MMA Next? Ngannou 'Waiting To See If PFL Pulls Something Up'
11/20/2024 07:07 AM
Ngannou still has more boxing fights in his future, but for now he's waiting to see if PFL can put together an interesting MMA fight next.
After smashing Renan Ferreira at the PFL's 'Battle of the Giants' event in October, Francis Ngannou could easily return to boxing for another massive payday. But instead, "The Predator" intends on taking a little break and seeing if the MMA league can pull something together for the second (and final) fight on his contract with them.
Ngannou shared his plans with TMZ Sports, telling them his next fight — or sport — wasn't set.
"I will wait a couple of months to see if the PFL pulls something up," the Cameroonian heavyweight said. "And if not I will see if there's something in boxing. Either. But it's not like it's top in my mind, I know I can do either of them."
Franny did respond to a recent callout from Deontay Wilder, who has expressed interest in fighting Ngannou in MMA and boxing.
"Since we spoke nothing has changed." Ngannou said. "In my vision, if I have a couple of fights left, I would like that to be one of them."
That's a very interesting statement: Francis Ngannou sounds like he's already planning his combat sports endgame with a few more fights before he retires.
Considering he just made almost $40 million dollars over the last year, he certainly doesn't need to keep fighting for the money. But the money is out there — he'll make another $8 million plus extras from PFL for the second fight on his contract. He's got at least one more mega-money fight in boxing out there: a rematch with Tyson Fury. And since he already exists in the sideshow realm, maybe he could be the one to knock Jake Paul's block off?
"No, no, no, no, come on. Don't be silly," Ngannou said of fighting Paul. "Maybe if we put the two Paul brothers in the cage and lock the cage, maybe there's something to do there. Come on. Respect me a little bit."
With just one fight left on his PFL contract, we'd say a return to the UFC and fight with Jon Jones could be in the cards too. Unfortunately, UFC CEO Dana White has made it clear he's not interested in doing business with Ngannou again, and we believe him.
But just so you know: after a second fight with PFL, Ngannou will be an MMA free agent. Nothing would be stopping him from stepping back into the UFC other than the UFC's refusal to meet his terms ... terms the PFL easily came to an agreement on.
