Xtreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick has admitted being brought to tears because of the sum of money he received from Francis Ngannou, following the former UFC champion’s boxing bout against Tyson Fury.
Speaking to MMAJunkie, Nicksick revealed he was entirely taken aback by the generosity of Ngannou following the fight and that the difference in the pay, between boxing and MMA, for the whole team was staggering.
He said: “I mean it is the most money I have ever been paid by a fighter; it was unbelievable. It was more than I expected. Obviously, Francis has always taken great care of me but it floored me when I saw my Wells Fargo account that morning and it literally brought me to tears.
“That’s a true story. Literally brought be to tears because he changed my life. Not only from a professional stand point but a monitory stand point, it allowed me a lot of financial freedom to be able to my coaching, enjoy being a Dad and a husband. I get to take my kids to Park City this weekend (for) my daughter’s sixteenth birthday.
“Helped us a new car, there’s a lot of things with Francis moving over to boxing and then the way he takes care of his team. He loves every single one of us and he shows it. He takes care of us and I couldn’t thank him enough.
“Remember, as his head coach for, the two title fights with Stipe and Gane. He paid me more for the Tyson Fury fight, as basically as assistant. I got paid way more than I did in the (Ciryl) Gane and Stipe (Miocic) fights and he was taking care of me on that as well percentage wise.”
The generosity of the PFL athlete has been felt at Xtreme Couture for some time, with Nicksick discussing the impact Ngannou had on the gym following his title fight with Stipe Miocic.
“After the Stipe fight he bought the gym, 24,000 square feet of mat space. Not the entire gym, we are a 24,000 square foot gym but probably eight to ten thousand square foot worth of mat. He came in and brought a cheque to Ryan and said ‘I want to contribute to some improvements in the gym.”
“He has always had that attitude, his charity, taking care of everyone around him. I think that’s something that he loves to do and it’s great because it helps all of us and rising tide raises all ships mentality and guys are going to go to battle for him.”
Now signed to the PFL, it is unclear as to exactly in which discipline Ngannou’s next bout will be under. His incredible performance against Tyson Fury not only led to him entering the WBC word rankings but had a lot of top boxers calling him out as their potential next opponent.
