This time last year, Francis Ngannou did the unthinkable.
Something potentially even greater than knocking down the current WBC heavyweight champion inside the boxing ring โ he bet against UFC head honcho Dana White.
After the former heavyweight MMA championโs exit from the organisation, White proceeded to publicly demean and belittle a name heโd spent the last few years building.
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But given the financial figures behind his boxing bouts against premier names like Anthony Joshua and the aforementioned Fury: itโs clear Francis Ngannou has โwonโ the divorce.
โPFL is going to pay this guy to train for a boxing match that may not even happen and that they might not even be involved in,โ Dana White said of Ngannou vs Fury.
โHow does that make any sense? It doesnโt make sense to me. Anthony Joshua called it a gimmick fight this week.โ
โWhen asked about that fight, heโs like, โIโm focused on fighting the best guys in the world. Iโm not interested in a gimmick fight right now.'โ
โAnd thatโs one of the big problems with boxing right now, is itโs all about these gimmicky type fights, and thatโs just not what I do here. Itโs not what I do.โ
After Francis Ngannou surprisingly held his own against Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia, Anthony Joshua has obviously shifted his stance on these โgimmicky type fights.โ
So much so that the two-time former unified world heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medallist has agreed to his own boxing match against Francis Ngannou, which will also take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia later this year.
According to Sports Business Journal, Ngannouโs agent has confirmed that The Predator is set to make another eight-figure payday for his fight with Joshua; he reportedly earned US$10 million (AU$15 million) for throwing hands with Fury back in October.
Making at least $15 million in each of your first two fights at 37 years old certainly isnโt a bad effort, especially after being chastised for turning a three-fight, US$8 million (AU$12 million) offer down from the UFC.
Thereโs reason to believe that after pay-per-view sales and sponsorships have been factored in, his fighting purse could resemble something closer to the US$20 million (AU$30 million) mark. For context, his largest ever payout in the UFC was around US$580,000 (AU$865,000) when he claimed the heavyweight strap from Stipe Miocic.
All up, Ngannouโs career earnings from MMA amount to around US$3.8 million (AU$5.6 million).
Anthony Joshua is said to be making even more for agreeing to lace up the gloves against Francis Ngannou; Tyson Fury is rumoured to have made something in the neighbourhood of US$50 million (AU$75 million) for eeking a split decision victory.
Based on Ngannouโs performance against The Gypsy King, as well as the fact Joshua is coming off his own impressive knockout over Otto Wallin, an even greater audience could be tuning in for this upcoming bout.
The Wallin fight was supposed to position Joshua for a fight with Deontay Wilder in March. But after Wilderโs unanimous decision loss to Joseph Parker โ a man Joshua himself beat via unanimous decision back in 2018 โ which occurred on the same card, the fight was reportedly scrapped.
During an interview with IFL TV, Matchroomโs Eddie Hearn โ longtime promoter of Anthony Joshua โ teased Francis Ngannou as a โcolossalโ potential next opponent instead of Wilder. The matchup was confirmed shortly thereafter. Because sometimes, things just break your way.
This match will also be taking place less than a month after Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk fight to unify all the belts. Essentially, Francis Ngannou has quickly put himself in the middle of the biggest names in the sport.
In the past, Dana White always loved marketing Ngannou and his legendary punching power. He was visibly excited at the UFC 220 press conference rattling off facts about his 96 horsepower world record-holding punch.
In front of the then-champion Stipe Miocic, White boasted about his new guyโs punch being โmore powerful than a 12-pound sledgehammer swung at full force from overheadโ and feeling it being โequal to getting hit with a Ford Escort going as fast as it can.โ
As alluded to earlier, this quickly changed after Ngannouโs departure, when White claimed that โFrancis wants to take zero risks, doesnโt want to take any chances, and he obviously didnโt want to take a chance with Jon Jones โ and after we saw what happened with Ciryl Gane, I donโt blame him.โ
โI think the outcome wouldโve been exactly the same, and Iโm sure most of you do and Iโm sure Francis does too.โ
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After tens of millions of dollars and knocking the lineal champion on his ass in front of the world, weโre starting to see who really held the bargaining power in this partnership. In another timeline, Dana White couldโve had the UFC heavyweight champion holding his own in the boxing ring against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
And thatโs gotta hurt more than getting hit by a Ford Escort at full speed.
