Dana White clarifies ‘physicality’ altercation with Francis Ngannou: ‘We’re f*cking done talking’
Dana White wants nothing more than to move on from Francis Ngannou.
In November, the UFC CEO claimed he and his promotion’s former heavyweight champion were involved in a physical altercation at the UFC’s headquarters in Las Vegas. Ngannou was asked about the alleged incident during an interview with Uncrowned, and didn’t outright deny White’s account, saying, “I don’t find it important [to respond].”
White recently spoke to TheMacLife to downplay the incident, while still maintaining that Ngannou was in the wrong.
“Let me be clear on something, too, when I say the physicality,” White said. “It’s not like Francis Ngannou came in here and threatened us or did anything like that. But as men, everybody who is a man knows there’s these situations with, you know, we’re in there and he’s telling me that ‘I deserve the $50,000. I want the $50,000.’ I said, ‘You’re not getting it.’ … I’m in there with them for however long we’re talking and I’m like, I’m done. I had another meeting. And this guy just used to walk around, wander around UFC headquarters like this was his house. This guy literally spent the whole day here. Breakfast, lunch, f*cking dinner.
“So I started to walk out and he puts his hand on my chest, he says, ‘We’re not done talking yet.’ And I said, ‘Oh, we’re fucking done talking.’ It’s not like Francis Ngannou came in here and was, like, physically—that’s what went down. I tell you guys all the time, we’re in the f*cking fight business. Shit happens.”
Ngannou lost to Stipe Miocic at UFC 220 in Boston and then made it two straight when he dropped a forgettable decision to Derrick Lewis at UFC 226. It was after the Lewis fight that White wanted to rid himself of Ngannou, but he claims other decision makers in the promotion talked him out of it.
“My whole thing with Francis is, I have this philosophy where when somebody shows you who they really are, believe them,” White said. “And there was nobody more into Francis than me. OK? When I met this guy, I was like, ‘Holy shit, you are what a heavyweight f*cking champion looks like,’ all this shit. I was all in on Francis.
“Early on, I had Francis sitting behind me in the f*cking Zuffa section, in my seats. And then we were in Boston and he showed me who he was. So I told the f*cking boys, he lost a couple and I said, ‘I don’t want to be in business with this guy.’”
After the Lewis loss, Ngannou fought six more times in the UFC, including winning a rematch against Miocic to become heavyweight champion and then successfully defending his title against Ciryl Gane. It was after the Gane fight that Ngannou and the UFC became engaged in prolonged negotiations with Ngannou wanting a new contract. After sitting out a year, Ngannou became a free agent in January 2023, vacating his title and subsequently signing with the PFL.
As of now, White has no interest in working with Ngannou again.
“There was nothing that made me happier than throwing that guy over to the f*cking PFL,” White said. “Let me tell you what, if we let guys go, feel bad for the f*cking company that gets them. We let them go for a f*cking reason. I don’t have to let anybody go. I don’t want to be in business with guys that I don’t like and that I don’t think are good guys.
“And when you talk about good guys and bad guys, I’m in the fight business. Shit happens and I’m pretty lenient when it comes to tough guy shit. I’m not lenient with bad guy shit.”
