Mike Tyson claims UFC star Francis Ngannou's £460,000 fight purse would have only covered his 'training expenses'
MIKE TYSON has sensationally claimed that Francis Ngannou's £460,000 purse for his last UFC fight would only have covered his training expenses during his hey day.
The former heavyweight champion of the world, 55, was in conversation with UFC middleweight king Israel Adesanya on his HotBoxin' podcast, when he made the claim.
Ngannou defended his UFC heavyweight title against Cyril Gane back in January.
Adesanya started the chat, saying: "Shout out to my boy, my big brother Francis, he kicked the door down and said 'Look, this is what's happening. They're paying me this much and I'm this guy'.
"He put it all out there. Mike, imagine at the height of your career, you're fighting and you're getting paid the equivalent of $600k to fight. That would be atrocious."
Iron Mike swiftly replied: "Listen, that'd be my training expenses. That's my training expenses. People would pay me to do commercials and stuff and I would make sure they paid me in advance but I might not show up or something."
Adesanya continued: "The guys who are making their debut they should be able to just get paid, and then not have to work at all during their training camp.
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"Because a lot of fighters do. They work. Imagine having a second job. Get paid, pay management, pay training expenses, then have enough to live off of."
UFC paydays have been subject of criticism, most recently from YouTuber Jake Paul.
The social media star-turned-boxer claimed he earns more money than every 'silly motherf***er' in the UFC COMBINED – including Conor McGregor.
Most recently, Jorge Masvidal urged the YouTube sensation to make a switch to the cage so they can fight.
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But Paul made it clear he is his own boss, unlike those contracted to the UFC, and makes more money than the lot of them.
He said on his brother Logan's podcast: "I make more than every UFC fighter f***ing combined, including Conor.
"Y'all work for f***ing Dana, y'all work for WME, Endeavor, that's who you work for.
"I make more than all of you silly motherf***ers. Why would I go into the UFC? Sign a contract and give away my f***ing rights and s***.
"I own my content, I own my platform, I own everything. They don't own s***, they are literally employees.
"I'm a f***ing CEO and every UFC fighter is an employee. Get that straight. I'm not coming over there and doing s*** with y'all."
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