Francis Ngannou won't rule out a potential comeback to the UFC despite leaving the promotion on poor terms as their heavyweight champion earlier this month.
The world heavyweight champion had negotiated a deal that would make him the highest paid heavyweight in promotional history, but wanted other clauses that his employers wouldn't budge on, leaving him with no choice but to leave. The UFC has already moved on, making a new heavyweight title clash between legendary light-heavyweight Jon Jones and No.1 contender Ciryl Gane.
And Ngannou has said that despite the problems he has had with the UFC, he wouldn't be opposed to one day returning and fighting for the belt which he never lost. The Cameroonian won the heavyweight championship in 2021 when he dethroned Stipe Miocic, and defended it once against Gane before leaving the promotion over the weekend.
UFC president Dana White announced that Ngannou had been released from his contract, meaning that he can almost immediately begin talks for his next move, during a press conference on Saturday night. But Ngannou insists that he could still return, saying on The MMA Hour: “I don’t take any of this personally, but one thing that I know, even in that situation, it has to be on my terms.”
Responding directly to White's press conference, which came after the UFC's first event of the year last weekend, Ngannou added: "Dana is Dana. I don’t care about what he said and he cannot hurt me." He explained further: "From where I come from, I have heard a lot worse than that, and I’m still here.
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"What I know is that I’m here and I have a good future. He’s (White) upset. He’s not happy about this situation. He saw his champion go away, which is something that probably never happened.”
Speaking about the circumstances around his leaving the promotion, Ngannou insisted that he has been free of any contractual ties to the UFC since last month. This is despite White claiming that they were releasing him and allowing him freedom to move on to something else, unlike someone like Nate Diaz, who was held in a lengthy matching period after quitting the promotion.
“Nobody releases me,” Ngannou said. “I’ve been free since December 9 or 13, but the only reason I didn’t go public was in respect of our conversation. I wanted to respect that and not talk about it, but I’ve been a free agent since.”
