Dana White says UFC 270 absence had nothing to do with Francis Ngannou

This past Saturday at UFC 270, Francis Ngannou and Ciryl Gane battled for the undisputed heavyweight title. Leading up to the event, there was a lot of drama surrounding Francis Ngannou and his contract situation. Saturday night was the final fight on Ngannou’s contract.

Ngannou had a gutsy performance and won a decision at UFC 270. It was later revealed that Ngannou fought with a torn MCL and a damaged ACL. We learned today that Ngannou will have surgery on his knee which will keep him out of action most of the year if not the rest of 2022.

After the fight was over, people were quick to notice that Dana White didn’t wrap the belt around Francis Ngannou. Instead, a UFC matchmaker was the one to wrap the belt around Ngannou. White also missed the post-fight press conference which was very surprising.

Of course, people immediately jumped to the conclusion that White skipped out due to the rift between Ngannou and the UFC. Tonight, White appeared on an exclusive Q&A with ESPN+ where he addressed what happened.

UFC and Ngannou

White said that he was dealing with issues backstage and said that he left before the main event even started. The UFC president didn’t disclose what happened, but he reiterated that he has no issue with Ngannou and he talked about the fact that he was with him all week.

Another thing that White pointed out was the fact that he’s had to deal with issues before in the back. He pointed out the UFC 199 situation where he almost missed putting the belt around the waist of Michael Bisping because he was dealing with drama that was taking place backstage.

During the Q&A, White also talked about the fact that the super fight that the UFC wants to make this year is a battle between Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou. Of course, Ngannou’s injury and contract situation has created a ton of uncertainty.