First rule of UFC Fight Club: Don’t say Francis Ngannou’s name…
Let’s compare clips from the UFC 305 Countdown episode to what Adesanya actually said during the UFC 305 pre-sale press conference.
Not surprisingly, UFC’s attempt to remove Ngannou from the UFC…
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— AFeldmanMMA (@afeldMMA)
August 13, 2024
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champion Israel Adesanya isn’t happy with the way his company is handling Francis Ngannou’s legacy. UFC 305: du Plessis vs. Adesanya, Saturday at 10pm ET on ESPN+. Order now!
At UFC 305 media day on Wednesday, Adesanya said he thought UFC was scrubbing references to Ngannou from its broadcasts and posts. His comments were in response to AFeldmanMMA, who posted a comparison video on Twitter on Tuesday showing UFC editing out a segment in which Adesanya mentioned Ngannou by name when talking about the legacy of African fighters. The episode of UFC Countdown in which his comments were featured also showed Adesanya previously referring to three African champions — himself, Kamaru Usman and Ngannou — as the “Three Kings,” but their names, along with Ngannou’s, were cut out.
“You can never erase Francis’ history from the UFC, I can tell you that,” Adesanya said, staring straight into the UFC camera lens. “This is just a part of history and we have to get this right. I don’t like it… the fact that we’re trying to cut out a really important part of history. It’s ridiculous. It’s really ridiculous. But we’ll get it right… That’s for later, we’ll get it right.”
This isn’t the first time the organization has intentionally or inadvertently removed Ngannou, a current fighter for rival Professional Fighters League, from its history. As Tafon Nchukwui prepared for his final UFC bout in 2023, a broadcast overlay described him as the “only Cameroonian fighter in UFC history.” This was incorrect; both Ngannou and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou were born in Cameroon and fought under the UFC banner.
“I have a lot of respect for Francis. He is [integral] “This is part of what we’ve done at UFC,” Adesanya said at media day. “Right now, I know there’s competition and there’s fights between other organizations and UFC, but you can’t erase history, because the streets and the internet will always remember it, no matter what. And I think they’ll fix this at some point, but this is just boasting, but hopefully, they’ll…UFC are smart people, they’ll understand and they’ll get this right at some point.”
This error was not always visible, and during Nkwi’s 2022 exit prior to his fight against Carlos Ulberg, the broadcast stated that Nkwi was “one of three Cameroon-born UFC fighters.” At the time, Ngannou had not vacated his heavyweight title and was exited after contract negotiations fell through. Since that fight, Ngannou has joined the PFL roster and has turned to boxing twice, fighting energetically against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua with poor results. His next MMA fight will be his first since 2022 and is scheduled to take on Renan Ferreira in October.
“You can’t erase Francis’ accomplishments with UFC. It’s part of what we’ve accomplished and it’s forever etched in history,” the Nigerian-born former champion reiterated. “To try to sweep it under the rug or just not talk about it would be foolish. I know he’s fighting in the PFL now, but it’s still history. You can’t just turn a blind eye. So, again, they’ll fix it eventually. This is how UFC does business.”
