“We’re going to release him from his contract, we’re going to give up our right to match, and he can go wherever he wants and do whatever he wants,” White said. “That’s where we’re at.”

Just like that, Ngannou became arguably the hottest commodity in all of combat sports.

The Cameroonian-born Frenchman, who is easily the biggest puncher in MMA today, will undoubtedly be courted by every outfit with the budget to make him a serious offer.

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The most likely option is that he will end up in the boxing ring, perhaps for a showdown with heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

It’s a fight both men have repeatedly expressed interest in, and it would dominate combat sports headlines, even without the UFC’s backing.

Former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder is also a potential opponent for Ngannou in the boxing ring, as one of the few fighters on Earth who can rival him in terms of sheer stopping power.

Yet if Ngannou intends to continue competing in MMA – and there’s no reason to assume he will not – he might receive an offer from ONE, and it will most likely be one he considers.

ONE has shown it is willing to invest in high-profile free agents when the right opportunity comes along, having most famously signed former UFC champs Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez in 2019.

Ngannou would come with a much bigger price tag than either of those fighters, but ONE has a deep war chest.

There’s good reason to believe ONE would allow Ngannou to moonlight as a professional boxer too, so he would not necessarily have to do away with his plans to box Fury.

The promotion has allowed many of its fighters to take fights outside the Circle in the past.

Strawweight kickboxing champion Jon Di Bella, for example, competed in several boxing matches in his native Montreal before winning the belt this summer.

Ngannou could also try his hand at kickboxing or Muay Thai in the ONE Circle if the urge struck him.

He talked about wanting more freedom when he was still under contract with the UFC, an he would seemingly have plenty of it with the Singapore-based promotion.

The move would obviously make sense for ONE too.

Whichever organisation signs Ngannou will benefit massively from his celebrity, and can safely claim to be the home of the greatest heavyweight in MMA today – a source of serious bragging rights.

But Ngannou could be particularly useful to ONE, as the promotion looks to push in the United States – the UFC’s home turf – starting with an event in Denver on May 5.

It would also give ONE CEO Chatri Sityodtong the chance to back up some of his previous talk.

“I like Francis Ngannou but I think our heavyweights would smoke him,” he told reporters after the ONE X event last March in Singapore.

“He’s just not a complete fighter,” Chayri added. [But] you look at Anatoly Malykhin: Russian national pedigree wrestler, dynamite in his hands, much faster than Francis, much better ground game, black-belt level. He was also a submission champion in Europe.”

Until the UFC let Ngannou go, the ONE boss had no way to validate those claims. But that is no longer the case.

Wherever the former UFC heavyweight champ ultimately ends up, don’t be surprised if you see his and ONE’s names mentioned in the same headlines in the coming weeks.