Francis Ngannou knows he is in the minority when it comes to the career path he has chosen since 2023.
Ngannou left the UFC at the start of that year following a lengthy contractual dispute. He has since fought once in the PFL and fulfilled his ambitions to cross over to boxing.
Next, ‘The Predator’ will make his first appearance in the cage since October 2024, when Ngannou fights Philipe Lins on Netflix this May.
The event will mark the very first in MMA to air on the streaming platform, and the former UFC heavyweight champion thinks plenty of big names are needlessly missing out.
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Francis Ngannou urges UFC fighters to be brave enough to ‘stand alone’
Ngannou is one of many former UFC stars who will make the walk at Inglewood’s Intuit Dome on May 16.
Nate Diaz will face Mike Perry and there will also be outings for Junior dos Santos and Muhammad Mokaev before Ronda Rousey headlines against Gina Carano.
At the recent press conference in New York, Diaz described the event as one comprised of the “free” fighters, a sentiment that got strong support from Ngannou.
And during a recent interview with ESPN, ‘The Predator’ further explained why the upcoming Netflix event is evidence of why more fighters should get some ‘balls’ and take the jump into free agency.
“There’s always the opportunity,” Ngannou said. “I think you just have to be around and be free. Make sure you’re in the position to catch that opportunity when it comes. If you get yourself stuck in a contract because you’re afraid of being alone out there, when the opportunity comes, you might be stuck in some contract.
“That’s what happened to a lot of fighters. They are just so scared of being free, being without promotion, without a promoter, or something that they can do. They will sign up for everything just to be in the promotion, and then the day that the opportunity, the real opportunity, comes around, they are not there.
“This fight, this could have been an opportunity for so many people, but they are all locked somewhere in the contract that they are not very happy about, that (is) not helping them,” he continued. “But they don’t have the balls to stand on their own and claim that freedom.
“We all talk about free agency, but it’s like it’s something that also demands you to be strong. You’re going to be out there on your own without…
2026-04-23 15:00:00
