Dana White vs Francis Ngannou: The Bad, The Ugly...

Dana White vs Francis Ngannou: The Bad, The Ugly…

NEW YORK — Dana White’s recent appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s Nightcap brought up a topic that, though EXTREMELY tired and monotonous, needs to be hashed out. 

Why is Francis Ngannou NOT in the UFC? 

The literal answer is the easiest one; Francis Ngannou, perhaps the best heavyweight, is currently outside of the world’s top promotion because of gold ole business disputes. After becoming UFC champ around the same time as his expiring contract, Ngannou wanted a deal that would provide him more flexibility, insurance, and structure that would not make him bound to the UFC’s grip. 

A contract was offered by Dana’s camp, one that was said to have made the Cameroonian fighter the highest paid heavyweight in the promotion’s history,but that offer was denied. Add in a missed opportunity to create a super fight with new heavyweight Jon Jones, and Ngannou’s relationship with the White turned fraught. He promptly defeated Ciryl Gane at 270, was stripped of the strap, and signed with the PFL. 

There it is, Occam’s razor. Fundamental, opposing negotiation priorities that left both sides unhappy and consequently separated. 

There’s WAY more to this story than either one side is leading on. 

It is pretty normal, even expected, for characters and personalities to be attacked when professional relationships go awry, even if such attacks carry on more criticism than warranted. Usual critiques from the respective parties include difficulties of working with the other: “demanding,” “obstinate,” “uncooperative;” these are the complaints that many on the outside can anticipate when friction becomes public. Dana’s critique of Francis, however, rendered ad hominem attacks far more stabbing than the usual verbal joust. After Sharpe inquired White about the potential of the Jones-Ngannou fight in the future, the UFC president did NOT hold back. “Listen, Ngannou is on my Oscar De La Hoya list.” He then disparaged the fighter’s icy relationship with his new promotion; “Look at the history of Francis Ngannou and the other companies he’s been with. He’s a bad guy. I’m at a point in my life where I just don’t want to do business with bad guys. I just don’t.” Though it appears that Francis (until recently) frames the dissonance as simple business sense, White is clearly harboring some personal gripes with his former champion. Pushing back against the claims, Ngannou responded via social media, writing that White was “…doing everything in his power to ensure I was never free.” He finishes by telling his former boss to “take the loss; it is irreversible,” followed by a series of emojis only connotative of snark and cynicism.

Particularly interesting in this whole verbal kerfuffle is Dana’s unique word choice. A “bad guy” does not denote a simple curmudgeon or a “difficult fighter.” Instead, White seems to be speaking to a bellicose bully who is evil in intent and will. But Dana’s monologue about Ngannou may say more about the former than it does the latter. Conor McGregor and Jon Jones have rap sheets that extend to a myriad of infractions. Pulling out of media obligations, demanding particular fights, pursuing boxing, suspensions, legal problems; whether White meant that he no longer deals with difficult characters, or that he doesn’t deal with them at all, it is clear that this statement is a clear hypocrisy. If you were to measure him between the two fighters, Ngannou has garnered a Conor-like following, as well as Jon’s dominance without Jones’ legal troubles, which theoretically should make him the best of both worlds. 

That isn’t the problem either, not quite. 

Even with their shenanigans, McGregor and Jones have refrained from committing THE cardinal sin — don’t challenge the UFC, especially if you win while doing so. 

When time came, Jones and McGregor proved themselves to be manageable and (there I say) subservient to the UFC’s goal. Ngannou made the mistake of denying White’s business model, and finding success and happiness on his own terms. A much more consequential precedent than any crime imaginable, Ngannou’s departure and newfound fortune threaten the very esteem of the UFC as a promotional outfit. Compounding the issue further, Ngannou took heavyweight champion boxer Tyson Fury the distance, and recorded himself a knockdown against the Brit. Eventually able to parlay this into an Anthony Joshua loss, the Cameroonian fighter dispelled White’s notion that his post UFC career would be a failure. 

What this debacle is Dana White saving face. An Ngannou return for the UFC would be a send a message across the landscape; fight out your contract, publicly dispute Dana’s terms, build your value elsewhere, and come back to the UFC on your own terms. With Ngannou back in the promotion, the UFC’s ethos would be categorically insincere. Sadly enough, despite the fact that his services are needed in the UFC, Dana has been willing to sacrifice individual fighters not only for business, but for ego. Never mind that heavyweight has been a sinking ship following Aspinall’s shelving and Jones’ recent run-around(s); Dana White is willing to let the division suffer if it means keeping Francis out. 

Ironically enough, it appears that Francis doesn’t need the UFC at this point. UFC heavyweight champ, major boxing payouts, mega fights with Fury and Joshua; the psychological irony of Ngannou’s fortune may be haunting White in his worst nightmares. Conversely, is it possible that the payout of having Ngannou back outweighs the feud. Certainly. Dana’s ego. Less certain. What we know to be fact, is that there’s a bunch of bad and ugly, with a whole lot in between. 

Or maybe Francis Ngannou did grab Dana White by the shirt and push him, I don’t know.

Your guess is as good as mine.