CLEVELAND, OHIO: Jake Paul anticipates that additional UFC contenders will follow in Francis Ngannou's footsteps now that he has secured the lucrative Tyson Fury match he sought. Paul, who signed a multi-fight contract with PFL at the start of the year, believes Ngannou has set the precedent of how to handle free agency, showing that there’s more money to be made outside of the UFC.
However, Ngannou is all set to fight Fury in a 10-round heavyweight boxing contest on October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Fury won’t be stripped of his belt despite not making a defense against an official title challenger after he was granted “special permission” by the WBC to box Ngannou.
‘Hopefully more fighters follow suit, leave the UFC’
Talking about the same, Paul told, “I’m happy for him, and I think he’s creating history by showing UFC fighters they can make so much more money by being in control of their own destiny,” as per MMA Junkie. “Which is also what Nate Diaz is doing. This should be Nate Diaz’s biggest payday, and that’s for certain going to be Francis’ biggest payday. Hopefully more fighters follow suit, leave the UFC, come to the better league, which is PFL, and also be able to box,” Paul said.
“They’re MMA fighters, but they can also box. So I think more fighters will follow in his footsteps, and that’s what we’re doing with the PFL, and growing it is giving fighters another place to go instead of it just being a monopoly that the UFC has truly created. Francis is the pioneer of that currently, and this fight is amazing. It’s exciting, and it’s fun,” he added.
‘We’re fighters, we’re showmen’
Paul believes that this bout won't damage boxing's reputation. Paul doesn't get why there would be a problem for Fury to fight Ngannou if Floyd Mayweather could box Conor McGregor and draw millions of viewers.
“A massive fight like this with global audiences and the two baddest men on the planet going at it is only good for everyone and everything,” Paul said. “No one criticized Floyd when he basically came out of retirement just to fight Conor McGregor for hundreds of millions of dollars, but for some reason, they want to criticize Tyson Fury,” Paul said.
“At the end of the day, we’re fighters, we’re showmen, it’s the show business, we’re prizefighters, we’re pugilists,” he added.
