Today on Ariel Helwani's MMA Hour, Francis Ngannou made a few relatively newsworthy announcements. Ngannou said his next fight will be a boxing match no matter what whether it is against Deontay Wilder or Anthony Joshua. That has been heavily speculated for months now, but that wasn't the only news Francis blessed us with. Apparently, Ngannou says he has been in talks with all the big promotions. Yet, negotiations are very "close" with two promotions. It is going to come down to the PFL or ONE Fighting Championship. According to Francis, the PFL and ONE would both allow him to have the most freedom within his contracts.
Obviously, the freedom to box is going to be a huge part of Francis's contract. That being said we know that he had a lot more demands than just the freedom to box when he split ways with the UFC. I'm sure whether he goes to the PFL or ONE he will be able to receive sponsors which were also a part of his UFC demands. However, I doubt if it isn't in place already would either the PFL or ONE to add universal health care for their fighters.
I would prefer to see Francis join the ONE FC Heavyweight division. Outside of the UFC, I prefer to watch ONE over the PFL or Bellator. With the PFL or Bellator, I feel like I'd need an Anthony Pettis or an Usman Nurmagomedov to want to watch the card. With ONE I don't have to know who's fighting at all to be intrigued. I love the fighting diversity in ONE where they have a Muay Thai, Grappling, and Kickboxing division. ONE's popularity has been growing in the US with the addition of Demetrious Johnson. Adding Ngannou would only skyrocket the viewership. Ngannou and Mighty Mouse could carry ONE FC to being almost as popular as the UFC. It would also solidify them as the number two MMA brand in America over Bellator and the PFL. I'm surprised Francis is considering ONE instead of Bellator, but at the same time pleasantly surprised. Bellator probably has bigger names in the Heavyweight division considering Ryan Bader is the champ, but ONE and the PFL are two growing brands whereas it seems like Usman Nurmagomedov is the only real draw in a dying promotion for Bellator. No matter where Francis goes he will bring ratings. Yet, ONE almost makes more sense than the PFL as well being that the PFL heavily relies on tournament-based fighting to bring up their ratings. ONE is run more like the UFC, just with individual martial arts divisions as well as mixed.
I'm sure the PFL and ESPN want Francis to end up in the PFL considering ESPN promotes the PFL and the UFC. ESPN would love to continue to promote Francis while the PFL would love to stick it to the UFC on the same platform that they stole their guy. I'm sure we'll find out in the coming months based on Francis's interview today, but no matter what, he's boxing first.
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