As it turns out, PFL, which stands for Pretty Freaking Lenient, lived up to its name this week when it released Francis Ngannou. Two boxing tours taught us that the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time was not held hostage in the PFL, but an MMA caged bird free to fly wherever he wanted.
This could be Netflix’s…
advertise
But hold on to that thought for now.
First some statistics. Ngannou signed with the PFL in May 2023, recording a total of 1,024 days, or approximately 33 and a half months. With this muscular frame, he has fought under this banner before, against Renan Ferreira some 17 months ago. That night, he won the PFL Super Boxing Heavyweight Championship with the same creativity as the BMF belt up for grabs at UFC 326 this weekend.
Overall, he had less than one round of competition time, a total of just 212 seconds. If Ferreira had maintained his punching power after the first round, the numbers might not have jumped off the page (so brazenly). But in reality, Ngannou’s salary is calculated by the second, not the hour, and he receives roughly $47,000 for every second he spends in the PFL cage. Not a bad job for a disgruntled heavyweight. In the boxing ring, he met Eight Figs. The zero on the check has escaped.
In fact, the more I look at it, the more I think PFL stands for Polite Friends League. Letting Ngannou go before his current contract expires, with one game remaining so he can accumulate more cash, would be a friendly gesture in a cutthroat industry. When this all started, it was exciting for those of us who like principled UFC stars to bet on themselves. The boxing match alone was cause for celebration, as Ngannou not only disobeyed his marching orders but shocked the world by knocking out Tyson Fury. Some even thought he beat Fury before the scorecards came back.
Francis Ngannou knocked out Tyson Fury in a heavyweight boxing match on October 28, 2023.
(Justin Setterfield via Getty Images)
Ngannou went from being the best heavyweight MMA fighter in the world to a boxing sensation.
advertise
Don’t begrudge him for these excursions. Francis — just as he had done when he fled Cameroon across the Mediterranean as a refugee — bet on himself and won.
But from an MMA perspective, the nearly three years he spent on the PFL roster feel a bit like John Lennon’s lost weekend. Yes, he’s productive, but it’s a different world than we’re used to. A word appropriate to the occasion might be Anticlimactic. Some commitments hang in the balance. The contract requires his opponents to pay a fair price of at least $2 million, an extension of Ngannou’s largesse. For this, Ferreira thanked him, but wasn’t he known as the PFL Africa Chairman? It feels like this means something important for anything “coming soon.” When the PFL showed up in South Africa, Francis was nowhere to be found.
Maybe just having him on the list is enough to make him a “strategic partner.”
“[The PFL] “It’s not just about coming to a promotion to find a fighter,” he said at the time of the signing, “but coming in as a partner who truly sees your value as an individual.”
advertise
For that, they get their money’s worth, but the PFL of today is not the PFL of then.
Thus ends another chapter in the life and career of Francis Ngnanou, who is unlikely to return to the UFC despite the timing of this development. Despite the lack of talent in these heavyweight divisions, Dana White has repeatedly reiterated (and reiterated) that he wants nothing to do with Ngannou, and Dana White’s stubbornness is worth studying. Ngannou himself, marching to the beat of his own drum, is unlikely to welcome this anyway.
The move is likely for the Most Valuable Promotion (MVP), whose first appearance on the MMA schedule will take place on May 16 in Los Angeles. MVP co-creator Nakisa Bidarian teased on an episode of the massive co-main event “MVP Uncut” that supporting the return of Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano would be no bigger than Big Fran. The card has been on the cards in the UFC since it was announced a few weeks ago, and the addition of Ngannou takes it from a late novelty to a must-see event.
advertise
In an era that’s seen so many onslaughts that it’s hard to keep track – from Zuffa Fighting snatching Conor Benn away from Eddie Hearn to Hearn signing to fight back on behalf of (annoyed) UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall – Ngannou’s emergence from exile is like adding fuel to the fire. Ngannou, UFC heavyweight champion.
We never got to see Francis take on Jon Jones, which is a great disgrace to the civilized dating world. We also didn’t get to see Jones fight Aspinall, which caused laughter among the UFC heavyweight rankings. The initial void was Ngannou’s departure, which left a lot of unfinished business. Even at 39 years old and having only fought once in three years, Ngannou still has a reason to be the best fighter in the MMA heavyweight division.
advertise
Now he is free to lock himself in another cage.
Three years later, the PFL was left to Peep Francis Leaving.
