Dana White says Bellator Champ will likely leave the PFL to join the UFC

Could one of the Professional Fighters League’s best fighters move to the UFC?

UFC President Dana White was busy on Thursday. He is in Abu Dhabi for UFC 308 fight week and is making rounds with the media.

Whenever that happens, the polarizing face of MMA’s No. 1 organization is sure to deliver some juicy quips that stir the proverbial pot in the sport.

You can add exponent to that concept for Thursday, when White dropped bombs, most of which were aimed at the Professional Fighters League.

White and PFL owner Donn Davis have been in a war of words for months, with the latter seemingly drawing more of the former’s ire by the day. In addition to several anti-PFL comments from White on Thursday, the UFC boss had some exciting things to say about Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov.

The 26-year-old is the cousin of UFC bantamweight contender Umar and Hall of Famer Khabib Nurmagomedov. Usman is undefeated and is currently ranked in the Fight Matrix top 10 in his weight class.

Usman made headlines earlier this week when he announced that he expected to move to the UFC in two years, once his training partner and another Khabib protégé, Islam Makhachev, retires.

White was asked if he had heard of Usman’s interest in fighting for the UFC and whether he would sign him once his contract with the PFL was up.

“All their good people want to be here anyway, so I imagine he’ll be here at some point,” White said. “Nobody wants to fight in the PFL – except Francis [Ngannou].”

Here’s a look at the clip.

Davis promised to do everything in his power to convince Usman to stay with the organization once his current contract expires, but it may be impossible to stop him from joining Umar and Makhachev. It would seemingly make everything easier for his camp.

White’s reference to Ngannou was part of a broader rant based on the former’s claim that his offer for lineal heavyweight champion was more lucrative than what he got from the PFL.

Almost no one believes that, especially considering what Ngannou has done in two boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. However, what White is doing to Ngannou isn’t much different than what Davis has done to Kayla Harrison since she left the PFL for the UFC.

Davis said Harrison “walked away” from fights against Larissa Pacheco and Cris Cyborg to come to the UFC. White insists Ngannou didn’t want to fight Jon Jones. The similarities are easy to see and it’s all entertaining if you look at it from the right perspective.

In any case, it’s always more fun to discuss two major MMA organizations.

Ultimately, however, White will likely be spot on in his prediction about Usman. In this case, the roots may be too deep for the PFL.