Media Dana White called & apologized to Israel Adesanya for pretending Ngannou never existed *full explanation added*

[svmr_db]

White: Blame me for Ngannou scrubbing

On the UFC Countdown show before UFC 305, a video was shown of Israel Adesanya speaking at the tickets on sale news conference in July. He mentioned former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and former heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in his answer. But when the video was in Countdown, Ngannou's name was scrubbed. Ngannou is no longer in the UFC -- he left as a free agent in 2023 and signed with the Professional Fighters League -- and so the slight seemed to be the UFC trying to erase him from its history.

At the UFC 305 pre-fight news conference, Adesanya commented on it. He wasn't happy, though he said he was confident the UFC would make it right eventually.

I asked White about it at the DWCS news conference Tuesday, but he wasn't aware of what had occurred. He said he would find out and get me an answer. He called about 40 minutes after leaving the press conference.

"My production team are a bunch of rock stars and they are truly f*cking awesome," White said. "I make it so hard on them sometimes with some of the crazy shit I say and it's tough. When you asked me about that, I didn't know anything about it. But someone was editing that and made a conscious decision, thinking that was the right thing to do, that that's what we would have wanted, what I would have wanted. I didn't know about it and that was nothing that ever came across my desk. I'm in charge of everything production-related, so at the end of the day, the fact that it happened falls on me 100 percent. It's my responsibility and I accept it. Blame me for that. I put them in such a tough spot sometimes saying all this crazy shit, it's hard for them.

"Whoever was editing it, they thought that was the right decision and did what they thought I wanted. That's not what I wanted and had I known that, I would have not authorized that. But that's on me. Totally on me. I already called Israel Adesanya and apologized for it."

original below:

 

[Gabe]

He called Izzy to apologize for something related to Francis? I would have loved to hear that phone call.

 

[usernamee]

so now Francis will be heavily featured in the promo videos for Jones vs Stipe


right?

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

He can also put Frank Shamrock in the pioneer wing

 

[svmr_db]

so now Francis will be heavily featured in the promo videos for Jones vs Stipe


right?

Nah they will change the story so that Stipe lost his title by slipping on a banana peel in a fight with an unidentified opponent.

 

[DaleBoca]

Nah they will change the story so that Stipe lost his title by slipping on a banana peel in a fight with an unidentified opponent.

View attachment 1059309

 

[CieloLuce]

I wonder during the apology call if Dana offered Izzy the LHW belt title shot to make amends?


I am just glad it got brought up and Francis can get some credit instead of these UFC edits.

 

[nonoob]

Izzy's African crowd and Dana's real HW Cameroon Champion Represented!

 

[Goutfather]

i don’t really see any problem with the ufc not mentioning ngganou. he walked away with the belt, which hurt the brand. are they supposed to give him free publicity forever? fuck that. ufc don’t owe him shit. it would be a little different if nggano’s absence cast a longer shadow on the division, but he only had 1 defense, and jon jones immediately filled the void. there’s really no reason to mention nggano anymore.

if dana apologized, it’s because he doesn’t wanna deal with some woke social media-fueled shitstorm. can’t blame him.

 

[Simple Southerner]

Dana's like sike

 

[Poirierfan]

Maybe Dana can give Francis 250k like he did the Nelk Boys to make up for treating his champion like shit.

 

[AmonTobin]

Rumor has it, Jones was alone in the editing room doing the scrubbing.

 

[Poirierfan]

Rumor has it, Jones was alone in the editing room doing the scrubbing.

Dana was scrubbing while Jones was looking over his shoulder pointing.

 

[tritestill]

i don’t really see any problem with the ufc not mentioning ngganou. he walked away with the belt, which hurt the brand. are they supposed to give him free publicity forever? fuck that. ufc don’t owe him shit. it would be a little different if nggano’s absence cast a longer shadow on the division, but he only had 1 defense, and jon jones immediately filled the void. there’s really no reason to mention nggano anymore.

if dana apologized, it’s because he doesn’t wanna deal with some woke social media-fueled shitstorm. can’t blame him.

It's not about owing anybody anything... it's about the truth and not manipulating people into a false narrative through blatant lies and half truths...you know having integrity.

 

[Neck&Neck]

“Listen Izzy, you know that guy you were talking about?, he’s a good kid”

 

[Bobby Boulders]

I want Dana to call and apologize to me for scrubbing Sokoudjou from existence, too. Rotten motherfucker.

 

[rear naked ankle pick]

who the hell is fran ngannou

 

[AmonTobin]

Dana was scrubbing while Jones was looking over his shoulder pointing.

Jones: "Dana, we had a deal. The Stipe fight is off unless you delete every clip of Francis ragdolling Gane."
Dana: "Say no more, Champ. Already done. Deleted clips of him clobbering Stipe too."
Rogan suddenly barges in: "It's on the internet! Nobody can beat the internet!"

 

[Pitier of Fools]

I'm sure the phone call left Izzy very teary-eyed.

 

[Kenny Powerth]

He might as well just called one of us sherbros to apologize

We could give him some business and weight lifting advice anyway