Eric Nicksick, the coach of Francis Ngannou, has praised Team Miocic for making an “unbelievably classy move” at UFC 270.

Ngannou (17-3 MMA) put his UFC heavyweight championship on the line against former training partner Ciryl Gane (10-1 MMA) in the headliner of last Saturday’s pay-per-view event in Anaheim.

The contest marked Ngannou’s first fight since claiming the title with a knockout victory over Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 (see that here).

According to Francis’ coach Eric Nicksick, the staff of Team Miocic reached out to him personally both before and after Ngannou’s title fight with Gane.

https://twitter.com/Eric_XCMMA/status/1486062675222138880

“In an unbelievably classy move, a few of Stipe Miocic’s coaches wrote me before and after the fight to wish us luck and say congratulations. That really meant a lot.” – Nicksick shared on Twitter.

Francis Ngannou of course went on to defeat Ciryl Gane with a grappling-heavy game plan at UFC 270. The victory served as his first title defense and cemented his position as the “baddest man on the planet”.

Despite his success, which includes a current six-fight winning streak, ‘The Predator’ is at odds with the UFC over his current contract. Ngannou has made it abundantly clear that he has no plans of making another walk to the Octagon until a new deal is in place.

“No,” Ngannou said to ESPN, when asked if he would keep fighting under the deal. “I will not fight for $500,000 [or] $600,000 anymore. It’s over. I took this fight for personal reasons, because I want to make sure that regardless of [whether] it’s fair, I can make my case that I have completed the fights.”

Whether he gets his new deal or not, Francis Ngannou will be on the sidelines for the foreseeable future due to planned knee surgery (see more on that here).

Are you surprised to learn that Team Miocic reached out to Team Ngannou before and after UFC 270?