{"id":211,"date":"2022-09-23T14:55:10","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T13:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/?p=211"},"modified":"2022-09-24T15:06:03","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T14:06:03","slug":"francis-ngannou-must-accept-that-the-ufc-does-not-need-him-according-to-sonnen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/francis-ngannou-must-accept-that-the-ufc-does-not-need-him-according-to-sonnen\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis Ngannou must accept that the UFC does not need him according to Sonnen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Francis Ngannou may not appreciate a few words about him\u2026 Words made by Chael Sonnen yesterday. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Francis Ngannou still hasn&#8217;t settled his contract issues with the UFC. Just the day before yesterday, he said he was in no rush to sign a new contract. Eight months after his victory over Ciryl Gane but also his knee injury, things are still at a standstill. And it seems that the money and the &#8220;boxing&#8221; part that Ngannou asks for in his contract (he wants to fight Tyson Fury at all costs) is the biggest problem for the UFC.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> But Chael Sonnen, he considers that Francis Ngannou has tested his status in the promotion for almost a year, but given his age, his injury and the current heavyweight fighters, he should perhaps be careful: <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cFrancis Ngannou made a statement. Francis said there is no new contract sent out and he is in no rush. Francis has one skill: he&#8217;s a very strong man, and he can punch people and knock them down. There&#8217;s nothing else to put on a resume&#8230; He&#8217;s 35&#8230; coming off an injury in the most coveted division in MMA history. Sometimes you have to test these things. Sometimes you have a theory and you need to test it. But it was tested for just under a year. And the UFC is moving forward on its side.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> For Sonnen, Ngannou needs to realize that business is rolling for the UFC even if he is not there: <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;It&#8217;s very hard to realize that they don&#8217;t need you. Fans aren&#8217;t taking to the streets with the pitchforks and lanterns like he thought they were going to. Business is good without him. The most anticipated comeback in the sport is a potential future opponent, not his own. These things are difficult. These things, they&#8217;re not overly nice&#8230; I&#8217;m in a position to be a little critical. Do you think it feels good to find out that you are not needed and maybe not even wanted? 35 years old, coming out of an injury, and people aren&#8217;t clamoring for his return&#8230;to a division that&#8217;s been coveted since the beginning of time&#8230;&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-215 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/41036672-0-image-a-65_1616920910983.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"708\" height=\"425\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/41036672-0-image-a-65_1616920910983.jpg 708w, https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/41036672-0-image-a-65_1616920910983-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/41036672-0-image-a-65_1616920910983-150x90.jpg 150w, https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/41036672-0-image-a-65_1616920910983-696x418.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 708px) 100vw, 708px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span class=\"JLqJ4b ChMk0b\"><span class=\"Q4iAWc\">\u201cFrancis didn\u2019t play anything wrong\u2026Francis took a hit.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"JLqJ4b ChMk0b\"><span class=\"Q4iAWc\">He had a theory and he tested it.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"JLqJ4b ChMk0b\"><span class=\"Q4iAWc\">Someone is going to have to sit in front of him and explain this to him\u2026Francis now has the evidence he needs.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"JLqJ4b ChMk0b\"><span class=\"Q4iAWc\">It&#8217;s all around him.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"JLqJ4b ChMk0b\"><span class=\"Q4iAWc\">The heavyweight fight we&#8217;re talking about the most right now is Stipe Miocic vs. Jon Jones, while Francis is almost healthy, we still don&#8217;t talk about it.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"JLqJ4b ChMk0b\"><span class=\"Q4iAWc\">\u00bb<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"ccvoYb EjH7wc\">\n<div class=\"AxqVh\">\n<div class=\"OPPzxe\">\n<div class=\"dePhmb\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<div class=\"eyKpYb\" data-language=\"en\" data-original-language=\"fr\" data-result-index=\"0\">\n<div class=\"J0lOec\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"VIiyi\" lang=\"en\" style=\"color: #000000;\"><span class=\"JLqJ4b ChMk0b Jj6Lae\"><span class=\"Q4iAWc\">Francis Ngannou being cured soon, we will see if Chael Sonnen&#8217;s theory holds up.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"JLqJ4b ChMk0b Jj6Lae\"><span class=\"Q4iAWc\">In the meantime, not sure that Francis is very happy with these few words.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"UdTY9 Yb6eTe\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-location=\"2\">\n<div class=\"kO6q6e\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"kGmWO\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Francis Ngannou may not appreciate a few words about him\u2026 Words made by Chael Sonnen yesterday. Francis Ngannou still hasn&#8217;t settled his contract issues with the UFC. Just the day before yesterday, he said he was in no rush to sign a new contract. Eight months after his victory over Ciryl Gane but also his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211\/revisions\/214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}