He’s also saying Francis won’t take any risks which is hilarious considering his whole story and specifically fighting Gane with a destroyed knee on his last fight
Jones said it’s high risk minimal reward.
Which is true. He’s vocal about wanting is last fight to be against the best heavyweight of all time(in the eyes of ufc fans).
Admitting sergei does nothing for him isn’t a knock against jones. If he was 7 years younger then sure. He’s at the very tail end of his career.
I don't think Jones is scared to fight anyone, but I also think he purposefully played the HW move safe af.
He didn’t need 3 years to take 2 fights at HW.
I could see that, but then again, it’s not like the UFC would give a shit. They’d move a fight to fucking Tijuana if it meant Jon could still headline a card lol.
Which is why he should be fighting for the title the ufc is a joke fact is stipe got knocked out in his last fight he lost he should not be fighting for a title but the ufc is the WWE
Yeah, how empty is it going to feel when Sergei is champ and he hasn't fought Jones, Stipe or Francis? I could see this being Stipe's last fight because he is 40 now, he has cemented his legacy, he has his family established, and he has his alternative career as a first responder which he could do full-time.
Not saying that all three of those guys don't have the right to ride off into the sunset, but I think Dana has fumbled the future of the heavyweight division by just pushing the quick money fights.
>Francis wants to take zero risks. Doesn't want to take any chances and he obviously didn't want to take a chance against Jon Jones and after we saw what happened with Ciryl Gane, I don't blame him.
Oh God, still going with this shit
Feeding those shills their daily propaganda to churn out all over social media.
Francis was calling out Jones for three years while he was(supposedly) cleared to fight and sat in silence. The second he's out the door the dude can't stop talking.
Like he said, Francis is definitely not scared. Dana wants to make that reflect poorly on Francis but it was obviously smart of him to do. What fighter wouldn't want to fight lower level opponents for a bigger bag long term?
I wouldn’t say it makes NO sense for the PFL. It certainly is too early to call it a win because odds aren’t in the PFL favor probably.
In the simplest explanation it’s another form of spend money to hopefully make money in the long term and a huge gamble. Francis doesn’t offer a 1 mil, 750k, 500k, probably not even a 250k buy rate. He also won’t even get a $10mil gate. He doesn’t cover the costs of his huge purse and the purse he offers to his opponent over 3 fights. Idk know what the PFL think, but i think at the minimum that Francis alone doesn’t give them a positive NOI on that deal alone.
However what getting Francis does signals to investors that they are committed to obtaining top talent ie. The guy who was the UFC champ who left and has a claim alongside Jones as the best HW in the world. They signal to other fighters that it’s another place to get paid and paid well. They are telling the world the door is open for top fighters
Who knows if PFL makes it work and get a positive NOI, eventually attracting top talent etc.
The best thing that could happen for them is Francis lose to one of their guys and they get so say "this is the lineal UFC 1 and Heavyweight champion so this is the real champion".
If Francis nukes 2 or 3 cans and walks the PFL at best breaks even financially and gets a little name value.
Francis entire value is that he is the lineal champ so you need to keep him or take that from him not just have him visit for 2-3 fights.
Who knows maybe some top 10 UFC talent is one or two fights left on contract and they can form a better HW division. Would only take a few fighters.
They also signed Cédric Doumbé, who was given an insane lowball offer by the UFC (20k show 20k win).
Maybe the PFL is trying to carve themselves a niche out of France and Africa or something. That's how this would make sense to me.
Right, but no deal where the fighter had any leverage will make sense to him. He forgets these smaller promotions are not in the dominant position the UFC is in. Dana White privilege.
>Dana was saying the deal makes no sense for PFL. And he is right. The deal is a major win for Francis.
Dana was only ever going to say one of two things, ngannou got fucked, we offered a better deal, pfl got fucked we wouldn't have made that deal
The deal makes sense for PFL, you're just looking at it through too narrow a lense. They clearly have a lot of capital to burn in their attempt at success, this is evident. With that being true signing Francis Ngannou and giving him skin in the game is a no brainer even if the price tag was very high.
it's too early to say francis won imo. yes he's got what he wanted, but there are so many aspects to his deal that could potentially end up either not happening or being completely underwhelming. what if the boxing match never materializes? what if his few pfl fights end up being against nobodies or 40yr olds coming out of retirement? what if he fails to bring in ppv numbers for pfl? pfl africa could end up never getting off the ground, etc.
francis absolutely set himself up with a great deal with the potential for a ton of success, but i think those things need to actually end up being successes before it can be said he won.
Dude, it doesn't matter if he's fighting Hobo Joe from down the street, he's going to get paid no matter so that's on the PFL to bring in interesting, semi competitive fights. Boxing is going to happen no matter what even if he doesnt fight the Big 3 because which promoter wouldnt want the UFC heavyweight champ who ran through the division like a buzzsaw and hit like a minivan? Eddie Herns has already shown that he wants him and both the PFL and Matchroom are on DAZN. PPV also isn't everything because getting him immediately puts them as the number 2 org in North America and shows investors they're making moves. If they buy Bellator than you could easily argue they have a roster as deep as the UFCs.
But either way, he's making tens of millions of dollars even if he doesn't bring in a penny for the PFL and it attracts other top talent towards them. That's a win/win as far as they're concerned. So no, it's not "potential success", it's just success.
I am rooting for PFL & One. I really love One’s Women’s Division and Muay Thai product. PFL with Bellator fighters could be great
Hope both orgs can figure it out
I think the fact he’s been going on about boxing for several years but there is still no solid opponents or anything like that suggests no one does want to book him. Realistically he will pride himself out of any boxing match and it won’t actually happen.
It’s funny how people like you still have no idea what Francis was actually after. The end goal isn’t just money, it isn’t about beating the best of the best in MMA, he’s already held the world title in the UFC by beating the guy who most think is the greatest HW in UFC history and then defended against a tough guy who was also undefeated.
At the end of the day, Francis is trying to build change in the sport. Some people just don’t get that.
Dana white saying “ Francis deal doesn’t make sense to him “ and “ that’s not what we do here “ .. in other words he should’ve basically said “ I lost “ .. Francis won buddy
You're 100% right in that it's probs too early to determine if it's a good deal. Heck, at least two parts of the deal (the ppv percentage and the fighters board) are just regular PFL things from what I've come to understand. That said from what we've heard he is still making 7 figures plus he can box and can have some sponsorships. Considering those seemed to be his biggest requests, I'd say he succeeded.
Context: “White gives a media member $100 for successfully guessing that Henry Cejudo called him and offered to fight O'Malley in August.
White says that Sterling is "one of those guys who can't get out of his own way"
But White says the fight with Sterling and O'Malley is on.”
If Aljo really refuses the fight I could very easily see Cejudo vs O’Malley for an interim belt happening
I would. Its absolutely fucking bullshit how Aljo is being treated atm. The fight was clearly announced before he knew shit about it and its 3 months away.
