MMA talk - PFL, Bellator, KSW, ONE...

[TopTort777]

On the other hand, I'm hearing that the PFL merged with Jake Paul's MVP, which famously criticised UFC's Dana White for underpaying fighters. So it's possible Usman could make much more by extending his contract with the PFL/MVP.

Jake has been criticizing Dana for underpaying fighters for a long time already. But, on a recent event, when Usman won (and Khabib ripped champs belt from Jakes hands and put it on Usman. that either confused or made Jake angry, as he is the "owner" of PFL right now), he has asked for a bonus. Jake replied that only next time if Usman wins by KO, he will buy him a car. Usman quickly replied that talk is about now, not about future fight that nobody knows when it will be  

[notblox1]

On the other hand, I'm hearing that the PFL merged with Jake Paul's MVP, which famously criticised UFC's Dana White for underpaying fighters. So it's possible Usman could make much more by extending his contract with the PFL/MVP.

Didnt PFL already merged with Bellator MMA promotion before?
I am not a fan of Jake Paul or what he is doing, and I could not find any credible male MMA fighter on his MVP website.
Francis Ngannou had one fight in MVP against Philipe Lins few months ago, but he is not listed as their fight on website.
We are going to have to wait for more MMA news in few months when summer is finished.

[pawel7777]

(...)
Didnt PFL already merged with Bellator MMA promotion before?
I am not a fan of Jake Paul or what he is doing, and I could not find any credible male MMA fighter on his MVP website.
Francis Ngannou had one fight in MVP against Philipe Lins few months ago, but he is not listed as their fight on website.
We are going to have to wait for more MMA news in few months when summer is finished.

I'm not sure when exactly did the merge happen but I was of the impression that it was a very recent thing. I could be wrong though.
Whatever Paul's plans are for his promotion, he was very explicit in his criticism of Dana White paying peanuts to his fighters, and I'm reading Usman's Nurmagomedov's team is already trying to take advantage of the Dana White Vs Jake Paul's beef and leverage it to secure the best possible deal for Usman, who says he is willing to seriously consider offers from both sides.
He and his team are playing this situation really well, trying to get as much media attention as possible to force the two organisations to bid heavily, as it's now more than just acquiring a new fighter. Signing up Usman would be a big marketing win and a reputational boost.

[TopTort777]

Didnt PFL already merged with Bellator MMA promotion before?
I am not a fan of Jake Paul or what he is doing, and I could not find any credible male MMA fighter on his MVP website.
Francis Ngannou had one fight in MVP against Philipe Lins few months ago, but he is not listed as their fight on website.
We are going to have to wait for more MMA news in few months when summer is finished.

In 2023 PFL acquired Bellator. But by that time UFC have already lured all the best like Chandler, Alvarez, Patchy Mix and etc. UFC took all the cream and left average guys. I think they had tournament PFL vs Bellator after merge to find out who should be real one champion of two promotions.

Anyway, this is just the beginning. It is not going to be Bellator+PFL+MVP vs UFC, but Netflix money and power vs Paramount money and power where MMA promotions are only pawns in big game.

[eaLiTy]

~
In 2023 PFL acquired Bellator. But by that time UFC have already lured all the best like Chandler, Alvarez, Patchy Mix and etc. UFC took all the cream and left average guys. I think they had tournament PFL vs Bellator after merge to find out who should be real one champion of two promotions.

The PFL and Bellator merger completely failed from the start. PFL failed to provide interesting matchups for its top talents, and its top fighters were not offered any fights for over a year; hence, fighters like Patrício Pitbull and others who were sticking with the Bellator brand, even in their prime, and never wanted to change brands moved to the UFC.

When the merger happened, Francis Ngannou joined PFL with all the hype, and he just had a single fight.

Anyway, this is just the beginning. It is not going to be Bellator+PFL+MVP vs UFC, but Netflix money and power vs Paramount money and power where MMA promotions are only pawns in big game.

It all depends upon how much more money they can burn. Bellator burned hundreds of millions of dollars and never became profitable, while PFL has the Saudi funding. As long as they get the funds, it will stay alive.

[bbc.reporter]

On the other hand, I'm hearing that the PFL merged with Jake Paul's MVP, which famously criticised UFC's Dana White for underpaying fighters. So it's possible Usman could make much more by extending his contract with the PFL/MVP.

Didnt PFL already merged with Bellator MMA promotion before?
I am not a fan of Jake Paul or what he is doing, and I could not find any credible male MMA fighter on his MVP website.
Francis Ngannou had one fight in MVP against Philipe Lins few months ago, but he is not listed as their fight on website.
We are going to have to wait for more MMA news in few months when summer is finished.

It very much appears that uncle Dana was correct on his speculation on Francis Ngannou? The PFL's return on investment on him should certainly be negative because the PFL paid him, spend much money on marketing him and allowed his wish to fight in boxing, however, he only had 1 fight in the PFL and his presence in the PFL did not bring more audience in the PFL heehehe.

Francis Ngannou is another scammer similar to Conor ScamGregor.

