Dana White may have been seriously invested in this war over Francis Ngannou’s contract renewal. As things stand Ngannou is reportedly free in December of 2022 – which might be a likely wait because champion will likely undergo knee surgery for torn MCL and more knee issues.
Now the manager – that was once employed by White shared a stunning text he received on his personal social media account. The text reads:
“Lets see who gets the last word after tonight you dumb black b****h. The fact that Francis would ever listen to yu lets you know how much of a dumb piece of s**t he is to. After this you will go back to selling suits at Nordstrom you f*****g moron. ”
The text was followed by several middle finger emojis and is rumored to belong to Dana White.
Martin captioned the post:
“? Just a small piece of what has been going on recently ?All for trying to do my job to the best of my ability. All supporting my brother Francis. All for trying to do what’s right and fair. All for believing in respect. I don’t share this for pity, I know I’m not perfect, but I share this to help show support and uplift Anyone who is or has experienced ANY type of racism, hatred, self-doubt, etc. I feel it trust me. Especially this week haha. It will be hard, it will be scary but stand strong and keep the faith.✊?
Also sharing because I am thankful for these experiences (trials). I have grown SO much. So thank you to my enemies, God bless you. I have grown in wisdom, I have grown in patience, I have grown in spirit and I have grown in knowing who I KNOW I am as a man…And I’m proud of myself.
A few lessons I’ve come to know and cherish;
* Put God (or your choice of faith) First ☝?
* The enemy doesn’t like light. Stay prayed up, stay covered??
* Family is everything ? (Shoutout to my amazing wife and prayer warrior – YUDA)
* Mental Health is important
* Integrity, Respect and Character > Money ?
* Be kind to others (even if it’s hard)
* Be grateful for those who GENUINELY Believe in you (family, friends & strangers)
* What is for YOU will be for YOU.(Maktub?)
* No weapon formed against you shall prosper ⚔️
LASTLY, thank you for all the POSITIVE and supportive texts, emails prayers, and DMs that I received*sorry if I missed you, but I see them*. It’s helped me beyond words. ❤️
Keep Fighting.”
Previously White told the press that contract dispute was a result of:
“I was super high on Francis when he first came in here. And Francis and I have had our moments over the last several years. I bumped into him at dinner a few weeks ago and we had a good conversation. It was funny because we needed to talk and the universe made it happen. We’ll see what happens. I don’t blame Francis Ngannou as much as I blame the not so smart people around him.”
Meanwhile Ngannou’s manager had shared he hadn’t heard from the UFC in the 6 months leading up to the fight.
“From the beginning, we’ve always and still do remain, like, open to negotiating with UFC,” Martin said on Sirius XM’s “Throwing Down with Renee and Miesha”. “At the end of the day, I work for Francis, and he and I spent a lot of time chatting back and forth and trying to understand, OK, exactly what does that mean for his future, and we’ve had a lot of back and forth with the UFC. But to be honest with you, I haven’t heard back from the UFC since, I want to say June.
“Pretty much we all know that UFC, they hold a power position, rightfully so, and when it comes to representation like myself, and again, of course, I’m going to be biased, they’re not going to like what we have to say about how Francis’ future looks like and what that is valued at… So because of that, they’ve decided not to reach out. So I’m not sure if they want to negotiate a contract before [it runs out] or whatnot, but that’s totally up to them.”
This text is especially significant in light of what transpired at UFC 270 – with White being so livid he would not put the belt on Ngannou nor would he attend the press conference.
Once it was Ngannou’s turn to receive the belt – White had ducked out. He was replaced by UFC’s matchmaker Mick Maynard. He had given Figueiredo the belt just 25 minutes earlier.
And the Dana White backlash didn’t end there – as with any event there’s a post fight press conference. And at this one White was nowhere to be found. There’s only a handful of times White has missed out being at the post fight press conference.