Hearn: UFC doesn’t want fighters to get ‘too big,’ but Ngannou will ‘almost certainly’ re-sign

Francis Ngannou’s future with the UFC stays hanging within the stability. After a profitable maiden title protection at UFC 270, there nonetheless isn’t any phrase on whether or not or not he’ll re-sign with the group. “The Predator,” nevertheless, will take at least nine months off after he undergoes knee surgical procedure in March.

Ngannou’s contract state of affairs has been a sizzling subject of dialogue inside the fight sports activities and prizefighting circles, and there have been differing opinions. Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, for one, believes the 2 events will ultimately type issues out.

“In the end, now, throughout that interval, the stress’s on the UFC to go to Francis Ngannou and do a brand new deal. They usually’ll considerably overpay him from the place he was at,” Hearn instructed Ariel Helwani in his current guesting on The MMA Hour.

“But it surely comes right down to the type of feeling of the fighter to say, ‘I really feel like I’ve been almost mistreated so I don’t wanna be here anymore.’ However I’d be shocked in the event that they didn’t do a brand new cope with Francis Ngannou. I’d say it’s an nearly certainty that they’ll (by) the time all of it performs out.”

In contrast to his extra veteran contemporaries like Bob Arum and UFC president Dana White, Hearn appears at struggle promotion a lot otherwise. From that perspective, he shared what he thinks is the most important distinction between boxing and MMA, significantly for UFC fighters.

“Each fighter that I signify is my boss,” Hearn defined. “Whether or not they’re a child debuting of their first struggle at 19, I work for the fighter. That’s my mentality. The old-school, they couldn’t say it. In case you mentioned to Bob Arum, ‘Inform me that Terrence Crawford’s your boss.’ He couldn’t say it.

“For UFC, the place they’ve been very good is by ‘It’s such an honor to get a UFC deal.’ You see these youngsters popping out of Bellator or Cage Warriors or wherever it’s. However the considered getting a UFC contract is every little thing.

“I really feel within the UFC, they don’t need you to get too large. And once you do — I nearly used to chuckle at Conor as a result of I might simply think about simply the disruption that he was inflicting in that group. As a result of that’s not likely the secret.

“We don’t need a begin that’s greater within the UFC. Conor McGregor grew to become greater than the UFC, and that’s a nightmare for these guys.”

Hearn’s strategy on fighter pay can also be vastly completely different in comparison with what he refers to as a “historic mannequin” in struggle promotion.

“In boxing, we work with our greater fighters actually on an 80-20 (income) break up (in favor of the fighters),” he defined. “That 20 (%) turns into smaller and smaller because the fighter will get greater and greater. As a result of in the end, how are you going to justify if a fighter’s making $50 million, you’re making $10 million? On one struggle? That’s some huge cash.

“These guys are those placing their well being on the road, their life on the road to go in there… But it surely’s a historic mannequin that I assume will change. And there’ll be extra stress on the group as time goes by to regulate that, particularly with the voice and noise of someone like Jake Paul.”