Francis Ngannou responds to ‘bully’ Dana White, says he’s made ‘twice the money’ he would’ve in the UFC

Francis Ngannou laughed off what former boss Dana White had to say about him.

The former UFC heavyweight champion — who made the choice to leave the promotion and vacate the title in 2023 — and current PFL star was a big talking point during White’s post-fight scrum after Thursday’s Power Slap event. White was asked about Ngannou’s quick knockout win over Renan Ferreira at PFL Battle of the Giants, and it led to White ripping on PFL founder Donn Davis and saying he wanted to cut Ngannou years before.

“The Predator” reacted to White on Sirius XM Fight Nation.

“I think Dana’s trying to make things up to buy good faith in the position he has lost,” Ngannou said. “Dana has lost in this situation... and he cannot stand it. Bro, I won everything: I left. We’ve been apart almost two years and the guy is still out there, he can’t live without it, and hounding me. Regardless of what happened, I’m not about him.

“I went out there, did a fight, had a good fight for my son’s memory, but they guy can’t stand... I don’t know what his problem is. He can make everything up as he wants, that’s his problem. He needs to make peace with himself. ...

“You could’ve just said, ‘We couldn’t find an agreement, or couldn’t come up with a deal, good luck to him. That’s it, good for him,’ and we continue our lives,” Ngannou continued. “What’s the problem here? But I think the problem is that he can’t handle this loss. I’m sure he’s been praying for my downfall, but I keep doing my thing and rising as soon as I left the UFC. In any senses, I’m more than what I was.”

“Freedom isn’t free, but remember that the benefits always outweigh the price. Don’t let the bully talk you out of it,” Ngannou said, responding on social media.

“Divert attention to the real matter by manipulating the narrative,” Ngannou wrote in a follow-up tweet.

White has claimed that Ngannou left the UFC to make more money fighting lesser competition, and that he left because he didn’t want to risk fighting Jon Jones.

“Francis is all about the money,” White said. “Francis left because he knew that if he fought Jon Jones and didn’t win, it would hurt his chances of making the money that he wanted to make. But realistically, his deal was bigger here. His deal was bigger here if he stayed in the UFC. ... They can deny it all they want, why the f*ck would I lie? Why do I care? It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other.

“I was going to cut Francis when he lost two in a row. I was going to cut him. Somebody around here begged me not to do it. So it wouldn’t have mattered to me, one way or the other. There’s a much deeper story to this whole thing, and he would have made more money if he stayed in the UFC.”

Ngannou, as expected, completely disagrees, as he entered free agency after capturing the UFC heavyweight title with a brutal knockout of Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in March 2021, and then a successful title defense against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 10 months later.

“Which money is he talking about? The money that he owes me?,” Ngannou said. “Remember, all of this ended with [them] saying, ‘Oh, we’ll backpay you from the money that we owe you for the Stipe [Miocic] and Ciryl Gane fight,’ all of that. They never back payed me.

“Now I have made more money than I have ever made in the UFC — I would say twice the money that I could have ever made in my entire UFC career if I had continued in the UFC. ... But either way, if I had made less money, if I’m not making enough money that I could’ve made in the UFC, that’s my problem. Why is he so pissed about me not making that much money? Like, c’mon man, live your life.”