Did Francis Ngannou’s boxing endeavor damage his reputation?
Online discussion was triggered by Ngannou’s decision to quit the UFC when he was the heavyweight champion of the organization. In his pursuit of boxing freedom, “The Predator” nearly defeated future Hall of Famer Tyson Fury. Although Anthony Joshua ultimately defeated “The Predator,” he earned a sizable sum of money from his boxing bouts with Joshua and “The Gypsy King.”
After leaving the UFC, Ngannou earned career-high salaries, but one former slugger believes his reputation suffered greatly.
The “Forgotten” Legacy of Francis Ngannou in MMA
During an edition of MMAFighting.com’s “The Fighter vs. The Writer,” Matt Brown weighed in on the rumors that Francis Ngannou is open to a UFC return. “The Immortal” believes Ngannou damaged his legacy in MMA after leaving the UFC.
“Legacy wise, he’s already forgotten in terms of the heavyweight division in MMA. Legacy wise, I think it damaged his legacy tremendously. Had he won those boxing matches, that would have obviously helped his legacy a [expletive] ton. For instance, after he fought Tyson Fury the first time, and a lot of us believe that he won, it was pretty close, debatable but I would argue he probably won. I don’t think anybody was arguing that it was a bad move at that point.”
Brown even said that Ngannou was “humanized” by the two boxing contests. In the end, Brown believes that Ngannou stole the money at the expense of his reputation in the MMA world.
“It was after he lost and now the UFC is like whatever bro, do your thing,” Brown said. “Now everybody is asking if it was a mistake. But he made more money in those two matches that he would have made fighting in the UFC for the next 10 years. Was it a mistake on that part? No, but his legacy is going to suffer. He’s not going to be in the talks for the best heavyweight ever, period.”
Recently, Dana White, the CEO of the UFC, was questioned if he would do business with Ngannou once more. In a succinct statement, the UFC CEO stated that it is unlikely to occur.
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