Francis Ngannou on PFL: 'It was their decision to part ways, not mine'
· Yahoo Sports
Francis Ngannou says PFL's announcement of his departure caught him off guard.
Earlier this month, it was announced that Ngannou parted ways with PFL and is now a free agent. Ngannou had one fight left on his deal, which PFL brass appeared confident would materialize. However, Ngannou claims he was never offered a fight, even though he was willing to compete.
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Ngannou (18-3) fought just once for PFL when he knocked out Renan Ferreira to claim the super fights belt in October 2024. Although PFL's decision to not book Ngannou again was made months ago, the former UFC heavyweight champion says he wasn't told when the news would be made public.
"We parted ways in January," Ngannou said on "The Ariel Helwani Show." "I wanted to also give them a better way to come up with something because that was their decision to part ways, not mine. But I was a little surprised when they sent me that (announcement). They should have at least told me since I was holding onto this.
"At this point, I'm not here to feel emotional about stuff. I just move on. I found it a little weird that after all this time, they didn't come back to me to say, 'OK, now we're going to announce it.' They didn't even tell me. People just sent it to me. I just saw it out there. I wasn't aware at all. At that point, I had been talking with MVP, with Nakisa (Bidarian) for two or three weeks."
Ngannou's next fight will come in MMA when he takes on Philipe Lins on the May 16 Rousey vs. Carano card (Netflix) at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Francis Ngannou claims PFL decided to part ways, not him