Rico Verhoeven’s decision to go in a different direction may have cost Francis Ngannou a bigger fight for his May MMA return.
Ngannou is set to take on Philipe Lins in the co-main event of Most Valuable Promotions’ debut MMA card, which was confirmed on Monday.
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Neither fighter has been active recently – ‘The Predator’ last fought in 2024, while Lins has not competed since his own days in the UFC and PFL.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Ngannou revealed that the Brazilian heavyweight was not the first name presented to him for this match-up.
Francis Ngannou reveals he was offered fight with Rico Verhoeven for MVP event
Photo by MAURICE VAN STEEN/ANP/AFP via Getty Images
Just a day after it was confirmed that Ngannou would be fighting on the same card as Ronda Rousey, the former UFC heavyweight champion spoke at a Most Valuable Promotions press conference.
The decision to match him up with Lins left some fans wondering if there were bigger options available for his comeback. ‘The Predator’ explained during the event that when MVP first contacted him, it was not Lins they had in mind.
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Verhoeven’s name came up early in the discussions with Nakisa Bidarian, and the 39-year-old admitted he was immediately interested in the idea.
“He called me and was like, ‘Okay, what do you think about fighting Rico in MMA?’ I’m like, damn, that sounds good. I never thought about it [before] but I thought it was a good opportunity,” Ngannou said.
But Verhoeven’s schedule quickly filled up. In May, he is set to challenge Oleksandr Usyk for the WBC heavyweight title in Egypt.
That is not all – earlier this year he also turned down a UFC contract because other opportunities looked more appealing at the time.
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