Ex-UFC champion defends Francis Ngannou amid Dana White's physical abuse claim: "It's hard to believe"

Dana White's latest swipe at Francis Ngannou has a former UFC champion skeptical.

During a recent episode of the Pound 4 Pound podcast, former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman opined that White's recent physical abuse claims on Ngannou were "hard to believe."

It's no secret that White and Ngannou have had bad blood ever since 'The Predator' left the UFC in 2023, with both taking shots at each other in interviews and media appearances since then.

True to form, during a recent appearance on the FLAGRANT podcast, the UFC CEO turned heads as he accused the Cameroonian of physically threatening him over a performance bonus and repeating the same behavior with matchmaker Hunter Campbell.

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Usman believes that, while things may have gotten heated between the fighter and the UFC brass, it did not go down the way it was being projected now:

" I don't think this happened like this... All I'm saying is, it's hard to believe, to Dana White, it's hard to believe for you to go, 'Get back into your office, Dana. Get out your checkbook, give me 50K.' And then, 'Hunter, you leaving? Get back here, Hunter, we're not done talking,' because that's the picture we're really seeing in our head here. It's hard to believe that."

Usman added:

"Francis has this aura to where you know, 'Okay, I can't f**k around here.'... In just that sense... Dana White has a different aura as well. Dana White is the head of the UFC... I find that a little hard to believe. I'm not saying it's false, I'm saying it might not have went down the way that quote sounded like, and it made us kind of think about the situation."

Check out Kamaru Usman's comments on Dana White and Francis Ngannou below:

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What did Dana White say about Francis Ngannou?

Speaking on FLAGRANT, Dana White accused Francis Ngannou of physically threatening him after he missed out on a $50k performance bonus.

The UFC head honcho also claimed that the former heavyweight champion once even yanked on Hunter Campbell's collar when the matchmaker started walking away from a conversation:

"He was pissed off he didn’t get a $50,000 in his last fight... I said Francis, you didn’t get it for this, that [reason] and he’s in my office and he’s arguing with me... The conversation’s over, and I’m starting to leave, and he grabs me by my shirt and pushes me back in my office... My guy Hunter [Campbell], they were talking about something... and when Hunter started to walk away, Francis grabbed him by the f**king back of his collar and f**king pulled him back and said, 'We’re not done talking yet.'

Interestingly, after White's accusation, veteran journalist Ant Evans has also joined in, calling out Ngannou over bully-like behavior.

Edited by Ujwal Jain