Francis Ngannou says money and opportunity is out there for UFC fighters if they ‘have the balls’ for free agency

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 15: Francis N'gannou attends Rousey vs. Carano NYC Press Conference at The Palladium on April 15, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images for Netflix) | Getty Images for Netflix

Francis Ngannou is set to return to fight in America for the first time since 2022 on MVP MMA’s Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano card on May 16th. For the past four years, the former UFC heavyweight champion has been plying his trade is Saudi Arabia, making big money and big waves but not maybe as big of a splash with casual fans as he would have if he’d stayed with UFC.

Staying was something Ngannou easily could have done if he wasn’t so stubborn regarding the restrictive contract UFC makes all its fighters sign. After being stuck in that contract for five years and facing some pretty poor treatment from management, Ngannou left the promotion for free agency. Many accused him of fumbling the bag … until he made over $30 million in a twelve month period.

In a new interview with ESPN, Ngannou urged other fighters to stand strong and get out of their UFC contracts, and not just because it means he’d have someone more compelling to fight than Philipe Lins on May 16th.

“This fight, this could have been an opportunity for so many people,” Ngannou told Brett Okamoto. “But they are all locked somewhere in contracts they are not very happy about it, that are not helping them. But they don’t have the balls to stand on their own and claim that freedom.”

“We all talk about free agency, but it’s something that also demands you to be strong. You’re going to be out there on your own without having any idea about your future, not knowing if you’re going to fight, have a short notice in 10 days, or if you’re going to fight and go a year without fighting. You don’t know. [You] just have to be ready. Get yourself prepared for the opportunity.”

“That’s what happened to a lot of fighters. They are just so scared of being free, being without promotion, without a promoter, or something that they can do. They will sign up for everything just to be in the promotion, and then the day that the opportunity, the real opportunity, comes around, they are not there.”

It’s easy in hindsight to say Ngannou made the right choice, but at the time his decision seemed crazy. And if it wasn’t for Saudi boxing power broker Turki Alalshikh turning the sport on its head and taking a liking to Ngannou, we might be saying some very different things right now. There are growing options, though, one of them being Jake Paul’s MVP fight promotion moving into MMA.

“I hope that they stay around for the long term and also the way that they are doing it,” Ngannou said of MVP. “It would also be great to see another platform, to see something that can provide opportunity to other fighters, because I think also one of the reason that some fighters get themselves locked in contracts is because they are afraid of the outside. They are afraid of the unknown. They don’t know what is out there. They are not seeing any possibility, so it freaked them out, you know?”

“They rather get something that they are safe with, even if it’s not enough,” he said. “Then at least they’re like, ‘Okay, this is better than nothing,’ you know? But if they have a hope that they can have something out there, maybe some people will claim their right even more, will claim their freedom, and then will refuse a condition that is not favorable or fair for them.”