F. Ngannou unified the heavyweight title in the UFC 270. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram
Dana White's absence from the coronation of Francis Ngannou after unifying the heavyweight belts against Cyryl Gane No. UFC 270 generated great controversy, mainly due to the problematic relationship between both parties. The president of Ultimate, who was present at the previous fight to hand over the flyweight belt (up to 56,7 kg) to Deiveson Figueiredo he was replaced by matchmaker Mick Maynard and did not even appear at the post-event press conference.
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During a question and answer session with fans on the North American “ESPN+”, Dana White minimized the issue and explained the reasons behind his absence.
“I wasn’t there for the main fight. I left the arena right after the co-main event because there were things going on backstage and I needed to deal with them. For anyone who thinks I showed any kind of disrespect to Francis, I've seen Francis all week, idiots of him. I shook his hand, greeted him, stared at him and everything,” said the president.
Dana White also recalled another time when he almost didn't arrive in time to crown an Ultimate champion and spoke about the only fight in which he insisted on not appearing in the octagon.
“For anyone who thinks I disrespected Francis in any way, I wasn’t there to Michael Bisping against Luke Rockhold because I was dealing with other matters. I ran out to put the belt on Bisping. But I couldn't get there in time to put it on Francis. There was only one time that I left a fight and I made it very clear, I appeared at the press conference and said exactly why I left. It was in Abu Dhabi, with Anderson Silva e Demian Maia. So there's the answer. I don’t know if anyone asked that, but you definitely wanted to know”, concluded Dana White.
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