Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou, now competition in the boxing division, continues his bromance with his Nigerian-American friend Kamaru Usman.
Everyone sure knows the love and loyalty that exists between Ngannou and the former Welterweight champion, like seeing them pull up for each other during fights or showing up for events together, but they sure didn’t know how deep their connection and friendship was.
Francis Ngannou before his highly anticipated fight in Riyadh against Anthony Joshua, revealed how grateful he remains to Usman, who stood by him and even borrowed him a huge sum of $200,000 while he was broke and fighting to get out of his UFC contract in 2021.
For the records, Francis Ngannou turned down a contract extension with the UFC that would have seen him earn about $8 million or less in the division but “The Predator” wanted more than just that and risked everything for freedom which eventually paid off anyway.
“You were talking earlier about the contract i turned down” said Ngannou to Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo on their show Pound 4 Pound.
“You knew a lot about the stuff I turned down from the UFC. I took $600,000 for my last fight in the UFC as opposed to $5 million that they were offering for the same fight. And I was broke. That time I owed Usman $200,000. I was broke. It’s true!”
Ngannou after turning down the contract from the UFC, went into partnership with the PFL where he’s yet to fight but has been busy in the bout with heavyweight boxers like: Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. The French-Cameroonian has been making more money per fight than he ever made in the UFC, even though he admits that boxing is more tedious than the MMA which he considers his “comfort zone”.
Surpringly, Ngannou admits to Usman that he misses the UFC and still looks forward to returning there because of the unfinished business he has with Jon Jones who was supposed to be his next opponent before his unprecedented exit from the division.
