Francis Ngannou released from PFL just in time to cash in with MVP and Netflix
Story by Chuck Mindenhall, Uncrowned, via Yahoo Sports
It turns out that PFL stands for Pretty Freaking Lenient, and it lived up to the billing by setting Francis Ngannou free this week. Not that the greatest heavyweight get of all time was being held hostage at PFL, as two boxing excursions let us know, but MMA’s great caged bird is at liberty to fly off wherever he wants to.
Which is probably to Netflix …
But hang onto that thought for just a minute.
First a couple of stats. The total log time for Ngannou, who signed with the PFL in May 2023, was 1,024 days — or approximately 33 and a half months. Within that robust time frame he fought under the banner but once, which was a nearly 17 months ago against Renan Ferreira. That night he won the PFL Super Fights Heavyweight Championship, which has the same wholesale inventiveness as this weekend’s BMF belt that’s up for grabs at UFC 326.
In total, he worked for less than a round of fight time, a mere 212 seconds all told. Had Ferreira survived his punching power beyond the first round, the numbers might not jump (so brazenly) off the page. But as it were, Ngannou was paid by the second, not the hour, and he received something like $47,000 per second he spent in the PFL cage. Not bad work for a disgruntled heavyweight. In the boxing ring, he got to know the Eight Figs on a first name basis. The zeroes were running off the checks.
Actually, the more closely I look, the more it seems to say the PFL stands for the Polite Friends League. Letting Ngannou go before reaching the expiry on his current contract, which had one fight left on it, just so that he can stack some more cash is about as friendly a gesture as you’ll find in a cutthroat industry. When it all began there were corks popping from those of us who loved the idea of a principled UFC star betting on himself. The boxing bouts 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 scorecards came back.
Ngannou went from being the best heavyweight MMA fighter on the planet to a full-on sensation in the boxing world, as well.
Begrudge him nothing for these excursions. Francis — like 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’s roster feel a bit like John Lennon’s lost weekend. Yes, he was productive, but it was outside of the world we are used to. One word that meets this occasion might be anticlimactic. There were promises that hung in the air. Contractual demands to see his opposition paid a fair price of at least $2 million dollars, which was an extension of Ngannou’s big-picture largesse. For this, Ferreira thanks him, but wasn’t Ngannou dubbed the PFL Chairman of Africa? That felt like it meant something significant in whatever was “forthcoming.” When the PFL showed up in South Africa, there was no Francis to be found.
Maybe just having him on the roster was enough to make him a “strategic partner.”
“[The PFL] didn’t just show up as a promotion that was looking for a fighter,” he said upon signing, “but really came as a partner that sees more value in you as a person.”
For that, they got their money’s worth, but the PFL of today isn’t the PFL of then.
And so ends another chapter in the life and career of Francis Ngnanou, who — despite the timing of this development — isn’t likely to return to the UFC. Even with a dearth of talent in those heavyweight ranks, Dana White has iterated (and reiterated) that he wants nothing to do with Ngannou, and Dana’s stubbornness is a thing to be studied. Ngannou himself, who marches to the beat of his drum, wouldn’t likely welcome that anyway.
The move is very likely to Most Valuable Promotions, which has its first foray into MMA scheduled to take place May 16 in Los Angeles. MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian teased on an episode of “MVP Uncut” a big co-main event to support Ronda Rousey’s return against Gina Carano, and it doesn’t get much bigger than Big Fran. It’s a card that has been subtweeting the UFC since it was announced a couple of weeks ago, and adding Ngannou takes it from being a late-arriving novelty to a must-see event.
In a time where so many slashing motions are going on that it gets hard to keep track — from Zuffa Boxing stealing away Conor Benn from Eddie Hearn’s grasp to Hearn returning fire by signing to represent the (peeved) UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall — Ngannou, the lineal UFC heavyweight champion, coming out of exile is like adding a little more gasoline to the fire.
We never got Francis vs. Jon Jones, which is one of the great shames of the civilized matchmaking world. We never got Jones vs. Aspinall, either, which cranked up the laugh track on UFC heavyweight ranks. The original void was Ngannou leaving, leaving so much undone. Even at age 39, having only fought once in three years, Ngannou still has the argument of being the best MMA heavyweight going.
Now he’s free to lock himself in a different cage.
And after three years, PFL is left to Peep Francis Leaving.
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