Dana White says he is unsurprised following Francis Ngannou's call-out of Tyson Fury ahead of a proposed mixed-rules fight between the two heavyweights.
Ngannou tweeted on 6 January, calling out the boxer: "After I handle business on Jan. 22 I'll fight you under any special rule set you want. In a ring, an octagon or a phone booth.", he said.
This was part of a long exchange with Fury in which the heavyweight champion of the world tweeted: "You want to come in to my world calling me & wilder out to a boxing match. what I can guarantee you would be knocked out & also paid your highest purse to be so! so have a think"
And now, the UFC's president has spoken out about the talk of one of his biggest stars crossing over to fight the undefeated champion Fury and how it highlights a lack of lucrative options for boxing stars.
"Listen man, these guys… None of this surprise me. It’s like these boxing guys need guys to fight," White said. "You know what I mean? And yeah, no, it doesn’t surprise me at all.".
It will be a situation that White will be keeping a close eye on with reports that Ngannou is unhappy with his pay in the UFC, contract talks are currently ongoing in what is a tense situation involving one of the sport's biggest names.
These have resulted in White telling Ngannou that he is 'free to leave' the sport with lots of potentially lucrative options available for the UFC's heavyweight champion.
Ngannou says that his contract situation is prohibiting from making any agreements at this time but that something may be solved in the future.
"I do think that is a good fight, it is two years that we have been having this back and forth and I think we should be doing this fight," Ngannou told ESPN MMA.
"I hope so, yeah absolutely this is something that is going to happen. I know that I am definitely going to be in boxing, I don't know when or how yet or the landscape at that moment.
"But that is the only reason I can't confirm it with Tyson Fury. I want to sign a contract with the UFC and have some boxing matches in my contract like a minimum of two times.
"It will help me get pay and live a good life and possibly have the championship!"
Ngannou has his first defence of his title up against Cyril Gane but after that eyes could turn to a fight that could replicate the commercial success of Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor's bout in 2017.
