Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou (18-3) had some fans raising their eyebrows earlier this week when he appeared on Ariel Helwani’s show. Ngannou said that his next fight would be in MMA and he also said that his PFL deal is coming to an end.
Ngannou expressed interest in returning to the UFC for a potential fight with Jon Jones at The White House. Ngannou told Helwani that his deal with the PFL would be up before that event which would allow him to take that fight should the opportunity present itself.
In seeing how John Martin is now running the promotion, my guess is that Francis Ngannou is going to fight one more time and then he’ll be done with the PFL. This weekend, Vadim Nemkov and Renan Ferreira fight for the promotion’s heavyweight title and on paper, the winner should fight Ngannou to make the biggest fight possible.
That said, the promotion might not be keen on having Ngannou potentially winning the heavyweight title just to walk out the door. As of now, unless an extension gets put into place, I see the promotion giving Ngannou a non-title fight sometime in early 2026 and that will close his deal with the promotion and they’ll move on.
UFC Return?
I’ve said it just like other have said it, the UFC’s heavyweight division is in rough shape right now. Outside of some of the guys at the very top, it’s not good at all. On paper, bringing back Francis Ngannou would be an excellent move for the promotion.
Combining that with potentially a signing of Gable Steveson and a ton of new life would be injected into a very dull division. However, Dana White doesn’t seem to high on that idea. In speaking with The Mac Life today, White made it clear that he’s not interested in bringing Ngannou back given the way things ended between the parties.
That said, I do think part of the issue right now is the resentment between the two sides. If you were to take White’s comments at face value with no historical context, you would’ve thought that the UFC had no interest in re-signing Ngannou and you would’ve thought that they cut him.
That is not what happened. In January 2024, White announced that the UFC was waiving their rights to match for Ngannou and announced that he was a free agent after the two sides couldn’t come to a deal. White made it clear at the time how hard they tried to retain the former heavyweight champion.
White said that the offer the UFC presented to him would’ve made him the highest paid heavyweight in history, even higher than former heavyweight champion and current WWE star, Brock Lesnar. White said that Hunter Campbell had numerous dinners with Ngannou trying to get a deal done with him.
A deal never materialized and Ngannou ultimately went to the PFL. Frankly, the PFL deal just has not worked out. Ngannou has only fought once for the promotion while having boxing bouts with Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua which both netted him huge paydays.
While White made his comments clear, I do think there’s a path to a reunion. If Dana White can re-sign Tito Ortiz years ago after everything that happened between the two of them, he can bring back Francis Ngannou. I think if the sides come together and have a reasonable conversation, there could easily be something there.
I think it would require Ngannou making more concessions than it would the UFC and maybe that’s a sticking point. However, at this stage of his career, I think Ngannou is more likely to make concessions than he was a couple of years ago. I would love to see him back and while I’m not holding my breath, I do think the door is at least cracked for a return.
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