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Francis Ngannou is in the prime of his life. On Tuesday, the former UFC heavyweight champion stunned many by agreeing to the long-desired boxing superfight with the unbeaten WBC champion Tyson Fury.
The current fight between the two heavyweight titans is set for October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and according to Marquel Martin, Ngannou's longtime agent, "The Predator" is expected to earn the kind of money that most combat athletes can only hope of.
“Let’s just say this: The bag is so big, he may actually just drop it on the way to the bank,” Martin said Wednesday on The MMA Hour. “Let’s just say that. I don’t know what the haters are trying to say right now,
I kind of just blocked it out, but they’ll just be proven wrong again. This is life-changing. This is exactly what we planned and visualized, so we’re happy.”
Martin said Ngannou is expected to earn more for the Fury fight than he would’ve earned throughout the life of the UFC’s final contract offer to Ngannou, which included a blockbuster defense of his heavyweight title against Jon Jones.
When asked if Ngannou is set to earn more for his boxing debut than he made in his 14 prior UFC bouts combined, three of which were title bouts, Martin answered in the affirmative.
“Oh my God. I mean, by far. By multiples,” Martin said.
One of the main causes of Ngannou's extraordinary exit from the UFC despite holding the heavyweight championship of the organisation was his desire to box.
While under contract, UFC executives refused to let the Cameroonian pursue a boxing payday, but Ngannou has always been interested in facing Fury. Even after Fury defeated Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium in April 2022, Ngannou made an unexpected entrance alongside Fury in the ring.