By Harry Kettle
– October 31, 2023
Chael Sonnen believes Francis Ngannou still somewhat “fumbled the bag” despite his fight against Tyson Fury.
Last weekend, Francis Ngannou battled Tyson Fury in a boxing superfight. While Fury got the split decision win, Ngannou was able to drop ‘The Gypsy King’ in the third round. In addition to that, many fans felt as if Ngannou actually did enough to get his hand raised in victory.
RELATED: JON JONES SHARES HIS THOUGHTS ON FRANCIS NGANNOU’S PERFORMANCE AGAINST TYSON FURY
Either way, though, ‘The Predator’ received the biggest payday of his career, and he deserves a lot of praise for that. Now, many are questioning what he’s going to next, with fans also pointing out that Francis’ decision to leave the UFC proved to be a good one.
In the eyes of Chael Sonnen, however, it’s a bit more complex than that.
Sonnen’s Ngannou view
“I want to praise Francis today, but I do want the story told correctly,” Sonnen said. “I think that he beat Fury. I think he exceeded expectations. I think that he deserves a lot of credit. But I’ve already seen the story mistold, that he played this one and didn’t fumble the bag. Well if the bag is a bag full of money, yes he did. He absolutely did. To make believe that $10 million is somehow significantly more than he would’ve got on his pay-per-view participation alone against Jon Jones is incorrect. Not to mention the two years that he sat equals six fights. Let’s bring it back and call it five. And making it really easy, let’s call it four fights. His four fights would’ve equaled $10 million had he promoted them. You’ve got to really understand this.
“It’s not the way the people keep saying it is. I don’t know what he’s got in MMA. I don’t know who is out there for him (in PFL). I know the two leading opponents for him are Junior Dos Santos and Fabricio Werdum. I don’t give those guys a hard time; they’re studs. But no one is clamoring to see that fight. Meanwhile if I told you Francis is going to return to boxing, he’s going to take on Deontay Wilder, you will stop what you’re doing and mark down your calendar. So let’s see where he goes. I do want to praise him, but I praise him in the spirit of let’s tell the story accurately in the way that it happened.”
Quotes via MMA Junkie
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