Francis Ngannou walking away from UFC, Jon Jones fight is both a commendable and frightening risk | Opinion

The rarest of situations came to pass on Saturday when UFC president Dana White announced that Francis Ngannou, the promotion’s reigning heavyweight champion, had parted ways with the company, unlikely to ever return.

The development cleared the path for White to book a vacant title bout between Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane as the main event for UFC 285, which takes place March 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

As the UFC celebrates the 30th anniversary of its existence in 2023, we can only point to one previous instance where this has happened: B.J. Penn left the organization as welterweight champion in 2004 because of a contract dispute, but he eventually found his way back and spent another decade-plus fighting in the octagon.

Others have tried to escape from the firm grip of the world’s top MMA promotion over the years. Randy Couture is the most prominent of those figures and even went to court in hopes of voiding his contract, but it never happened. Whether a mutual resolution is reached or the athlete simply couldn’t afford to hold out any longer, the UFC has a history of getting its way in these situations.

Not this time, though.

For anyone who has been paying attention for the past 18 months, the news of Ngannou’s departure should not come as a complete surprise. In fact, it seems to be exactly what Ngannou wanted. He’s felt misused, mistreated and inadequately paid by the UFC for some time, and expressed that opinion over and over.

Ngannou wanted his respect. Whether that meant in dollars and cents alone or in the grander scheme, only he truly knows.

The 36-year-old certainly isn’t the only UFC champ who has felt that way, but he’s one of the few who was willing to be so vocal about it and bet on himself to get his freedom. And that is a very critical detail in all this.

Ngannou went into his UFC 270 fight with Ciryl Gane in January 2022 with a busted knee and on the final fight of his contract, knowing that if he could achieve a win, he would have options and leverage heading into negotiations that few others have enjoyed.

Whether those options prove to be better ones remains to be seen. PFL, Bellator and BKFC are already showing interest in his services. A boxing match with Tyson Fury is also high on Ngannou’s bucket list. There are things he can do and perhaps for more financial gain.

The choice to determine his own path going forward is ultimately what Ngannou wanted out of this. He has yet to speak on this chapter in the story, but when he does, we’ll have a firmer idea about his decision process.

But right now, all we have is White’s statements from Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 217 post-fight press conference. And if you believe them at face value, it’s a tad puzzling Ngannou would walk away from his belt, a record-setting contract offer and a generationally significant showdown with Jones. But those are the key words: If you believe.

It shouldn’t have to be pointed out that White doesn’t exactly have a track record of providing a complete narrative in these situations, nor should we expect him to. He has a history of willingly trashing fighters who don’t toe the company line, but in this instance, he was actually quite level-headed.

It’s also White’s job to paint himself and the UFC in the best light possible and try to minimize exterior damage for his company in an unideal moment like this one. However, that doesn’t mean we need to accept his words as gospel.

So in light of that, let’s analyze some of White’s key quotes from Saturday’s press conference.