Dana White insists Francis Ngannou would’ve made more money by re-signing with the UFC.
After an intense year of unfruitful contract negotiations, the former heavyweight champion walked away from MMA’s premier promotion at the start of 2023.
White’s working relationship with Ngannou came to a bitter end2022 Chris Unger
Ngannou has subsequently boxed Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in fights that are believed to have earned him tens of millions of pounds.
‘The Predator’ even signed a lucrative MMA deal with PFL and will make his debut for the company against Renan Ferreira in Saudi Arabia on October 19.
However, White insists Ngannou would have made more money in the UFC.
The UFC CEO reacted angrily when MMA reporter Kevin Iole suggested that his former heavyweight titleholder has financially won by leaving the company.
“That’s not necessarily true,” White said.
“That’s the bulls*** publicly that people believe, but that’s not the truth. Total bulls***. Total bulls***.
“That’s that whole myth that makes everybody go, ‘Oh, let’s f***ing go to boxing,’ and all this bulls***.
“Boxing don’t work. Boxing does not work. What makes it work? You need a Saudi f***ing trillionaire to make f***ing fights. And even Saudi trillionaires get tired of the f***ing bulls***.
“It’s all a f***ing myth. It’s all a myth.
“Like the whole statement you just made is absolutely positively not true.
Ngannou is believed to have made millions from his two boxing boutsGetty
White ranted about Turki Alalshikh being the only thing keeping boxing alive@Turki_alalshikh – x
“It’s those types of f****** statements and those type of quotes by the media that makes all this s***. All these fights are happening, it takes a Saudi f****** trillionaire.
“Every f****** guy that tries to do the boxing thing, they all end up losing s***-loads of f****** money. The model doesn’t work.
“A Saudi unlimited amount of money pops up and that’s what makes these fights happen, and even guys with that kind of money get f****** tired of the bullshit.”
Later in the day, White filmed an episode of the Contender Series.
Afterwards he fielded questions from assembled media members and doubled down on his comments about offering Ngannou more money than he made in boxing to stay in the UFC.
“I know all the s*** that you people don’t know, and I don’t care what everybody says,” White said.
“It doesn’t matter to me. But that’s a fact. He was offered more money, because I know the real numbers.”
White also insisted Ngannou would’ve made more money in the UFCGetty
Ngannou hasn’t responded to White’s comments about his finances.
The two men have a history of exchanging verbal blows through the media.
It appears to be a matter of time before Ngannou fires back at his former boss.
