KEY POINTS

  • Francis Ngannou has vowed to not fight for the UFC again for mediocre pay
  • Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is confident it can match Ngannou's price tag
  • Tyson Fury confirms he will fight the UFC heavyweight champion next year

Francis Ngannou could immediately find a new home should he ever consider leaving the UFC.

After defending his heavyweight title last month at UFC 270 against Ciryl Gane, Ngannou’s future with the UFC became one of the hottest subjects in the sport.

It can be recalled that "The Predator" and his team have not been too happy with the UFC over salaries and other management issues.

Atop that, Ngannou has confirmed that he will make a switch to boxing no matter what. This has got other companies alerted, including Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC).

BKFC had just wrapped up a successful event titled “BareKnuckle Mania 2” this past weekend. Discussing what lies ahead, head honcho David Feldman confirmed that they will be gunning for UFC’s Ngannou.

Feldman is confident that BKFC can match Ngannou’s price tag. However, he also admitted that they can only make the first step should the UFC champion becomes a free agent.

“We might be able to get two other free agents that are coming up, probably announce in the next day or two,” Feldman said about Ngannou on The MMA Hour. “They are still under contract or we would announce it right now, I don’t want to mess them up. Pretty big names but we are going after the biggest name [Ngannou] so we will see what happens there. The biggest name in free agency.”

“I’m not sure if he’s [Ngannou’s] out of the window yet but we are definitely going to make a play for him,” he added. “I mean, at that stage, you are talking about money, if we can back that kind of money up, we are in the game. I don’t think we are out of the game for anything, to be honest with you.”

Francis Ngannou
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - MAY 09: Francis Ngannou (R) of Cameroon misses a punch against Jair Rozenstruik of Suriname in their Heavyweight fight during UFC 249 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on May 09, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)

BKFC may have already have an idea of how much Ngannou has in mind as he had earlier sworn he will no longer fight for the UFC for “$500,000 or $600,000.”

To date, Ngannou has yet to ink a new deal with the UFC and the only thing seemingly progressing is his crossover fight against British world boxing champion Tyson Fury.

“I’m gonna fight Francis Ngannou in Las Vegas next year, next March or February,” Fury told IFL TV via Boxing Scene. “Not for this year. But next year we can get some f------ crazy fights.”

“[It will be a] very big [fight],” the heavyweight titleholder continued. “I believe it breaks all pay-per-view records in the United States. Two heavyweights, champions going head-to-head.”

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