"I wasn't looking to pluck your client" - Chael Sonnen says he wanted to become Francis Ngannou's manager

Chael Sonnen has claimed that he was once hoping to manage reigning UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.

In a recent video uploaded to Sonnen's channel, the former UFC fighter said he wasn't hoping to pluck Ngannou away from his current manager and instead thought that he didn't have a management team.

In the video, Chael Sonnen explains his comments and why he at one point thought of possibly managing 'The Predator'.

The former UFC middleweight title contender discussed the topic after it was recently confirmed that the UFC has booked an interim heavyweight title bout between Ciryl Gane and Derrick Lewis.

"I will tell you this, I was going to manage Francis. Now if you go ask Francis this, he'll say, 'Chael's a clout chaser, I've never talked about any such thing'. Let me finish the thought, I thought Francis had no manager, okay, so if his manager sees, I wasn't looking to pluck your client. I didn't know he had a manager, so I kind of asked around about him."

Sonnen said he had spoken to Ali Abdelaziz and had assumed that Francis Ngannou was managed by the Dominance MMA head.

However, as it turned out, the reason why Abdelaziz has been helpful to Ngannou is due to the heavyweight champion being close to Kamaru Usman.

The UFC welterweight champion himself is managed by Abdelaziz and helped 'The Predator' in order to please Usman.

"I was talking to Ali, I assumed Ali managed Francis because Ali has done a number of things to help Francis, whether Francis knows that or not. I assumed it was Ali's guy and Ali said no, Usman and he are close, so I do things to help Francis to please Usman but I don't manage him."

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Francis Ngannou will have to fight an interim heavyweight champion

UFC 260: Miocic v Ngannou 2

The UFC has officially confirmed that Derrick Lewis will face Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 265 for the interim UFC heavyweight title.

Due to the unavailability of Francis Ngannou for the next few months, the UFC eventually decided to book the interim title fight. Upon his return, Francis Ngannou will face either Gane or Lewis in an undisputed title bout.