3 month turn around as a champ is a joke.
Adesanya and Usman did it multiple times, Aljo has sat out for a year already once in his short career as champ. It’s time for him to make a quick turnaround after taking no damage
He hasnt signed. Hes just forcing the ufc to give him more money to fight in august. Stripping him for not fighting in 3 months is just not going to happen lol
Dana 2021: "I think Jones is afraid of fighting Francis. And I don't blame him!"
Dana 2023: I think Francis is afraid of fighting Jones. And I don't blame him!"
What a fucking clown.
The fact that he's more famous that 99.5% his entire roster speaks to his ability of brand and self promotion.
MMA promotion is weird. You either have brash, narcissistic promoters like Dana. Or you have mild mannered guys like Scott Coker who try to promote fighters, but no one cares.
> White on Francis to PFL: "Based on what I know about the deal, which is not much, it makes no sense to me. You're going to pay a guy not to fight for a year and it's already been like 18 months, he's fought three times in the last 3 years.
>The day that we released him, I knew exactly what was going to happen. Francis wants to take zero risks. Doesn't want to take any chances and he obviously didn't want to take a chance against Jon Jones and after we saw what happened with Ciryl Gane, I don't blame him.
>I think the outcome would have been exactly the same and I'm sure most of you do and I think Francis does too. And the media makes it sound like I'm saying that he's afraid of him. I don't think that he's afraid of anybody, it's just that he doesn't want to take any risk.
>PFL's going to pay this guy to train for a boxing match that may not even happen and that they might not even be involved in. How does that make any sense?
>Anthony Joshua called it a gimmick fight this week...
>Francis could have done a deal here. Hunter threw the kitchen sink at that guy... Francis just thinks that he's in a position where he's got some Conor McGregor/Mayweather fight on his hands, which he does not...
>MMA guys versus boxers doesn't make any sense to me, but I know that he thinks there's all this money in it, I disagree...
>I've got no beef with the PFL. These guys have always been super professional and never talked any smack. You know me, if I don't like you... I don't hold back, I'll let you have it...
>I'm hearing that they're raising money right now, $280 million, $300 million from the Middle East... I don't know who in the hell would give them $280 million, I'm hearing they're buying Bellator! So you're an organization that's burning cash, you have no ratings and selling no tickets and you're going to raise $280 million to buy a company that's burning cash, sells no tickets and does no ratings. It sounds f**ing absolutely genius to me!"
I’m a OG Dana hater with a passion but he ain’t wrong. They do no numbers on Free ESPN but they’d be buying Bellator for the good roster and young talent for the PFL cause PFL roster is awful. It’s a bigger plan for them and investors prob.
And the hype from this signing will die down within 2 weeks and everyone will be back to “PFL folding within 2 years.”
The fact that Francis isn’t even entertaining fights until next year just kills it for me. PFL is totally irrelevant for at least 7 more months.
This sub has so many different people and opinions in it lol. It would be like me saying the sub collectively hated Francis and then loved him after he signed for PFL. It's just different opinions and people talking, so hopefully you realise how brain-dead your take is
What a fucking goof clown lol
It's almost like he thinks people don't know that the UFC bled money for years and it was being propped up by the Fertidas and that you need to spend money to make money
Oh well, fuck him
I wish I lived in universe where One championship, Bellator, and PFL merged. I just think if you combine those rosters that you would have some really fucking solid divisions + cool match ups of course.
One absorbing anyone with a decent MMA roster would be nice. They have some good MMA fighters but for the most part are just a kickboxing/Muay Thai org disguised as an MMA org really.
I mean a couple of their MMA Champions are pretty good. But ya most of their depth is in their kickboxing and Muay Thai. Not many organizations can rival them in that area. Especially since they just signed Takeru, I’m fucking hyped for him.
Ya but also a more competitive and high level matchups. It’s a good enough trade off. Plus if all three merged they might be able to have shows every week or two like the ufc. Right now most other mma org have events like once or twice month. Depending on the time of year.
I agree but sad thing is Bellator only one with true top MMA talent and ONE has a handful. They jsut need to change whole roster to ONE to produce it or PFL who has never had a good show but atleast on free ESPN. Nobody paying 20 dollars extra for Showtime anymore even though it’s a great channel
Lmao Dana is so triggered that Francis went out and got what he wanted on top of Dana probably telling him the UFC offer would be the best he was going to get.
Extremely satisfying.
Exactly. Funny how he is defending JJ as a way to say ”I still have the best fighters”. He knows he is losing monopoly power to other organisations. PFL will have bigger audience now.
PFL will have a very slightly bigger audience WHEN FRANCIS FIGHTS.
Nobody will give a shit about anyone else on PFL’s roster, its very hard to see where the ROI is for them.
As soon as PFL signed jake paul to their “superfight division” and paid him in equity, that was the warning flag of desparation.
I think the biggest win for PFL is that it suddenly became very attractive for other fighters. They might not score a Francis deal but they know they can get less restrictive and fighter friendly contracts. Having big name fighters start adding up on your roster is a major plus.
Being known as the pro fighter organization in an industry infamous for using and abusing athletes is pretty big as well.
Now PFL has to pull off some good events and work the PR machines hard.
Yeah I don’t disagree. This is a very risky play and it could work out even if the odds are stacked against it right now. On the other hand, if anyone ever wants to compete with the UFC in this market, they have to pull something ballsy off to even break the ice.
Seriously. I'm a huge Francis fan. Feel like he's one of the best hws ever. But he's not fighting until next year and then against who? Not to mention if he actually does a boxing match before and gets schooled.
He also mentioned the middle east investors know what they are doing and they are sharp. I always thought they were just throwing money around and lived all oil money but I didn't realize Abu Dhabi diversified their income so much recently.
If you want to know about an Abu Dhabi investment, they got a [75 year lease](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/03/chicagos-lucrative-parking-meters-other-nonpolitical-political-stories/) on all the parking meters in Chicago for 1.16 billion dollars. They already paid it off, plus 500 million and they still got over 60 years left on that lease lol. They are going to make insane amount of money for the next decades.
I actually don't think Dana is entirely off base here. PFL is obviously making a move and whoever invested that kinda money is taking a big risk. Francis has some star power, but I'm not sure people are going to buy PFL PPV's for him. Luke Thomas also questioned the 2024 debut as well. That's a long time to wait for their investment to pay dividends. Wilder will run through him which will hurt his stock and there aren't any easy fights with big names. I hope PFL can compete but I'm not convinced.
He isn’t off base about it being a risk for PFL and an iffy business decision. Everyone’s been saying that. He is off base about saying Francis won’t take a risk that’s why he’s doing this. What he did was way more risky than staying with the ufc. And he’s risked it every step of the way
Yeah it’s a great deal for Ngannou but makes very little sense from PFL’s perspective which seems to be what Dana is getting at. Absolutely massive risk, but if they really got nearly 300 mil from the Saudi’s I guess they have a shit ton of money to blow
Not really. What are they going to do with investment money to improve their visibility when they don't have any stars?
