The first rule of UFC Fight Club: don’t mention Francis Ngannou’s name…
Here’s a look at the clip from the UFC 305 Countdown episode versus what Adesanya actually said at the UFC 305 Pre-Sale Press Conference.
AdvertisementIt’s no surprise, but the UFC’s attempt to erase Ngannou from its… pic.twitter.com/PZpA7UAtSe
— AFeldmanMMA (@afeldMMA) August 13, 2024
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champ Israel Adesanya is not pleased by how his company is handling Francis Ngannou’s legacy.
UFC 305: Du Plessis vs. Adesanya Saturday at 10 ET on ESPN+. Order Now!
At UFC 305 media day on Wednesday, Adesanya spoke up on the UFC seemingly erasing mentions of Ngannou on its broadcasts and postings. This was partially in response to AFeldmanMMA, who posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, a side-by-side video comparison on Tuesday, showing that the promotion had edited out Adesanya invoking the name of Ngannou when talking about legacy for African fighters. During the UFC Countdown episode that featured his comments, while Adesanya had previously called the trio of African champions of himself, Kamaru Usman and Ngannou the “three kings,” that along with Ngannou’s name was clipped out.
“You can never erase Francis’ history from the UFC, I’ll say that,” Adesanya said while staring directly at the UFC’s camera lens. “It’s just part of history, we need to fix this. I don’t like that…the fact that we’re trying to just cut out a really important part of history. It’s silly. It’s really silly. But we’ll fix that…that’s for later on, we’ll fix that.”
This was not the first time the organization had intentionally or inadvertently removed Ngannou from its history, a current roster member of competitor Professional Fighters League. Ahead of Tafon Nchukwi’s final UFC outing in 2023, the broadcast overlay wrote that he was the “Only Cameroonian fighter in UFC history.” This was incorrect, as Ngannou as well as Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou were both born in the nation of Cameroon and fought under the UFC banner.
“I respect Francis so much, he’s an [integral] part of what we’ve done in the UFC,” Adesanya stated at media day. “Right now, I know there’s competition between other promotions and the UFC, and battles, but you can never erase history because the streets, the internet will always remember. No matter what. And I think they’ll fix this eventually, but it’s just a lot of chest-puffing. But hopefully, they’ll…the UFC is smart people, they’ll understand and they’ll rectify this eventually.”
This error was not always displayed, as during Nchukwi’s 2022 walkout before facing Carlos Ulberg, the broadcast wrote that Nchukwi was “one of three UFC fighters born in Cameroon.” At that time, Ngannou had not surrendered his heavyweight throne and left after failed contract negotiations. Since that bout, Ngannou departed to join the PFL roster while crossing over twice to boxing, where he squared off against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in spirited, unsuccessful efforts. His next MMA fight—the first since 2022—will take place in October against Renan Ferreira.
“You can’t erase Francis’ legacy in the UFC, it’s part of what we’ve done, it’s forever in history, in stone,” the Nigerian-born ex-champ reiterated. “Trying to white-wash it or just not talk about it is silly. And I know he’s fighting for the PFL right now, but it’s still history. You can’t just turn a blind eye to it. So again, I’m sure they’ll fix it eventually, this is how business goes with the UFC.”
