'Conor McGregor effect' the reason UFC refused to make Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury boxing match: Manager 

Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou recently secured his long-awaited dream boxing fight against undefeated WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

The two heavyweight juggernauts are set to go ten rounds against each other on October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

While fans are undoubtedly hyped for this clash, Ngannou's longtime manager Marquel Martin recently claimed that this matchup could've gone down much earlier if it wasn't for the UFC proving to be a stumbling block. Francis Ngannou notably exited the promotion earlier this year as the heavyweight champion after contract renewal negotiations between the two parties fell through.

In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Martin revealed that they had been discussing this boxing matchup with the UFC for at least two years and continued:

"After Stipe [Miocic], it was supposed to be Jon Jones... I said, Stipe, then we're gonna take care of Jon Jones, then we're gonna go for Tyson Fury... But they had their own plans and their own strategy and for whatever reason they just didn't want to make it happen."

He continued:

"It was maybe the Conor McGregor effect, Conor made so much money from that boxing fight [against Floyd Mayweather] that maybe they didn't want to do it again."

Catch Martin's comments here (6:00):

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Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury: Manager claims 'The Predator' is about to make the biggest purse of his career

Francis Ngannou is living his dream. The Cameroonian made no effort to hide how keen he was to face a world-class boxer and has finally secured a fight against Tyson Fury.

In the same interview, Marquel Martin was asked how Ngannou's paycheck compares to his UFC contract money, and the manager made some stunning claims. Martin revealed that Ngannou is set to make the kind of money that most combat sports athletes dream of and said:

"Let’s just say this: The bag is so big, he may actually just drop it on the way to the bank. Let’s just say that. I don’t know what the haters are trying to say right now, I kind of just blocked it out, but they’ll just be proven wrong again. This is life-changing. This is exactly what we planned and visualized, so we’re happy.”

When asked if Francis Ngannou will make more money boxing Tyson Fury than he made in all of his fourteen previous UFC fights combined, Martin replied:

"Oh my God. I mean, by far. By multiples... Just to make [this amount] even while being champion, he would’ve had to fight multiple times."