'Didn’t want to take a chance against...': Dana White on why Francis Ngannou left UFC

Francis Ngannou has had a marvelous week because he finally has a new fight house and a killer deal he has been seeking. The former UFC heavyweight champion has joined the PFL and will compete in 2024 with a high seven-figure prize in addition to sitting on the Global Athlete Advisory Board of the PFL.

The conflict between Ngannou and Dana White, the UFC president, has been at an all-time high for the past year and doesn’t appear to be letting up. White discussed Ngannou joining the PFL during the UFC Vegas 73 post-fight press conference.

“Based on what I know about the deal, which is not much, it makes no sense to me,” White told the media. “I mean, you’re going to pay a guy not to fight for a year, and it’s already been like 18 months- he’s fought three times in the last three years. It’s just not what we do here. The day that we released him, I knew exactly what was going to happen.”

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'Didn't want to take a chance against Jon Jones': Dana White on Francis Ngannou

White criticized Ngannou when he released him earlier this year for wanting to fight lesser opponents for more money and take no risks. He reiterated that during the press conference.

“Francis wants to take zero risks, he doesn’t want to take any chances, and he obviously didn’t want to take a chance against Jon Jones, and after we saw what happened with Ciryl Gane, I don’t blame him,” White said. “I think the outcome would have been exactly the same, and I’m sure most of you do, and I think Francis does too. And the media makes it sound like I’m saying that he’s afraid of him. I don’t think that he’s afraid of anybody; it’s just that he doesn’t want to take any risk.”

“He wants to, you know, PFL’s going to pay this guy to train for a boxing match that may not even happen and that they might not even be involved in. How does that make any sense? Anthony Joshua called it a gimmick fight this week. When [Joshua was] asked about that fight, he’s like, ‘I’m focused on fighting the best guys in the world. You know, I’m not interested in the gimmick fight right now.’ And that’s one of the big problems with boxing right now. It’s all about these gimmicky type fights. And that’s just not what I do here. I put on fights with the best fighters in the world and fights that people want to see.”