On Saturday night UFC president Dana White responded to the news that Francis Ngannou had signed with the PFL. His long rant covered many angles but the gist of it was that he wasn’t overly impressed, nor believed it was the right move for the former UFC champion.
“Based on what I know about the deal, which is not much, it makes no sense to me. You’re going to pay a guy not to fight for a year, and it’s already been like [14] months. He’s fought three times in the last three years,” he said to the media following UFC Vegas 73. “It’s just not what we do here. It’s not what we do. And the day that we released him, I knew exactly what was going to happen. Francis wants to take zero risks, doesn’t want to take any chances, and he obviously didn’t want to take a chance with Jon Jones — and after we saw what happened with Ciryl Gane, I don’t blame him. I think the outcome would’ve been exactly the same, and I’m sure most of you do and I’m sure Francis does too.”
After the remarks got back to Ngannou, he weighed in.
“What is your problem with me?” he tweeted. “1. I completed my contract, was a free agent, and chose to walk away. you didn’t release me 2. I hate taking risks? that’s why I defended my title to fulfill my contract with no acl or mcl?” He followed that tweet up with two more writing, “3. The reason I fought three times in three years is because you wanted to control my deal and signs a new one. And freeze me out. “I owe these guys three fights a year.” Isn’t that what you say? What happened? I always asked for & never said no to any fight in the 3 years” and “I’m finally getting paid and respected, and have a deal that’s fair and equal for all parties. Why are you so against me being free and happy?”
Francis Ngannou responds to Dana White’s thoughts on PFL signing
