As per Dana White, the UFC was unable to reach an agreement with Francis Ngannou on a new contract, making it only the second time in his time as UFC president that he failed to convince a fighter.
White spoke to the media after UFC Fight Night: Strickland vs. Imavov and made a string of announcements, including Ngannou’s exit from the promotion and the subsequent vacant heavyweight championship fight.
Dana White revealed further details about the contract negotiations and the massive deal that was offered to the Cameroonian heavyweight. UFC’s head honcho claimed that the contract offered to Ngannou would have made him the highest-paid heavyweight fighter in UFC history, even more so than the deal that was offered to Fedor Emelianenko. Both deals did not achieve fruition.
The legendary Russian heavyweight was offered a massive contract in a bid to pit him against Brock Lesnar in a legendary matchup. However, the negotiations fell through and Emelianenko never competed in the UFC.
Ngannou has always maintained that his priorities remained to get free reign to pursue big-money boxing matchups while being signed to the ppromotion,but he was likely denied that clause.
Check out Aaron Bronsteter’s tweets detailing White’s comments from the press conference: