Dana White Admits He Wanted Ngannou to Lose at UFC 270

Dana White has never pretended to like Francis Ngannou. Now he’s gone a step further: he’s admitted he wanted the former UFC heavyweight champion to lose his last fight in the promotion.

Speaking on Big Boy’s show, the UFC president was asked when he last truly wanted a fighter to lose. He didn’t hesitate.

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

The fight in question: UFC 270 in January 2022, when Ngannou faced Ciryl Gane for the undisputed heavyweight title. Gane, the slick French technician and then-interim champion, entered as the favorite in many eyes. Ngannou, battling knee issues and entrenched in a bitter contract standoff with the promotion, walked in under a cloud of tension with his own boss.

White was openly rooting against his champion that night. The Octagon didn’t listen.

Ngannou adjusted mid-fight, leaned on his wrestling, and ground out a unanimous decision over Gane to retain the belt. It was his final act in the UFC before walking away as champion, a move that still clearly grates on White.

“He’s a Bad Guy”

White’s dislike for Ngannou is no secret, but his recent comments have sharpened the edge.

Earlier this week, he lumped Ngannou in with one of his longest-running feuds in combat sports.

“Ngannou is on my Oscar De La Hoya list,” White said. “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.”

That’s as blunt as it gets from the UFC boss. No attempt to soften the blow, no diplomatic framing. Just a line in the sand: Ngannou is gone, and White insists he’s happy about it.

Ngannou, for his part, has so far stayed above the fray publicly. He has not fired back in kind to the latest wave of criticism, even after White revealed he was actively cheering for Gane to dethrone him in Anaheim. How long that restraint lasts is another question, especially with his name still surfacing in UFC soundbites despite his exit.

Time to Move On?

The reality is simple: Francis Ngannou is no longer a UFC fighter. He left, he bet on himself, and he took his heavyweight aura elsewhere.

White, though, keeps talking about him.

That fixation does little for the promotion’s present, especially in a heavyweight division that has its own problems. Current champion Tom Aspinall has not set foot in the Octagon in nearly a year, leaving the title picture stalled and the division short on momentum.

The UFC president built his empire by always selling what comes next. With Ngannou gone and the relationship clearly beyond repair, the more pressing question now hangs over his own roster.

When will the heavyweight champion fight again—and when will the conversation finally shift from the man who left to the men who are still there?