Dana White: Francis Ngannou vs. Tyson Fury ‘definitely not a lock,’ calls matchup ‘waste of time, energy, and money’
Dana White doesn’t think too highly of the UFC’s heavyweight champion going up against Tyson Fury.
During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, White was asked for his thoughts on Francis Ngannou chumming it up with Fury inside the ring as the two combat sports stars discussed a potential crossover bout immediately following Fury’s win over Dillian Whyte on April 23 in front of a packed house at Wembley Stadium in London.
White warns fans to temper their expectations.
“That fight’s definitely not a lock,” White said, later adding, “Listen, they’ve been talking about it. Fury is the best boxer, one of the greatest boxers of all time. You look at the guys that he’s beaten and how easily he’s beating them. I don’t know. We’ll see how this thing plays out. I don’t love the crossover fights. I don’t love them.”
White was involved in the most lucrative crossover fight of all time back in August 2017, when then-UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor stepped into the boxing ring with Floyd Mayweather. McGregor lost to Mayweather by 10th-round TKO.
The bout was a massive success, cracking 4.3 million pay-per-view buys, but for now White doesn’t sound like he’s interested in going through that circus again.
“Because they’re f****** stupid,” White said when asked why he’s not interested in Ngannou vs. Fury. “F****** waste of time, energy, and money. I don’t know, it’s silly, but I get it. Everybody wants to try to—I don’t know. I don’t even know.”
White was then asked whether he was concerned about Ngannou’s legacy or if he felt that agreeing to a match with boxing gloves would hurt Ngannou’s chances. His answer was simple.
“Boxing is a massive advantage for Tyson Fury,” White said. “Boxing. Ngannou just wrestled Ciryl Gane.”
“If you know anything about fighting, it’s a silly conversation.”