[TopTort777]

Wasnt Ngannou also part of PFL Africa board membership? Or was a big guy in charge there. I remember that before his only fight, I saw or read him being on managing position somewhere. That time I though how he is going to do that, when all he can do is fighting. Like you have said, Ngannou did not bring new fighters, audience, sponsor and attention to PFL (at least for now I havent heard anything positive about his work under PFL flag).

[eaLiTy]

Wasnt Ngannou also part of PFL Africa board membership? Or was a big guy in charge there. I remember that before his only fight, I saw or read him being on managing position somewhere. That time I though how he is going to do that, when all he can do is fighting. Like you have said, Ngannou did not bring new fighters, audience, sponsor and attention to PFL (at least for now I havent heard anything positive about his work under PFL flag).

Yes, Francis Ngannou was named the Chairman and a minority equity owner of PFL Africa when he signed with them. The funny thing is, he never showed up when they actually debuted the promotion in Africa. The background story was that he demanded another contract just to attend the card which was ridiculous, and because of that, they parted ways with him after having just one fight.

Basically, PFL burned a lot of money signing Ngannou, and Dana White was right in his decision to let him go because of his insane demands. 

[notblox1]

Wasnt Ngannou also part of PFL Africa board membership? Or was a big guy in charge there. I remember that before his only fight, I saw or read him being on managing position somewhere. That time I though how he is going to do that, when all he can do is fighting. Like you have said, Ngannou did not bring new fighters, audience, sponsor and attention to PFL (at least for now I havent heard anything positive about his work under PFL flag).

Yes, Ngannou was part of PFL Africa but I think whole deal fall apart and he didnt have any fight in this African competition.
He was doing experimenting with heavyweight professional boxing, and maybe that was stopping him to commit more to PFL African project.
I think many people forgot about Ngannou now, and there is no chance for coming back to UFC anymore, so he had to fight for someone else.

[TopTort777]

Can we say that Ngannou has broken his career or failed as cool-and-popular-guy-from-mma? He has got aura of being baddest man on planet when he was with ufc. When he has gone, he had a close fight with Tyson Fury, got destroyed by AJ, got one fight in mma against punching bag and that is it. After ufc he is close to being nobody. I think we rarely hear about him. Did he earned that much already that he can allow to waste fighting potential?

[eaLiTy]

Can we say that Ngannou has broken his career or failed as cool-and-popular-guy-from-mma? He has got aura of being baddest man on planet when he was with ufc. When he has gone, he had a close fight with Tyson Fury, got destroyed by AJ, got one fight in mma against punching bag and that is it. After ufc he is close to being nobody. I think we rarely hear about him. Did he earned that much already that he can allow to waste fighting potential?

Moving away from the UFC contract, Francis Ngannou made money with the PFL even though he only fought a single fight. He made more money from fighting Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua than during his entire UFC career, and there was no clause in the PFL contract that would earn the promotion revenue from the boxing events he participated in.

After he was released by the PFL—and on bad terms, too, as he took advantage of them and burned a lot of money—he fought in MVP under Jake Paul. Now, with MVP merging with the PFL, he has nowhere to go. Even Dana White recently said that there is no way he is going to sign Francis Ngannou again after the disastrous partnership they had earlier.

[TopTort777]

So what is next for Ngannou? To have 1 fight for big reward in average promotion to make promotion attract more audience? I would say that money spent in Ngannou wont be effective marketing. Will he retire completely because he has earned enought? That is a big question. It is never enought. I think he is used to a expensive life now and in 10-20 years he will become broke without new fights. I dont think he is kind of a person who is investing, has business or plan to become coach or open own mma gym.

[pawel7777]

So what is next for Ngannou? To have 1 fight for big reward in average promotion to make promotion attract more audience? I would say that money spent in Ngannou wont be effective marketing. Will he retire completely because he has earned enought? That is a big question. It is never enought. I think he is used to a expensive life now and in 10-20 years he will become broke without new fights. I dont think he is kind of a person who is investing, has business or plan to become coach or open own mma gym.

Francis is in a tough spot when it comes to his mma options. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see him in an mma bout ever again.
He's turning 40 soon (in September), so, even accounting for the fact that the father time is not as harsh for him as it is for other fighters, there's no denying he is past his prime years.
But most of all, there simply aren't any high-profile mma fighters he could be matched up with. There were some talks about him potentially fighting Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall, but both of them are still contractually tied to the UFC which wouldn't let that happen.
I think most likely Francis will have at least one or two fights before officially retiring and it could be in boxing rather than in mma.
A boxing bout between him and Jon Jones would make a good show, but I'm not sure if Jones would be allowed to do that without the UFC's permission.

There are some rumours about Ngannou Vs Deontay Wilder, but I'm not sure how serious that is.

[TopTort777]

Wasnt Wilder vs Usyk fight was in some kind of development? Anyway, I dont expect any real competition if Ngannou fights Wilder. AJ has already shown what is Ngannou level of boxing is. Bronze bomber will probably only make it more quick or devastating. Ngannou could look for fighting opportunity in Asia, as they like freak fights. I think they will be even ready to pay him a lot. Anyone knows where Ngannou is now? In France or went back to his homeland? I have 0 ideas what he is doing now.