Dana White has repeatedly made claims that Francis Ngannou isn’t a good guy, and now, he’s revealing details behind his tumultuous relationship with the former UFC heavyweight champion.
At one time, Ngannou
looked like the future of the UFC with his jaw-dropping knockouts and a backstory where he came from nothing, living on the streets in Paris to becoming the baddest man on the planet. But White has always maintained that Ngannou’s public image isn’t the same as the person he dealt with behind closed doors.
In fact, White claims he actually got into a physical altercation with Ngannou at the UFC offices after he didn’t give “The Predator” a post fight bonus following one of his wins.
“So when you’re an athlete that’s signed by the UFC, you get full access to the Performance Institute, you can eat there for free, everything’s free and do all this stuff,” White explained on the Flagrant podcast. “This guy was f*cking living there. He had just fought and he comes up to my office, he’s in the hallway hanging out and I said ‘come on in, what’s going on?’
“He was pissed off he didn’t get a $50,000 in his last fight, that he didn’t get the bonus of the night. I said Francis you didn’t get it for this, that [reason] and he’s in my office and he’s arguing with me. I’m like this guy got this, this guy got that and this is why. The conversation’s over and I’m starting to leave and he grabs me by my shirt and pushes me back in my office and I said ‘dude, get your f*cking hands off me.’ I could see in this guy’s face and in his eyes and the way he’s acting who this guy really f*cking is.”
White then alleged that there was another physical altercation between Ngannou and UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell, who handles matchmaking duties and a lot of contractual negotiations for fighters competing in the UFC.
“My guy Hunter [Campbell], they were talking about something, it might have even been that same thing [about the bonus],” White said. “And when Hunter started to walk away, Francis grabbed him by the f*cking back of his collar and f*cking pulled him back and said ‘we’re not done talking yet.’ This guy’s not a good f*cking guy. He’s a bad guy.”
White said he had concerns about Ngannou dating back several years when he earned his first shot at the UFC heavyweight title with a fight booked against Stipe Miocic in 2018.
Before the fight ever happened, White claims that Ngannou was effectively already plotting his celebration with a demand rather than a request about some special treatment he expected to receive.
“So he’s going in to fight Stipe Miocic in Boston and he knows he’s going to f*cking kill Stipe,” White said. “So after the press conference, we’re walking down this hallway and he comes over to me and he grabs me and he says ‘let me tell you what’s going to happen’ — his English is f*cking great, no language barrier whatsoever — ‘when this fight’s over, you’re going to book me a private plane to Paris.’ I laughed and said ‘oh yeah.’ He said ‘I’m not joking, you’re going to book me a private plane to Paris.’ I said OK.
“We go our own ways. Stipe Miocic beats the f*cking shit out of him. Beats the shit out of him. That ended that whole conversation. I should have f*cking cut him that day.”
White admits he actually wanted to release Ngannou from his contract on another occasion but the UFC matchmakers effectively talked him out of it.
“I told my guys I wanted to cut him early and two of my matchmaker guys are like ‘no, you don’t understand,’” White said. “I said guys, let me tell you a story. When somebody shows you who they are, believe them. Believe them.”
The relationship between the UFC and Ngannou finally broke down when negotiations were ongoing about a new deal after he defeated Ciryl Gane in his first title defense as undisputed champion.
At the time, Ngannou was pushing for the opportunity to compete in boxing as well as UFC while also laying out other demands he hoped to receive as part of his new contract. In the end, Ngannou left the UFC in free agency before signing a deal to join the roster at PFL but it’s safe to say White wasn’t all that sorry that the split happened.
“Francis Ngannou is a bad guy,” White said. “He’s not a good guy. He plays the whole ‘I don’t understand the language’ and tries to come off that he’s a f*cking nice guy. People go ‘oh it’s the language barrier probably.’ There’s no f*cking language barrier with this guy. He’s a bad guy.
“Now he’s over and he’s done a deal with PFL and Saudi Arabia and now he’s asking to fight, ‘me and Jon Jones need to fight.’ I’m sure they wish they never f*cking signed him. I don’t have to hear one word from any of those guys over there to know because I know. I’ve dealt with him and I know who he really is.”
