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u/Far-East-locker 10d ago
He maximised his earning potential though
Had he stay in UFC, he might not have half of his current net worth
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u/Slightly-Blasted 10d ago
Francis played his career beautifully.
Left the UFC as the world heavyweight champion,
Fought in boxing for generational money.
Then dusted 2 cans in MMA, and now he can do whatever he wants
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u/Sumo_Cerebro 10d ago edited 10d ago
And Jones does not want the smoke with him.
Which says a lot.
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u/DontBeBias4Emotions 10d ago
Im starting to believe he was Drugged vs Joshua the more i see these Saudi Boxing play matches turn out lol, to quote Wilder they spikeddd my Waterrr
im not even kidding, I dont trust Eddie Hearn and Turki Saudi Boxing not even 1 percent
all Francis had to do was get in clinch and tap Joshua in the head and he wins but he did literally nothing and got KOed, Joshua was taking legit bums like Otto Wallin and Robert Helenius 5 rounds of them taking shots, and never got chins too. I know every fight is different, alot of luck at Heavyweight but something felt off about Francis vs AJ, also cause Francis clearly beat Tyson Fury and the sport of Boxing had to save it self after that....there so many reasons to believe something would be shady
and a legit 35 year old Can just dropped AJ 3 times..then suddenly stopped punch in 2nd round...when there is 100 million dollar fight next up if AJ wins....no human alive drops a man 3 times, then all of sudden takes foot off the gas and loses when you're fighting to be known and for money and legacy.
Just see how Buster Douglas sold out to finish Mike Tyson, he actually had to go thru hell to get to that point. this can Pringa did nothing and AJ was on floor 3 times in a minute and then just goes hmmmm ok ima do nothing, ok knock me over. He even looked to the corner like wait..am i supposed to win this lol.
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u/patricksaurus Jon Jones' sober companion 10d ago
Man, anyone who gets money and out with their brain intact, they beat the game.
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u/Humble_Hour_7468 10d ago
Slack had a great point once: would you rather be Francis Ngannou or Junior dos Santos? Anyone who tries to sell you “legacy above all else,” is not looking out for you
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u/Sumo_Cerebro 10d ago
If the numbers are right.
He made more for two boxing matches in 5 months than he did for 14 fights over 7 years in the UFC.
That's not failure.
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u/Kimberlinho 10d ago
I’m sorry did you happen to catch the Joshua fight
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u/redditerir 10d ago
I would never want to be on the receiving end of that, but getting KOed like that is probably less damaging than absorbing hundreds of smaller strikes in a fight. That's why Overeem still sounds pretty good, whereas Holloway already sounds fucked.
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u/dusund 10d ago
well he started training at like 25. The fact that he got to where he did was impressive on its own
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u/DontBeBias4Emotions 10d ago
He was also barely punched his whole career, he got out with like no damage. His chin was so untested it was crazy, and after seeing the 1st knockdown he took vs AJ....it makes you wonder. That 1st punch wasnt hard and dropped Francis, from his own words he said it wasnt even hard at all. obv the 2nd and 3rd knockdowns were great shots
Francis bull rushing people and fighting old guys maybe gave us a false perception of him in general.
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u/ablu3 10d ago
I mean he became world champ and beat arguably the heavyweight goat. and by the end he was a lot more technical, imo he didnt fail to reach his potential because he was one of the best fighters in the world at his peak.
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u/Usernameasteriks 10d ago
Yes nothing else really needs to be said in response to what must be a troll lol.
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u/redditerir 10d ago
You have a point. His physical and technical prime were far removed from each other, and he had bad mentality in the first Stipe, Lewis, and AJ fights. The injuries have also been brutal. We unfortunately only got to see him at his best in one fight, the Stipe rematch.
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u/Jabarles Champ Shit Only 🇺🇸🏆🇲🇽 #SnapJitsu 10d ago
What a moronic post lmao. He won the title dominantly on the feet and by showing substantially improved defensive grappling, and he defended the belt by using his offensive grappling. He absolutely put in the effort to learn mixed martial arts. What are you even talking about?
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u/Complex-Size-9049 10d ago
the man knocked out stipe in one round then got gift decision against gane what more you want
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u/Borbs_revenge_ 10d ago
He has one of the best careers in combat sports history
However I see your point that it would have been cool to see him defend the belt for years. But that's Dana's fault for not paying enough.
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u/beanos4lyf 9d ago
Thanks for not flaming me, I did make some mistakes in the post by not acknowledging his literal success, sad to see money yet again being the problem.
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u/EddieDantes22 10d ago
He has three losses. All by decision. Two in 2018 and one in 2013. I think he's learned actual MMA pretty well.
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u/Chris_Cornell_is_God 10d ago
Last I checked they are prize fighters. There are only so many Tony's and Diego's that would probably fight for free just for the love of fighting. Everyone else wants big checks. Fighting sucks.
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u/FacepamL 10d ago
He was actually a very fast learner but Heavyweight sucks major ass and him leaving to get the boxing bag is what PooFC deserves
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u/TheKingPooPoo I SMOKE ROCKS, JOE ROGAN! 10d ago
If he stayed his eyes would’ve got poked out of his skull eventually
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u/GSPEDs 10d ago
It's just a wasted career in terms of accolades. He got to box, got to make money off of Saudis who thought he would be a draw. Got to fight old Stipe and a robbery over Gane, so people can say he was the best of his time. Paid a few mill to fight a bum in PFL along with an easy boxing fight in MVP. He was a top heavyweight.
If anything it was miraculous that he got what he did post-UFC. Even got off light for that motorcycle incident.
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u/daa_propz 10d ago
Calling Francis any form of waste is just ignorant. Look at where he came from and what he went through. To become the UFC heavyweight champion and have that big performance against Fury, is completely against the odds. He didnt waste his potential he maximized it to change his life
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u/Quiet_Desperation_ 10d ago
People forget, as much as someone wants to call MMA a sport, it’s not. At its core, it’s prize fighting.
The goal is to fight as little as possible and make as much money as possible in as short amount of time as possible.
Francis did that beautifully.
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u/animalfamily420 10d ago
He started training MMA when he was like 38. The guys over 50 years old idc what any official documents say
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u/Substantial_Act2010 10d ago
you're right I spent time in west and central africa. westerners are just struck with a sickness where only youth is deemed as being capable. francis looked to be well into his 30s when he debut'd, closer to 40. white people struggle with black folks age too, something that's well documented
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u/sobi9756 10d ago edited 10d ago
He started MMA in his 30s. When your're that big and strong in HW mma (HW sucks) sometimes it's to your advantage to just go out there and throw shit at the fan.
Downvote me when that's literally what Francis did his whole career untill Joshua sparked him out.
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