Ngannou Has A New Home.

The news the entire MMA community has been waiting to see since January!

“The Professional Fighters League (PFL) [yesterday] announced an exclusive global MMA strategic partnership with Francis Ngannou, the greatest MMA fighter in the world today. Ngannou is the former UFC heavyweight champion, the first African heavyweight world champion in history, and the hardest hitting fighter in MMA history. PFL is the #1 fastest growing global sports league and the #2 MMA company worldwide on all metrics. This strategic partnership represents the most valuable MMA deal for a single fighter and the latest groundbreaking milestone to accelerate PFL’s mission to become the co-leader in MMA.”

Exclusive Global MMA Strategic Partnership!

According to the announcement, “Ngannou will fight exclusively in MMA for the PFL’s new PPV Super Fight Division, joining combat sports superstars Jake Paul and Kayla Harrison.” He is set to make his PFL PPV Super Fight debut in the middle of 2024 against an as yet to be announced “major global MMA star fighter”.

What this means is that Ngannou is free to continue with his desire to test the realms of Boxing against whomever he choses and the fact that his PFL MMA debut is only slated for mid-2024, makes this writer think that he is in discussions for a Boxing bout later this year.

The “global” bit is really interesting as the PFL also announced the establishment of the PFL Global Advisory Board, where “Ngannou will serve in a leadership role”. Has this Global Advisory Board replaced the Strategic Advisory Council that the PFL established back in 2018 when they launched? 

Part of PFL’s global expansion is to clearly leverage off of Ngannou’s status in Africa and as such it was announced that Ngannou will “be an equity owner in and Chairman of PFL Africa, the premier MMA league on the continent featuring the greatest fighters from African countries competing to become PFL Africa champions and earning a pathway to the PFL Global season.” WOW! So much is going on here. With the details about PFL Africa not yet announced, what does this potentially mean for African fighters and what will this mean for established MMA promotions like the EFC, who are at this point, the only premier MMA promoter on the continent?

Looking at the PFL’s current distribution in Africa, one expects developments in this area as the PFL product is currently only available on YouTube, ESPN and StarTimes along with a few local broadcasters like RMC Sport (Mauritius) and Shahid.net (Libya & Egypt), especially if they are wanting any return on investment from their new African PPV star.

Greatest MMA Fighter in the World!

With a professional record of 17-3, and no other titles to speak of other than the UFC Heavyweight strap – which has only been defended once – this claim by the PFL is ludicrous as I am sure we can all agree, the jury is still very much out on whether Francis Ngannou can hang with the best Heavyweight MMA fighters in the world! If Ngannou’s first foray into boxing is not able to attract serious numbers, if he is unable to convince fans that he could be a legitimate boxer and if his PFL debut fight does not deliver on the current stratospheric expectations, how does one continue to justify this claim? Too many ifs!!!

Where he does win serious points is his much publicised fight for greatness, from working in a sand quarry at age nine to becoming the ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’.

Added to that the fact that Ngannou has also made it clear that his disagreement with the UFC as well as ONE Championship was regarding issues related to all fighters and not just himself. We wait to see how this translates in the PFL Africa business and how the Global Advisory Board deal with issues like non-independant rank and title – things that the MMA Fighters Association (MMAFA) are fighting for as part of the Ali Act expansion.

Additional points must also be given to Ngannou because by all accounts this successful negotiation with the PFL seems to have been completed without the need for a manager. If that is in fact true, then this fact alone should have many of the world’s best asking some serious questions about what their managers actually do for them at what cost!

Game Changing Partnership!

Is this as advertised or is this just PR spin?

The fact that the PFL have appeared to concede to the Nganou demands – unlike the UFC and ONE – would appear to be game changing for future fighters, just look at the impact that Conor McGregor had on the sport! What is concerning is that the details of this being the ”most valuable MMA deal for a single fighter” have as yet not been released so we are unable to verify this claim and as such, without transparency, is this really a game changer?

The true test for MMA in Africa and what the PFL will offer to top African fighters will be to see if the best African fighters start changing their narrative of calling out Dana White, to calling out Francis Ngannou?

Final Thoughts

On the surface of it, many would argue that the PFL have relinquished an awful lot of leverage to secure the services of Ngannou, to what benefit? From this writer’s perspective, I disagree.

PFL Africa did not exist prior to this signing and as such they have just signalled a MASSIVE intent, something the UFC has been talking about for years without any concrete plans and I believe that the PFL will lean heavily on Ngannou to grow PFL Africa and make it financially viable.

The adding of Ngannou to the Super Fight division along with Harrison and Paul has already brought new eyes to the PFL and having him on the Global Advisory Board can only strengthen the appearance of what PFL has stated is their intent – changing the sport of MMA. However, like everything in life, time alone will tell if all this delivers on the hype.