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2023 - Francis Ngannou
Francis Ngannou fought out his UFC deal in January 2023. He won that fight, beating Ciryl Gane through five rounds and retaining his UFC heavyweight title. Ngannou, who extended his UFC winning streak to six with the decision victory, took the fight against his doctor’s advice.
Despite fighting on a bad leg and beating UFC heavyweights such as Stipe Miocic, Cain Velasquez, Alistair Overeem, Curtis Blaydes, Junior dos Santos and Jairzinho Rozenstruik, UFC president Dana White is trying to portray Ngannou as a scared man.
White’s remarks came on the same day the UFC president announced the promotion and Ngannou were parting ways after a failed contract negotiation, but that doesn’t make his words any less silly.
“I think Francis is in a place right now where he doesn’t want to take a lot of risk. [He] feels he’s in a good position where he could fight lesser opponents and make more money,” said White.
Former UFC champions Eddie Alvarez and Daniel Cormier were among those who voiced their doubts regarding the veracity of White’s claims. However, no one expressed surprise when White attempted to belittle Ngannou on his way out the door. Why? Because it has long been one of White’s go-to bullying moves.
2021 - Jon Jones
While White accused Ngannou of not wanting to fight guys of Jon Jones’ caliber in 2023, that narrative started out on the complete opposite. White previously insisted in 2021, that it’s actually Jones that was afraid to take on Ngannou.
“You can say that you want to fight somebody, but do you really want to?” White said about Jones. “We can make that fight tonight, Jon. If Jon Jones really wants that fight—listen, it’s one thing to go out and tweet and say you want it. Do you want the fight?”
The difference? It was Jones who was in the middle of contract negotiations at that time.
White repeated that claim in May 2021, accusing Jones of not wanting to fight at heavyweight.
“We have tried to work with him and see if there are things we can do to make him want to fight at heavyweight. But if he doesn’t want to fight at heavyweight, he doesn’t want to at the end of the day. What are you going to do? You can’t make the guy fight,” White said.
“The reality is Derrick Lewis is really the No. 1 contender for the heavyweight championship right now. So it doesn’t matter if Jon Jones wants to fight or doesn’t want to fight.”
2021 - Robert Whittaker
“I was adamant on him fighting Whittaker for the title. It’s the thing that makes the most sense,” White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “And then Whittaker comes out after the fight and says he doesn’t want to fight him, which is wacky.”
Perhaps White misunderstood Whittaker? Because Whittaker clearly he did want to fight Israel Adesanya.
“It’s funny, after the win, everybody’s calling for (a title shot) for me,” Whittaker said at the post-fight press conference. “That’s kind of how I’ve always taken to the approach of fighting, is that if you beat ’em all, you’re eventually at the top. It’s a simple path, and there is no other fight that makes sense to me other than that tile shot, and that’s the shot that I want and that I’m getting.”
2020 - Rose Namajunas
Rose Namajunas lost the UFC strawweight title to Jessica Andrade via slam knockout in May 2019. The two fought in a rematch and July 2020. By that time Andrade had surrendered the title to Weili Zhang. Namajunas won the rematch via split decision.
In December of that year, White told BT Sport he heard Namajunas wasn’t interested in a shot at Zhang and the belt.
Namajunas let Ariel Helwani know she wanted a shot at getting back to the top of the 115-pound division.
“I mean, of course, it’s not accurate. There’s always two sides to every story. I have been thinking about fighting Weili ever since I lost the belt and she became the champion,” said Namajunas.
Zhang and Namajunas met at UFC 261. Namajunas left the arena that night with the title after she scored a head kick knockout in the first round.
2020 - Jon Jones and Jorge Masvidal
In 2020, Jon Jones and Jorge Masvidal publicly spoke up about their unhappiness with the UFC pay structure. However, instead of addressing compensation, White told the media the two fighters, who he said were independent contractors, didn’t want to fight.
“I said it when we were going through the pandemic and the media was asking me, ‘What if the fighters are worried and don’t want to fight?’” White said. “Well, you don’t have to fight. Anybody that doesn’t want to fight, doesn’t have to fight, including Masvidal and Jon Jones and all these other guys, and it doesn’t have to be because of a pandemic.”
Masvidal seemed to disagree with White on several counts.
2020 - Dustin Poirier
In September 2020, Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson tried to set up a bout between them. One of the sticking points of that potential fight was Poirier wanted a raise. The UFC boss shut down that talk by using his go-to trope.
“Listen, I like Dustin. I’m not going to sit up here and say anything negative about Dustin, he’s a great kid. I don’t know if it was he didn’t want to fight in Abu Dhabi or what his deal was. He didn’t want to fight,” White said.
“Listen, there’s a lot of different ways to turn down a fight. Negotiating yourself out of one is one of the ways you can do it. So for whatever reason, he didn’t want to take this fight. Only he knows that.”
