Francis Ngannou has made no secret on the disrespect he feels the UFC is showing him as champ. In a recent interview with GQ, however, he expanded on the subject, describing exactly how he’s being treated by the organization.
When asked if he feels disrespected by the UFC, Ngannou agreed. “Yes. I have that feeling. Just recently they gave me the UFC heavyweight champion, and months later they’re talking about someone else being the champion. Sometimes I’m not even sure if I’m really the champ or not. It’s really confusing.”
Francis Ngannou’s deteriorating relationship with the UFC: “‘Sometimes I’m not even sure if I’m really the champ or not’”
As for why there was an interim title fight so soon after Ngannou won the belt: “I think it was all business, and the UFC wanted to do a pay-per-view in Houston. It wasn’t the right timing for me, but they wanted to do it no matter what. Just before that, they were asking me if I was ready to fight in September and I told them I’d be more than ready.
Then, suddenly, we just saw they had an interim title…I don’t know what truly happened. It’s all from the UFC’s end. They will be the only ones who know what happened.”
Ngannou only defeated Stipe Miocic to take the UFC heavyweight title in March, so seeing an interim title fight scheduled so soon afterward confused many fight fans and commentators. It even confused the champion himself, who felt the UFC were devaluing his championship.
“Absolutely! That’s how I feel. There’s one thing: if you say you understand the UFC, and how they do business, that means you don’t understand shit [laughs]. It’s just like that: it can be very spontaneous, premature, and decisions are out of nowhere. They just pop up like that: boom! But at the end of the day, things will get done. It’s just a matter of time.”
As for the legitimacy of the interim title fight: “I am the heavyweight champ! And I want to be the UFC heavyweight champ. But in this game, as far as you go, you discover how political it is. The business side of it is not very nice — it’s not as easy as the sport itself.
Before the [Stipe Miocic] fight, the only thing the UFC was talking about was how the winner of Stipe and I would face Jon Jones, and that never came along. And here we are: with an interim title and everything.”
Dana White hopes to schedule a score-settling Gane vs Ngannou bout by the end of the year. Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic will have to wait a little longer for their chance at the belt.
Do you agree that the UFC was disrespecting and devaluing Ngannou in calling Gane vs Lewis an interim title? Let us know in the comments.
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