Former UFC middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, is fully behind former heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou's decision to leave the promotion.
Adesanya spoke with the media during UFC 284 in Perth, Australia this past weekend and explained why he believes the things Ngannou was asking for in negotiations with the promotion, were beyond reasonable and hopes this is the beginning of change for how the company does business with its fighters going forward.
“Francis made the right call,” Adesanya said (h/t MMA Junkie). “He’s the one that kicked in the door. We’ve all been behind him. We’ve been saying this for how long? If you guys go back on the tapes, I’ve been saying the same thing. I’m not going to harp on about it, but he’s right. It’s little things. He’s asking for things that should be mandatory. He wasn’t asking for, you know, crazy, ridiculous diva demands. There’s something as little as for the guys fighting on the opening (bouts), having the fourth or third corner man being paid for, and the hotel is being paid for. That sets them up nicely, and they don’t have to fork it out of their $10K and $10K, or maybe even $10K, to pay for their fourth or third corner man – little things like that. He’s not being a diva. He’s asking for reasonable demands, and I felt like he should have got them. (UFC president Dana White) said, ‘That’s not how we do business.’ But the way we do business has to change, and it will change. He’s just the guy to kick in the door.”
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