Francis Ngannou will be out of contract if he loses against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 tonight, but he will owe the promotion another fight if he wins.
Ngannou defends his UFC heavyweight title for the first time against interim titleholder Gane on the promotion's first pay-per-view of the year.
The story heading into Ngannou's title defence has been about his confusing UFC contract, which has even left the fighter uncertain about his future.
The Cameroonian is refusing to sign a new UFC deal unless they allow him to crossover to boxing and fight stars like Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder.
If Ngannou - who signed a five-year deal with the UFC in December 2017 - wins against Gane, his contract will be automatically extended by one year or three fights due to the 'champion's clause'.
'The Predator' has the choice to either fight again in the period his contract has been extended by, or sit out until December 2022 and wait for the deal to expire.
This is because despite his contract being extended by a year if he wins on January 22, the terms of his deal mean it cannot pass a length of five years.
“The UFC contract is very tricky. That’s why you sign a (40-month) contract and you find yourself after four years still dealing with that, even though you have been active," Ngannou told ESPN.
"Contractually, it means that I have executed the eight fights that were on my contract. The championship clause, people don’t understand that in the contract.
"(It) is optional because it says if at the end of the contract, if you’re the champion, you’re extended for three fights or one year. So that all made me think it’s optional.”
Ngannou admitted that unless the UFC offers him a new deal for more money than he is currently on, he will fight not again with a win at UFC 270.
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“No, I will not fight for $500,000, $600,000 anymore. I mean, it’s over. It’s over. I just did this. I took this fight for a personal reason," he said.
"I want to make sure that regardless, even if it’s unfair, I have been wrongly treated, I can make my case to say I have completed the eight fights."
If Ngannou is to lose at UFC 270 - or win and wait for his contract to expire - he wants a crossover fight with WBC heavyweight champion Fury next and would like the UFC to be involved.
“We’ve been having this (boxing) discussion for a year, and it seems like they were OK with it," he continued.
"Whatever you’re doing, whatever the event is, whether it’s boxing, when the UFC is involved, it’s just going to make it bigger. That’s not questionable.
"So yes, if I want to box, I would like the UFC to be involved."
