Adesanya Likes Ngannou’s Decision To Quit UFC

Former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya fully endorses Francis Ngannou’s decision to quit the UFC after the parties involved were unable to agree on his demands for a contract extension.

The Nigerian-born New Zealander kick-boxer, Adesanya, thinks Ngannou made the right choice by choosing free agency over re-signing with the UFC and leaving his heavyweight title behind.

Naija News recalls that when certain contractual requirements weren’t met, Ngannou decided to reject his contract extension in January 2023. Since then, he has been out of the game.

Ngannou claimed that while he made several requests, not all of them were required for his contract to be renewed. He asserted that he asked for things like roster health insurance, fighter representation, and sponsorship rights which were not granted.

On his part, Adesanya said that Ngannou’s demands were acceptable and that he should be commended for considering the well-being of other fighters in the UFC.

“Francis made the right call, he’s the one that kicked in the door. We’ve all been behind him. We’ve been saying this for how long? If you guys go back on the tapes, I’ve been saying the same thing. I’m not going to harp on about it, but he’s right. It’s little things. He’s asking for things that should be mandatory,” Adesanya said.

“He wasn’t asking for, you know, crazy, ridiculous diva demands. There’s something as little as for the guys fighting on the opening (bouts), having the fourth or third corner man being paid for, and the hotel being paid for. That sets them up nicely, and they don’t have to fork it out of their $10K to pay for their fourth or third corner man – little things like that.”

He added: “He’s not being a diva. He’s asking for reasonable demands, and I felt like he should have got them. UFC president Dana White said, ‘That’s not how we do business.’ But the way we do business has to change, and it will change. He’s just the guy to kick in the door.”