UFC Champion Francis Ngannou Makes A Bold Claim About His Future
The UFC and their heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou have had a rocky relationship during Ngannou’s time in the promotion. Combine that with having to have ACL and MCL surgery after UFC 270, many people began to question if Ngannou would ever fight in the UFC again. Today, he addressed those concerns via Twitter.
There are a couple of things that we can take away from this. One, Ngannou clearly has lofty goals. Two, he plans to fight for at least five more years. Three, he plans to conquer everything.
To me, “conquer everything” is what stood out. He never said he wanted to defend the UFC heavyweight belt or fight in the UFC for 5 years. He wants to conquer everything. When I think of everything, I think of boxing.
Ngannou has been vocal about wanting to box. Most notably, he would like to box Tyson Fury. However, because of the structure of the UFC contracts, he must receive permission from the UFC to fight outside of the organization. This has been one of Ngannou’s biggest quarrels with the UFC.
“You can be free and fight for the UFC,” Ngannou said. “I just want to be free. We are supposedly independent contractors. [An] independent contractor is technically a free person. That’s the reason why they need some adjustments in that contract. That’s what I’ve been fighting for.”
Full quote via ESPN
In my opinion, the steam behind seeing Ngannou box died down after UFC 270. Despite impressing MMA fans, his performance was great because of his wrestling. I think if Ngannou were to test the boxing waters it would have to be after an impressive knockout. When Conor McGregor fought Floyd Mayweather he did so after putting on a striking clinic against Eddie Alvarez.
Even with Ngannou’s boxing aspirations, I imagine he will fight in the UFC again. If he really wants to add to his legacy he may have the perfect opportunity to do so. Today on the Pat McAfee Show, Dana White said he would like to book Jon Jones versus Stipe Miocic for the interim heavyweight championship and have Ngannou fight the winner. In either scenario, Ngannou would have the opportunity to headline a massive pay-per-view while adding to his legacy.
At the end of the day, we still do not know much about Ngannou’s future. However, it does not seem like Ngannou plans on leaving the world of combat sports before making his mark.
