Francis Ngannou, the former dominant UFC heavyweight champion, once again positioned himself as the leading voice for fighter independence in combat sports. The Cameroonian star, whose exit from Dana White’s promotion became one of the loudest precedents in industry history, explained why so many athletes remain shut out from major paydays.
In Ngannou’s view, the biggest barrier to wealth is not a lack of skill, but fear of the unknown.
“Opportunities are always there. You just have to be open to them and be free. Do everything you can to take advantage of the chance when it comes. If you keep signing unfavorable contracts over and over again because you’re afraid of ending up with nothing, you can eventually get trapped. That has happened to many fighters. They are simply very afraid to be free, to be without a promotion, without a promoter, so they sign anything just to get into a promotion, and then when a real opportunity appears, they can no longer take it. A fight with me would have been an opportunity for many, but they’re all stuck somewhere in contracts they’re not very happy with, and that does them no good. But they don’t have the courage to stand up for themselves and declare their freedom,” Ngannou said, as quoted by MMA Mania.
