UFC President Dana White never shies away from responding to criticisms raised upon him. Recently, he announced an interim heavyweight title fight involving Derrick Lewis and Ciryl Gane. This decision completely sidelined the reigning undisputed champion Francis Ngannou.
Many corners of the MMA society expressed their shock over the decision as it’s only been around three months since Ngannou became the champion. Reacting to this, Ngannou and his manager reacted strongly against it.
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Tensions rising publicly between Dana White and Marquel Martin (Ngannou's manager from CAA) on social media.
(Via @bokamotoESPN's Instagram) pic.twitter.com/xtI6Q6PgfN
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) June 29, 2021
They took to social media to express their disappointment. Their post targeted UFC and ultimately the boss, White. White, in response, lashed out at the manager and even advised Ngannou to change his team. The manager then threatened to expose everything.
The former referee turned podcaster, John McCarthy recently opened up on the issue. He even harked back to a similar incident that happened 3 years back and co-related both the occurrences.
He talked about how ex- heavyweight fighter Brendan Schaub responded to White publicly insulting him.
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“Brendan Schaub pulled off the greatest one, ever, with Dana. It was just the best,” he said. “Because back then, Israel Adesanya was (about to) fight, Brendan Schaub made a comment about something.
“Dana basically came out saying ‘Don’t ever listen to him, he couldn’t fight. He got knocked out by everyone,’ all the stuff he said, which was wrong. It was just wrong for Dana to say it,” he said.
McCarthy claims Ngannou’s manager is wrong in threatening Dana White
The podcaster then remembered the words spoken by Schaub in response. He even further stated how that silenced White.“The last thing being, ‘this is not the way that Eskimo brothers act. And if you want to keep talking, I will let everything out.’”
McCarthy though, believes it was not the right thing done by Ngannou’s manager. It could impact Ngannou‘s career according to him.
“Management-wise, and what is done in getting the fight together and stuff, that’s not for you to ever put out to the public. It’s just stupid.
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“It’s stupid to say, and it’s stupid to put that out as a threat to Dana and the UFC. Because look, the one person that’s suffering in all of this is Francis.”
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It will be interesting to see how UFC and Ngannou take the situation from here onwards. For the time being, Lewis and Gane are heading for the interim title showdown.
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What did you make of McCarthy’s revelations?