Dana White claimed that former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou got physical with the UFC CEO and another promotional executive in a podcast interview released Tuesday. White said the incidents occurred prior to Ngannou’s 2023 departure from the organization.
White and Ngannou have long had a tempestuous relationship. Their disagreements came to a head in January 2023 when Ngannou allowed his UFC contract to expire and left the organization of his own volition, becoming the first champion of the modern era to depart the UFC while holding a title. White has often reiterated his disdain for the Cameroonian heavyweight in the years since and repeatedly claimed that Ngannou is “a bad guy,” though without mentioning details as to why.
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That changed on Tuesday. Speaking on comedian Andrew Schultz’s “Flagrant” podcast, White claimed that Ngannou physically accosted both him and UFC CBO Hunter Campbell at the UFC offices in Las Vegas prior to Ngannou’s exit from the company. Said White:
“So he’s going in to fight Stipe Miocic in Boston [in 2018] and he knows he’s going to f***ing kill Stipe. Right? 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***ing 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 goes, ‘I’m not joking, you’re going to book me a private plane to Paris.’ I said, ‘Oh, OK.’ So we go our own ways. Stipe Miocic beats the f***ing shit out of him. Beats the s*** out of him. So that ended that whole conversation. And I should have f***ing cut him that day.
“This is our first sort of run-in. So then, when you’re an athlete that’s signed by the UFC, you get full access to the Performance Institute [in Las Vegas], you can eat there for free, everything’s free and do all this stuff. This guy was f***ing living there. And he had just fought and he comes up to my office, and he’s in the hallway or whatever hanging out, and I said, ‘Come on in, what’s going on?’ And he was pissed off that he didn’t get a $50,000 in his last fight, that he didn’t get the bonus of the night. And I said, ‘Well, Francis you didn’t get it because this, that,’ and he’s in my office and he’s arguing with me. And I’m like, ‘This guy got this, this guy got that and this is why.’ So 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***ing 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***ing is. And then my guy Hunter [Campbell], they were talking about something, it might have even been that same thing, and when Hunter started to walk away, Francis grabbed him by the f***ing back of his collar and f***ing pulled him back and said, ‘We’re not done talking yet.’ So this guy’s not a good f***ing guy. He’s a bad guy. And if you look now, 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***ing signed him. And 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. I know who he really is. And I never talk about this s*** publicly.”
A request for comment made to Ngannou by Uncrowned was not immediately returned.
At the time of this writing, Ngannou has not publicly commented on White’s claims.
Ngannou subsequently signed with the PFL following his UFC exit and debuted with the promotion in October 2024, knocking out Renan Ferreira in the first round to win the symbolic PFL super fights heavyweight championship. Ngannou has also competed in two professional boxing bouts since leaving the UFC, dropping a controversial split decision to then-champion Tyson Fury in October 2023 before suffering a second-round knockout loss at the hands of Anthony Joshua in March 2024.
