Francis Ngannou will make millions of dollars on Friday to box Anthony Joshua, but while he was in the UFC he says he was broke.
Ngannou made his UFC debut in 2015 and became the heavyweight champion in 2021 when he knocked out Stipe Miocic. He defended his belt once as he scored a decision win over Ciryl Gane. However, while he was fighting, Ngannou says he was broke and it got so bad he had to borrow $200k from his friend and UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
😳 Francis Ngannou had to borrow $200k from Kamaru Usman while he was a UFC champion.
💰 It is known that Francis made $600k in his last fight in the UFC which was a title defense. It is reported that Ngannou will make over $20M for Anthony Joshua fight.
🎥 @pound4pound pic.twitter.com/zrMXvhUyVe— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) March 7, 2024
“He knew about stuff I turned down from the UFC during negotiation. Even my last fight in the UFC, you know I took $600,000 in my last fight in the UFC as opposed to $5 million that they were offering for the same fight. I was like, ‘Bro.’ And, I was broke, at the time I owe Usman, I owe him $200,000,” Ngannou said on Henry Cejudo & Kamaru Usman’s podcast.
Why Ngannou had to borrow the money is uncertain, but Usman was happy to help out his friend in need, despite him being the UFC heavyweight champion.
It is interesting that Francis Ngannou had to borrow such a big amount of money from Kamaru Usman while he was in the UFC. But he did only fight once in 2020, 2021, and 2022 so he didn’t make as much money as he could have.
After turning down a new deal from the UFC, ‘The Predator’ ended up going to free agency and signed an MMA deal with the PFL. He also secured a boxing fight with Tyson Fury as he reportedly earned $10 million for that and will now box Anthony Joshua on Friday and will make tens of millions once again.
Ngannou is currently 17-3 in MMA and 0-1 in boxing. Should he beat Joshua, he would be in line for another massive fight next time out and another massive payday.
