White insists Ngannou ran away from the UFC and Jones fight and criticizes the character

ABU DHABI – The old adage about three sides to every divorce – each side plus the truth – is undoubtedly used regularly in MMA.

That's likely the case in the ongoing war of words between former UFC heavyweight champion and current PFL heavyweight superfight champion Francis Ngannou and his ex-promoter, UFC CEO Dana White, who delivered his latest salvo on Saturday when he called MMA Junkie said he has a personal message The dislike for Ngannou goes back years before he became UFC heavyweight champion.

But recency bias and revisionist history also seem to play a role in MMA on a regular basis, and despite touting Ngannou as the proverbial “baddest man on the planet” when he was his heavyweight titleholder – and even famously saying that Jon Jones was still considering his move should reconsider heavyweight, where Ngannou would wait and move to middleweight instead – White now says that Ngannou ran from Jones and then White got what he wanted, which was Ngannou resigned from the company.

“(Ngannou) didn’t want that fight (with Jones),” White told MMA Junkie after UFC 308 on Saturday in Abu Dhabi. “He could have stayed and taken this fight. He didn't want this fight. Tom Aspinall deserves this fight.”

Former light heavyweight champion Jones (27-1 MMA, 21-1 UFC), who won the vacant belt against Ciryl Gane after Ngannou left the UFC for the PFL, will face former champion Stipe Miocic (20-4 MMA, 14-1). 4 UFC) in three weeks in the UFC 309 main event at Madison Square Garden. Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) currently holds the interim heavyweight title and is expected to face the Jones-Miocic winner.

Ngannou (17-3) claims he left because of a contract dispute, and last week he said he suspects White was hoping he would fail outside the UFC. Since his departure, Ngannou lost two boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua and then eight days ago made his PFL debut with a quick first-round finish against 2023 champion Renan Ferreira in the pay-per-view headliner “PFL: Battle of the Giants.” in Saudi Arabia.

Instead, White pointed to Ngannou's fight against Derrick Lewis at UFC 226, a fight after he lost a title fight to Miocic in January 2018. This fight, which Lewis won by decision, was widely regarded as one of the worst heavyweight fights in the history of advertising – at least compared to the expectations behind it on paper.

“In all these years, when have you ever heard a story (about us owing money to a fighter)? We were a business, even if it was upside down, where we owed anyone money – that never happened. So he's full of shit there. Then (he says) I lost? I haven't lost anything. After that I was done with Francis – he actually owes me money because we had to see that fight with him and the Black Beast. Actually, he should get back at me and all of you for this fight. And I pray that he fails – believe me: I don't think about Francis that much.

“You asked me the question about the PFL last week and I answered. Besides, the PFL is probably the only one praying for his demise because they signed a crappy contract with a guy who doesn't deliver numbers and ticket sales or pay-per-views, and they'll have to pay this guy for as long as they can . Good for him – not good for her.”

In recent months, White has maintained that Jones is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, even though he has only fought twice in the last five years. Still, he said his personal thoughts about Ngannou go back much further than his contract dispute.

White indicated that he felt the quality of Ngannou's character did not match the type of fighter he wants in the promotion, but did not explicitly state the reasons for this.

“Let me tell you something: There were two guys here. I wanted to cut it. One day I’ll tell you the story,” White said. “At first I was all about Francis, and then I found out who Francis was. I told the two guys who asked me not to cut Francis, “If someone shows you who he is, believe him.” Believe me, I'm not having any sleepless nights about Francis leaving.

“I didn’t like Francis as a person – he wasn’t a guy I wanted to do business with. I didn't like Francis. My boys told me he was misunderstood and I told them if someone shows you who they are, believe them. He wasn't interested in becoming world heavyweight champion. Francis is not a good guy. He plays the good guy – “I don’t understand the (English) language” – so he seems like a nice guy. It's not him. He’s just not the guy I wanted to do business with, period, end of story, whether he became champion or not.”

As for the chances of White finding a way to have Jones and Ngannou fight each other, don't count on it as long as Jones is in the UFC and White is in charge.

Although the MMA world at large only heard rumors of a poor working relationship between White and Ngannou in the months leading up to his departure from the UFC, White told MMA Junkie that the bad vibes go back at least seven years.

“We will never do business together (again). “I mean, you can tell: We don’t like each other,” White said. “And that goes way back. This goes back to before the first Stipe fight (at UFC 220 in January 2018). He did a lot of stuff before the first Stipe fight and I said, 'I'm done with this guy.' And then Stipe absolutely beat the crap out of him – great night – and we didn't have a relationship after that.”

After his loss to Miocic, Ngannou lost to Lewis in mid-2018. White publicly criticized him during the period of those two defeats, saying his ego got the better of him.

Later that same year, Ngannou defeated Curtis Blaydes in 45 seconds to win a bonus. He defeated former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez in 26 seconds. He stopped former champion Junior dos Santos in 71 seconds. He knocked out Jairzinho Rozenstruik in 20 seconds and secured a chance for the title with Miocic.

After finishing Miocic in the second round, he defended his title against Gane in January 2022 and left the promotion when his contract expired.

Ngannou's backstory about his rise from poverty in Africa to becoming homeless on the streets of Paris before discovering MMA is a famous part of MMA lore. In April, the 38-year-old suffered the tragic death of his 15-month-old son Kobe.

For more information on the card, check out MMA Junkie's UFC 308 event hub.