Deserves got nothing to do with it. Jones vs Stipe and Ngannou vs Joshua - The Fine Art of Violence

Twitter meltdowns, free agents, and million dollar rumors in the quest for one man's legacy. It's a long story.

Hello all, we have kicked off 2024 with major stories in heavyweight combat sports. It all started when news broke that Francis Ngannou would box again, this time versus Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia. There is speculation that Ngannou could earn enough money to merit inclusion on the Forbes list of highest earning athletes and that’s not even considering the seismic shift if Ngannou defeats Joshua.

I’m an unabashed supporter of Francis Ngannou due to his personal story before MMA, the way he has navigated his UFC tenure, and the similarity between his approach to contracts as the baseball player Curt Flood.

Let me explain: long before I became an MMA fan I grew up in a baseball family. My parents were Yankee fans, whereas I along with my uncle and grandfather were Mets fans. A pivotal moment in baseball’s history is the shift from onerous contracts that stymied careers and pay, to the era of free agency, the 10/5 rule, and eventually antitrust legal changes enacted by the Federal Government. A brief summary of pre-free agency baseball contracts is that teams essentially owned their players, could retain their services almost indefinitely, cut their pay, or trade them at will with no input from the player.

Flood was traded to a team he very much did not want to play for and wrote to MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn on December 24th, 1969:

After twelve years in the major leagues, I do not feel I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes. I believe that any system which produces that result violates my basic rights as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States and of the several States.

It is my desire to play baseball in 1970, and I am capable of playing. I have received a contract offer from the Philadelphia club, but I believe I have the right to consider offers from other clubs before making any decision. I, therefore, request that you make known to all Major League clubs my feelings in this matter, and advise them of my availability for the 1970 season.

Flood’s request was denied and he filed a lawsuit against Major League Baseball alleging that anti-trust violations were taking place. The case made it to the Supreme Court and Flood eventually lost but the repercussions continued as the player’s union continued pushing to eliminate the “reserve clause” which prevented players from exercising free agency. The player’s union was successful in 1975 and a slew of changes unfolded for the next twenty plus years, securing baseball players untold riches. Without getting too deep into the numbers let’s simply acknowledge that the league minimum wage is $720,000 per year.

I’ve been following both Ngannou’s career and the anti-trust lawsuit with great interest as they both form a narrative that rhymes with the story of Curt Flood and Major League Baseball. The counter to that story is the one of Jon Jones and his quest for a legacy.