Francis Ngannou offers surprising praise of UFC boss Dana White despite feud

29 February 2024 , 08:00

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Francis Ngannou offers surprising praise of UFC boss Dana White despite feud

Francis Ngannou has surprisingly thanked UFC boss Dana White for the way his fighting career has played out.

Ngannou vacated his UFC heavyweight title and left the promotion last January in an effort to take up boxing. The decision proved to be a wise one as Ngannou put on a stunning performance in his ring debut last October against Tyson Fury and fights for the second time as a professional boxer against Anthony Joshua in less than two weeks.

The two fights will see Ngannou earn $30million which is considerably more than he was guaranteed for a new UFC deal. White was critical of Ngannou's decision to leave the UFC and saw no future for him in boxing, but the Cameroonian could now bank himself an undisputed world title fight if he beats Joshua.

When asked about his thoughts on the UFC boss, Ngannou told Mirror Fighting: "I don’t care, before and after Dana White my life is going on and I think my life is going on pretty good today. I don’t have any worries and in fact I’m grateful to Dana White because without our relationship breaking out I wouldn’t be here and doing what I’m doing.

“Without him doing things the way that he did, I wouldn’t be here. It played out pretty good for myself, so I can’t complain. I’m a winner in this situation, I don’t give a s***.” Ngannou's UFC exit was delayed by a championship clause in his contract and this has put him off fighting for world titles in boxing.

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"It’s the political side of things that I don’t want to be involved. We were at the press conference in London when the minister Turki Alalsheik announced [the winner fighting for undisputed]. He’s probably done the groundwork for that to happen, I would do it but it’s not something that I would navigate to go into because I don’t want to be involved in politics at this point," he added.

“World titles are good but at the end of the day, what you do is a statement. There are a lot of people that haven’t won a world title or even come close, but have done remarkable things that will be remembered forever. It’s not about the titles, they are just a piece of memory. It’s about escaping your limit and to get the best yourself."

Harry Davies