Dana White doesn’t like it when he can’t get his way.
That comes according to multi-time world champion Ben Askren who recently offered his take on the ongoing feud between the UFC CEO and former heavyweight titleholder Francis Ngannou.
Following Ngannou’s successful PFL debut at the ‘Battle of the Giants’ pay-per-view in Saudi Arabia, White made some disparaging remarks about his former employee, revealing to a room full of reporters that he wanted to cut ‘The Predator’ from the UFC roster after he’d lost back-to-back bouts against Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis.
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White went on to suggest that Ngannou was “not a good person” and that the UFC would have paid him more than his ground-breaking deal with the Professional Fighters League.
Offering his take on the situation, Askren believes White’s latest hissy fit over Ngannou’s success in a rival organization is a pretty typical personality trait for the UFC boss—a trait he’s had firsthand experience dealing with.
“I’ve obviously had the same experience with Dana. And I mostly think Dana does a great job,” Askren said on his Funky and The Champ podcast with Daniel Cormier. “Obviously as a businessman, he does an amazing job. I think he showed a lot of courage when he brought the UFC back before all the professional sports, I respect that a lot…to which point Dana spent years saying I didn’t want to fight the best, didn’t want challenges, I was running away.
“And that couldn’t’ve been further from the truth. So it sucked for this guy, it’s essentially slander, saying things about me that I knew weren’t true…”
Ben Askren Says Dana White Has Treated Multiple Fighters the Way He’s Treating Francis Ngannou
Askren came over to the UFC in 2018 as part of a first-ever trade between ONE Championship and the UFC. ONE sent ‘Funky’ to Dana White and Co. while the Singapore-based promotion received P4P great Demetrious Johnson.
While Johnson flourished under the ONE banner, Askren never recaptured the success he had in other organizations, going 1-2 inside the Octagon before calling it a career. Along the way, White accused Askren of avoiding tough matchups and even quipped that he’d rather “watch flies f*ck” than watch Askren fight.
“Dana has this part of his personality when he can’t get what he wants, and in that case, he didn’t offer me a contract,” Askren continued. “He did the same thing with Cyborg, I believe Randy Couture had a similar experience, Francis…but there’s this weird part of Dana’s personality where if he can’t get exactly what he wants, he starts crapping on people.
“And because he has a big microphone and he’s generally very truthful, and correct, so people just believe him…I had to deal with many years of Dana telling lies about me that were just really harmful. He had no reason or basis for doing [it]…it’s a really big negative, I don’t know why he’s like that, and it doesn’t really make sense given the stature and power he has, for him to throw fits when he doesn’t get exactly what he wants”
Watch the full episode below:
