Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou departed the mixed martial arts fight promotion in 2023 to pursue high profile boxing matches after failing to come to terms on a new contract. He was stripped of the UFC title and eventually did land those boxing matchups.
“The Predator” made his boxing debut in October 2023 against Tyson Fury and fought the champion at the time to a split decision. Ngannou’s future in boxing looked bright, but that would be short lived. He faced Anthony Joshua in his second boxing bout and was viscously knocked out in the second round.
While Ngannou received handsome paydays for the boxing matches against Fury and Joshua, UFC CEO Dana White says Ngannou would have made more if he stayed in the UFC and fought Jon Jones. White claimed that it’s a ‘myth’ that there’s more money in boxing.
“That’s the bullshit publicly that people believe, but that’s not the truth. Total bullshit. Total bullshit,” White said in an interview with Kevin Iole.
“That’s that whole myth that makes everybody go, ‘Oh, let’s f**king go to boxing!’ and all this bullshit. Boxing don’t work. Boxing does not work. What makes it work? You need a Saudi f**king trillionaire to make f**king fights. And even Saudi trillionaires get tired of the f**king bullshit. It’s all a f**king myth. It’s all a myth.
“Like the whole statement you just made is absolutely positively not true. It’s those types of f**king statements and those type of quotes by the media that makes all this sh*t. All these fights are happening, it takes a Saudi f**king trillionaire. Every f**king guy that tries to do the boxing thing, they all end up losing shit-loads of f**king 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**king tired of the bullsh*t.”
Ngannou reportedly made in the neighborhood of $30 million during his two-hight stint in boxing. During Tuesday’s Dana White’s Contender Series Post-Fight Press Conference, White claimed the Ngannou would have made more in the UFC.
“I know all the sh*t that you people don’t know, and I don’t care what everybody says,” White said. “It doesn’t matter to me. But that’s a fact. He was offered more money, because I know the real numbers. I know the real numbers.”