Francis Ngannou found himself in the news without doing anything the week before the press conference for his PFL debut.
"The Predator" may be gearing up for his long awaited MMA return where he will face Renan Ferreira on October 19 but the legacy he left behind in the UFC will never be forgotten.
The MMA leader found themselves receiving some criticism during fight week for UFC 305, after claims that they had tried to erase Ngannou from the promotion's history books due to his name being edited out during the Countdown episode preview.
Though Dana White did apologise for this and put it down to a miscommunication, it certainly wasn't the first time that the UFC have tailored things to better suit the promotion.
Dan Hardy Says Francis Ngannou's UFC Erasure Was Sad But Not Surprising Based On Track Record
During a recent interview with Sportskeeda MMA, PFL commentator Dan Hardy gave his thoughts on the discourse regarding the UFC's conduct around the career of their former heavyweight champion, who left the promotion on less than stellar terms.
"The Outlaw" spoke about the comparisons between Ngannou's treatment and that of Randy Couture, who also left to sign with another promotion and wasn't remembered fondly by the UFC as a result.
It was sad to see and it didn’t surprise me unfortunately and I did see what Dana’s reply was about the fact that the editors had assumed that’s what he would have chosen and what he would have wanted and look, they were probably right because it’s happened so many times in history. Ngannou and Randy, they’re two fantastically credible names in the sport.
Hardy was also able to draw from his own experiences, even if his was on a smaller scale.
The current Head of Fighter Operations for PFL Europe left the promotion in 2021 after some disagreements with the UFC, both publicly and privately.
He recalled how he was seemingly wiped from the history of UK MMA during an event in London where his wife, Veronica, was in action.
Despite being the first Brit to challenge for a UFC title when he faced Georges St-Pierre for the welterweight belt, "The Outlaw" was nowhere to be seen across the celebrations of the sport in this region.
My history in the UFC is far more mediocre in comparison but even so, at UFC London when Veronica was on the card, there’s posters of all the UK fighters on all of the underground tubes and everything and of course, I’m not there. It does happen, they do it a lot.
"It makes no difference to me, I can dye my hair red and walk down the street and people will remember my fights. It’s just kind of a weird thing to see and for people like Randy and Ngannou, they need to be celebrated because they’ve inspired so many people, myself included. They shouldn’t be omitted, they’re part of the fabric of the sport and I think the fans will always remember that.