Francis Ngannou leaks his final UFC payslip ahead of Anthony Joshua fight and admits he was 'broke'

Francis Ngannou leaked his final UFC payslip ahead of his blockbuster fight with Anthony Joshua.

Joshua and Ngannou go head-to-head in Saudi Arabia on Friday evening, with the former entering the fight having secured three wins from as many bouts in 2023.

Meanwhile, Ngannou made his boxing debut in October, flooring heavyweight champion Tyson Fury before losing a controversial decision.

The 37-year-old will aim to put things right this weekend against Joshua, a former two-time unified champion.

While Joshua and Ngannou’s respective earnings for the fight have not been made public, a Sports Business Journal article claimed that Joshua will make $50million (£39million) and Ngannou will earn $20million (£15.6million) when not factoring in pay-per-view points.

That’s a significantly higher fee than what Ngannou made in his last UFC fight.

The Cameroonian, who was a reigning UFC champion at the time of his departure from the promotion, claimed he earned just $600,000 (£468,084) from his last fight against Ciryl Gain.

Indeed, in 2021, upon being crowned UFC heavyweight champion, Ngannou only had one fight remaining on his contract with the promotion and chose not to sign an extension.

In turn, Ngannou earned a relatively measly sum before entering free agency.

“You were talking earlier about the contract that I turned down,” Ngannou said to Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo on their show Pound 4 Pound. “You knew a lot about the stuff that I turned down from the UFC negotiation with my last fight in the UFC.

“I took $600,000 for my last fight in the UFC as opposed to $5million that they were offering for the same fight. And I was broke. At the time I owed [Kamaru] Usman $200,000. I was broke. It’s true!”

After beating Gane, Ngannou turned down another offer that would have seen him earn “around” $8million (£6.24million) for a Jon Jones fight.

Instead, he entered free agency and signed a lucrative partnership deal with PFL which also allowed him to pursue boxing.

You can watch the Joshua vs Ngannou fight live on DAZN here.

Featured Image Credit: Getty/Pound 4 Pound via YouTube

Topics: Boxing, UFC, Anthony Joshua, Francis Ngannou, Tyson Fury, Saudi Arabia

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.