- Ariel Helwani brutally criticized UFC president Dana White for making false claims about Francis Ngannou
- The MMA journalist pointed out reasons why “The Predator” would never duck any fighter
Veteran MMA journalist Ariel Helwani did not mince his words in hitting out at UFC president Dana White over his recent comments about Francis Ngannou’s new deal with the PFL and the botched title fight with Jon Jones.
Don’t Believe Everything
Speaking on his The MMA Hour podcast, Helwani refuted White’s claim that Ngannou didn’t fight for 18 months and that signing him doesn’t make any sense. Helwani explained why just because the UFC boss sounded confident with his remarks, doesn’t mean what he was saying is true.
“This idea that he hasn’t fought in 18 months is very conveniently framed. We all know he’s coming off major knee surgery and if you look at his activity prior to that, he fought twice in 2019, fought in May of 2020, of course the pandemic screwed everything up and you remember after the Jairzinho Rozenstruik fight you know, he was banging the drum to get a fight, wanted to fight all the stuff with the you know with Jon Jones and all that stuff and then came back and fought Stipe in March of 2021 and then fought Cyril Gane in January of 2022,” Helwani said.
“So, between February of 2019 and January of 2022, which is three years, he fought five times. Now he hasn’t fought in 18 months because he’s coming off ACL surgery and was a free agent and had to deal with all that. So to frame that he hasn’t fought, he fights once every year, is a bullsh*t way of framing all of this. I just want you to remember like what the actual facts are,” he continued.
Francis Faced Tougher Situations than Jones
As for White’s suggestion that Ngannou never wanted to take risks by avoiding Jones, Helwani pointed out that it wasn’t the case because for those who didn’t know, “The Predator” has gone through a lot in life and saying that he is ducking a fighter is just “ridiculous.”
“Francis Ngannou, a guy who, again we don’t need to rehash the whole life story, who left Cameroon with nothing, who went on a raft, who was swimming through shark-infested waters, who was arrested, who was put in jail, who was put in detention centers, who slept in a parking garage while he tried to chase the stream in France, could you imagine saying that that guy doesn’t want to take risks? Like, literally, that guy [Francis Ngannou] put his life on the line multiple times, was put in detention centers multiple times, had to jump off rafts, had to swim…had to live homeless. That guy doesn’t wanna take risks? What are we talking about now? This has become so ridiculous,” Helwani exclaimed.
“He claims to not care about this stuff, he claims to have thick skin, he’s so mad that the heavyweight champion walked out and said ‘I don’t want your free tickets. I don’t want to sit front row at your events,’” the journalist added. “And you’re trying to spin, you’re trying to smear the name of a guy who escaped poverty, extreme poverty to chase a dream and who is sleeping in the freaking jungle and that’s the guy who doesn’t want to take a risk? that’s the guy who’s running from Jon Jones?”
As it stands, Ngannou seems happy with PFL and as for Jones, he still wants to make the fight happen in the future.
