Francis Ngannou may be a free agent after his UFC 270 heavyweight title fight against Ciryl Gane in January.

Ngannou won the heavyweight title at UFC 260 back in March after he knocked out Stipe Miocic in the second round. After the win, Ngannou and the UFC had a dispute over his next fight which resulted in the promotion booking an interim title fight between Ciryl Gane and Derrick Lewis.

After the interim title fight was booked, Dana White and Ngannou’s manager, Marquel Martin went back-and-forth in a heated and public dispute. Now, according to White, if Ngannou loses at UFC 270 he will be a free agent as he hasn’t re-signed with the promotion. However, if he wins, White believes that extends Ngannou’s contract by one more fight.

“Our heavyweight champion is about to fight his contract out… “These things happen. Sometimes you don’t always come to terms with people,” White said to ESPN when asked about Ngannou. “When you’re a fighter, you have to be careful who represents you. I don’t think he’s had the best representation. Look, if you want to be with us, we’d love to have you. If you don’t want to be with us, no problem. It’s all good. I think his contract, and this is off the top of my head, if he wins he still has time with us after this fight. He’d probably have one more fight.”

Although the UFC and Francis Ngannou’s management haven’t seen eye-to-eye lately, it would be a surprise to see him leave in free agency. Ngannou is a massive star for the UFC and even if he loses to Gane, he still has value in the promotion.

Do you think Francis Ngannou will leave the UFC in free agency?