Francis Ngannou’s time with PFL is over.
On Friday, the organization officially announced Ngannou (18-3) has been released from his contract. The news was first reported by Sherdog.com.
See PFL’s statement below:
“The Professional Fighters League has made the decision to part ways with Francis Ngannou. We have great respect for Francis as both an athlete and a person, and we wish him success in the next chapter of his combat sports career. The PFL remains focused on recruiting and signing the best athletes in the sport while continuing to deliver world-class competition for fans around the globe.”
With the announcement, Ngannou—the No. 2 heavyweight in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings—officially ends a three-year partnership with the league that began in May 2023 and saw the former UFC heavyweight champion compete just once for the organization. Following a tumultuous departure from the UFC that saw Ngannou sit out for a year, and eventually be granted free agency in January 2023 while never having lost his heavyweight title, he signed with PFL in a move that was considered a major win for both Ngannou and the promotion at the time.
In Ngannou’s lone PFL appearance in October 2024, he defeated Renan Ferreira via first-round knockout. While the Ngannou signing brought plenty of attention to PFL, and helped to kick-start the organization’s PFL Africa expansion, he gained far more notoriety from a pair of high-profile boxing matches he secured. Ngannou’s PFL contract allowed him to negotiate non-MMA opportunities, and he took full advantage, booking lucrative fights with heavyweight stars Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Ngannou was knocked out by Joshua in March 2024 and then scored his win over Ferreira the following October, and has not competed since. His in-competition availability was also limited by a pair of personal tragedies he recently suffered, including the death of his son Kobe in 2024 and his involvement in a motorcycle accident in Cameroon this past April that resulted in a 17-year-old girl being killed.
The 39-year-old enters free agency on a seven-fight win streak and has his pick of any fight organization, whether he returns to MMA or continues his boxing career. Regarding a possible UFC reunion, Ngannou has had a long-running feud with UFC CEO Dana White, with White going as far as to accuse Ngannou of acting unprofessional during negotiations. Still, Ngannou saw his greatest success under the UFC banner, winning its heavyweight title in 2021 with a spectacular knockout of Stipe Miocic and successfully defending it against Ciryl Gane.
