Bad dudes have no place in the UFC, insists White. Of course, coming from a guy caught slapping his wife on camera, all of this feels a little selective.
Though he’s not necessarily known to dish wisdom, Dana White gave his public some words to live by when he offered that, “If somebody shows you who they really are, believe them.” He was talking about Francis Ngannou, the heavyweight who has allegedly shown Dana who he is, either by grabbing him by the shirt and pushing him back into his office to talk about the snub of a $50,000 bonus, or by putting his hand on his chest as a way of asking him to reconsider.
In any case, bad dude.
Dana done seen Francis, and that’s one of the reasons he doesn’t want to be in the Francis business as Ngannou nears the end of his deal with the PFL. Bad dudes have no place in his league. Of course, coming from a guy caught slapping his wife on camera nearly three years ago, all of this feels a little selective. If you’re trying to control a narrative with an accusation of bad character, at least look over your shoulder and make sure your own past favors the sentiment.
But for the sake of argument, since many of us in the combat world had hoped UFC would consider burying the hatchet with Ngannou, thus freeing the way for clashes with Jon Jones and/or Tom Aspinall, let’s assume Francis is a bad guy. That behind the scenes he’s a tyrannical strongarm who is impossible to do business with — as Dana has said in so many words — and that’s why the UFC boss was only too happy to “throw” him to the PFL.
So what?
Bad guys have stayed in business in fighting for a long time. Jon Jones was seen wearing an orange jumpsuit in the prime of his career. Conor McGregor? That new halo he’s introduced to his arsenal is going to take some time to shine. Sedriques Dumas, Pensacola’s own, couldn’t make a fight appointment because he had an ankle monitor they wouldn’t remove for the occasion. You know, felony charges for home invasion and battery. He was rebooked after the thing came off. And if Zuffa Boxing ever gets a whiff of Gervonta Davis’ other record, the one that doesn’t deal with Ws and Ls, well, let’s just say it’s problematic.
We can all admit that Dana’s meter for bad dudes might be a little wonky. One of the first people to greet Andrew Tate as he landed back in America was none other than Dana White. If Andrew Tate is OK in his book, yet Ngannou isn’t, there must be some Puff Daddy-sized skeletons in “The Predator’s” closet.
Not that we’ve ever seen any of that. We have seen Ngannou do inexplicable things, such as ignore the Jake Paul fight. When Uncrowned's Ariel Helwani brought up the physical encounter with White to Ngannou this week, he didn’t exactly deny it. In fact, he bristled a little bit. There’s an ego that isn’t to be trifled with when dealing with Ngannou, and perhaps he’s far shrewder that we know. Sometimes he comes off as short. Sometimes he acts like he can’t be bothered. When Dana brought up that Francis lived at UFC PI like he owned the joint (breakfast, lunch and dinner), maybe he has an annoying sense of entitlement.
But a bad dude? Some of Dana’s favorite fighters hang out with Ramzan Kadyrov on wild weekends, while Ngannou hangs out with Cameroon children at the Francis Ngannou Foundation he built in his native country. Why did he build that?
“So kids can pursue their dreams,” he told me last year.
All I’m saying is, we haven’t seen the “bad dude” that Dana suggests he is. Maybe teasing little anecdotes that don’t meet bad dude criteria isn’t the way to go.
Maybe cite the biggest issue, which might be as simple as this: Dana doesn’t like him. That’s it. Period.
Bad dudes are bad dudes, yet fighting is fighting and business is business. As our own Ben Fowlkes laid out more than a year ago, Dana’s biggest gripe with Francis is that Ngannou got out of the UFC and then made the most massive paydays of his career in the realm of boxing. Dana has said the UFC offered to make Francis the highest-paid fighter on roster and was not only shunned but mocked.
Of course, Dana also said he wanted out of the Francis Ngannou business as early as 2018, after he lost a fight to Derrick Lewis due what can only be described as a paralyzed trigger finger. There seems to be a fine line between coughing up an historic payday and washing your hands of someone.
The thing is, Francis Ngannou may well be a “bad guy.” Dana has suggested that give it long enough, and everyone will see that. Right now what we know about him is that he has the most fascinating backstories in MMA history. A refugee from Cameroon who crossed the Strait of Gibraltar desperate to escape and reinvent himself. A man who endured incarceration and homelessness to emerge a champion. He’s the guy who outfitted Xtreme Couture with new mats and equipment for the gym after his fight with Tyson Fury, while cutting massive checks to his coaches, including one for Eric Nicksick that he still chokes up about whenever discussing.
“That day changed my life,” Nicksick says.
Bad guys might not do that?
It’s true that when somebody shows you who they really are, believe them, but maybe elaborating a little bit might come in handy. The “take my word for it” approach on why Ngannou isn’t welcome back to the UFC is where the wisdom loses something.
“There was nothing that made me happier than throwing that guy over to the f***ing PFL,” Dana told the MacLife earlier this week. “Let me tell you what, if we let guys go, feel bad for the f***ing company that gets them. We let them go for a f***ing reason. I don’t have to let anybody go. I don’t want to be in business with guys that I don’t like and that I don’t think are good guys. And when you talk about good guys and bad guys, I’m in the fight business. S*** happens and I’m pretty lenient when it comes to tough guy s***. I’m not lenient with bad guy s***.”
Which brings us back to the question: What bad guy s***?
Category: General Sports