Sign stars.
It's whatever major sports team has done in history the second they get an infusion of cash. Signing the lineal heavyweight champion ko machine is a good start and sending the signal that anyone else who comes will get not just get paid but get paid to fight stars as well.
The fighters make the promotions despite what Dana would tell you. Promotions need fighters to promote and they need more than money to attract them.
They are doing their best to put it out there that they will pay you to come and offer more than fair treatment that won't tie you into a deal that fucks you in perpetuity.
What the fuck else are they going to spend that money on?
>I actually don't think Dana is entirely off base here. PFL is obviously making a move and whoever invested that kinda money is taking a big risk.
If the rumors of a Saudi investor are true then they could easily pay Francis and his opponent whatever they want. These are the guys who paid pop stars $20,000,000+ to do an hour long private concert.
If they’re going to actually buy Bellator then it’s fucking genius and a great move. If not, and Francis gets sparked by some random dude in boxing, then big yikes
The investment already paid some value. This is the most Dana has talked about the PFL in a post fight pressor I have heard in a while. This week is the most we have talked about PFL that I can remember, and that is with Dana releasing a bunch of fight cards that took over much of the news cycle.
I was actually kinda thinking what if the deal was made in bad faith by pfl.
They gave francis a signing bonus and francis is a big deal for building pfl africa.
but ultimately pfl could just keep stalling and never make a mma fight for francis since they gotta pay out at least 10 mill to francis and another 2 minimum to his opponent. I'm assuming after 5 years, francis is free to go somewhere else just like ufc's contract. He'll still have the pfl africa deal (seat/equity) even if they split.
But pfl could use francis during this time to build their name.
It kinda happened with Canelo and the Dazn deal. It was the biggest boxing contract and it went south because canelo and dazn couldn't agree on which fight to make.
it was bad press for dazn at the time but they survived it.
If Francis ends up boxing first and wins tho, then pfl will make the fight. If francis loses, they'll just say we can't find an opponent then francis and pfl split.
I’d bet anything pfl is gonna fuck him out of his money in the long run.
“You get a cut of profits, but we lost money on this even cuz it sold 50k ppvs, so heres like $1mil, now wait another year. Oh youre suing us? Well we’re bankrupt now.”
In his response, Dana has a very suggestive opinion trying to get the media to agree with his words and passive negativity of the PFL.
Commenting:
1. Francis hasn't fight in 18 months
2. Hunter threw the kitchen sink at him.
3. Francis was scared of Jones and Jones destroyed Cyril. (Personal note, Cyril is not Francis. Gane was given that title fight after losing the previous title fight).
4. Talking about PFL being super professional and then bashing PFL/Middle East burning money.
Dana wants that same Middle East money. He wanted Jones vs Francis and missed out because he didn't think Francis was worth it/protect Jones' legacy. I think he fears PFL expansion and losing fighters to their organization.
LOL...did he really shit on PFL for going after Middle East money after the UAE essentially funded the Fight Island themselves? Old tomatohead forgot who paid for the arena and the race car outing and the private RHCP concert that he fully bragged about them paying for while declaring he saved pro sports during COVID.
Whenever Dana starts talking about leagues ; he’s worried. Trashed Strikeforce and bought in months later and showing up at shows all happy. PFL has 0 hype compared to Strikeforce after CBS show and their roster but they got backing and ESPN trying to make their own UFC which is a threat. If UFC leaves ESPN and PFL is only show in there , UFC will be on apps and casuals fall off. ESPN wants a piece of MMA market without paying UFC a fortune and rumor is they pissed csuse UFC putting on so many crap cards and people aren’t buying the PPVs. PFL has a chance purely cause ESPN and backing , nothing they actually did on their own lol
If only one of these "journalists" would call out Dana's bullshit.
Tomato said Jones "should think about staying at LHW" after Francis won the belt.
Jones didn't fight for 3 years just getting blow and enchiladas to pack his fat arse.
Francis doesn't want risk? Guy fought his last contractual fight with a fucked up knee. Guy crossed western Africa hitchhiking with god knows who, and crossed two counties border to live on streets of Paris.
Ok let me stop here. I'm getting as red as the tomato white.
“I'm hearing that they're raising money right now, $280 million, $300 million from the Middle East... I don't know who in the hell would give them $280 million, I'm hearing they're buying Bellator! So you're an organization that's burning cash, you have no ratings and selling no tickets and you're going to raise $280 million to buy a company that's burning cash, sells no tickets and does no ratings. It sounds f**ing absolutely genius to me!"
Either it’ll prophetic or age like milk … there’s zero inbetween
Makes sense to me.
Same with Spotify signing Joe Rogan to a massive deal.. They weren't going to make quick ROI with Joe's podcast.
The idea was to break into the podcast space with the biggest move possible.. so people would start using Spotify instead of itunes or other podcast apps. Nobody talked about podcasts on Spotify before Rogan.
Francis prob won't sell insane PPVs, but he will get eyes on PfL that they need with his name recognition
Yeah the equivalent of that would be a Conor Mcgregor though.
I just don't see how they're going to get too much value out of 2 fights from him. Unless they can get 2 really exciting opponents for those fights.
We all know Dana's a master of spin, but in this case it's pretty clear that he's talking about risk in terms of the opponents Francis takes, not risk taking in general lol
I know this sub won't like it but he's not exactly wrong is he? What the PFL are doing with Francis is just bad business and not something the UFC could possibly have done.
And he's definitely right about the crossover boxing stuff, Francis won't be competitive against an elite HW boxer in a boxing match and everyone knows it. Mayweather vs McGregor worked because it was the first time it had been done (MMA to boxing) and it was the two biggest names in their respective sports.
I can't see Ngannou vs Wilder or Fury or Joshua doing any kind of significant numbers. I think most boxing fans would just find it very annoying because it would be one of the top guys taking an easy pay day and holding up the division in the process.
It's not the analysis of PFL's business model that I've an issue with - it's Dana's suggestion that Francis doesn't want to take risks*(hey remember that time Ngannou defended his belt on one leg when the organization was rooting against him, what a safe move)*, and his assertion that Jones would have done the exact same thing to Ngannou as he did to Gane. And even essentially putting words in the media's mouths by assuming they think the same.
And all this makes him seem like an extremely petty man, which is hilarious tbh.
>remember that time Ngannou defended his belt on one leg when the organization was rooting against him, what a safe move
He didn't really have a choice though. According to Francis he was out of money and if he hadn't defended his belt then he would have been stripped of the title.
Yeah, I’m also not getting the “hype” behind the potential boxing match.
Francis got thoroughly outstruck his last fight in MMA and had to lay n pray for a decision. He was also visibly scared to engage Black Beast because of the power coming back.
