Francis Ngannou has revealed that he’s having to borrow money to pay for his training camp for UFC 270, where he will defend his heavyweight title against interim champion Ciryl Gane.
Ngannou has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of the UFC’s pay structure, as he believes he deserves a bigger piece of the pie. Despite earning over half a million for his title fight against Stipe Miocic at UFC 260, ‘The Predator’ hinted that he’s finding it hard to make ends meet.
Having To Borrow Money
Speaking on MMA Fighting’s The MMA Hour, Ngannou revealed that he’s going to pursue boxing somewhere down the road because he’s not making enough money in MMA.
“Well, it (MMA) is more difficult [than boxing],” Ngannou said. “I feel I should not be needing to borrow money for my training camp. At some point, I’m gonna go after those money. I’m gonna go to that boxing for sure… I’m not challenging the system, I’m just saying my right.”
Ngannou also said that the UFC tried to discredit him by booking the interim title fight between Gane and Derrick Lewis at UFC 265, where the Frenchman won by third round TKO.
“From what I’m seeing, the UFC is trying to discredit me,” Ngannou said. “That’s what I know. And those promoting somebody cannot work together with discrediting him. You don’t do that to somebody that you want to promote.
“What do I look for? First of all, I look for some respect, that’s to start. Then I look to get stuff right, I look to feel like I’m respected, to feel like they care at least. That’s it. I never asked for anything more than that. That would be enough for me. … I gained the position that I am at. I wasn’t nominated, I wasn’t assigned to be here, I earned it. So that means I deserve a little bit of respect, just a little bit. I’m not a big deal, just a little famous, that’s it (laughs).”
Fighting In The UFC
Although Ngannou isn’t too pleased with the UFC’s top brass, he still loves fighting in the promotion and is hoping things change for the better.
“The UFC is a beautiful and nice promotion,” Ngannou said. “I love being in the UFC. The only part that is challenging now is behind-the-scenes part. But fighting, I love it. That’s for sure, I love the promotion, that’s not questionable. I still hope that this works out. I still hope, I wish that it would work out. In the meantime, if it doesn’t work out, I can’t do anything.”
How do you think Francis Ngannou would do in boxing?
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