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Ngannou won't fight again without a new UFC contract.
Francis Ngannou doesn't want to fight again without a new UFC contract. (0:41)
6:28 PM
Francis Ngannou will defend his UFC title against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January, but there is a lot of uncertainty about his future with the promotion. He knows that he won't fight again under his current deal.
When asked if he would fight under the deal, Ngannou said no. I will not fight for more than $500,000. It's over. I took this fight because I want to make sure that I have completed the fights, regardless of whether or not it's fair.
Ngannou signed an eight-fight deal in December of last year. He would become a restricted free agent if he lost to Gane at UFC 270 in Anaheim, California, which would allow him to negotiate outside of the UFC.
He would be subject to a champion's clause in his contract if he retained the UFC's title. He would be under contract for three or one year. Ngannou said that he would not accept any fight if a new deal wasn't reached.
It is not clear when the contract would end legally. In modern MMA, Ngannou's situation is unprecedented. According to him and his manager, Marquel Martin, there is language in the contract stating that it can not last longer than five years.
The two sides have failed to reach a new deal in multiple attempts over the last several years, and it is not likely that they will be able to reach a deal before January 22.
UFC president Dana White said last month that he doesn't always come to terms with people. If you want to be with us, we'd love to have you. No problem if you don't want to be with us. All good.
Ngannou has made it clear that he wants to compete in a professional boxing match in the near future, and he has made it clear that he wants to negotiate financial compensation and the length of his next contract. He said that he wants to stay in the UFC and that negotiations are not contentious from his perspective.
Ngannou said that he needed to box. We've been talking for a long time. They seem to be okay with it. I believe that if the UFC is involved, it will make the event bigger. There is no question. I would like the UFC to be on-board if I box.
At some point, there wasn't good faith in this, so we are here. I don't understand why we can't reach an agreement.
Ngannou has drawn interest from professional boxers, most notably, Tyson Fury, who took to social media last week to criticize Ngannou.
The title fight between Ngannou and Gane is very competitive. Ngannou is a slight favorite. The two are familiar with each other, as they trained together. The UFC has an interim champion. He won the belt by knocking out Lewis.
If the UFC and Ngannou don't agree on a new deal before January 22, the outcome of the fight will have a major impact on his next career move. The two sides have not reengaged in negotiations recently, but Martin is open to doing so.
"We've tried to get a deal done with the UFC, but we haven't seen eye to eye," Martin said. It's Dana's decision, it's the UFC's decision, whether they want to come back to the table and have a conversation."
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