Khabib Supports Francis Ngannou’s Decision to Leave the UFC: ‘He Was With No Money’
While Khabib Nurmagomedov would have liked to see Francis Ngannou stay with the UFC, he understands and supports the former heavyweight champion’s decision to pursue a bigger bag elsewhere.
Ngannou infamously walked away from the UFC in early 2023 after a year’s worth of failed negotiations. In the time since, ‘The Predator’ has signed a groundbreaking deal with the PFL that’s finally going to pay dividends for the promotion this Saturday in Riyadh. Ngannou has also competed twice in the sweet science, squaring off with former heavyweight world champions Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Ngannou came up short in both outings but reportedly took home a whopping $30 million between the two scraps.
Asked for his thoughts on Ngannou’s decision to pursue boxing despite being at the top of his game in the world of mixed martial arts, Nurmagomedov told Sky Sports:
“But Ngannou? I think he has to stay with the UFC. But if he goes to boxing and he’s making 50 or 60 million dollars — he has to. Why not? I know Ngannou comes from a very, very poor life in Africa. He was with no money, no home, nothing. So if someone pays you more money then go and take.”
Francis Ngannou faces renan ferreira in PFL debut
Ngannou will step into the PFL Smart Cage for the first time on October 19 when the promotion launches its highly anticipated Super Fights series on pay-per-view. In the main event of the evening, Ngannou will face 2023 PFL heavyweight tournament winner Renan Ferreira.
‘Problema’ earned the opportunity to welcome Ngannou to the PFL via a 21-second knockout of Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader in February.
It will be Ngannou’s first MMA fight since a UFC heavyweight title defense against Ciryl Gane in January 2022. Ferreira has fought eight times since then and is sitting on a four-fight win streak, all by KO.
