Francis Ngannou captured the UFC's Heavyweight Championship belt nearly one and a half years ago. His win over Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 was followed by just one title defense. According to reports, his lack of in-ring appearances as a defending champion stems from his rocky business relationship with Dana White, the president of the UFC. Ngannou was required to defend his belt at least three times or remain with the UFC for one year, per the company's rules. But the "hardest puncher on the planet" reportedly wanted to test the free-agency market and possible opportunities in the realm of boxing, such as a fight with Tyson Fury or Jake Paul. He was also vocal about the UFC's considerably low pay rates for fighters of his stature, although Dana White claims he recently offered Ngannou the richest contract in the history of his company. 

Francis Ngannou has officially parted ways with UFC after years of negotiating, and Dana White is not too happy about it. In a recent press conference, Dana revealed some details about his contract discussions with Ngannou before discussing why the super fight between Ngannou and Jone Jones never happened.

“If you don't want to be here, you don't have to be here," White said. "Francis is in a place right now where he doesn’t want to take a lot of risks. He wants to fight lesser opponents for more money...We are going to release [Francis Ngannou] from his contract. We are giving up the right to match. He can go wherever he wants and do whatever he wants.” 

Dana's comments sparked rumors that Ngannou was ducking an inevitable showdown with Jon Jones. To that, former UFC light heavyweight champion, Eddie Alvarez, came to his defense by taking a swipe at the president of the UFC via Twitter.

"Ufc simply lost the bid for Francis , instead of admitting that , they go with the narrative the the Scariest mother f*cker alive is Afraid to fight in the UFC hahhahahahhahahahhahahahhaa These jokes write themselves #PHSUnreal," Alvarez wrote.

The move means that Ngannou has vacated his title and the possibility of a super fight against Jon Jones. Therefore, on March 4th, Jon Jones (26-1) will take on Ciryl Gane (11-1) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas; the winner will take home the belt Ngannou left behind.

 

Source: MSN