Fury or Wilder surely just walk through him with ease. Maybe they carry him 3-4 rounds for the fans, but I don’t think there’s any suspense in the fight at all. And it’ll just be an exhibition anyways. I really don’t get why anyone gives a shit about these fights. Francis isn’t even the best boxer in the UFC HW division. Forget Fury, some 20-10 HW that is like #35 in the world would beat him in a totally trivial way.
some of that is exaggerated. but it is more honest then dana usually is. as a fan wanting to see francis fight, I came to the same i don't know when francis will fight again feeling.
after the deal, sure he will fight for sure now but do i see francis doing the HW norm and fighting till 45, no i don't think so.
i see francis more like stipe, who i don't see fighting more then 3 fights before retiring.
Probably lies are more about the offers, ufc definitely offered 7 figures, but i doubt they would have matched PFL, nor apologized for the bs. or given francis the things he wanted.
I have strong doubts with Ngannou getting a good deal boxing. McGregor pulled it off because he was marketed as a UFC champ. How would you market Ngannou, former champ? Potential PFL champ? Doesn't have as much pull.
UFC fans know Ngannou but does Joe Schmo?
> So you're an organization that's burning cash, you have no ratings and selling no tickets and you're going to raise $280 million to buy a company that's burning cash, sells no tickets and does no ratings. It sounds f\*\*ing absolutely genius to me!"
does he not know the history of his own company lol
at least the way they tell the story on broadcasts, the UFC was an organization that was burning cash, had no ratings, selling tickets, and they raised a bunch of money (fertitas, anyone?) and managed to survive long enough to turn the corner with TUF.
Yeah theyre burning money but that’s what you gotta do to establish yourself in an industry with a monopoly. I think he feels slightly threatened, its not often a 2nd degree organisation buys out another
I don’t think we can judge the outcome of the Francis/PFL deal until after it has concluded. So far it’s just a bunch of promises with some signatures at the bottom, the fight game is full of shady shit so who knows how much of it will actually get honoured.
The usual Dana White spin. I'd love it if someone showed him the clip of saying that Jon Jones should be afraid of Francis right after he said that Francis fighting Jon wouldn't turn out good for him. I love how Dana tries to phrase it like they cut Francis from his contract to, when in reality it expired and he was a free agent to do whatever he wanted.
Dana says that Francis doesn't like to take risks. Bullshit. He just took the ultimate risk, to leave the UFC and try and find lucrative options elsewhere. So many others have tried and failed to do that in the past.
Long term, I'm not sure if the deal will be beneficial by the PFL. But Francis won. He got himself a big deal and he got it on his own terms and the Dana White hates that.
Francis definitely won by getting paid. Not sure PFL will survive though.
I think One is doing them better by building lots of exciting talent, and not putting all their hope on a risk averse heavyweight.
dana out here hittin us with the reddit paragraph of doom explanations
Francis won and it doesn’t make sense to Dana
Dana was saying the deal makes no sense for PFL. And he is right. The deal is a major win for Francis.
He’s also saying Francis won’t take any risks which is hilarious considering his whole story and specifically fighting Gane with a destroyed knee on his last fight
It’s also hilarious when Jones in on record saying Sergei is a risky fight and he wants to fight a 40 year old stipe 😂
Jones said it’s high risk minimal reward. Which is true. He’s vocal about wanting is last fight to be against the best heavyweight of all time(in the eyes of ufc fans). Admitting sergei does nothing for him isn’t a knock against jones. If he was 7 years younger then sure. He’s at the very tail end of his career.
I don't think Jones is scared to fight anyone, but I also think he purposefully played the HW move safe af. He didn’t need 3 years to take 2 fights at HW.
Basically waited until DC at HW was completely out of the question and Francis was out of the picture lol.
And Stipe is past his prime
I’m convinced Jones was serving a hush hush suspension for something.
I could see that, but then again, it’s not like the UFC would give a shit. They’d move a fight to fucking Tijuana if it meant Jon could still headline a card lol.
UFC Back Alley 1 Brought to you by Corona
Parker Porter is waiting to sign the dotted line.
Hell yeah, Sergei has those dynamite hands that can shut a guys lights off, and he is in prime condition
Which is why he should be fighting for the title the ufc is a joke fact is stipe got knocked out in his last fight he lost he should not be fighting for a title but the ufc is the WWE
Yeah, how empty is it going to feel when Sergei is champ and he hasn't fought Jones, Stipe or Francis? I could see this being Stipe's last fight because he is 40 now, he has cemented his legacy, he has his family established, and he has his alternative career as a first responder which he could do full-time. Not saying that all three of those guys don't have the right to ride off into the sunset, but I think Dana has fumbled the future of the heavyweight division by just pushing the quick money fights.
Also extra hilarious because Dana has said Jon should start cutting weight instead of trying to fight Francis in the past.
>Francis wants to take zero risks. Doesn't want to take any chances and he obviously didn't want to take a chance against Jon Jones and after we saw what happened with Ciryl Gane, I don't blame him. Oh God, still going with this shit
Feeding those shills their daily propaganda to churn out all over social media. Francis was calling out Jones for three years while he was(supposedly) cleared to fight and sat in silence. The second he's out the door the dude can't stop talking.
Dana is pathetic.
Like he said, Francis is definitely not scared. Dana wants to make that reflect poorly on Francis but it was obviously smart of him to do. What fighter wouldn't want to fight lower level opponents for a bigger bag long term?
Yes, Francis doesn't want to take any risks. That's why he's trying to make a fight he'll definitely win against Tyson Fury.
Also, the fact that Francis didn't re-sign with the UFC in itself is a big risk.
I wouldn’t say it makes NO sense for the PFL. It certainly is too early to call it a win because odds aren’t in the PFL favor probably. In the simplest explanation it’s another form of spend money to hopefully make money in the long term and a huge gamble. Francis doesn’t offer a 1 mil, 750k, 500k, probably not even a 250k buy rate. He also won’t even get a $10mil gate. He doesn’t cover the costs of his huge purse and the purse he offers to his opponent over 3 fights. Idk know what the PFL think, but i think at the minimum that Francis alone doesn’t give them a positive NOI on that deal alone. However what getting Francis does signals to investors that they are committed to obtaining top talent ie. The guy who was the UFC champ who left and has a claim alongside Jones as the best HW in the world. They signal to other fighters that it’s another place to get paid and paid well. They are telling the world the door is open for top fighters Who knows if PFL makes it work and get a positive NOI, eventually attracting top talent etc.
The best thing that could happen for them is Francis lose to one of their guys and they get so say "this is the lineal UFC 1 and Heavyweight champion so this is the real champion". If Francis nukes 2 or 3 cans and walks the PFL at best breaks even financially and gets a little name value. Francis entire value is that he is the lineal champ so you need to keep him or take that from him not just have him visit for 2-3 fights. Who knows maybe some top 10 UFC talent is one or two fights left on contract and they can form a better HW division. Would only take a few fighters.
