It’s probably for Netflix…
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But hold on to that thought just for a minute.
First a couple of statistics. The total time on record for Ngannou, who signed with the PFL in May 2023, was 1,024 days, or approximately 33 and a half months. Within that robust framework he fought under the flag only once, almost 17 months ago against Renan Ferreira. That night he won the PFL Super Fights Heavyweight Championship, which has the same inventiveness as this weekend’s BMF belt up for grabs at UFC 326.
In total, he worked for less than a round of fighting, just 212 seconds in total. Had Ferreira survived his punching power beyond the first round, the numbers might not jump (so blatantly) off the page. But, so to speak, Ngannou was paid by the second, not the hour, and received something like $47,000 per second he spent in the PFL cage. Not a bad job for a disgruntled heavyweight. In the boxing ring he met the Eight Figs by their first name. The zeros were being erased from the checks.
Actually, the closer I look, the more it seems to say that PFL stands for Polite Friends League. Letting Ngannou go before his current contract, with one fight left, expires, just so he can rake in some more money is about as friendly a gesture as you’ll find in a cutthroat industry. When it all started, those of us who loved the idea of an early UFC star betting on himself were uncorked. The boxing matches alone were worth celebrating, as Ngannou not only defied his marching orders, but shocked the world by knocking down Tyson Fury. Some people even thought he beat Fury before the cards came back.
(Justin Setterfield via Getty Images)
Ngannou went from being the best heavyweight MMA fighter on the planet to also becoming a sensation in the boxing world.
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Don’t hold anything back for these excursions. Francis – as he did when he fled Cameroon as a refugee across the Mediterranean – bet on himself and won.
But from an MMA standpoint, those nearly three years he spent on the PFL roster feel a little like John Lennon’s Lost Weekend. Yes, it was productive, but it was outside the world we are used to. An appropriate word for this occasion could be anticlimactic. There were promises floating in the air. Contractual demands that his opposition pay a fair price of at least $2 million, which was an extension of Ngannou’s general largesse. Ferreira thanks him for this, but wasn’t he nicknamed the PFL’s Africa President? It seemed like it meant something significant in whatever was “next.” When the PFL appeared in South Africa, Francisco was not to be found.
Perhaps simply having him on the list was enough to make him a “strategic partner.”
“(The PFL) didn’t just come in as a promotion looking for a fighter,” he said upon signing, “but they really came in as a partner that sees more value in you as a person.”
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So they got their money’s worth, but the PFL of today is not the PFL of then.
And so ends another chapter in the life and career of Francis Ngnanou, who, despite the timing of this event, is not likely to return to the UFC. Even with a dearth of talent in those heavyweight ranks, Dana White has reiterated (and reiterated) that he wants nothing to do with Ngannou, and Dana’s stubbornness is something that needs to be studied. Ngannou himself, who marches to the beat of his drum, probably wouldn’t like that anyway.
The move is most likely for Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), who has their first foray into the MMA calendar taking place on May 16 in Los Angeles. MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian joked on an episode of “MVP Uncut,” a huge co-main event to support Ronda Rousey’s return against Gina Carano, and it doesn’t get any bigger than Big Fran. It’s a card the UFC has been subtweeting since it was announced a couple of weeks ago, and adding Ngannou turns it from a late novelty to a must-see event.
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At a time when there are so many cutting movements happening it’s hard to keep track of them (from Zuffa Boxing snatching Conor Benn from Eddie Hearn to Hearn returning fire by signing to represent (annoying) UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall), Ngannou coming out of exile is like adding a little more gasoline to the fire. Ngannou, the UFC lineal heavyweight champion.
We never had Francis versus Jon Jones, which is one of the great shames of the civilized world of matchmaking. We also didn’t have Jones vs. Aspinall, which caused laughter in the UFC heavyweight rankings. The original void was Ngannou’s departure, leaving many things undone. Even at 39 years old, having fought just once in three years, Ngannou still makes a case for being MMA’s best heavyweight.
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Now he is free to lock himself in a different cage.
And after three years, the PFL is in the hands of Peep Francis Leaving.