Dana White disputes the idea that Francis Ngannou made more money in boxing than he would have in the UFC.
Over the past few years, one of the biggest stories in combat sports has been Ngannou’s departure from the UFC to move to the PFL and pursue boxing. Though Ngannou had many reasons for leaving the promotion, one of the biggest was his claim that he would make more money in boxing than he would with the UFC.
But Dana White refutes this claim.
On Tuesday, the UFC CEO spoke with Kevin Iole where he unloaded on the notion that Ngannou made more in boxing than in the UFC, saying that the idea of money in boxing is “a myth.”
“That’s not necessarily true,” White said. “That’s the bullshit publicly that people believe, but that’s not the truth. Total bullshit. Total bullshit.
“That’s that whole myth that makes everybody go, ‘Oh, let’s f*cking go to boxing!’ and all this bullshit. Boxing don’t work. Boxing does not work. What makes it work? You need a Saudi f*cking trillionaire to make f*cking fights. And even Saudi trillionaires get tired of the f*cking bullshit. It’s all a f*cking myth. It’s all a myth.
“Like the whole statement you just made is absolutely positively not true. It’s those types of f*cking statements and those type of quotes by the media that makes all this shit. All these fights are happening, it takes a Saudi f*cking trillionaire. Every f*cking guy that tries to do the boxing thing, they all end up losing shit-loads of f*cking money. The model doesn’t work. A Saudi unlimited amount of money pops up and that’s what makes these fights happen, and even guys with that kind of money get f*cking tired of the bullshit.”
Over the past few years, Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, has invested heavily in boxing, including bankrolling Ngannou’s boxing matches against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua which reportedly netted Ngannou $30 million between the two fights. That’s a considerable sum more than the $8 million Ngannou claimed the UFC offered him to fight Jon Jones, but when speaking with reporters following the latest episode of Contender Series, White reiterated his denial.
“I know all the shit that you people don’t know, and I don’t care what everybody says,” White told reporters. “It doesn’t matter to me. But that’s a fact. He was offered more money, because I know the real numbers.”
Ngannou makes his long-awaited return to MMA later this month when he faces PFL heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira at PFL: Battle of the Giants which takes place on Oct. 19 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
