Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou recently suffered a split decision loss to Tyson Fury in a bout that marked Ngannou’s pro boxing debut.
UFC President Dana White didn’t watch the fight himself, but he finds it crazy that Ngannou went the distance against Fury.
“I didn’t see the fight, but the fact that he went 10 rounds with Tyson Fury is crazy,” White said on Donald Trump Jr.’s Triggered podcast (transcript via Farah Hannoun of MMA Junkie). “He just went 10 rounds with Tyson Fury. Conor (McGregor) made it 9 or 10 with Floyd. Anthony Pettis just beat Roy Jones Jr. – I know Roy is friggin’ 60 years old or whatever. But I don’t know what the hell is going on. It’s crazy. I didn’t see the fight, but the fact that he went 10 rounds is unbelievable.”
Ngannou and White’s relationship took a turn for the worst earlier this year when the former heavyweight champion left the UFC, turning down a lucrative contract from the promotion in the process.
White, despite his compliments towards Ngannou’s boxing debut, is still now a fan of how boxing operates from a business perspective.
“It’s not even the corruption – you can’t build a business off it,” White said. “The key to having something is building a business. When you talk about the NFL, the NBA, MLB, they took football, basketball and baseball and created a business out of it. That’s what we did with fighting, and it just can’t be done with boxing. It’s too crazy.”