Dan Hardy believes Dana White will do “everything he can” to prevent UFC fighters from following in Francis Ngannou’s footsteps
Former UFC fighter and commentator Dan Hardy thinks Dana White will do everything in his power to stop UFC fighters from going down Francis Ngannou’s path.
Ever since leaving the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Francis Ngannou has found great success. In addition to signing a lucrative deal with PFL, he also took part in a blockbuster boxing match with Tyson Fury last weekend. While he may not have won the fight, he did drop ‘The Gypsy King’, with many believing he deserved to get the nod.
Following his criticism of Francis’ decision to leave, many believe Dana White won’t be too happy with how well he’s done since then. That includes Dan Hardy, who had the following to say on the matter.
Hardy’s White/Ngannou view
“We got the [Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor] thing and that was a one-off,” Hardy explained on The MMA Hour. “I do feel like the UFC in particular like Dana’s a boxing fan. I think he was intrigued by that because he felt Conor was something quite special and he might be able to just do something as well as obviously they made a bunch of cash out of it.
“If you look at somebody like a Sean O’Malley or a Jon Jones, he doesn’t want to take that risk. You remember when he took Chuck Liddell over to PRIDE and ‘Rampage’ [Quinton Jackson] beat him up, that kind of burned him, I feel. He’s been very, very reluctant to risk breaking his toys in other people’s promotions. I think he’s going to do everything he can to stop people from doing it.”
“I think now people are going to have the courage and confidence to see Ngannou go into free agency, recognize that maybe the grass is potentially greener elsewhere,” Hardy said. “The money is certainly greener elsewhere, I can tell you that. We’ll see a few more people working their way out of their contracts.”
Quotes via MMA Fighting
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