“He Felt Threatened by That” – Having Borne Dana White’s Accusations, Francis Ngannou Once Spilled the Beans on Ugly Dispute With UFC CEO

Francis Ngannou is now out of the UFC, but do we know everything about why he left? Yes, the contractual disagreements and demands were there. However, his relationship with Dana White had started becoming sour for years before he left.

The UFC Boss and Ngannou didn’t entirely get along. Sometimes it was even visible enough on-screen for fans to understand. Eventually, after leaving, Ngannou revealed what he saw as the possible reason for their bad relationship. Here’s what Ngannou felt caused the tear.

Francis Ngannou thinks Dana White’s accusations were an excuse

Francis Ngannou lost a couple of fights after his initial conversations about contracts with Dana White. Particularly, it all happened right before his Stipe Miocic fight in 2018 at UFC 220. The fighter wasn’t given enough time to get himself a manager to help him with the contract.

So, he decided to get it done himself. Ngannou wasn’t yet ready to enter a long-term contract then. So, he decided to work only for the fight to come, and so on and so forth. However, this may have stuck out like a sore thumb for Dana White. It almost felt like White wanted to control Ngannou’s contract.

“I completely [made a] mistake. I didn’t know what I meant at that time, but I think he felt threatened by that when I said, ‘Doesn’t matter, we can make a deal for this fight, we just focus on the Stipe fight,’” said Ngannou. “I think that was the thing that I said to Dana, and you shouldn’t say something like that to somebody like Dana White.”

White would later consider Ngannou’s loss to Stipe an ego problem. He made it pretty sure that the press knew of the same as he openly spoke about it. However, for Ngannou, it had nothing to do with ego. He just felt that White didn’t like the contract issues Ngannou was making the UFC face.

A potential miscommunication or intentional excuse?

When Ngannou initially met White, he asked him to let him have a private jet when he won the belt. Before the Miocic fight, Ngannou reiterated his desire by asking White to “get that jet ready”. However, this may have been seen as a heightened ego by White.

“So when you say, [you mean] ‘Get that jet ready’ – get that jet that we talked about. I don’t see any ego in that. That couldn’t be a problem. That wasn’t a problem. That was an excuse.”

Also Read: Does Francis Ngannou Have What It Takes To Pull One of the Biggest Upsets in Boxing Against Tyson Fury?

Ngannou felt like it was a promise because White was nothing but supportive when he jokingly asked for the jet. However, after he lost the fight, the narrative shifted. Eventually, contractual issues and Ngannou’s demands for more freedom made the two cut ties. Now, Ngannou is with the PFL and ready to put on boxing gloves for his first fight with the promotion. Will he go back to the UFC at any point in time? ‘The Predator’ hasn’t completely shut his doors closed.

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