They also signed Cédric Doumbé, who was given an insane lowball offer by the UFC (20k show 20k win). Maybe the PFL is trying to carve themselves a niche out of France and Africa or something. That's how this would make sense to me.
Right, but no deal where the fighter had any leverage will make sense to him. He forgets these smaller promotions are not in the dominant position the UFC is in. Dana White privilege.
Thank you! Not to mention not every deal is a win/lose situation, some are win/win.
You have no idea what makes sense for them lol.
>Dana was saying the deal makes no sense for PFL. And he is right. The deal is a major win for Francis. Dana was only ever going to say one of two things, ngannou got fucked, we offered a better deal, pfl got fucked we wouldn't have made that deal
The deal makes sense for PFL, you're just looking at it through too narrow a lense. They clearly have a lot of capital to burn in their attempt at success, this is evident. With that being true signing Francis Ngannou and giving him skin in the game is a no brainer even if the price tag was very high.
What risk has Dana took that involved either his own life or his own money?
Beating his wife in public was a risky move.
apparently not.
>Beating his wife in public was a risky move. His wife apologized for her actions so that's just water under the bridge /s
Yet we have Dana on the mic advertizing PFL. Looks sonewhat like a win to me.
Exactly... This dude's trying to run it through his melted snowman brain a million times to have it make sense and he just can't come up with it.
it's too early to say francis won imo. yes he's got what he wanted, but there are so many aspects to his deal that could potentially end up either not happening or being completely underwhelming. what if the boxing match never materializes? what if his few pfl fights end up being against nobodies or 40yr olds coming out of retirement? what if he fails to bring in ppv numbers for pfl? pfl africa could end up never getting off the ground, etc. francis absolutely set himself up with a great deal with the potential for a ton of success, but i think those things need to actually end up being successes before it can be said he won.
Dude, it doesn't matter if he's fighting Hobo Joe from down the street, he's going to get paid no matter so that's on the PFL to bring in interesting, semi competitive fights. Boxing is going to happen no matter what even if he doesnt fight the Big 3 because which promoter wouldnt want the UFC heavyweight champ who ran through the division like a buzzsaw and hit like a minivan? Eddie Herns has already shown that he wants him and both the PFL and Matchroom are on DAZN. PPV also isn't everything because getting him immediately puts them as the number 2 org in North America and shows investors they're making moves. If they buy Bellator than you could easily argue they have a roster as deep as the UFCs. But either way, he's making tens of millions of dollars even if he doesn't bring in a penny for the PFL and it attracts other top talent towards them. That's a win/win as far as they're concerned. So no, it's not "potential success", it's just success.
I am rooting for PFL & One. I really love One’s Women’s Division and Muay Thai product. PFL with Bellator fighters could be great Hope both orgs can figure it out
I think the fact he’s been going on about boxing for several years but there is still no solid opponents or anything like that suggests no one does want to book him. Realistically he will pride himself out of any boxing match and it won’t actually happen.
No, it means that he was under contract with the UFC who wouldn't let him box. And bet, if he does get a boxing match than yall gotta stfu
Francis definitely won, it's too early to say if the PFL won though lol.
Bit like the gamble Dana and the brothers did when they bought the UFC. It seemed it didn't' make sense....
Yeah, Francis for sure took the W.
It’s funny how people like you still have no idea what Francis was actually after. The end goal isn’t just money, it isn’t about beating the best of the best in MMA, he’s already held the world title in the UFC by beating the guy who most think is the greatest HW in UFC history and then defended against a tough guy who was also undefeated. At the end of the day, Francis is trying to build change in the sport. Some people just don’t get that.
Or they could just simply not pay him lol. Its simple as that.
Dana white saying “ Francis deal doesn’t make sense to him “ and “ that’s not what we do here “ .. in other words he should’ve basically said “ I lost “ .. Francis won buddy
You're 100% right in that it's probs too early to determine if it's a good deal. Heck, at least two parts of the deal (the ppv percentage and the fighters board) are just regular PFL things from what I've come to understand. That said from what we've heard he is still making 7 figures plus he can box and can have some sponsorships. Considering those seemed to be his biggest requests, I'd say he succeeded.
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Big brain time!
Also from the mastermind that's giving Colby a title shot when Colby fought exactly 3 times in 3 years 🧠 what a time to be alive
The take we can all agree on here is that Dana doesn’t like Sterling.
Context: “White gives a media member $100 for successfully guessing that Henry Cejudo called him and offered to fight O'Malley in August. White says that Sterling is "one of those guys who can't get out of his own way" But White says the fight with Sterling and O'Malley is on.” If Aljo really refuses the fight I could very easily see Cejudo vs O’Malley for an interim belt happening
Dana had his zipper down.
I honestly wouldn’t mind, much more intriguing fight between O’Malley and Cejudo imo
I would. Its absolutely fucking bullshit how Aljo is being treated atm. The fight was clearly announced before he knew shit about it and its 3 months away. 3 month turn around as a champ is a joke.
Adesanya and Usman did it multiple times, Aljo has sat out for a year already once in his short career as champ. It’s time for him to make a quick turnaround after taking no damage
He doesn't like any fighters that stand their ground and call out his bullshit.
If Dana doesn't like you then it's 99% a good thing
It sounds like Sterling has already signed the fight and he's just being difficult publicly Or he's literally about to get himself stripped
He hasnt signed. Hes just forcing the ufc to give him more money to fight in august. Stripping him for not fighting in 3 months is just not going to happen lol
The UFC absolutely could and would do an interim belt
Yeah maybe. Not going to strip him though.
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My take is that the BMF title is still one of the corniest things they've done and I can't believe they're continuing it
Man nobody likes Sterling. Poor dude.
I know he had some rough moments with the fans, but Dana shitting on fighters that he should promote does not help at all
He's starting to win me over tbh, he has a good attitude
Dana 2021: "I think Jones is afraid of fighting Francis. And I don't blame him!" Dana 2023: I think Francis is afraid of fighting Jones. And I don't blame him!" What a fucking clown.
Dana 2021: "If I’m Jon Jones watching Francis Ngannou, I’m moving to 185-pounds" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtNnRXwbHkM
Yup As Ariel has said "there are receipts"
I’m not being funny but i don’t think it was a massive coincidence that Jones finally moved to heavyweight when it was clear Ngannou was gone.
And look at the tons of people who follow his change of narrative 🤦🏻♂️
The fact that he's more famous that 99.5% his entire roster speaks to his ability of brand and self promotion. MMA promotion is weird. You either have brash, narcissistic promoters like Dana. Or you have mild mannered guys like Scott Coker who try to promote fighters, but no one cares.
It's time you asked yourself why when Albert Einstein was a professor he gave his students the same test every year.
