Morning Report: Chael Sonnen: Dana White ‘probably felt betrayed’ by Francis Ngannou’s appearance with Tyson … – MMA Fighting

Chael Sonnen doesn’t think Dana White could have been too happy after seeing his heavyweight champion in the boxing ring this past weekend.

Since becoming the official baddest man on the planet in March 2021, it’s been made abundantly clear that Francis Ngannou and the UFC have been struggling to get on the same page. The Cameroonian-born knockout artist has continually expressed his interest in getting paid what he’s worth as well as his hopes of stepping into the squared circle to compete.

Ngannou’s specific target at present is that of dominant heavyweight boxing kingpin, Tyson Fury who just scored a sixth-round TKO over Dillian Whyte. Immediately following the victory, the undefeated 32-0-1 Fury announced his retirement from the sport as Ngannou entered the ring to tease their potential crossover “hybrid” matchup.

“I would imagine that Dana probably felt betrayed,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “He probably had his feelings hurt. He would never tell you, he’d probably tell you he was pissed off or he didn’t care at all. But he probably was betrayed a little bit. Francis Ngannou was there [watching Fury]. Francis knew he was going, Francis is under contract with Dana. Did Francis’ team let Dana know he was gonna be there? That he was gonna get in the ring for somebody else? That this was gonna be broadcast around the world? Because when Francis got in there, the announcers were already queued. Those announcers knew and they knew to sell it.”

From here, things can get all the more interesting behind the scenes as Ngannou has been extremely vocal about his stance when it comes to his desires. Though, due to his situation with the UFC, “The Predator” needs them to play ball in one way or the other.

The most popular example of a crossover of this magnitude can be seen with Conor McGregor who was allowed to go and box Floyd Mayweather. White, of course, aided in the promotion of the spectacle event. In other more recent cases like Georges St-Pierre attempting to box Oscar De La Hoya, however, the UFC boss did not him to box as he prevented St-Pierre from returning when requested.

“This is going to go as smoothly as both sides want it to go,” Sonnen said. “I don’t know what Francis’ contract is in full disclosure. But I know what my contract says and I know what everybody else who fought at the time I was fighting said because they were boilerplate. You just changed the fee, you changed the execution dates, and you inserted a name. In my case, Chael Sonnen, and I had what everybody else had.

“Those contracts do not just expire the way the media has led you to believe. The media has led you guys to believe that the end of this year, I think it’s December of this year, Francis is free to go. That’s not the contract I had.”

Negotiations. Francis Ngannou says re-signing with the UFC without an opportunity to box Tyson Fury is ‘not an option.’

$$$. Dan Hardy: Add up all my UFC paychecks, I’m making more in boxing match vs. Diego Sanchez.

Arrival. Ben Rothwell signs with BKFC after parting ways with UFC.

Controversy. Dean Barry: Mike Jackson ‘took the easy way out’ with disqualification victory.

Title. Scott Coker open to Liz Carmouche vs. Juliana Velasquez rematch after controversial ending at Bellator 278.

The MMA Hour.

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Previewing the 30th season of The Ultimate Fighter.

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Throwback.

Said Nurmagomedov (15-2) vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade (28-4); UFC Fight Night, July 9

I think Francis sticks to his guns in this whole situation. So he’ll either get his wish or we end up missing out on what could have been an awesome title reign. Thanks for reading!

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