Dana White Clarifies That Francis Ngannou Was Not Physical Or Threatening In Altercation

UFC President Dana White is clarifying his previous comments regarding Francis Ngannou.

Dana made an appearance on the Flagrant podcast and claimed former UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou got into a physical altercation with him and UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell.

White claimed that after a fight, Ngannou was upset that he didn’t get a post-fight bonus.

“He was pissed 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, that [reason] 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*cking 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*cking is,” said White (via MMA Fighting).

“My guy Hunter [Campbell], they were talking about something, it might have even been that same thing [about the bonus]. When Hunter started to walk away, Francis grabbed him by the f*cking back of his collar and f*cking pulled him back and said ‘we’re not done talking yet.’ This guy’s not a good f*cking guy. He’s a bad guy,” he said.

After Ngannou appeared on the Ariel Helwani Show and said he didn’t feel the need to defend himself and that Dana likely had cameras in his office, Dana is now clarifying.

Speaking on The Mac Life (via Bloody Elbow), Dana now says, “Let me be clear on something when I say the physicality, it’s not like Francis came in here and threatened us or anything like that.  We’re in there and he’s telling me that he deserves the $50k. I said, ‘You’re not getting it.’ We had determined who was going to get the $50K. And I’m in there with him for however long and I’m like, ‘I’m done, I have another meeting.’

“So I started to walk out, and he put his hand on my chest and he said, ‘We’re not done talking,’ and I said, ‘Oh, we’re done talking.’ It’s not like Francis came in here and was like, physical. But that’s what went down,”

Ngannou left UFC in January 2023 after the two sides couldn’t agree on a new contract. He is currently signed to PFL, but has not fought since October 2024.

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