Francis Ngannou turns down $20m guaranteed from ONE Championship as promoters grumble ‘the money wasn’t enough’

ONE CHAMPIONSHIP claim to have had a whopping $20million contract REJECTED by Francis Ngannou.

Cameroonian clubber Ngannou is currently a free agent following the expiration of his contract with UFC in January.

GETTYFrancis Ngannou has been a free agent following his departure from the UFC[/caption]

GETTYONE Championship chief Chatri Sityodtong claims to have offered Ngannou a whopping $20million deal[/caption]

ALAMYSityodtong claims The Predator made a list of unmeetable demands[/caption]

The Predator left mixed martial arts‘ premier promotion in a bid to box as well as compete in the sport he became king of.

ONE sounded out Ngannou following his UFC departure but saw their attempts to secure his services rebuffed.

CEO Chatri Sityodtong told The Daily Star: “He was asking for a seat at the board of directors, he was asking for him to determine his opponent’s pay.

“We offered him $20 million guaranteed.”

According to Sityodtong, Ngannou wasn’t satisfied with the alleged $20m offer from the Asian mixed martial arts promotion.

He said: “The money wasn’t enough, he wanted all of these other non-financial terms that didn’t make a lot of sense.

“We obviously can’t give a seat at the board of directors, that doesn’t make any sense, he would be a fish out of water [in that position].”

Ngannou – who has gone quiet in recent months – has yet to respond to Sityodtong’s claim.

Francis Ngannou hasn’t competed since UFC 270 in January 2022GETTY

But that could be because he’s about to sign a lucrative deal with the Professional Fighters League.

Veteran MMA reporter Ariel Helwani revealed this week that the Cameroonian was on the brink of signing with the promotion.

During a recent episode of The MMA Hour, he said: “Francis’ side of the story is a little bit different.

“Francis is very close to signing a new deal with another promotion.

And according to Francis, he was very upfront about this.

“And so they left the meeting on good terms.

“But both of them came to an understanding that because he had already kind of verbally committed to someone, more than likely he’s not going to ONE.”

Ngannou hasn’t fought since his first and final defence of the heavyweight title against former team-mate Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022.