Sean O'Malley believes Francis Ngannou messed up by parting ways with the UFC.
Ngannou was involved in a contract dispute with the UFC, leading to his departure and relinquishing of the heavyweight title in January. Jon Jones submitted Ciryl Gane to claim the vacant belt this past Saturday at UFC 285, which could have set up a megafight with Ngannou.
Ngannou has received interest from some of boxing’s biggest names such as Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, but O’Malley thinks that Ngannou no longer being a UFC fighter makes him a less lucrative option.
“Francis, and I’ve said it since Day 1 since he started talking sh*t on the UFC on Twitter: It’s going to be the biggest mistake of his life,” O’Malley said on the “TimboSugarShow.” “Tyson Fury is not interested in Francis Ngannou anymore.
“He was interested in Francis when he was the UFC champ. He was the baddest motherf*cker in the world. Now he’s outside the UFC. Now it’s not as intriguing. Who is Francis? Francis is eventually going to be like – he hasn’t fought in two years. That fight is going to be not as interesting.”
Ngannou insisted that money wasn’t the main reason why he chose not to re-sign with the UFC, instead emphasizing the terms of the deal as a deterrent. O’Malley thinks Ngannou saw the amount of money Conor McGregor made boxing Floyd Mayweather, and wants to follow suit.
“You do that because you want that payday,” O’Malley said. “You want that boxing payday, and that was in his head. It was in his manager’s head. That’s what I’m assuming. I’m guessing, obviously. I don’t f*cking know.
“I think he’s thinking he saw Conor do it, but Conor did it with the UFC. He didn’t do it by himself. The more days go on, the less intrigue, the less care we have for Francis to go to boxing.”
