Professional Fighters League (PFL) is just a couple of days away from “the biggest fight of 2024,” according to chairman Donn Davis, which is why UFC CEO Dana White will “try to steal the spotlight” from “Battle of the Giants” with a major announcement of his own.
Coincidence? Probably not, based on White’s history of shine stealing.
The Oct. 19 PFL card in Riyadh will feature the return of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in what marks his first cage fight since early 2022, when “The Predator” defeated French phenom Ciryl Gane to unify the 265-pound titles.
Ngannou battles Brazilian bruiser Renan Ferreira in the PFL pay-per-view (PPV) main event.
“PFL Super Fight Week!” Davis wrote on Twitter. “Francis Ngannou makes his highly anticipated return with PFL MMA! So what will Dana White announce to try to steal spotlight from THE biggest fight of 2024??”
If PFL puts on great fights and that forces UFC to counter with great fights of its own, then fans win — which is why competition is good for business. There’s also the outside chance that White and Co. don’t care and just soldier on with this mediocre card.
After all, White’s only legitimate competition is from NFL.
Francis Ngannou responds to Dana White ahead of long-awaited PFL debut
Speaking with Ariel Helwani, Francis Ngannou responded to those comments. There, the PFL heavyweight slammed Dana White, saying that he will reveal all of his financial numbers if need be. While Ngannou doesn’t want to open up this can of worms again, he will if necessary.
“If this continues, if he wants I can bring up all the numbers.” Francis Ngannou stated in the interview when asked about Dana White’s comments. “I have all the numbers, I have all the receipts, I have all the numbers. No [I won’t bring them out right now]. Let’s keep [it at that] again.”
However, Ngannou added: “I don’t like to bring numbers up. But, if I need to, I will.”
50/50 chance? Well yeah, you either win or you don’t.
Nobody cares about Ngannou at this point.