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Dana White claims Francis Ngannou ‘put his hands on’ him and another UFC boss in multiple outbursts

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow | By Donagh Corby | Last updated Nov 18, 2025 8:03 PM ET

Dana White has spoken out about an alleged altercation that got physical between him and Francis Ngannou.

UFC boss White hasn’t been a particularly big fan of heavyweight champion Ngannou, who left the promotion without losing his belt, for a long time. The Cameroonian has since made tens of millions boxing Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, as well as competing for the PFL.

For many years White has remained coy about what exactly caused such a bitter feud between the pair. But speaking with comedian Andrew Schulz on his podcast Flagrant this week, he finally opened up about a time one disagreement went too far.

Dana White claims Francis Ngannou got physical with him in heated meeting

Dana White and Francis Ngannou’s relationship famously collapsed at the latter stages of the Cameroonian’s heavyweight title reign in the UFC. And speaking with Andrew Schulz, White went into more detail than ever about his reasons why they drifted apart.

It must be noted that White’s comments are all alleged, and Ngannou has not had the chance to verify them at the time of writing.

“So when you’re an athlete that’s signed by the UFC, you get full access to the Performance Institute,” White explained. “You can eat there for free, everything’s free and do all this stuff. This guy was f—ing living there.

“He had just fought and he comes up to my office, he’s in the hallway hanging out and I said ‘come on in, what’s going on?’ He was p—ed off he didn’t get a $50,000 in his last fight, that he didn’t get the bonus of the night.

“I said Francis you didn’t get it for this or that and he’s in my office and he’s arguing with me. I’m like this guy got this, this guy got that and this is why. The conversation’s over, and I’m starting to leave, and he grabs me by my shirt and pushes me back in my office.

“And I said ‘dude, get your f—ing hands off me.’ I could see in this guy’s face and in his eyes and the way he’s acting who this guy really f—ing is.”

Dana White claims there was a second altercation with Hunter Campbell

This wasn’t the only time, White alleges, that things got aggressive. He told another story involving the company’s now Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell where Ngannou laid hands on a different UFC boss.

“My guy Hunter, they were talking about something, it might have even been that same thing,” White continued. “And when Hunter started to walk away, Francis grabbed him by the f—ing back of his collar and f—ing pulled him back and said ‘we’re not done talking yet’.”

White then repeated a phrase he has used in the media before, telling Schulz that he feels Ngannou plays up that his English is worse than it is to hide that he is “not a good guy”. He also told a story about how prior to his 2018 meeting with Stipe Miocic, he demanded a private jet to take him to France.

“Francis Ngannou is a bad guy,” he added at a later point in the podcast. “He’s not a good guy. He plays the whole ‘I don’t understand the language’ and tries to come off that he’s a f—ing nice guy. People go ‘oh it’s the language barrier probably.’ There’s no f—ing language barrier with this guy. He’s a bad guy.”

Ngannou has yet to speak out about the allegations and confirm whether or not they are legitimate.

This article first appeared on Bloody Elbow and was syndicated with permission.

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