Getty Image / Jeff Bottari
- Francis Ngannou has been locked in contentious contract negotiations with the UFC
- Now Dana White claims he doesn’t care if the heavyweight champion leaves the UFC
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It has been no secret that contract negotiations between Francis Ngannou and the UFC have not gone well. Ngannou’s agent has taken to social media in the past to air out his issues with the UFC. Now it’s Dana White who is discussing the negotiation publicly.
“These things happen. Sometimes you don’t always come to terms with people,” White told ESPN, before taking yet another shot at Ngannou’s management team. “When you’re a fighter, you have to be careful who represents you. I don’t think he’s had the best representation.”
White continued by making a statement that doesn’t quite line up with the way the UFC has ever handled their fighters.
“Look, if you want to be with us, we’d love to have you. If you don’t want to be with us, no problem. It’s all good,” White claimed. “I think his contract, and this is off the top of my head, if he wins he still has time with us after this fight. He’d probably have one more fight.”
If this was really the case, then the UFC would have allowed Ngannou’s contract to expire back in May as it was supposed it. Instead, the UFC has been using provisions in Ngannou’s contract to keep him with the organization.
It has been a bit since we’ve seen Francis Ngannou in the Octagon. His last fight came in a title win over Stipe Miocic. Since that fight, Cyril Gane has won an interim title. Now the two are scheduled to unify their belts at UFC 270 in January.
That is supposed to be the last fight on his UFC contract, but we will have to wait and see if he can come to an agreement with the UFC. Something tells me the UFC won’t be as keen to let him walk as Dana White makes it seem.