Dana White Wanted Ciryl Gane to Beat Francis Ngannou at UFC 270
Dana White has never pretended to like Francis Ngannou. Now he’s gone a step further: he’s admitted he actively rooted against him on one of the biggest nights of the heavyweight’s career.
In a conversation with Big Boy, the UFC president was asked when he last genuinely 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 night in question was UFC 270 in January 2022, when Ngannou faced former teammate Ciryl Gane for the undisputed heavyweight title. The storyline then was already rich: champion vs. interim champion, old gym ties, a clash of styles. Behind it all, a simmering contract dispute and a strained relationship between Ngannou and the promotion.
White, by his own admission, was in Gane’s corner emotionally. The result didn’t follow his wishes. Ngannou, fighting with compromised knees and a clouded future, ground out a unanimous decision, leaning on wrestling and control to shut down Gane’s movement and secure what would be his final win in the Octagon.
The belt stayed with Ngannou. The relationship with White did not.
“He’s a Bad Guy”
White’s issues with Ngannou are no secret. He has long bristled at negotiations with the former champion, and the split between fighter and promotion grew increasingly public and increasingly bitter.
This week, White sharpened his stance again.
“Ngannou is on my Oscar De La Hoya list,” he said, referencing another long-standing feud. “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.”
No nuance. No softening. Just a clear declaration that, in White’s eyes, the bridge is burned.
Ngannou, now away from the UFC and pursuing his own path, has so far chosen not to engage in a public back-and-forth over the latest comments. He has largely taken the high road in recent days, but White’s admission that he wanted him to lose at UFC 270 may yet draw a response from the former champion.
Time to Move On?
What’s undeniable is that Ngannou is no longer a UFC fighter. The heavyweight title he once held has moved on, the division has reshaped, and the company has a new man at the top of the weight class.
That man, Tom Aspinall, hasn’t fought in nearly a year.
While White continues to revisit old battles with Ngannou, the present-day heavyweight picture sits in limbo, its champion inactive and its future bouts unclear. The sport has moved on from UFC 270, from the Ngannou-Gane saga, from the contract war that dominated headlines.
The question now isn’t whether White wanted Ngannou to lose back then. It’s whether he’ll stop fighting a man who’s already gone and start fully dealing with the division he still controls.
