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Francis Ngannou beat Ciryl Gane in a much-anticipated title combat – and his boss to the weird step of not placing the belt across the heavyweight’s waist
French-Cameroonian powerhouse Ngannou entered his bout with unbeaten Gane as an underdog, solely to shock followers by displaying his grappling and jiu-jitsu abilities to beat his highly-rated opponent by foregoing a few of his attribute reliance on big pictures.
There was one other shock in retailer when UFC president Dana White, who normally enters the octagon to wrap champions’ belts round their waists within the speedy aftermath of title fights, opted not to take action at UFC 270 in California.
Multi-millionaire businessman White has been embroiled in a public dispute with Ngannou, with the fighter wanting higher pay and higher freedoms inside his contract.
Ngannou earned a $600,000 purse that he’s thought to not be solely proud of for his win, and the 35-year-old is now understood to carry the aces in his impasse with the UFC, which may see him wait out his deal and depart the promotion on the finish of 2022.
“I didn’t have something to do about that,” smiled Ngannou, claiming he didn’t know that White had not appeared on the post-fight press conferences, nor why the promotion supremo had not introduced him together with his title.
“That was their determination – I am about to ask about that too. It has been a very long time that I’ve been questioning about my future within the firm so nothing has modified, I am nonetheless in the identical place.
“It isn’t merely cash. Clearly, cash is part of it however it’s also the time period of the contract.
“I do not really feel prefer it’s honest, I do not really feel like I am a free man. I do not really feel like I’ve been handled good.”
UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard places the belt on Francis Ngannou. No Dana White. #UFC270
— Shaheen Al-Shatti (@shaunalshatti) January 23, 2022
Fighter pay has been a high-profile difficulty for the UFC. Within the build-up to the combat, acquainted White antagonist and rookie boxer Jake Paul once more taunted the promoter over what he sees because the undervaluing of athletes who danger their lives.
“Give this man what he desires, Dana,” stated provocative YouTuber Paul, calling the UFC “such a f*cked up firm to be part of.”
Talking earlier than the combat, White emphasised that Ngannou was not the favourite in opposition to Gane and instructed him to focus on the problem forward of him.
“You’re speaking about you don’t need to combat underneath your contract, you’re speaking about – he will get a chunk of pay-per-view, no matter we promote, like all the opposite champions do,” White instructed the Jim Rome Present.
“He’s constructing a giant home again in his dwelling nation in Africa. He’s constructing gyms for youths over there, he’s doing all this stuff.
“Ciryl Gane desires what this man’s received. You bought that man that’s arising and is hungry.
“No person has sufficient cash. No person’s ever going to say, ‘Oh, they’re paying me method an excessive amount of. I received an excessive amount of cash.’
“However this man has made some actual cash and he’s on the market spending it and doing his factor. Ciryl Gane desires that actual cash now.”
A bout with heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury is one in every of Ngannou’s targets within the the rest of his storied profession.
“It is unlucky that I’ve to be on this place to try this, to say that,” he stated of the storm swirling round his stand-off with White, including that he has “exhausted all my choices” in negotiations.
“However I believe it is one thing that everyone ought to a minimum of have a proper to assert for a minimum of what’s finest for them.
“On the finish of the day, we put a number of work into this job, take rather a lot [to] our physique to make it occur, so a minimum of we [should] have a good and sq. deal.”
‘The Predator’ appeared to verify that he may not combat for round a yr. “I do not consider in something,” he stated when requested a couple of potential transfer into boxing. “I do not know but.”
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