For years, Dana White has insisted that Francis Ngannou isn’t the humble, soft-spoken powerhouse fans see on camera. But now, he’s laying out personal stories and physical confrontations that he claims defined their rocky relationship long before Ngannou’s exit from the UFC.
According to White, things started going south as far back as 2018. Ngannou had just secured a title shot against Stipe Miocic, and White said the heavyweight superstar walked up to him after a press conference and demanded a private jet to Paris once he “killed Stipe.” White laughed it off, but after Miocic dominated Ngannou, that entire conversation died on the spot. White even admitted he considered cutting him that same day.
Their relationship only got worse from there. Dana White said Ngannou practically lived at the UFC Performance Institute, and after one of his fights, he stormed into White’s office, upset about not receiving a $50,000 bonus. According to White, the argument escalated until Ngannou grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him back into the room. White said that moment revealed exactly “who this guy really is.”
“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.’
The UFC CEO also alleged that Ngannou got physical with UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell during a separate disagreement. As Campbell walked away, Ngannou allegedly grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back to continue the argument.
“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.”
White says the red flags were always there. Even as Ngannou rose to heavyweight superstardom, he was allegedly making demands instead of requests, pushing for special treatment, boxing opportunities, and contract terms that the UFC wasn’t willing to meet. Negotiations collapsed in 2023 after Ngannou’s title defense against Ciryl Gane, and he left the organization as the first modern UFC champion to walk away with a belt still around his waist.
Since then, Ngannou has taken his talents to the PFL, signed a major deal involving Saudi Arabia, and even made waves in boxing, nearly upsetting Tyson Fury before suffering knockout losses to Fury and Anthony Joshua. He later returned to MMA with a first-round knockout of Renan Ferreira to claim the PFL’s Super Fights heavyweight title.
Even with all that, Dana White insists the story isn’t about Ngannou’s talent, it’s about character. And for the first time, he claims he’s revealing why he “never talks about this stuff publicly.”
Ngannou hasn’t responded to the new allegations at the time of writing. However, one thing is clear, the rift between Ngannou and Dana White runs deeper than contracts or title fights with White.
