Dana White has been very vocal about his dislike for negotiating with Francis Ngannou and his manager, Marquel Martin. The UFC president was recently asked about the heavyweight champion's contract situation.
Francis Ngannou could be fighting out his contract after UFC 270. He was one more fight left on his current deal.
“These things happen sometimes. You don’t always come to terms with people. I’m trying to be nice today,” UFC president White said to ESPN MMA with a grin. “We just had this conversation a minute ago, [but] you’ve gotta be careful who you get to represent you because that’s what they do. [It’s] sad. I don’t think he’s got the best representation. I don’t know if you guys remember but I think we were in Abu Dhabi, or wherever we were; [We asked] you wanna be with us? We’d love to have you. You don’t want to be with us, no problem. It’s all good.”
UFC champions have a clause that keeps them in the promotion as long as they are champions. Dana White confirmed that would be the situation for Francis Ngannou too.
“If he wins, what happens? So I think his contract — and this off the top of my head — he still has time with us after this fight. So he’d probably have one more fight,” he said.
It is unclear what will happen between the UFC and Francis Ngannou ahead of their contract negotiation. Both parties want to keep working together but they disagree on what that looks like financially.
Follow Us
Subscribe