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Francis Ngannou's manager Marquel Martin received an e-mail from the UFC threatening to sue him for alleged contact with Jake Paul's business partner Nakisa Bidarian hours before UFC 270.
Martin is an agent at the Creative Artists Agency, while Bidarian is the co-founder of Paul's Most Valuable Promotions. Both have worked for UFC president Dana White in the past and are now on bad terms with him.
Speaking on a recent episode of The MMA Hour, Ngannou claimed both his manager and head coach Eric Nicksick weren't familiar with Bidarian. He added that it seems the UFC doesn't want to talk directly to him anymore.
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"Going into this fight, going into the arena, I dress up, I put on my suit and I walked into the room waiting for my manager and coach. They were like, ‘Wow’ and I’m like, 'What’s going on?' They tell me that they just received an email from the UFC saying they’re going to sue him from talking with this guy Nakisa and I’m like, 'Who is Nakisa?' They were telling me I don’t know him pretty much but he’s somebody from Jake Paul’s team. I’m like, 'Is he a promoter or something? They’re like, ‘No’ but once again, I don’t know. It doesn’t look like they want to talk to me anymore."
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Watch Francis Ngannou's appearance on The MMA Hour below:
Martin was managing marketing partnerships in the UFC from October 2012 to 2016. Bidarian, meanwhile, was the organization's chief financial officer from October 2011 to December 2016.
Dana White didn't hand over the belt to Francis Ngannou at UFC 270 and failed to attend the post-fight presser
Dana White added fuel to the fire by not placing the heavyweight title around Francis Ngannou's waist following his win over Ciryl Gane last Saturday.
He even skipped the press conference that followed the pay-per-view. The UFC president was criticized by several people from the MMA world for his actions.
'The Predator' is a long way from signing a contract extension with the UFC. As part of his champion's clause, his current deal will run until December 2022. It's looking increasinhly likely that he could choose to sit out until then before departing the promotion.
