What Were Francis Ngannou’s Comments on UFC CEO Dana White on the Joe Rogan Experience?

Most combat sports fans are awaiting the coveted boxing match between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou, scheduled for 24 October this year. Ngannou, the former UFC Heavyweight champ, declared his exit from the promotion earlier this year following contract disputes. This exit allowed him the freedom to chase such big fights. However, his exit was far from a silent one. ‘The Predator’s’ UFC departure took the world of MMA by storm. Most fans were startled to know from Ngannou how the UFC twists its contractors’ arms to make them sign new deals and restrict them from going into free agency.

The Cameroonian’s latest appearance on the noted UFC color commentator Joe Rogan’s podcast also contains a number of discussions about the same issue. Rogan, channeled his inner UFC interviewer to lure out a number of unknown facts about this issue from Ngannou. Apart from discussing the other sides of this entire dispute, Ngannou revealed how the UFC CEO, Dana White, was also a major part of it.

Dana White denied the initial demand made by Francis Ngannou

It was Joe Rogan’s question, “So what was the holdup with the UFC?”, that kicked off the discussion about Ngannou’s UFC departure in the latest ‘JRE’ episode. ‘The Predator’ answered Rogan pretty aptly as he started off from the point from where his relation with the UFC took its first hit. He revealed how his first fight against the famed Stipe Miocic at UFC 220 and the next one against Derrick Lewis at UFC 226 “didn’t help him at all”. This is what led to him demanding a change in his UFC contract.

Despite the UFC authorities agreeing to his demands initially, Ngannou stated that it was the UFC CEO, White, who first objected to these changes. He also revealed that a meeting was about to be held between his team and the UFC authorities “in Anaheim” for a negotiation about the same. But the UFC CEO’s words were, “No new deal for Francis. He still has 3 fights left on his contract”.

However, ‘The Predator’ revealed that he was nowhere moved by this decision from White. Earlier he had already stated, how he had to go through “a lot of frustration” after his “first fight against Stipe”. He also said that it was during this time that he started feeling that he “wasn’t at the right place”.

Ngannou reveals the dirty games of the UFC in detail

Most fans might be aware of Ngannou’s soaring remarks about the UFC post his exit. He has already talked about how the promotional authorities play “dirty games” to prevent their fighters from going into free agency. However, in his ‘JRE’ appearance, he went into a bit more detail about the issue.

A look at ‘The Predator’s’ ending years in the promotion will reveal that his last few UFC fights are unusually almost a year apart from each other. Ngannou implied that the UFC had probably realized his intentions of completing his current contract and getting into free agency without signing a new one. It is something that the UFC never wants.

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After looking at the timeline of Ngannou’s last few fights and his explanation, even Rogan understood how the UFC was “slowing things down”. They expected Ngannou to run out of resources due to the delay and come to the negotiation table on their terms. But most fans know that they will get to witness the upcoming Fury vs. Ngannou boxing fight, just because ‘The Predator’ managed to end his UFC contract without signing a new one.

Well, it wouldn’t be wrong to say he’s enjoying a higher degree of freedom currently even after being contracted to PFL . Going for boxing matches was something that Ngannou wanted from the pretty early days of his combat sports career.

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