Jake’s Takes: Francis Ngannou leaving the UFC?

If you’ve been keeping up with MMA news lately, you might have heard about the situation with Francis Ngannou. The reigning UFC heavyweight champion has made headlines due to the fact that he may be leaving the promotion in 2022. Is this all an over exaggeration or will we really see Ngannou in the Octagon for the last time next year?

Here is my two cents on it all – this is Jake’s Takes!

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It’s no secret that Ngannou and the UFC have been at odds in recent times. The promotion hasn’t given the champion very much wiggle room. They initially wanted Ngannou to defend his title in June, but that wasn’t on the cards. A fight with Derrick Lewis was reluctantly booked for August, but the champ needed more time to prepare.

The UFC, instead, booked Lewis to fight rising star Ciryl Gane. No disrespect to Gane, but the only reason he’s holding the interim title is because the UFC created that fight to force Ngannou’s hand.

Ngannou also claimed that the UFC had been extending his deal without his knowing. The champ claimed that his contract was due to expire in May 2021. The ‘Champion’s Clause’ in his contract – something mentioned plentifully in the Zuffa antitrust lawsuit – means that the UFC can add fights to a champion’s contract whenever they wish. He also mentioned the ‘Tolling Provisions’ clause, which adds fights to a contract when they’re inactive.

It seemed like things had finally settled between Ngannou and the higher-ups when a title unification bout was booked for UFC 270. Tensions began to flare up once again in November, however, when Ngannou claimed that UFC staff intentionally made him walk past Gane at UFC 268, trying to set up a photo opportunity or altercation of some kind.

The biggest bit of news came earlier this month, with the champ claiming he only had a single bout left on his deal. Ngannou claimed that – should he be unhappy with the status of his next contract – would leave the UFC. This sparked massive media coverage. UFC president Dana White seemed to think that Ngannou leaving was a totally viable option.

White said, “These things happen. Sometimes you don’t always come to terms with people… look, if you wanna be with us, we’d love to have you. If you don’t want to be with us, no problem. It’s all good.”

Despite this, if Ngannou unifies the title at UFC 270, I see the promotion extending his deal once again. The ‘Champion’s Clause’ that I mentioned earlier on gives the UFC the power to add fights to his contract at their discretion. White might seem nonchalant about letting Ngannou leave, but let’s be real: he’s not letting his champion leave for a rival promotion.

Should Ngannou lose and Gane becomes undisputed, there’s a fairer chance that the promotion allows him to leave. Even still, let’s not kid ourselves, there is no reason not to give Ngannou the contract he wants. He has a large following in the MMA community and has the potential to go mainstream. He’s got the hardest recorded human punch ever, for God’s sake.

Win, lose or draw, I don’t see Ngannou leaving the UFC. There may be more to this dispute than White’s tight-fistedness, but either way – I will be very surprised if we see the last of ‘The Predator‘ in the Octagon at UFC 270.