Francis Ngannou responds to Dana White claims about a physical altercation: “We shouldn’t have gone this way”

Francis Ngannou has since offered up his response to Dana White after the latter made inflammatory claims about the former, which centered on the heavyweight fighter reportedly getting physical with the UFC CEO. Appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show, Ngannou responded to a multitude of related questions Helwani had for the standout combat sports athlete regarding those aforementioned recent comments that White made.

Helwani referenced the story that White told on the Flagrant podcast, hosted by comedian Andrew Schulz, where White purported that Ngannou grabbed his collar to get a point across regarding a post-fight bonus and a requested jet. The lineal MMA heavyweight champion was not surprised that the UFC figurehead was talking about him putting his hands on him, as well as UFC CBO Hunter Campbell.

When asked if anything happened, Ngannou deferred to saying that Helwani should ask White himself if he was inclined to want to get more information on this matter. In an excerpt from the show posted to the titular figure’s X account, when asked if he wanted to address any of the claims of the physical grabbing made by the fight promoter, Ngannou said,

“I don’t find it important. I don’t find it necessary. At some point it was but over time it’s not anymore… Maybe I’m getting old. I really feel like I have less energy for drama, for stuff [laughs]. I just want to be in peace and people leave me alone. That’s all.”

Francis Ngannou on relationship fallout with Dana White near the end of his UFC tenure: “It’s quite disappointing”

When asked if he would someday want a more cordial relationship with Dana White, Ngannou stated,

“We should have been [having a relationship like that]. We shouldn’t have gone this way. Why do we get all this way first of all? What’s the purpose? How come we get from where we were to where we are now? On the other hand, I would just say it’s quite disappointing the way that things went. That’s all.”

Also, as Ariel Helwani pointedly asked if he ever put his hands on White, Ngannou quipped,

“In his office, that’s what he said, right? Well I’m sure he has a lot of cameras there… If every time that somebody says something about you then you have to do that, then it’s going to be tough. As I said, over time, I just get tired of this stuff. I really saw that and scrolled. I scrolled, I move. I get past it.”