In a move that will surely make Dana White sweat a little bit more than normal, Francis Ngannou is joining the Professional Fighters League (PFL) as a fighter, as well as a strategic partner. Since Ngannou is already thirty-six years old, this all but guarantees his UFC career has come to an end.
This is a very interesting move, as Ngannou has been one of the biggest names in MMA for several years. His departure from the UFC came right before the return of Jon Jones, which should be enough to prove how bad Dana White is at his job. He had a chance to let two heavyweight legends beat the shit out of each other for the title, and he decided it was too expensive. That’s like buying a girl at the bar a bunch of drinks but refusing to go over to her house because of the cost of an Uber.
This should be mixed news for fighting fans everywhere. First of all, Ngannou will be allowed to box Tyson Fury now that he is no longer exclusively tied to one company’s fights. That’s absolutely awesome. This also puts pressure on Dana White to pay his fighters and keep the best product possible on our screens. On the other side, Francis Ngannou’s MMA career will likely now be against scrubs who have no business being in a ring with him. Hopefully, he’ll be able to attract enough talent to turn the PFL into a real competitor for the UFC. Imagine if we had not one, but two billion-dollar corporations who profit off of our caveman desire to watch people beat each other senseless.
This seems like a potentially great development for the fighting world, but I just wonder if the “Street Beefs” YouTube channel could’ve made a competitive offer. That would’ve undoubtedly been the most entertaining option.
