ONE Chairman Chatri Sityodtong said several offers have been made for former UFC heavyweight champion "Predator" Francis Ngannou and are preparing a final offer for him before he makes a decision.
Born in 1986, Naganno, nicknamed "7 billion strongest men", is 194cm tall, has an arm span of 210cm, weighs 120kg, and punches 1291 pounds, and is known for his powerful boxing ability and amazing knockout victories. He defeated Stip Miochi in March 2021 to claim the UFC heavyweight belt.
At UFC 270 in January 2022, he defeated "Good Boy" Cyril Gain by a huge unanimous decision with injuries to successfully defend the UFC heavyweight title. The contract expired after the match and negotiated with UFC chairman Dana Bai, who prepared him with the highest heavyweight fighter contract in UFC history, even more than the contract of previous heavyweight superstar "Big Bu" Lesner, but Naganor was unhappy with the treatment of the UFC, believing that he should be treated with more respect and compensation, and he parted ways with the UFC a few months later.
After leaving the UFC, Naganno hopes to fight professional heavyweight champions, including WBC heavyweight champion Fury, former boxing champion Wilder, former Triple Crown winner Joshua and many more. Despite always yearning to boxing for money, he revealed earlier this year that he still hopes to fight MMA, possibly signing with ONE Championship or PFL (Professional Fighting League).
PFL Naganor was very appreciative and offered him a generous contract and allowed him to compete in boxing at the same time. ONE Championship CEO Siyutang said in a recent interview that he is ready to sign for Naganno.
"I like Nganno, he's a great guy, but I generally don't know where he's going to end up. I can confirm that we are negotiating, but I would say that, from my understanding, I know that we are in the final stages of our negotiation process and we have a bunch of offers.
Let's see what happens. We haven't submitted our final offer yet, that's where we are. We've been discussing for the past few months and I'm sure we've made several quotes and we're putting together the last one. ”
While Nganno has been committed to boxing with the big names, unfortunately these fighters all seem focused on fighting for the world title, which could lead him back to MMA in his next fight, but he still plans to make his professional boxing debut later this year.
If Nganno signs for ONE Championship, he will be challenged by a host of big names, with current heavyweight champion Arjan Bhullar the first-ever Indian-origin heavyweight world title. However, after Bhullar won the championship belt, he never appeared in the ring to defend his title.
Russia's Anatoly Malykhin, who knocked out European wrestling champion Grishenko over two rounds to take the interim heavyweight world title belt, has a 12-0 unbeaten record and a 100% finish, and is Nganno's choice. Also, Marcus " Butcheča Almeida also has a strong record, with an impressive 4-0 MMA record and 17-time BJJ titles also making an interesting pairing.