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Andreas Hale, ESPN
Francis Ngannou is tired of listening to UFC CEO Dana White and wants to set the record straight.
Ngannou, 38, successfully returned to MMA after a two-year detour in boxing — and the death of his 15-month-old son — by defeating PFL heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira in the main event of PFL Super Fights in Abu Dhabi.
While most of the MMA world celebrated Ngannou’s return, White took aim at his former champion at a news conference ahead of UFC 308 by saying that he considered cutting Ngannou before he became champion and that “The Predator” actively ducked a fight with current UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Ngannou reacted to White on Sirius XM Fight Nation’s MMA Today.
“I think Dana’s trying to make things up to buy good faith in the position he has lost,” Ngannou said on Friday. “Dana has lost in this situation… and he cannot stand it. Bro, I won everything: I left. It’s been almost two years, and the guy is still out there, he can’t live without hounding me. Regardless of everything that happened, I’m not about him.
“The guy can’t stand me. I don’t know what his problem is. He can make everything up. That is his problem. I think he needs to make peace with himself because this situation is kind of weird.”
White suggested that Ngannou would have made more money had he decided to stay with the UFC rather than sign with the PFL. Ngannou left the UFC in January 2023 and signed with the PFL in May 2023. While being signed with the PFL, he had the freedom to pursue opportunities outside the promotion and took on then-undefeated WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury in boxing followed by a massive fight with former unified champion Anthony Joshua. Although he lost both, Ngannou reportedly made $20 million for both fights and raised his profile before heading back to MMA last weekend.
White shrugged off Ngannou’s success away from the UFC and suggested he would have made more money if he stayed.
“Francis left because he knew that if he fought Jon Jones and didn’t win, it would hurt his chances of making the money that he wanted to make,” White said. “But realistically, his deal was bigger here. His deal was bigger here if he stayed in the UFC. They can deny it all they want, why the f— would I lie? Why do I care? It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other… he would have made more money if he stayed in the UFC.””
For Ngannou, there is more to the story, including money that he says the UFC still owes him.
“Which money is he talking about? The money that he owes me?,” Ngannou said. “Remember, all of this ended with [them] saying, ‘Oh, we’ll backpay you from the money that we owe you for the Stipe [Miocic] and Ciryl Gane fight,’ all of that. They never backpaid me. Now I have made more money than I have ever made in the UFC — I would say twice the money that I could have ever made in my entire UFC career if I had continued in the UFC.
“Either way, if I had made less money, if I’m not making enough money that I could’ve made in the UFC, that’s my problem. Why is he so pissed about me not making that much money? Like, c’mon man, live your life.”
As for the Jon Jones fight, Ngannou is still very much interested in it and believes that Jones would like the fight as well. Jones is set to face former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic on Nov. 16. Should Jones win, Ngannou would welcome a cross-promotion fight, which would be one of the largest in MMA history. Whether it could happen is another question.
“The only guy standing in the way of that fight is Dana White,” Ngannou said. “I want the Jon Jones fight. I’m down for the fight. Jones is down for the fight. But this is a new narrative. I was down for a Jon Jones fight three years ago and I am down for it now.”
One person who could bring the fight to fruition is the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, Turki Alalshikh and his Riyadh Season events. Riyadh Season was a title sponsor for Noche UFC and Alalshikh was instrumental in financing Ngannou’s fights with Fury and Joshua. If anybody has the pull to make it happen, it would be Alalshikh.
While Ngannou holds on to a sliver of optimism that a fight with Jones could materialize, it would require White to check his ego at the door.
“For that to happen, Dana has to let this beef go,” Ngannou said. “He has to let it go.”