Francis Ngannou became the UFC heavyweight champion after years of overcoming poverty, homelessness, and long odds. But when the time came to re-sign with the organization, he walked away. In a sit-down with Daniel Cormier, Ngannou laid out exactly why, and what he thinks of the UFC to this day.
When Cormier asked whether the decision was financially motivated, Ngannou immediately pushed back on that idea.
“It wasn’t money,” Ngannou said. “I think the mistake that the UFC did, we got to the point that I feel it hits my ego. I felt like I wasn’t respected.”
According to Ngannou, that sense of disrespect changed everything. Once the issue became personal, he no longer cared about the financial consequences or even the possibility of losing his career.
“When something touches my ego, I don’t care about anything,” he said. “At the time I’m like, okay, I don’t care if this is going to be the end of my career. If this means I am going back to Africa to farm, at least I can buy some machine to farm. I can do something else and still make it.”
Ngannou went on to explain that he believes his success extends far beyond figh ting itself. In his view, the UFC underestimated both his mindset and his ability to succeed outside the sport.
“I think my success is not about the sport,” he said. “I think it’s about my personality, and I can implement that in everything that I can do and still do it my way. And that’s what they didn’t understand at the time. They underestimated, and they still kind of come harder and harder, like wanting to pressure me.”
He added that trying to force him into a deal was never going to work.
“I wasn’t just the right guy to deal with it that way,” Ngannou said, “like to force.”
When the conversation shifted to a possible UFC return, Ngannou did not completely shut the door on the idea. However, he suggested that too much emotion still exists between both sides for it to be realistic anytime soon.
“Completely closed is not out of the decision,” he said. “It’s not in my hands. I don’t make those decisions. I just think there’s a lot of emotion involved on both sides that it’s going to be hard to make it happen.”
