UFC president, Dana White, has confirmed that Francis Ngannou has vacated his UFC heavyweight title after becoming a free agent.
The 36-year-old has been enmeshed in a long-standing contract dispute with the promoter, who have also waived their exclusivity clauses to allow Ngannou to negotiate with other organisations without interference.
Ngannou had been expected to appear in UFC 285 in Las Vegas on March 4, although him becoming a free agent means that Jon Jones will face France’s Ciryl Gane instead on the same date.
“We’ve been negotiating with [Ngannou] for more than two years,” White said. “We offered Francis a deal that would’ve made him the highest paid heavyweight in the history of the company – more than [Brock] Lesnar, more than anybody, and he turned the deal down.
“Francis is in a place now where he doesn’t want to take a lot of risk. He feels like he’s in a position where he could fight lesser opponents and make more money, so we’re going to let him do that and release him from our contract. He can go wherever he wants and do whatever he wants.”
Ngannou was on a six-fight winning streak prior to becoming a free agent, most recently unifying the heavyweight division when he defeated Gane by unanimous decision last January before undergoing knee surgery.