Francis Ngannou says UFC boss Dana White is ‘praying for my demise’

Francis Ngannou doesn’t think Dana White has put the UFC breakup behind him.

The former UFC heavyweight champion is still in top form, albeit in a different promotion – the PFL, where he signed shortly after parting ways with the UFC in January 2023.

Lacking a dream fight with Jon Jones with a multi-million dollar contract, Ngannou instead decided to pursue the fruits of free agency, achieving massive success in boxing against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.

Dana White criticizes Ngannou’s decision to leave UFC: ‘It’s all about the money’

He is believed to be worth millions of dollars more than what the UFC offered him, but former trainer White disagrees and claims Ngannou would have gotten a better offer if he had stayed in the Octagon.

“Francis is all about the money,” White said when asked about Ngannou’s successful PFL debut following his son’s death. “Francis left because he knew that if he fought Jon Jones and didn’t win, it would hurt his chances of making the money he wanted to make. But realistically his deal was bigger here.”

White also added that he wanted to cut Ngannou from the UFC roster after back-to-back losses to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis in 2018, but didn’t do it because someone asked him to.

This isn’t Ngannou’s first rodeo, White has heard that and more in the past, especially now that he’s the king of the PFL.

“Dana is trying to make things right to make herself look good in the position [he’s in]. “Dana lost in this situation and the only thing is that he can’t understand it,” Ngannou continued MMA today. “I left. We broke up almost two years ago and the guy is still out there… He can’t live without it. He can’t handle me no matter what happened. It’s not me. Not about him. I went out there and fought a big fight for my son’s memory. But the guy can’t take it [it]. I don’t know what his problem is, man.

“But he can think up anything the way he wants. That’s his problem. I think he needs to make peace with himself. You could have just said we didn’t find an agreement or something. ‘We couldn’t come to an agreement.’ ‘But good luck to him.’ That’s it. “Good for him.” But I think the problem is that he can’t handle this loss. Just keep doing my thing and move up. Since leaving the UFC, I have become more than what I was in every way.

Ngannou discusses finances and White’s claims that he earned more in the UFC than he did in boxing and the PFL, saying that’s simply not the case. “Backpay” from the UFC for his last two fights against Stipe Miocic and Ciryl Gane.

Regardless of the zeros on his paycheck, Ngannou doesn’t understand why White is so concerned

“Either way, if I made less money, if I don’t make enough money that I could have made in the UFC, that’s going to be my problem. Why is he so mad about me not making as much money?” Ngannou said in response to White. “Come on, man. Live your life.”

PFL champion Francis Ngannou reveals surprising realization after tragedy