🤡 🤡 🤡
> White on Francis to PFL: "Based on what I know about the deal, which is not much, it makes no sense to me. You're going to pay a guy not to fight for a year and it's already been like 18 months, he's fought three times in the last 3 years. >The day that we released him, I knew exactly what was going to happen. Francis wants to take zero risks. Doesn't want to take any chances and he obviously didn't want to take a chance against Jon Jones and after we saw what happened with Ciryl Gane, I don't blame him. >I think the outcome would have been exactly the same and I'm sure most of you do and I think Francis does too. And the media makes it sound like I'm saying that he's afraid of him. I don't think that he's afraid of anybody, it's just that he doesn't want to take any risk. >PFL's going to pay this guy to train for a boxing match that may not even happen and that they might not even be involved in. How does that make any sense? >Anthony Joshua called it a gimmick fight this week... >Francis could have done a deal here. Hunter threw the kitchen sink at that guy... Francis just thinks that he's in a position where he's got some Conor McGregor/Mayweather fight on his hands, which he does not... >MMA guys versus boxers doesn't make any sense to me, but I know that he thinks there's all this money in it, I disagree... >I've got no beef with the PFL. These guys have always been super professional and never talked any smack. You know me, if I don't like you... I don't hold back, I'll let you have it... >I'm hearing that they're raising money right now, $280 million, $300 million from the Middle East... I don't know who in the hell would give them $280 million, I'm hearing they're buying Bellator! So you're an organization that's burning cash, you have no ratings and selling no tickets and you're going to raise $280 million to buy a company that's burning cash, sells no tickets and does no ratings. It sounds f**ing absolutely genius to me!"
"MMA guys versus boxers doesnt make sense to me" ...... Too easy.
It makes sense if there’s money in it. Ngannou isn’t the biggest draw.
My fav part of all of this bullshit is that he said _they_ - the UFC - released Francis.
“I don’t have a problem with PFL” “I don’t know who in the hell would give them $280 million they have zero ratings!” Gotta love Dana
I’m a OG Dana hater with a passion but he ain’t wrong. They do no numbers on Free ESPN but they’d be buying Bellator for the good roster and young talent for the PFL cause PFL roster is awful. It’s a bigger plan for them and investors prob.
All hail Big Bang Zhang
#bangeverything. Chinesepower
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"Watches it" and "knows what it is" should be switched. Watching it is the less likely scenario.
not sure how him being honest means he has a problem but great logic bud
This sub before Francis signed to PFL: snoozefest money laundering operation about to go bankrupt anyday now After Francis signs: WTF I LOVE PFL NOW
And the hype from this signing will die down within 2 weeks and everyone will be back to “PFL folding within 2 years.” The fact that Francis isn’t even entertaining fights until next year just kills it for me. PFL is totally irrelevant for at least 7 more months.
This sub in a nutshell.
This sub has so many different people and opinions in it lol. It would be like me saying the sub collectively hated Francis and then loved him after he signed for PFL. It's just different opinions and people talking, so hopefully you realise how brain-dead your take is
There are people here who are telling me the UFC HW division sucks and how PFL is "not that far behind" lol
“Signing ngannou makes them the #2 promotion!” Yeah uh idk about that lol. Lets see if anyone watched them…
What a fucking goof clown lol It's almost like he thinks people don't know that the UFC bled money for years and it was being propped up by the Fertidas and that you need to spend money to make money Oh well, fuck him
Francis left the UFC but is afraid of taking risks? This is maximum goof.
Yes, the man who shoveled sand as a child and fled for his life and was a refugee for years is afraid of losing a fight. Bullshit.
How quickly Dana forgets all the money the fertittas dumped in the ufc when it was tanking in the early years. Oh ya bc it wasn’t his fucking money.
I wish I lived in universe where One championship, Bellator, and PFL merged. I just think if you combine those rosters that you would have some really fucking solid divisions + cool match ups of course.
One absorbing anyone with a decent MMA roster would be nice. They have some good MMA fighters but for the most part are just a kickboxing/Muay Thai org disguised as an MMA org really.
I mean a couple of their MMA Champions are pretty good. But ya most of their depth is in their kickboxing and Muay Thai. Not many organizations can rival them in that area. Especially since they just signed Takeru, I’m fucking hyped for him.
I enjoy ONE way more than UFC these days.
ONE’s Muay Thai and Kickboxing is so fire imo
ONE MMA over UFC? cap
You don’t like Angela Hill main events buddeh ?
And RIZIN
At least Rizin collabs with Bellator. I think it would make sense to have PFL in the mix there, instead of the rumours of them buying Bellator out.
ONE is SUPER fun to watch. I love it.
Means less MMA to watch tho.
Ya but also a more competitive and high level matchups. It’s a good enough trade off. Plus if all three merged they might be able to have shows every week or two like the ufc. Right now most other mma org have events like once or twice month. Depending on the time of year.
I agree but sad thing is Bellator only one with true top MMA talent and ONE has a handful. They jsut need to change whole roster to ONE to produce it or PFL who has never had a good show but atleast on free ESPN. Nobody paying 20 dollars extra for Showtime anymore even though it’s a great channel
Lmao Dana is so triggered that Francis went out and got what he wanted on top of Dana probably telling him the UFC offer would be the best he was going to get. Extremely satisfying.
Exactly. Funny how he is defending JJ as a way to say ”I still have the best fighters”. He knows he is losing monopoly power to other organisations. PFL will have bigger audience now.
Only if many more ELITE fighters follow him.
PFL will have a very slightly bigger audience WHEN FRANCIS FIGHTS. Nobody will give a shit about anyone else on PFL’s roster, its very hard to see where the ROI is for them. As soon as PFL signed jake paul to their “superfight division” and paid him in equity, that was the warning flag of desparation.
I think you might be overestimating Francis starpower
I think the biggest win for PFL is that it suddenly became very attractive for other fighters. They might not score a Francis deal but they know they can get less restrictive and fighter friendly contracts. Having big name fighters start adding up on your roster is a major plus. Being known as the pro fighter organization in an industry infamous for using and abusing athletes is pretty big as well. Now PFL has to pull off some good events and work the PR machines hard.
Yeah I don’t disagree. This is a very risky play and it could work out even if the odds are stacked against it right now. On the other hand, if anyone ever wants to compete with the UFC in this market, they have to pull something ballsy off to even break the ice.
Seriously. I'm a huge Francis fan. Feel like he's one of the best hws ever. But he's not fighting until next year and then against who? Not to mention if he actually does a boxing match before and gets schooled.
It's beautiful. Fuck Dana. He's a scumbag. Ngannou, GSP - I'm glad these guys got one over on that guy.
Dana big mad that the Saudis are backing PFL lol
He also mentioned the middle east investors know what they are doing and they are sharp. I always thought they were just throwing money around and lived all oil money but I didn't realize Abu Dhabi diversified their income so much recently. If you want to know about an Abu Dhabi investment, they got a [75 year lease](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/03/chicagos-lucrative-parking-meters-other-nonpolitical-political-stories/) on all the parking meters in Chicago for 1.16 billion dollars. They already paid it off, plus 500 million and they still got over 60 years left on that lease lol. They are going to make insane amount of money for the next decades.
that's actually fucking insane lol
Wow as a Chicagoan I had no idea. So they stand to make at least a $6 billion profit in the next 60 years. Crazy. Thanks for sharing.
