ESPN accused of 'erasing' Francis Ngannou from the UFC history books (Photo)
By Amy Kaplan
An innocent mistake during the broadcast of UFC Vegas 78 has caused a lot of upset amongst the UFC fanbase, and we can see why.
During the walkout for the Tafon Nchukwi fight a graphic flashed on the screen identifying Nchukwi as the first fighter from Cameroon in UFC history.
And that's not correct.
In fact, Francis Ngannou was also from Cameroon and he achieved the UFC heavyweight title. He's widely considered to be one of the best UFC heavyweight champions of all time, as well.
Ngannou left the UFC amid a very public battle with UFC president Dana White over fighter pay and fighter contract conditions. He's now signed to the PFL and has a huge boxing fight with Tyson Fury scheduled for later this year.
MMA Twitter blasted ESPN, UFC for slight to Francis Ngannou
Ngannou himself tool to Twitter to share a photo of himself with his UFC belt and his countries flag.
https://t.co/TsV0PlzkRC pic.twitter.com/MV3wrAnHU1
— Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) August 13, 2023
And MMA Twitter was not going to let them get away with it.
This is pretty bad, there were 2 Cameroonian fighters in UFC before him.
— pat (o) (@Patkk151515) August 13, 2023
Tryna erase history like they did with Randy Couture. https://t.co/vM8kNiwwjD
https://t.co/edtM2UOH1H pic.twitter.com/S5ctqQOO0H
— Luke Thomas🏋️♀️ (@lthomasnews) August 13, 2023
https://t.co/54vJBe2QDq pic.twitter.com/RUAw1IWT8y
— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) August 13, 2023
African athlete erasure. Francis NGannou, the lineal world heavyweight champ, veteran of 14 UFC bouts, & a man who was never beaten as UFC champ, is from Cameroon. For ESPN, a media outlet, to do this is reprehensible. I hope the website's reporters write about this propaganda. pic.twitter.com/vQaqD3PSOL
— Elias Cepeda (@EliasCepeda) August 13, 2023
Some mf bs @francis_ngannou pic.twitter.com/6ntuQDu0TS
— MMAJesus420 (@MMAJesus316) August 13, 2023
Is Dana White trying to wipe Francis Ngannou's legacy at the UFC?
— E-KWAT TV (@EkwatTV) August 13, 2023
UFC introduced Cameroonian fighter, Tafon "Da Don" Nchukwi (born im Bamenda) as "The Only Cameroonian n UFC history ".
Francis Ngannou reacted by posting a picture of himself with a Cameroomian flag before pic.twitter.com/SSRSiJ5a7b
Francis Ngannou is giving Dana White a constant nightmare. Only a Mafia organization has narrative controllers. https://t.co/2uhW47C4aO
— Alogà (@NjotuPower) August 13, 2023
The way the UFC treated Francis Ngannou was absolutely abhorrent
— Aidan Weston (@psu_uga) August 13, 2023
Don’t pay him his worth now erasing him from history books.
And you can’t tell me Jon Jones didn’t duck him
Watch him move at heavyweight and tell me you don’t think Francis would be able to crack him https://t.co/YfpkfUghCp
So far neither ESPN, the UFC or Dana White has addressed the mistake.
Nchukwi lost his fight to Dobson via a unanimous decision. The loss marked his third straight under the UFC banner.
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