Coach says Francis Ngannou’s pay would have significantly dropped if he’d lost to Jon Jones: “It wasn’t 8 million PER fight”

Coach Nicksick says Francis Ngannou’s pay would have significantly dropped if he’d lost to Jon Jones.

Erick Nicksick is the head coach and general manager of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Nicksick is also Ngannou’s head coach and is offering up his thoughts on why the fight between Ngannou and Jon Jones never materialized.

Francis Ngannou (17-3 MMA) last fought in January of 2022 at UFC 270 where he defeated Ciryl Gane (11-2 MMA) via unanimous decision. It was to be the 36 year olds sixth victory in a row in the Octagon and also his last fight under the UFC banner.

UFC President, Dana White, announced in January of 2023 that the promotion had released Ngannou and in doing so had also stripped him of his UFC heavyweight title.

Ngannou spoke to Ariel Helwani on ‘The MMA Hour’ about the failed contract negotiations:

“In that contract, I’m not free. In that contract, I’m not an independent contractor. In that contract, I have no rights, I have no power. I hand over all the power to you guys, and I’ve seen in the past how you can utilize that power.”

‘The Predator’ now a free agent, has yet to sign on with another promotion.

Eric Nicksick, Ngannou’s coach, took to ‘Twitter’ providing additional information with regards to the potential Ngannou vs. Jones fight which never materialized and led to ‘The Predator’ departing UFC:

It wasn’t 8 million PER fight. Had he lost to Jon, his pay would’ve significantly dropped. That was one of the hang ups in resigning, he had no protection if he lost to arguably the MMA GOAT. I think there’s a lot of misinformation being tossed around…. https://t.co/CA0jFwdS7Z

— Eric Nicksick (@Eric_XCMMA) May 3, 2023

“It wasn’t 8 million PER fight. Had he lost to Jon, his pay would’ve significantly dropped. That was one of the hang ups in resigning, he had no protection if he lost to arguably the MMA GOAT. I think there’s a lot of misinformation being tossed around….”

Although Ngannou has previously stated that the contract failings were not ‘all about the money’ – the money obviously played a large part in why the fighter is no longer with the UFC.

Would you have liked to see a Jones vs. Ngannou fight?

Where do you think Francis Ngannou will end up next?

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