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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
MMA Junkie Staff

Video: Will Francis Ngannou’s gamble to leave UFC pay off or backfire?

Francis Ngannou appears to have a plethora of options after parting ways with UFC.

The now former heavyweight champion Ngannou (17-3) failed to reach terms on a new contract with the promotion, leading to this past Saturday’s announcement he’d been stripped of the title and is free to do business anywhere he chooses.

As a result, the UFC has booked a vacant title fight between Jon Jones and Ciryl Gane for UFC 285 on March 4, showing that Ngannou is already in the organization’s rear-view mirror.

The future is seemingly wide open for Ngannou, though, who is already getting the attention from the likes of PFL, Bellator and BKFC. Additionally, his dream of competing in boxing could finally come to fruition with a variety of different matchups.

What next step is the most logical for Ngannou going forward, though? And what type of risk is he running by competing outside the biggest MMA organization?

Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Nolan King, Farah Hannoun and Brian “Goze” Garcia answered those questions and more with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia. You can watch their discussion in the video above. And don’t miss this week’s full episode below.

“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel.

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