Randy Couture is proud of Francis Ngannou.
It was reported for months that Ngannou and the UFC were in contract negotiations but it was not going well. Then, it was revealed the UFC was making the undisputed heavyweight title between Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane, and Dana White later confirmed they were releasing Ngannou from his contract.
The news was surprising but not to Randy Couture, who also had a contract dispute with the UFC. Couture says he isn’t surprised by the UFC being mad at what Ngannou wanted.
Randy Couture on Francis Ngannou
“The money they threw at Francis was pretty significant and probably as much as anybody’s gotten paid in our sport but it was the other things — health insurance, a fighter’s representative, some of those things that he asked for that were outside of that, that caused them to drop him,” Couture said to MMAFighting.
“They don’t want to give up that power. They don’t want to give up those things. They want to be able to control the fighters the way they want to control them. They don’t like that transparency. They keep those numbers pretty close to their vest so they don’t have to negotiate with fighters who know what their value is in the marketplace, that’s how that shakes out.”
Although Francis Ngannou did not get what he wanted, Randy Couture believes the former champ bringing up what he wanted – including health insurance – is a good thing for the public to know. He believes it is a step in the right direction and hopes other fighters also step up and challenge the UFC.
“Somebody’s got to be the Curt Flood of MMA and that’s exactly what Curt Flood did for Major League Baseball,” Couture said. “Francis is probably the closest to a top tier, marquee fighter that was literally holding the belt in the heavyweight division and put that on the line to make a statement. I’m proud of him for what he’s done. Hopefully, more fighters step up.”