More here (goes all the way down to 2009)
https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2023/1/...dana-white-claims-dont-want-to-fight-mma-news
Francis Ngannou fought out his UFC deal in January 2023. He won that fight, beating Ciryl Gane through five rounds and retaining his UFC heavyweight title. Ngannou, who extended his UFC winning streak to six with the decision victory, took the fight against his doctor’s advice.
Despite fighting on a bad leg and beating UFC heavyweights such as Stipe Miocic, Cain Velasquez, Alistair Overeem, Curtis Blaydes, Junior dos Santos and Jairzinho Rozenstruik, UFC president Dana White is trying to portray Ngannou as a scared man.
White’s remarks came on the same day the UFC president announced the promotion and Ngannou were parting ways after a failed contract negotiation, but that doesn’t make his words any less silly.
“I think Francis is in a place right now where he doesn’t want to take a lot of risk. [He] feels he’s in a good position where he could fight lesser opponents and make more money,” said White.
Former UFC champions Eddie Alvarez and Daniel Cormier were among those who voiced their doubts regarding the veracity of White’s claims. However, no one expressed surprise when White attempted to belittle Ngannou on his way out the door. Why? Because it has long been one of White’s go-to bullying moves.
2021 - Jon Jones
While White accused Ngannou of not wanting to fight guys of Jon Jones’ caliber in 2023, that narrative started out on the complete opposite. White previously insisted in 2021, that it’s actually Jones that was afraid to take on Ngannou.
“You can say that you want to fight somebody, but do you really want to?” White said about Jones. “We can make that fight tonight, Jon. If Jon Jones really wants that fight—listen, it’s one thing to go out and tweet and say you want it. Do you want the fight?”
The difference? It was Jones who was in the middle of contract negotiations at that time.
White repeated that claim in May 2021, accusing Jones of not wanting to fight at heavyweight.
“We have tried to work with him and see if there are things we can do to make him want to fight at heavyweight. But if he doesn’t want to fight at heavyweight, he doesn’t want to at the end of the day. What are you going to do? You can’t make the guy fight,” White said.
“The reality is Derrick Lewis is really the No. 1 contender for the heavyweight championship right now. So it doesn’t matter if Jon Jones wants to fight or doesn’t want to fight.”
2021 - Robert Whittaker
“I was adamant on him fighting Whittaker for the title. It’s the thing that makes the most sense,” White told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “And then Whittaker comes out after the fight and says he doesn’t want to fight him, which is wacky.”
Perhaps White misunderstood Whittaker? Because Whittaker clearly he did want to fight Israel Adesanya.
“It’s funny, after the win, everybody’s calling for (a title shot) for me,” Whittaker said at the post-fight press conference. “That’s kind of how I’ve always taken to the approach of fighting, is that if you beat ’em all, you’re eventually at the top. It’s a simple path, and there is no other fight that makes sense to me other than that tile shot, and that’s the shot that I want and that I’m getting.”
2020 - Rose Namajunas
Rose Namajunas lost the UFC strawweight title to Jessica Andrade via slam knockout in May 2019. The two fought in a rematch and July 2020. By that time Andrade had surrendered the title to Weili Zhang. Namajunas won the rematch via split decision.
In December of that year, White told BT Sport he heard Namajunas wasn’t interested in a shot at Zhang and the belt.
Namajunas let Ariel Helwani know she wanted a shot at getting back to the top of the 115-pound division.
“I mean, of course, it’s not accurate. There’s always two sides to every story. I have been thinking about fighting Weili ever since I lost the belt and she became the champion,” said Namajunas.
Zhang and Namajunas met at UFC 261. Namajunas left the arena that night with the title after she scored a head kick knockout in the first round.
2020 - Jon Jones and Jorge Masvidal
In 2020, Jon Jones and Jorge Masvidal publicly spoke up about their unhappiness with the UFC pay structure. However, instead of addressing compensation, White told the media the two fighters, who he said were independent contractors, didn’t want to fight.
“I said it when we were going through the pandemic and the media was asking me, ‘What if the fighters are worried and don’t want to fight?’” White said. “Well, you don’t have to fight. Anybody that doesn’t want to fight, doesn’t have to fight, including Masvidal and Jon Jones and all these other guys, and it doesn’t have to be because of a pandemic.”
Masvidal seemed to disagree with White on several counts.
2020 - Dustin Poirier
In September 2020, Dustin Poirier and Tony Ferguson tried to set up a bout between them. One of the sticking points of that potential fight was Poirier wanted a raise. The UFC boss shut down that talk by using his go-to trope.
“Listen, I like Dustin. I’m not going to sit up here and say anything negative about Dustin, he’s a great kid. I don’t know if it was he didn’t want to fight in Abu Dhabi or what his deal was. He didn’t want to fight,” White said.
“Listen, there’s a lot of different ways to turn down a fight. Negotiating yourself out of one is one of the ways you can do it. So for whatever reason, he didn’t want to take this fight. Only he knows that.”
More here (goes all the way down to 2009)
https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2023/1/...dana-white-claims-dont-want-to-fight-mma-news
