Dana White Recounts Story Of Francis Ngannou Putting His Hands On Him & UFC Chief Business Officer Hunter Campbell
A story about Francis Ngganou from UFC CEO Dana White.
The latest guest to join the FLAGRANT podcast was UFC CEO Dana White. As the conversation moved along, White expressed that former UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou is not a ‘good guy.’
He said he should have cut Ngannou from the UFC early. White recounted when Ngannou showed up at his office and put his hands on him. White claims that the former UFC fighter also put his hands on UFC’s Chief Business Officer, Hunter Campbell. White added that he’s sure PFL wishes they had never signed Francis.
“Francis Ngannou is a bad guy. He’s not a good guy. He plays the whole, duh, duh, duh, I don’t understand the language and he tries to come off like he’s a f*cking nice guy, you know what I mean? And people go, ‘Oh, the language barrier probably.’ No. There’s no f*cking language barrier with this guy. He’s a bad guy. I wanted to cut him early. When somebody shows you who they are, believe ‘em. So he’s going in to fight Stipe Miocic in Boston. He knows he’s gonna f*cking kill Stipe. So after the press conference, we’re walking down this hallway and he comes over to me and he grabs me, and he says, ‘Let me tell you what’s gonna happen –’ his English is f*cking great, okay? No language barrier whatsoever — ‘When this fight’s over, you’re gonna book me a private plane to Paris.’ I laughed and so he goes, ‘I’m not joking. You’re gonna book me a private plane.’ ‘Okay.’ So we go our own ways. Stipe Miocic beats the f*cking sh*t out of him. So, that ended that whole conversation. I should have f*cking cut him that day. When you’re an athlete signed to the UFC, you get full access to the performance institute, and you can eat there for free, everything’s free and you can do all this stuff. This guy was f*cking living there, right? And he had just fought, and he comes up to my office. I said, ‘Come on in. What’s going on?’ And he was pissed off that he didn’t get a $50,000 bonus. ‘Francis, you didn’t get it because there’s that –’ and he’s in my office and he’s arguing with me. The conversation is over, 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*cking hands off me…’ I can see in this guy’s face and in his eyes and the way he’s acting who this guy f*cking is. Then, my guy Hunter (Campbell), they were talking about something — it might even have been the same thing — and when Hunter started to walk away, Francis grabbed him by the back of his f*cking collar and f*cking pulled him back — said, ‘We’re not done talking yet.’ So this guy’s not a f*cking good guy. He’s a bad guy. Now, he’s over and he’s done a deal with PFL and Saudi Arabia, and now he’s asking to fight — ‘Me and Jon Jones need to fight.’ I’m sure they wished they never f*cking signed him, because I know. I’ve dealt with him. I know who he really is…”
Ngannou last fought in October 2024 in Saudi Arabia under the PFL banner. He defeated Renan Ferreira via knockout. Ngannou’s last fight for UFC was in January 2022 at UFC 270, where he bested Ciryl Gane via unanimous decision.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit FLAGRANT with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
