Francis Ngannou stood his ground when it came time to renegotiate with the UFC on a new contract, which eventually led to his exit from the promotion while still reigning as heavyweight champion.
The gamble paid off when Ngannou not only inked a lucrative multi-fight deal to continue his MMA career in the PFL but he also booked his dream match for his professional boxing debut against Tyson Fury this past weekend. Not only did Ngannou land the fight he wanted but he nearly beat Fury after scoring a knockdown in the third round before ultimately losing a razor-close split decision.
Other prominent champions like Sean O’Malley have already been calling for boxing matches of their own but former UFC commentator Dan Hardy doesn’t expect UFC CEO Dana White to make it easy for anybody to follow in Ngannou’s footsteps.
“We got the [Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor] thing and that was a one-off,” Hardy explained on The MMA Hour. “I do feel like the UFC in particular like Dana’s a boxing fan. I think he was intrigued by that because he felt Conor was something quite special and he might be able to just do something as well as obviously they made a bunch of cash out of it.
“If you look at somebody like a Sean O’Malley or a Jon Jones, he doesn’t want to take that risk. You remember when he took Chuck Liddell over to PRIDE and ‘Rampage’ [Quinton Jackson] beat him up, that kind of burned him, I feel. He’s been very, very reluctant to risk breaking his toys in other people’s promotions. I think he’s going to do everything he can to stop people from doing it.”
Fighters under contract with the UFC need to get permission to compete in any other combat sport including boxing or even grappling, which effectively ends any potential conversation before it begins if the promotion doesn’t sign off.
That said, Ngannou proved that waiting out his contract and then testing free agency can definitely pay off. It could even inspire more fighters to do the same.
“I think now people are going to have the courage and confidence to see Ngannou go into free agency, recognize that maybe the grass is potentially greener elsewhere,” Hardy said. “The money is certainly greener elsewhere, I can tell you that. We’ll see a few more people working their way out of their contracts.”
Hardy knows there will be opportunities available to some of the UFC’s biggest and brightest stars, especially after what Ngannou did in his debut against Fury.
“Sean O’Malley wants to step into boxing,” Hardy said. “There are other fighters like Sean Strickland, he’s made a fan out of me in his performance against Israel Adesanya and I know in the boxing world he’s very unorthodox and very difficult to deal with. I would absolutely put him in there against some of those guys and watch him mix it up. There’s definitely scope for other fighters to cross over.”
Beyond boxing, Hardy also knows that money talks loudest and Ngannou negotiated a hefty purse for anybody he ends up fighting in the PFL as well.
The potential to score a lucrative payday to take on arguably the best heavyweight in the world could also serve the perfect temptation to lure some UFC fighters to test free agency in the near future.
“$2 million on the table for Francis Ngannou’s first opponent in the PFL,” Hardy said. “There are enough heavyweight fighters that are prize fighters, because they’re big guys that punch hard that will go where the money is.
“I think we’re going to see a couple of people come out of their contracts soon and crossover ready for that big payday.”