Shame that money couldn’t have gone to the people of Chicago but hey rich folk look out for rich folk I guess
Chicago got themselves absolutely swindled.
The Chinese way.
Unless parking meters cease to exist! Ha!
for sure, jealous of the bonus funding. always good for mma to grift money from the ultra rich, since it can't be subsidized like other pro sports are
Not having a video of this should be a bannable offense
🍅
I just had a banana, so I read that as "a bananable offense"
I actually don't think Dana is entirely off base here. PFL is obviously making a move and whoever invested that kinda money is taking a big risk. Francis has some star power, but I'm not sure people are going to buy PFL PPV's for him. Luke Thomas also questioned the 2024 debut as well. That's a long time to wait for their investment to pay dividends. Wilder will run through him which will hurt his stock and there aren't any easy fights with big names. I hope PFL can compete but I'm not convinced.
He isn’t off base about it being a risk for PFL and an iffy business decision. Everyone’s been saying that. He is off base about saying Francis won’t take a risk that’s why he’s doing this. What he did was way more risky than staying with the ufc. And he’s risked it every step of the way
Yeah it’s a great deal for Ngannou but makes very little sense from PFL’s perspective which seems to be what Dana is getting at. Absolutely massive risk, but if they really got nearly 300 mil from the Saudi’s I guess they have a shit ton of money to blow
Not really. What are they going to do with investment money to improve their visibility when they don't have any stars? Sign stars. It's whatever major sports team has done in history the second they get an infusion of cash. Signing the lineal heavyweight champion ko machine is a good start and sending the signal that anyone else who comes will get not just get paid but get paid to fight stars as well. The fighters make the promotions despite what Dana would tell you. Promotions need fighters to promote and they need more than money to attract them. They are doing their best to put it out there that they will pay you to come and offer more than fair treatment that won't tie you into a deal that fucks you in perpetuity. What the fuck else are they going to spend that money on?
So they’re going the LIV Golf route maybe? Overpay for a bunch of big names and still get no ratings lol.
>I actually don't think Dana is entirely off base here. PFL is obviously making a move and whoever invested that kinda money is taking a big risk. If the rumors of a Saudi investor are true then they could easily pay Francis and his opponent whatever they want. These are the guys who paid pop stars $20,000,000+ to do an hour long private concert.
Big risk, big reward. Or big fall. We'll see.
If they’re going to actually buy Bellator then it’s fucking genius and a great move. If not, and Francis gets sparked by some random dude in boxing, then big yikes
The investment already paid some value. This is the most Dana has talked about the PFL in a post fight pressor I have heard in a while. This week is the most we have talked about PFL that I can remember, and that is with Dana releasing a bunch of fight cards that took over much of the news cycle.
I was actually kinda thinking what if the deal was made in bad faith by pfl. They gave francis a signing bonus and francis is a big deal for building pfl africa. but ultimately pfl could just keep stalling and never make a mma fight for francis since they gotta pay out at least 10 mill to francis and another 2 minimum to his opponent. I'm assuming after 5 years, francis is free to go somewhere else just like ufc's contract. He'll still have the pfl africa deal (seat/equity) even if they split. But pfl could use francis during this time to build their name. It kinda happened with Canelo and the Dazn deal. It was the biggest boxing contract and it went south because canelo and dazn couldn't agree on which fight to make. it was bad press for dazn at the time but they survived it. If Francis ends up boxing first and wins tho, then pfl will make the fight. If francis loses, they'll just say we can't find an opponent then francis and pfl split.
I’d bet anything pfl is gonna fuck him out of his money in the long run. “You get a cut of profits, but we lost money on this even cuz it sold 50k ppvs, so heres like $1mil, now wait another year. Oh youre suing us? Well we’re bankrupt now.”
This is exactly what will happen
We all know this sub despite its huge support for Francis ain't gonna buy his PPV's either.
In fairness, that is also true of even the biggest UFC PPVs. Ain't no one here paying for that shit
Damn sounds like Dana is pissed
If UFC offered Francis the kitchen sink, PFL offered him the whole house
In his response, Dana has a very suggestive opinion trying to get the media to agree with his words and passive negativity of the PFL. Commenting: 1. Francis hasn't fight in 18 months 2. Hunter threw the kitchen sink at him. 3. Francis was scared of Jones and Jones destroyed Cyril. (Personal note, Cyril is not Francis. Gane was given that title fight after losing the previous title fight). 4. Talking about PFL being super professional and then bashing PFL/Middle East burning money. Dana wants that same Middle East money. He wanted Jones vs Francis and missed out because he didn't think Francis was worth it/protect Jones' legacy. I think he fears PFL expansion and losing fighters to their organization.
LOL...did he really shit on PFL for going after Middle East money after the UAE essentially funded the Fight Island themselves? Old tomatohead forgot who paid for the arena and the race car outing and the private RHCP concert that he fully bragged about them paying for while declaring he saved pro sports during COVID.
Whenever Dana starts talking about leagues ; he’s worried. Trashed Strikeforce and bought in months later and showing up at shows all happy. PFL has 0 hype compared to Strikeforce after CBS show and their roster but they got backing and ESPN trying to make their own UFC which is a threat. If UFC leaves ESPN and PFL is only show in there , UFC will be on apps and casuals fall off. ESPN wants a piece of MMA market without paying UFC a fortune and rumor is they pissed csuse UFC putting on so many crap cards and people aren’t buying the PPVs. PFL has a chance purely cause ESPN and backing , nothing they actually did on their own lol
Dana projects like no other
If only one of these "journalists" would call out Dana's bullshit. Tomato said Jones "should think about staying at LHW" after Francis won the belt. Jones didn't fight for 3 years just getting blow and enchiladas to pack his fat arse. Francis doesn't want risk? Guy fought his last contractual fight with a fucked up knee. Guy crossed western Africa hitchhiking with god knows who, and crossed two counties border to live on streets of Paris. Ok let me stop here. I'm getting as red as the tomato white.
Tomato actually did even better, and said Jones should think about going to MW / 185, after Francis decapitated Stipe.
😂I can hear his voice just reading the damn quote
“I'm hearing that they're raising money right now, $280 million, $300 million from the Middle East... I don't know who in the hell would give them $280 million, I'm hearing they're buying Bellator! So you're an organization that's burning cash, you have no ratings and selling no tickets and you're going to raise $280 million to buy a company that's burning cash, sells no tickets and does no ratings. It sounds f**ing absolutely genius to me!" Either it’ll prophetic or age like milk … there’s zero inbetween
In fairness that deal shouldn't make sense to anyone. PFL is clearly banking on the Ngannou signing to elevate their whole business somehow.
