Francis Ngannou has a message for UFC fighters who are unhappy with their contracts but unwilling to walk away: most simply lack the courage to claim their freedom.
The former heavyweight champion, who departed the UFC in 2023 following a contentious contractual dispute, made his position clear in an interview with ESPN ahead of the first live MMA event on Netflix, where he will face Philipe Lins on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
Ngannou pointed to the Netflix card itself as evidence that opportunities outside the UFC exist for those who are positioned to take them. At the recent New York press conference, Nate Diaz described the event as one featuring free fighters. Ngannou backed that framing fully.
There's always the opportunity," Ngannou said. "I think you just have to be around and be free. Make sure you're in the position to catch that opportunity when it comes. If you get yourself stuck in a contract because you're afraid of being alone out there, when the opportunity comes, you might be stuck in some contract.
He argued that fear is the primary force keeping fighters in situations they are dissatisfied with, and that the same fear causes them to miss out when something significant materializes.
That's what happened to a lot of fighters. They are just so scared of being free, being without promotion, without a promoter, or something that they can do. They will sign up for everything just to be in the promotion, and then the day that the opportunity, the real opportunity, comes around, they are not there," Ngannou said.
He did not romanticize free agency or pretend the path outside a major promotion is easy.
We all talk about free agency, but it's like it's something that also demands you to be strong. You're going to be out there on your own without having any idea about your future, not knowing if you're going to fight, have a short notice in 10 days, or if you're going to fight and go a year back without fighting," he said.
But he was blunt about what keeps fighters from taking that step.
This fight, this could have been an opportunity for so many people, but they are all locked somewhere in the contract that they are not very happy about, that is not helping them. But they don't have the balls to stand on their own and claim that freedom.
Since leaving the UFC, Ngannou has competed in the PFL and pursued boxing, most recently fighting in October 2024. The Netflix card on May 16 also features Diaz, Mike Perry, Junior dos Santos, and Muhammad Mokaev, with Ronda Rousey headlining against Gina Carano.
