“Go ask Randy Couture” – Francis Ngannou reveals how he was threatened by UFC

Ngannou reveals in his interview with Helwani that he got warned by the UFC executives when he revealed he wanted to leave UFC.

“Go ask Randy Couture” – Francis Ngannou reveals how he was threatened by UFC

Francis Ngannou reveals he was warned by UFC execs by taking Couture's name. (wikipedia/usatoday)

In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Francis Ngannou reveals what was said to him when he wanted to leave the UFC. Ngannou told Helwani what the UFC officials told his manager when he decided he had enough with the UFC.

Francis Ngannou in an interview with Ariel Helwani told him what the UFC officials told his manager when he revealed his interest to leave UFC. “You think you can leave UFC? That has never happened…Go ask Randy Couture”, said Ngannou.

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Helwani mentioned how things turned ugly with Couture when he wanted to leave the UFC. There were a lot of legal issues that happened between Couture and UFC which involved lawyers and courts, as mentioned by Ariel.

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Ngannou revealing all the behind-the-scenes that happened during his stripping of the title gives this a whole new perspective for the fans to look at it from. He is not going to let his legacy be ruined by Dana White‘s narrative that Ngannou did not want to take risks.

Related: “Would’ve fought Jon Jones on any day of the week,” Daniel Cormier shuts down Dana White’s narrative around Francis Ngannou

How is Randy Couture a ‘different situation’ than Francis Ngannou?

Randy Couture had to fight UFC in court when wanted freedom (Image Courtesy: UFC/agfight)

UFC executives told Ngannou that if he thought he could leave UFC he should go and ask Randy Couture if it was possible. On hearing this, Couture explained Ngannou and he realized that he was in a “different situation”.

In 2007, Randy Couture announced retirement and was going to pursue as a free agent in the hopes that he would get to fight the then heavyweight champion, Fedor Emelianenko. This resulted in Couture spending $500,000 fighting UFC in the court and ending up fighting Brock Lesner for the undisputed title.

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Ngannou didn’t want to take the legal action route against UFC – therefore, he let them release him. Ngannou coming from a very poor financial background didn’t see himself having the upper hand if he took UFC to the court. But eventually, he got what he wanted – he is released by UFC’s obligations and can now do what he wants.

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