Francis Ngannou responds to criticism from UFC CEO Dana White

The comments mark the first time White has publicly acknowledged rooting against his then-heavyweight champion when Ngannou faced Gane in a 2022 title bout that proved to be his last with the UFC.

There’s no love lost between UFC CEO Dana White and lineal Heavyweight kingpin Francis Ngannou. Time and time again, White has labeled Ngannou ’a bad guy’ and has even accused “The Predator” of intimidating employees at the UFC headquarters. He even considers Ngannou as unlikable as Oscar de la Hoya, his longtime promotional enemy! Ngannou, […]

UFC CEO Dana White admits he rooted for Ciryl Gane to beat Francis Ngannou.

Francis Ngannou and Dana White (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC) Francis Ngannou calls shenanigans. For the past several years, Ngannou has been in an on-and-off feud with the UFC and CEO Dana White surrounding his exit from the promotion in 2023. Ngannou left as the heavyweight champion after fighting out his contract and being unable to come to terms with the UFC on a renewal. Since then, personal attacks have flown between the two, primarily from White, who just this week rekindled the feud by calling Ngannou “a bad guy” and saying “I don’t want to do business with bad guys.” On Friday, Ngannou responded to White’s latest attack with a quick social media post. Saying the guy that I spent over three years and a lot of money in law firms building an escape plan to get away from, meanwhile he was doing everything in his power to ensure I was never free.🙄 You have to take that loss; it is irreversible.😎✌🏽 https://t.co/9JCZU0Mxzt — Francis Ngannou (@francis_ngannou) September 11, 2026 Saying the guy that I spent over three years and a lot of money in law firms building an escape plan to get away from, meanwhile he was doing everything in his power to ensure I was never free.🙄 You have to take that loss; it is irreversible.😎✌🏽 It’s worth noting that shortly after Ngannou entered free agency, White claimed that the promotion offered Ngannou a huge contract to stay with the UFC. “We offered Francis a deal that would have made him the highest paid heavyweight in the history of the company,” White said. “More than [Brock] Lesnar, more than anybody, and he turned the deal down. We get to this point where I’ve told you guys before, if you don’t want to be here, you don’t have to be here.” After leaving the UFC, Ngannou signed with the PFL, but first tried his hand at boxing, nearly upsetting Tyson Fury in his sporting debut, before getting knocked out by Anthony Joshua in 2024. He then returned to MMA, where he stopped Renan Ferreira in the PFL and, most recently, knocked out Philipe Lins at the MVP: Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano card in May.