The feud between Dana White and Francis Ngannou may go on forever.
On Friday while doing the media rounds, White made several comments about his former UFC heavyweight champion on BigBoyTV.
“Listen, Ngannou is on my Oscar De La Hoya list,” White said. “Look at the history of Francis Ngannou and the other companies he’s been with since. He’s a bad guy, man. He’s a bad guy. I’m just at a point in my life where I don’t want to do business with bad guys. I just don’t.”
When asked when the last time he rooted against a fighter he was promoting, White said it was UFC 270 in January 2022 during Ngannou’s final fight with the promotion.
“That’s a good question, too – a guy I wanted to lose,” White said. “It would have to be Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane. … You’re damn right I wanted Ngannou to lose.”
The comments drew a response from Ngannou on X, as he told the UFC CEO to “take that loss” of not being able to keep him on the roster.
“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,” Ngannou wrote. “You have to take that loss; it is irreversible.”
White and Ngannou’s feud started in early 2018 around the time of Ngannou’s first title challenge vs. Stipe Miocic at UFC 220. The two had a turbulent relationship over the next five years, particularly as Ngannou neared the end of his deal. He ultimately let the deal expire and departed the organization never having lost the title.
Ngannou, 40, boxed Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, before returning to MMA and defeating Renan Ferreira under the PFL banner in October 2024. In May, Ngannou competed for the first time since the PFL one-off when he quickly knocked out Philipe Lins for MVP MMA on Netflix.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Francis Ngannou says ‘take that loss’ after Dana White’s most recent disparaging comments
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