Francis Ngannou says UFC threatened to sue agent for allegedly having talks with Jake Paul's business partner

The UFC threatened to sue Francis Ngannou's agent just hours before Ngannou was set to compete in a heavyweight title fight Saturday night, Ngannou said Monday on «The MMA Hour.»

Ngannou said he was getting dressed in preparation to go to Honda Center in Anaheim, California, on Saturday when his agent, Marquel Martin, told him that the UFC sent Martin an email threatening to sue him.

The UFC's allegation in the email, Ngannou said, was that Martin discussed Ngannou competing in boxing with Nakisa Bidarian, the business partner of Jake Paul, while under UFC contract.

A source with knowledge of the situation confirmed with ESPN the timing and contents of the email. Martin is an agent with Creative Artists Agency (CAA).

«I walked into the room waiting for my manager, my coach,» Ngannou said on «The MMA Hour.» «And they were like, 'Wow.' I'm like, 'What's going on?' They told me they just received an email from the UFC saying they're going to sue [Martin] for talking with this guy, Nakisa. Yeah. I'm like, 'Who is Nakisa?'»

Bidarian is the former UFC chief financial officer, the current adviser to Paul and the co-founder of Paul's Most Valuable Promotions company. Ngannou said he talks about boxing with a lot of people — he has said publicly many times it's his dream to box — but does not know who Bidarian is.

«I wouldn't recognize him if you put him in front of me,» Ngannou said.

Bidarian, Martin and the UFC all declined comment on the matter.

Ngannou ended up unifying the UFC heavyweight title with a unanimous decision win over interim champion Ciryl Gane in the main event of UFC 270. UFC president Dana White went against custom and did not wrap the belt around Ngannou's waist, and surprisingly did not come to the postfight