Dana White and Francis Ngannou may not be on the best of terms, but that didn’t stop the UFC president from praising his performance.
After being down two rounds on a couple of the judges’ scorecards in the UFC 270 main event, heavyweight champion Ngannou (17-3 MMA, 12-2 UFC) resorted to his grappling to rally for the decision win against Ciryl Gane (10-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC).
Ngannou, who entered the fight with a torn meniscus, was struggling on his feet before finding success on the ground, which caught everyone off guard – including White.
“During the fight, I was very surprised,” White said during an ESPN+ Q&A hosted by Laura Sanko. “After the fight, I mean, it was genius. It was genius for him to work on his wrestling. I guarantee you – I don’t know this for a fact – but I would guarantee you that Ciryl Gane did almost no wrestling preparing for that fight. To come in and implement the game plan that he had, it was brilliant.”
White also went on to say there is nothing personal behind his decision to both not wrap the title around Ngannou’s waist and miss the post-fight news conference this past Saturday in Anaheim, Calif. Despite the narrative that White was upset with the outcome due to Ngannou’s contract dispute with the UFC, he revealed that there were things he had to deal with backstage that prevented him from being there.
