Mike Tyson has claimed that Francis Ngannou's recent $600,000 UFC purse would have only covered his training expenses during his heavyweight career.
Ngannou is currently embroiled in a contract stand-off with the UFC over issues such as his financial reward and his inability to pursue lucrative opportunities in the boxing ring. He recently defended his UFC heavyweight title against Cyril Gane, earning a guaranteed purse of around $600,000.
However, Tyson has now made a cheeky claim during a conversation with UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya on his HotBoxin' podcast. Adesanya said: "Shout out to my boy, my big brother Francis, he kicked the door down and said 'Look, this is what's happening.
"They're paying me this much and I'm this guy.' He put it all out there. Mike, imagine at the height of your career, you're fighting and you're getting paid the equivalent of $600k to fight. That would be atrocious."
To which Tyson swiftly replied: "Listen, that'd be my training expenses. That's my training expenses. People would pay me to do commercials and stuff and I would make sure they paid me in advance but I might not show up or something." Adesanya later clarified his stance did not reflect his own personal situation.
"The guys who are making their debut they should be able to just get paid, and then not have to work at all during their training camp," Adesanya continued. "Because a lot of fighters do. They work. Imagine having a second job. Get paid, pay management, pay training expenses, then have enough to live off of."
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Adesanya has recently become one of the highest earners in the promotion after signing a new lucrative long-term deal with the UFC. However, his Nigerian compatriot is yet to follow suit and sign a new deal and talks will continue to take place while he considers his options.
Tyson had a hugely successful boxing career and earned almost $37.5 million from his exploits. Most recently Tyson was expected to have earned around $10 million for an exhibition match against Roy Jones Jr in 2020. Ngannou also compared his purse to heavyweight champion Tyson Fury who earned 50 times more than him for his recent trilogy with Deontay Wilder.
Several options have been presented to Ngannou including a crossover clash with Fury, who would be willing to come out of 'retirement' to stage any bout. The pair have verbally agreed the fight on social media, with Fury hoping it can take place in Las Vegas next year.
Ngannou is yet to clarify any official decision as crunch talks remain ongoing, but MMA manager Ali Abdelaziz believes the heavyweight is deserving of better reward. “If anybody deserves to be paid, it’s Francis,” Abdelaziz told MMA Junkie. “Francis probably left in the last two fights $12 million on the table, this is a courageous man."
