Getty Image
When Francis Ngannou made the shock decision to vacate the UFC heavyweight championship in search of other options, some fans called it crazy.
And for a brief period of time, those fans looked like they may have been right.
Ngannou struggled to find a new deal that would meet his admittedly high contract standards. But eventually, “The Predator” landed the deal was looking for, signing with the upstart PFL.
But the promotion currently lacks viable heavyweight challengers to Ngannou. So in the meantime he’s opted to pursue a boxing mega-fight with reigning WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
The two combat sports giants wil square off with one another on October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The fight will be ten-rounds and will be considered a professional fight. Though Fury’s title is not on the line.
Many fans believe this fight validates Ngannou’s decision to leave the UFC for what he felt were greener pastures. But some questioned it, stating a lack of clarity over how much Ngannou is making to fight Fury.
The exact details of the contract are not currently available. But Ngannou’s longtime representative Marquel Martin says his client will be more than handsomely paid for the fight.
“Let’s just say this: The bag is so big, he may actually just drop it on the way to the bank,” Martin said Wednesday on The MMA Hour. “Let’s just say that. I don’t know what the haters are trying to say right now, I kind of just blocked it out, but they’ll just be proven wrong again. This is life-changing. This is exactly what we planned and visualized, so we’re happy.”
Now, Ngannou is a very, very large man. So if he’s dropping a bag on the way to the bank, it must be pretty darn heavy. Sure, this could just be posturing from Martin. But it sure seems like Ngannou is set to make quite the pay day in Saudi Arabia.