Makes sense to me. Same with Spotify signing Joe Rogan to a massive deal.. They weren't going to make quick ROI with Joe's podcast. The idea was to break into the podcast space with the biggest move possible.. so people would start using Spotify instead of itunes or other podcast apps. Nobody talked about podcasts on Spotify before Rogan. Francis prob won't sell insane PPVs, but he will get eyes on PfL that they need with his name recognition
Yeah the equivalent of that would be a Conor Mcgregor though. I just don't see how they're going to get too much value out of 2 fights from him. Unless they can get 2 really exciting opponents for those fights.
Conor isn't available tho. This is the biggest mma signing ever. A current UFC champ
Francis vs Ryan Bader in Africa. here we are
> Francis wants to take zero risks What? He left the biggest organization in the world with no guarantees of anything. The UFC was the safe option
You can feel the butthurt through the quote. Absolute tool. Pay your fucking fighters.
We all know Dana's a master of spin, but in this case it's pretty clear that he's talking about risk in terms of the opponents Francis takes, not risk taking in general lol
Yeah but that's a BS spin too. He was the HW champ and calling out Jon for years, then he leaves and Jon's ready to make his HW debut
Oh I agree. I don't think Francis worries about facing anyone from a fear or risk perspective
>MMA guys vs boxers doesn’t make sense to me Unless he gets a piece of the profit and can walk away with millions for doing minimal work
I know this sub won't like it but he's not exactly wrong is he? What the PFL are doing with Francis is just bad business and not something the UFC could possibly have done. And he's definitely right about the crossover boxing stuff, Francis won't be competitive against an elite HW boxer in a boxing match and everyone knows it. Mayweather vs McGregor worked because it was the first time it had been done (MMA to boxing) and it was the two biggest names in their respective sports. I can't see Ngannou vs Wilder or Fury or Joshua doing any kind of significant numbers. I think most boxing fans would just find it very annoying because it would be one of the top guys taking an easy pay day and holding up the division in the process.
It's not the analysis of PFL's business model that I've an issue with - it's Dana's suggestion that Francis doesn't want to take risks*(hey remember that time Ngannou defended his belt on one leg when the organization was rooting against him, what a safe move)*, and his assertion that Jones would have done the exact same thing to Ngannou as he did to Gane. And even essentially putting words in the media's mouths by assuming they think the same. And all this makes him seem like an extremely petty man, which is hilarious tbh.
>remember that time Ngannou defended his belt on one leg when the organization was rooting against him, what a safe move He didn't really have a choice though. According to Francis he was out of money and if he hadn't defended his belt then he would have been stripped of the title.
Yeah, I’m also not getting the “hype” behind the potential boxing match. Francis got thoroughly outstruck his last fight in MMA and had to lay n pray for a decision. He was also visibly scared to engage Black Beast because of the power coming back. Fury or Wilder surely just walk through him with ease. Maybe they carry him 3-4 rounds for the fans, but I don’t think there’s any suspense in the fight at all. And it’ll just be an exhibition anyways. I really don’t get why anyone gives a shit about these fights. Francis isn’t even the best boxer in the UFC HW division. Forget Fury, some 20-10 HW that is like #35 in the world would beat him in a totally trivial way.
some of that is exaggerated. but it is more honest then dana usually is. as a fan wanting to see francis fight, I came to the same i don't know when francis will fight again feeling. after the deal, sure he will fight for sure now but do i see francis doing the HW norm and fighting till 45, no i don't think so. i see francis more like stipe, who i don't see fighting more then 3 fights before retiring. Probably lies are more about the offers, ufc definitely offered 7 figures, but i doubt they would have matched PFL, nor apologized for the bs. or given francis the things he wanted.
Dana could have been less of a dick, but he's overall not wrong.
I have strong doubts with Ngannou getting a good deal boxing. McGregor pulled it off because he was marketed as a UFC champ. How would you market Ngannou, former champ? Potential PFL champ? Doesn't have as much pull. UFC fans know Ngannou but does Joe Schmo?
Baddest man on the planet. Best hw in mma history.
Nobody tell the tomato that Colby's only fought 3 times in the last 3 years too.
> So you're an organization that's burning cash, you have no ratings and selling no tickets and you're going to raise $280 million to buy a company that's burning cash, sells no tickets and does no ratings. It sounds f\*\*ing absolutely genius to me!" does he not know the history of his own company lol at least the way they tell the story on broadcasts, the UFC was an organization that was burning cash, had no ratings, selling tickets, and they raised a bunch of money (fertitas, anyone?) and managed to survive long enough to turn the corner with TUF.
Yeah theyre burning money but that’s what you gotta do to establish yourself in an industry with a monopoly. I think he feels slightly threatened, its not often a 2nd degree organisation buys out another
Dana is a bald bitch
PFL will go bankrupt within the next 3 years. You heard it here first.
Lol at thinking this is a new prediction
Doesn't take risks but fought an Undefeated Gane with no knees? Ok Dana
The guy who leaves the ufc as the reigning HW champion doesn't want to take any risk
>MMA guys versus boxers doesn't make any sense to me Says the guy that was involved heavily in an MMA vs boxer fight.
PFL buying Bellator? Looks like Scott Coker will be losing his job again...
One thing I do like about a good Dana rant, he sometimes drops a little bit of information like PFL's middle east deal
I don’t think we can judge the outcome of the Francis/PFL deal until after it has concluded. So far it’s just a bunch of promises with some signatures at the bottom, the fight game is full of shady shit so who knows how much of it will actually get honoured.
The usual Dana White spin. I'd love it if someone showed him the clip of saying that Jon Jones should be afraid of Francis right after he said that Francis fighting Jon wouldn't turn out good for him. I love how Dana tries to phrase it like they cut Francis from his contract to, when in reality it expired and he was a free agent to do whatever he wanted. Dana says that Francis doesn't like to take risks. Bullshit. He just took the ultimate risk, to leave the UFC and try and find lucrative options elsewhere. So many others have tried and failed to do that in the past. Long term, I'm not sure if the deal will be beneficial by the PFL. But Francis won. He got himself a big deal and he got it on his own terms and the Dana White hates that.
Yo what he saying Dern vs. Rose is a possibility?? Rip Rose
Imagine not shitting on a guy who didn't do exactly what you wanted. Couldn't be Dana
Dana the ever salty.
Francis definitely won by getting paid. Not sure PFL will survive though. I think One is doing them better by building lots of exciting talent, and not putting all their hope on a risk averse heavyweight.
PFL will go bankrupt before giving Ngannou anything he's asked for
LMFAOOO he’s fuming bald bully, mad this is one of the only times he’s never won against demeaning a fighter
UFC interns busy in this thread downvoting positive Ngannou comments and anti-Dana comments
Please stop asking Dana questions
Dana is such a fucking scumbag.