Francis Ngannou explains why he felt "happy" when Dana White didn't put the belt on him after beating Ciryl Gane at UFC 270
Francis Ngannou spoke openly about the current status of his relationship with the UFC in a recent interview on the True Geordie podcast. A clear indication of things being in a difficult place was the fact that UFC president Dana White didn't put the belt on the Cameroonian fighter after his win over Ciryl Gane at UFC 270.
During his appearance on the podcast, the reigning UFC heavyweight champion was asked how he felt about this particular situation. While the podcast host admitted that he would have been angry had he been in Ngannou's place, ‘The Predator’ had a different opinion:
“Let me tell you something - I feel happy. You know why? Because that means I make my point. That means it kind like of understand what I was saying, what I was fighting for… He was unhappy and he couldn’t control me and he get pi**ed off because things didn’t go his way.”
The Cameroonian fighter summarized it all by saying:
“They’ve lost, I win… That mean he [Dana White] as well lost as [well as] Gane that night, right? So I was a winner, why I should be pi**ed off?”
Watch Ngannou talk about Dana White not putting the belt on him at 21:34 of the video below:
Francis Ngannou wants to continue fighting in UFC after Tyson Fury bout
Reigning UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou has announced his plans regarding a potential crossover fight against undefeated boxer Tyson Fury. During his recent appearance on The MMA Hour, he spoke to Ariel Helwani about his willingness to re-sign with the UFC.
“Well, I think the UFC is a great promotion, and I want to keep fighting. Tyson Fury is not my last fight. I want to keep fighting. After Tyson Fury, there’s still a lot of fight out there. There’s still Jon Jones, there’s Stipe [Miocic]; a trilogy with Stipe, that’s a big fight I can do in the UFC. And I would really like that to happen. I would really like us to get to a common point. Yes, I can do Tyson Fury on my own, but what next? I would like to keep fighting. I would like for us to come to an agreement.”
Ngannou emphasized that “a good understanding of the situation" is required for him to re-sign with the UFC. Helwani then noted that for Ngannou, the ideal scenario would be reaching an agreement with the UFC and having them co-promote the fight against Fury.
Watch Francis Ngannou’s conversation with Ariel Helwani in the video below: