It's fair to say Francis Ngannou is feeling more than a little bit frustrated right now.
The UFC heavyweight champion defends his title against his fellow MMA Factory product Ciryl Gane early Sunday morning in the main event of UFC 270 in Los Angeles.
But he has made it clear he will not fight in the UFC again until he gets a new deal.
Ngannou - dubbed 'The Predator' - expressed his frustration about the current situation in an exclusive GIVEMESPORT interview.
And the Cameroonian hinted a lot of complications surrounding the contract have not been fully resolved yet.
Ngannou admitted: "No, I will not say it is a relief.
"The reason why I haven't been back in the Octagon as planned as early as I want is because things weren't going well.
"I would have been relieved if things were going smoothly, but this is not the case.
"So, no, I won't say it is a relief."
Speaking earlier this week, Ngannou reiterated he is open to a boxing switch when his current deal expires amid an ongoing contract dispute with Dana White.
Asked once more about his desire to compete in the ring, he said: "My dream since I was a kid was to become a boxer.
"Along the way I discovered MMA which has been great to me but it still hasn't taken away that dream of boxing.
"I always knew that I wanted to compete in boxing before the end of my career."
As for what's next, a fight with Jon Jones has long been rumoured for Ngannou, but it appears he would rather fight Tyson Fury instead.
He added: "If you gave me the two options, I would choose fighting Tyson Fury.
"But even though I want that fight, that's not what I'm thinking about right now, I'm thinking about Ciryl.
"After fighting Stipe, the Jon Jones fight was on the table, but it seems like nobody really cares about it. So, I don't know.
"And also, we don't even know what the position of Jon Jones is right now? Have you heard about Jon Jones or know when he's fighting next?
"I'm not planning my life based on that."
READ MORE: Ciryl Gane reveals Jon Jones was 'an inspiration to me when I started my career'