Francis Ngannou has finally responded to the controversy surrounding his being cut out of a UFC countdown video last week.
During a promotional appearance ahead of UFC 305, Israel Adesanya spoke of the sport’s ‘three kings’ and their world championships reigns. The quote, referring to Adesanya, Ngannou and Kamaru Usman, was widely covered, but appeared edited in an episode of UFC Countdown at the end of the year.
The mention of Ngannou was cut from the edited version, and Dana White later took full responsibility and apologized to Adesanya. But he never spoke to his former heavyweight champion, who claims he can’t accept an apology that was never made to him.
Dana White claims ‘full responsibility’ for Francis Ngannou’s UFC 305 promo snub
In the aftermath of the editing controversy, White spoke to the media at an episode of Contender Series on Tuesday. He claimed not to have heard about the incident, but noted that the editor who made the decision will likely have done so with his sensitivities in mind.
“If that’s true (that we removed his name) and that was done and it was something we produced, then somebody in the company made that decision,” White told the gathered press in Las Vegas on Tuesday night.
“Listen, you know me, if I said we did it, I’d say ‘Yeah f*** him this is why we did it’, I know nothing about it, nobody ever asked me about it and this is the first we’re hearing about it… My production team are a bunch of rock stars and they are truly f***ing awesome.
“I make it so hard on them sometimes with some of the crazy s** I say and it’s tough. When you [Kevin Iole] 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 it happened falls on me 100 percent. It’s my responsibility and I accept it. Blame me for that. But that’s on me. Totally on me. I already called Israel Adesanya and apologized for it.”
Francis Ngannou reacts to Dana White’s ‘apology’ after being edited out of UFC video
However, Francis Ngannou feels that he would need to be given an apology of his own in order to be able to accept it from his former promoter. The relationship between both sides has been frayed since he refused a new deal after his first title defence against Ciryl Gane in 2022, and the sides are not close.
Ngannou is now signed to PFL, where he will face Renan Ferreira for what is believed to be the lineal heavyweight championship in MMA. He has also launched PFL Africa, where he will be able to give back to his home continent.
“I don’t care, what do you want me to think about it,” Ngannou told Bloody Elbow when asked about the controversy that emerged last week. Everybody do what they want to do.
“I’m doing what I want to do and I’m expressing my right to do what I want to do and it’s to their right, it’s to everybody’s right. I really don’t need anything, I’m free.”
And asked if he accepted White’s apology, he laughed as he replied: “That didn’t sound like an apology, who apologised? I’m not Israel, he said it to Israel? I can’t accept an apology on behalf of Israel!”