Former UFC flyweight champion, and current ONE FC flyweight champion, Demetrious Johnson, is firmly on Francis Ngannou’s side in the former heavyweight champ’s beef with the UFC. Johnson, who is no stranger to the issues involved in dealing with UFC president Dana White, recently discussed his take on Ngannou’s past and future, including boxing, on his YouTube channel.
“Dana [White] likes to say a lot of things to get fighters to do certain things. Here’s a little behind-the-scenes: Eddie Alvarez tells me, each time he signs a contract his mindset is, ‘How can I get through this contract as fast as possible to become a free agent again?’
Demetrious Johnson “Would Love” To See Ngannou Move to Boxing
Because if you go through your whole contract winning and you end as a champion, you have all the leverage in your hands, especially if the organization wants you.’ So that’s what [Ngannou] is saying by that, he wanted to get through his contract and deliver all of his deliverables and to be able to get out of it to decide what he wants to do after that.”
Ngannou’s contract dispute lasted years, throughout virtually his entire heavyweight championship reign. Ngannou wanted more money, and more freedom to pursue other financial interests, which the UFC refused to allow.
One of these interests was a potential boxing superfight against Tyson Fury, the world heavyweight champion. Ngannou’s interest in boxing has lasted years, and it’s something Demetrious Johnson would love to see come to fruition.
“I would love to see him in boxing. I would love to see him try to do stand-up boxing. He’s always stated he wants to do boxing, and I think for him to be able to have that freedom, as a boxer, he’s going to be able to have that. Right? So he can sign a one-fight deal against Tyson Fury, fight that fight.
Either win, loss, draw, he can move onto the next one and go, ‘You know what? I’m going to do mixed martial arts.’ Or, ‘You know what? I’m going to do bare-knuckle fighting.’ Or, ‘You know what? I’m going to do this.’ If he truly wants that freedom, I think him going around and just doing this signing one-contract deals, you’ll always have that freedom. That way you can come and go as you please.”
How do you think Francis Ngannou will fare when he comes face to face with a boxer? Let us know in the comments.
