Dana White Admits He Wanted Francis Ngannou to Lose at UFC 270

Dana White has never pretended to be neutral, but this one still lands with a thud.

The UFC president has revealed he was openly hoping Francis Ngannou would lose his heavyweight title fight to Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 in January 2022 – a night that ended with Ngannou grinding out a unanimous decision and walking away with the undisputed belt, and eventually out of the company.

Asked by Big Boy when he last wanted a UFC fighter to lose, White didn’t hesitate.

“A guy that I wanted to lose… it would have to be Francis Ngannou,” he said. “Damn right I wanted Ngannou to lose.”

Ngannou won anyway. On one good knee, with a wrestling-heavy game plan few expected, he shut down the undefeated Gane and kept his title. The belt stayed with a man whose relationship with his promoter was already fraying beyond repair.

White vs. Ngannou, Still

White’s stance on Ngannou is no secret, but the temperature keeps rising.

Earlier this week, he doubled down, calling the former champion a “bad guy” and lumping him onto what he described as his “Oscar De La Hoya list” of people he refuses to work with.

“Ngannou is on my Oscar De La Hoya list. Look at the history of Francis Ngannou and the other companies he's been with. He's a bad guy, man. He's a bad guy, and I'm at a point in my life where I just don't want to do business with bad guys, you know what I mean? I just don't,” White said.

There was no softening of the edges, no attempt to walk anything back. White made it clear: he didn’t enjoy working with Ngannou, doesn’t like him, and is glad to be done with him.

Ngannou, now long gone from the UFC, has so far taken the higher ground publicly, staying quiet on this latest round of barbs. That silence may not last, especially after hearing that the company president wanted him to lose one of the defining fights of his UFC career.

Time to Move On?

What’s undeniable is that Ngannou is no longer a UFC fighter. The heavyweight belt he once held has changed hands, and the promotion has a new man at the top of the division in Tom Aspinall.

Yet the conversation keeps circling back to someone who left.

With Aspinall approaching a year without stepping into the Octagon, the UFC heavyweight picture has its own pressing questions. The champion’s absence, the logjam of contenders, the need for marquee fights at the top of the bill – all of that sits in front of White right now.

Ngannou, for the UFC, is history. The real story is whether the company can stop shadowboxing with its former champion and fully lock in on the era that’s already started without him.