Francis Ngannou’s manager says they got “very close” to re-signing with the UFC at certain points

Marquel Martin, the manager of Francis Ngannou, says the former UFC heavyweight champion got close to re-signing with the Las Vegas-based promotion.

Ahead of UFC 270, it was well-known that Ngannou was fighting out his contract when he was defending his heavyweight title against Ciryl Gane. He had been vocal about his displeasure with the UFC at times, but many expected him to eventually re-sign with the promotion.

However, after months of negotiating, the UFC eventually announced they were waiving their matching rights and making Ngannou a true free agent. After five months, it was announced that Ngannou had opted to sign with the PFL, but according to Martin, he says at times it felt like a deal with the UFC was nearly reached.

“Yeah, I thought it got very close. I wasn’t a part of the conversations in the fourth quarter if you will, and you can probably guess why,” Martin said about Ngannou’s deal on The MMA Hour. “In my conversations post those dinners and all that stuff, there was a real chance he was going to sign. But, it had to be under the right terms. People are saying it’s all about money, chill, like if we are keeping it 100 as they say, this guy got offered the biggest contract outside of Conor before the interim fight with Ciryl (and Lewis).

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“He said no because it wasn’t just about money, obviously, money plays a factor and there were other things that were important to Francis. Who am I to tell this dude no? Like nah, do this deal,” Martin continued about Ngannou. “That is not the kind of person I am, that’s not the kind of manager I want to be, that’s not the kind of business I want to do. Francis at the end of the day makes up his own mind. I would say that he was very close, I would say that I wish things were different. I think there was a lot of miscommunications back-and-forth and getting all these people involved, but at the end of the day, I think everyone won.”

As Marquel Martin says, everything was not all about money for Francis Ngannou. The former UFC heavyweight champ said he wanted all fighters to have health insurance and allow sponsorships on shorts which wasn’t going to happen.

In the end, Ngannou got a lot of what he wanted with the PFL, but perhaps if the UFC budged on a few things, Ngannou would still be in the UFC.

Did you think Francis Ngannou would re-sign with the UFC?