{"id":37397,"date":"2026-03-25T15:37:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Francis-Ngannou-claims-PFL-split-was-not-his-decision-200593"},"modified":"2026-03-25T15:37:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:37:03","slug":"francis-ngannou-claims-pfl-split-was-not-his-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/francis-ngannou-claims-pfl-split-was-not-his-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis Ngannou claims PFL split was not his decision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Francis
\nNgannou<\/a> didn\u2019t want his relationship with the
\nProfessional Fighters League<\/a> to end in the way it
\ndid. <\/p>\n

PFL suddenly announced earlier this month that Ngannou was no
\nlonger a part of the promotion. Days later, it was announced that
\nNgannou was booked to fight Philipe
\nLins<\/a> on May 16 on a
\nNetflix card<\/a> under the banner of Most Valuable
\nPromotions. <\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Ngannou claims the PFL announced his release to stay ahead of the
\nnarrative, which the former
\nUFC<\/a> heavyweight champion understands. However, Ngannou claims
\nthat the decision to part ways was not his. \u201cThe Predator\u201d wanted
\nthe PFL to come up with a nicer story to explain his release.
\nNgannou also revealed that he had originally left the PFL in
\nJanuary. Ngannou claims he had no prior knowledge that the PFL
\nwould publicly announce his release before they did.<\/p>\n

Caught Off Guard<\/h2>\n

\u201cThey wanted to get ahead of the story, which is what every
\norganization would do,\u201d Ngannou said on “The
\nAriel Helwani Show.\u201d<\/a> \u201cBecause we part ways since January. I
\nalso wanted them to come up with something better. Because the
\ndecision to part ways was not mine. I was a little surprised when
\nthey sent me that. They should have also told me\u2026 People just sent
\nit to me. I just saw it out there; I wasn\u2019t aware at
\nall.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ngannou (18-3) parted ways with the UFC after failed contract
\nnegotiations in 2023 and signed up with the PFL soon after.
\nNgannou\u2019s high-profile PFL contract allowed him to simultaneously
\ncompete in boxing, a demand the UFC refused to meet. Ngannou then
\nlost to Tyson Fury<\/a>
\nand Anthony
\nJoshua<\/a> in boxing. Ngannou fought only once in the PFL,
\ndefeating Renan
\nFerreira<\/a> in October 2024. Ngannou also served as the chairman
\nof PFL Africa, aiming to develop the sport on the continent.
\nNgannou says he would like to continue working for PFL Africa in
\nsome capacity as it was always separate from his fight
\ncontract. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Francis
\nNgannou<\/a> is asked about PFL’s announcement they were parting
\nways.<\/p>\n

Later, Francis is asked if he wants to remain involved in PFL
\nAfrica.
\n#HelwaniShow<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/l33NeWR0UN<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jed I. Goodman \u00a9 (@jedigoodman)
\nMarch 24, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Francis Ngannou didn\u2019t want his relationship with the Professional Fighters League to end in the way it did.  PFL suddenly announced earlier this month that Ngannou was no longer a part of the promotion. Days later, it was announced that Ngannou was booked to fight Philipe Lins on May 16 on a Netflix card under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}