“Asking what a free man can ask”- Francis Ngannou highlights what he expects from his new contract
Francis Ngannou
Francis Ngannou came out on top in his fight against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 and he continues to stand at the apex of the UFC heavyweight division.
Considered to be his toughest fight yet, Ngannou was not expected to win if the fight dragged out to the championship rounds but the French-Cameroonian showcased an entirely different fighting style in his arsenal as he grappled and wrestled with Gane almost always being in a dominant position and that was enough to secure Ngannou’s victory.
‘The Predator’ was then interviewed by BT Sport‘s very own Caroline Pearce and was asked a majority of questions that everyone desired the answers to and the main topic surrounding Ngannou lately, his contract discussions.
The heavyweight champion was asked if he wanted a new contract to be presented to him with all the conditions he requested before he appeared in the octagon again to which he answered, “Uh, yeah. Definitely. I need a good, a new, not just a new contract. I need a new term on my contract. Respect me as a fighter you know. Respect my right and uh, give me option. Just a right you know. I’m not asking for something massive. I’m not asking for something miserable. I’m just asking for you know, what a free man can ask.”
Francis Ngannou says he will sit back and see how the future unfolds
Francis Ngannou wasn’t interviewed almost immediately after his unanimous decision victory over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 and was asked questions about his contract and also his term to allow the UFC to let him take boxing bouts.
The champion was asked if he wanted to bounce between the UFC and boxing or would he slowly look to transition into boxing to which he replied, “I don’t really care. I believe that even here I can do it and in the perfect case scenario, I would have done it here and maybe the UFC could promote that or something like that. But if – I don’t know exactly what the future holds for, for me right now. I will lay back a little bit and see how things play out and who knows.”
It would be a huge loss to the promotion if a fighter like Francis Ngannou were to leave permanently so we do not really see what the problem is but we know that if Dana White refused to attend the presser and also skipped the ceremonial giving of the belts to the champion, then the issue is very deeply rooted.
Ngannou also gave credit to his birth country Cameroon saying that he wasn’t about to let his people down and having their support has been everything to him.
“They’ve been my motivation for a little while now“, remarked Ngannou.
Sure enough, the people of Cameroon have been rejoicing the fact that their champion continued to preserve and still stands at the top of the mountain right now.
Nimish Ganapathy
(135 Articles Published)