fight and Tyson Fury’s fight

While speaking to Ariel Helwani, ‘The Predator’ pointed out the disparity between what he was paid at UFC and what he got at PFL. He was asked about the Jones fight that was supposed to happen and compared his boxing outings against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. He gave his verdict stating that he was paid much more for the Fury fight.

According to Home of Fight, “Francis Ngannou says the money the UFC offered him to fight Jon Jones was “not even close” to the money he made fighting Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.” Fortunately, his words can be substantiated because we have receipts! Reports suggested that he was offered around $8 million to fight Jon Jones in the UFC. However, ‘The Predator’ got $10 million plus upside, to fight Tyson Fury which is more than he had earned in his whole MMA career.

The Cameroonian even brought his coach Eric Nicksick to tears with his payout. The coach revealed to MMA Junkie how he was appalled at the money he received from his client after the boxing bout. “It was the most money I’ve ever been paid by a fighter,” Nicksick said. He continued, “It was unbelievable. It was more than I expected. Francis [Ngannou] has always taken great care of me, but it floored me. When I saw my Wells Fargo account that morning, it brought me to tears. That’s a true story; brought me to tears because he changed my life.” 

Ngannou banked $10 million while Fury banked $50 million and by contrast, Ngannou was cashing an estimated $600,000 in his UFC title defense against Ciryl Gane. And against Jon Jones, it was a respectable sum but still less than what Ngannou made outside the UFC. Interestingly, it seems like the former UFC heavyweight king does not have any animosity towards Jones given that the narrative of the UFC head honcho was that ‘Bones’ did not want to fight Ngannou.

Francis Ngannou protected Jon Jones from unnecessary flak

Jones holds the undisputed UFC heavyweight crown and is gearing up for a legacy fight against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309. However, this fight is about to go down even when the interim champ Tom Aspinall constantly calls for a unification fight. However, ‘Bones’ refused to face ‘Honeybadger’ which made fans think that Jones was scared to lose against Aspinall. This is sort of a déjà vu for the fans as the UFC reported Jones’ reluctance to compete against Ngannou as well. Nonetheless ‘the baddest man on the planet’ was not giving the MMA GOAT a hard time and defended Jones for refusing to fight Aspinall. Instead, he blamed Dana White.

“You know it’s a situation that stuck in the corner for everyone, like I mean for both of them. Like who is obligated to have a fight that he wants- the champ or the interim champ, right?”, Ngannou told SHAK MMA.

‘The Predator’ agreed that Aspinall deserved the chance but also pointed out how the champion had the choice to pick.  On the other hand, he accused the UFC CEO of not booking the fight. This is because if the promotion wanted Jones to fight Aspinall, the fight would have gone through. However, leaving the past behind and coming back to Ngannou’s PFL stint, he is earning more in PFL than he did at UFC. Do you think there is a disparity in payment at UFC? Tell us in the comments below.