Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has expressed skepticism about Dana White’s recent allegations that Francis Ngannou physically grabbed both the UFC CEO and executive Hunter Campbell during heated contract disputes.
The claims, which have gone viral in the MMA community, describe a confrontation where Ngannou allegedly pushed White back into his office and grabbed Campbell by the collar to prevent him from leaving.
Speaking on the Pound 4 Pound podcast with Henry Cejudo, Usman questioned the plausibility of White’s account.
“Listen, I wasn’t there, but I don’t think this happened like this,” Usman stated. He painted a picture of how the alleged incident would have unfolded: “It’s hard to believe to Dana… It’s hard to believe to you to go, get back in your office, Dana. What? Get out your checkbook. Give me 50K. You and then, oh, Hunter, you leaving? Get back here, Hunter. We’re not done talking.”
The Nigerian Nightmare emphasized that both White and Ngannou possess distinct auras that would make such a confrontation unlikely. “Francis has this aura there, this aura around Francis to where you just know, okay, I can’t f**k around here,” Usman explained.
However, he noted that White commands a different type of respect as the head of the UFC, suggesting that everyone around the president knows they need to “conduct myself accordingly.”
Usman carefully clarified his position, stating he wasn’t calling the story completely false, but rather suggesting it may not have occurred exactly as described. “I’m not saying that’s false. I’m just saying it might have not went down the way that that quote sounded like,” he said.
White’s allegations came during an escalation of his ongoing feud with Ngannou, who departed the UFC after his title defense against Ciryl Gane to join the PFL. The UFC president claimed these physical altercations, combined with demands for special treatment and boxing opportunities, convinced him “years ago” that Ngannou was a “bad guy” whose public persona masked his private behavior.
When asked about the possibility of Ngannou returning to the UFC octagon, Usman refused to rule it out entirely. “I never say never,” he stated pragmatically. “That’s all I’m saying. Never say never because this is the UFC. It’s an entertainment company. If it makes dollars, it makes sense at some point.”
