A former UFC fighter recently blasted Dana White for his remarks about Francis Ngannou. In addition to expressing his disappointment, the individual asserted that White shouldn't badmouth fighters who aren't competing under the UFC banner anymore.
During his appearance at the UFC 308 post-fight press conference this past weekend, White was questioned about his reaction to Ngannou's allegations of being owed by the promotion. Retaliating against the former UFC heavyweight champion, the 55-year-old claimed that the Cameroonian was the one who owed him money for his unimpressive bout against Derrick Lewis at UFC 226 in July 2018.
White said:
''When have you ever heard a story in all the years we've been in this business, even when it was upside down, where we owed someone money? Never happened. So, he's full of s**t there. And then, I lost? I didn't lose anything... Actually, he owes me money, because we had to watch that fight, him and 'The Black Beast' [Derrick Lewis]. He should pay me back for that fight and all of you... Trust me. I don't think about Francis that much."
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That didn't sit well with ex-UFC fighter Ben Askren, who took to X and slammed White for targeting Ngannou. Askren even labeled the UFC CEO ''petty'' for his comments, writing:
''For all of his great qualities I don’t see why Dana needs to sh*t on people who are not under the UFC banner. It’s really unnecessary and petty.''
As for Askren, after a fruitless tenure with the UFC, he announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in 2019. In his last octagon appearance at UFC Fight Night 162, the 40-year-old suffered a third-round submission loss against Demian Maia.
Dana White refuses to work with Francis Ngannou in the future
Dana White has been at odds with Francis Ngannou for quite some time now after the heavyweight left the promotion last year owing to contractual concerns. He previously claimed that Ngannou is all about the money and accused him of avoiding a potential Jon Jones fight.
In the aforementioned UFC 308 post-fight press conference, after blasting Ngannou for the Derrick Lewis bout, White expressed his dislike for the 38-year-old.
''I didn’t like Francis [Nganou] as a person – wasn’t a guy I wanted to do business with. I didn’t like Francis...He’s just not a guy that I wanted to be in business with, period, end of story, whether he became the champion or not...We’ll never be in business together (again). I mean, you can tell. We don’t like each other.''
Check out Dana White's comments below (1:57):