Francis Ngannou gets called out by ex-UFC champ for football stadium showdown after $20M payday falls through

Former UFC champion Fabrício Werdum has called out Francis Ngannou for a mega-fight in Brazil.

During a recent PFL conference held at the WebSummit event in Rio de Janeiro, Fabricio Werdum spoke about wanting to fight 'The Predator' at Arena do Gremio, a 60,000-capacity football stadium in his hometown of Porto Alegre.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum is looking jacked 👀 #MMA #UFC

https://t.co/c4hH4M03Zr

Despite being 46 years old, Fabricio Werdum is confident of beating Francis Ngannou with his jiu-jitsu. He said (H/T Combate):

I really believe that the PFL will embrace this idea and make a super fight. Me against Francis Ngannou in Brazil, to take that doubt from that challenge that he made me look at. This is my idea: to make a super fight at the end of the year. Fight again at 46, but I'm sure I finish Ngannou in jiu-jitsu

While further claiming that a bout against 'The Predator' in November or December would be ideal, Werdum said:

"I have a craze that I always play for the universe. Play the will, the idea for the universe. And it happens a lot. People think it's funny, but I do that a lot. I did that a lot and it worked very well. Here the energy is very good to play and this PFL event against Francis Ngannou takes place in November or December. I don't know the date to happen, but then they will say ‘Werdum was right'."

Francis Ngannou contract: What happened to $20 million deal 'The Predator' got from ONE Championship?

After leaving the UFC last year, 'The Predator' has been in negotiations with a number of promotions. However, he has failed to come to terms with any so far. Most recently, Ngannou was offered $20 million by ONE Championship, but his rather unreasonable demands led to the negotiations being broken down.

The ONE Championship CEO, Chatri Sityodtong revealed that the former UFC heavyweight champion was asking for non-financial perks like a seat at the board of directors. During an interview with Daily Star, he said:

"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 £16million ($20million) guaranteed, 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]."

ONE Championship claims to have offered Francis Ngannou ‘$20 million guaranteed’ — ‘The money wasn’t enough’ mmamania.com/2023/5/2/23708… https://t.co/No6Gbdlb77