Why didn't Dana White present heavyweight belt to Francis Ngannou at UFC 270?

UFC boss Dana White has shut down the critics suggesting he showed disrespect towards the UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou by not presenting his with the UFC belt, following his win against Cyril Gane at the UFC 270. Ngannou defeated interim heavyweight champion, Gane, by a unanimous decision on January 22 at the Honda Center and retained the heavyweight title. While it's a common ritual for White to present the titles to fighters after any title match, the UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard presented the belt to Ngannou, which prompted the MMA fans to add to the speculations about a rift between White and Ngannou.

Dana White spoke to ESPN MMA on January 27 and answered questions regarding his absence from the heavyweight title bout. As per the youtube video by ESPN MMA, White revealed that he had to walk out of the Honda Center after the co-main event of UFC 270, as there were so many things to deal with. “For anybody to think I was showing any type of disrespect toward Francis, I saw Francis all week, you idiots. I shook his hand. I said hi to him. I was out there for the staredowns, the whole thing,” White added.

Dana White shuts down his critics

He further shut down his critics by saying that anyone who thinks there was any kind of disrespect towards the heavyweight champion, there were almost no other occasions where he disrespected a titleholder. He cited his absence from UFC 112 during the middleweight title match between Anderson Silva and Demian Maia, during UFC’s debut event in Abu Dhabi. He added he later showed up to the press conference and explained the reason why he left.

Francis Ngannou's views on Dana White's absence

Meanwhile, following his title defense against former sparring partner at UFC 270, Ngannou was questioned about White’s absence from the fight. “I don’t know. You have to ask him,” Ngannou said on being questioned about White not putting the belt around his waist. “No, I did not have anything to do about that. I think that was their decision. I’m about to ask about that, too,” he further added.

(Image: AP/Twitter-@UFCEurope)