Dana White sends a stern message to Francis Ngannou ahead of UFC 270, tells him to focus on Ciryl Gane not boxing

Dana White has sent a message to Francis Ngannou ahead of UFC 270.

In the main event of the first pay-per-view card in 2022, Ngannou is set to defend his heavyweight title for the first time against the interim champ, Ciryl Gane. It’s a fascinating fight due to them being ex-training partners, but a big storyline for the scrap is the fact this is Ngannou’s last fight on his contract.

With Ngannou possibly reaching free agency after UFC 270, he has talked about wanting to box Tyson Fury and other top heavyweights. However, White believes that isn’t a good idea, instead, he says the heavyweight champ should be focused on Gane.

“You’re talking about, you don’t want to fight under your contract – he gets a piece of pay-per-view, like all the other champions do,” White told Jim Rome on Thursday about Ngannou (via MMAFighting). “You’re worried about all these other things – I want to box Tyson Fury. … You’re the underdog on Saturday night. You’re not a huge, 10-1 favorite. … Beat Ciryl Gane. Win this fight, then you can start talking about the possibility of other things.”

Ngannou isn’t the first UFC fighter to say he wants to box and certainly won’t be the last. Although Dana White knows Francis Ngannou has freakish power, he further cemented the fact his focus should be on Ciryl Gane.

“All these guys think they want to box,” White said about Ngannou. “Him boxing Tyson Fury, he’s got that kind of power that anything could happen. But he should be worried about Saturday night. That’s one of the problems when you start jumping over and thinking about things – focus on Ciryl Gane and winning this fight.”

Francis Ngannou is coming off a vicious KO win over Stipe Miocic back in March of 2021 to win the belt. Shortly thereafter, the contract negotiations stalled which forced the UFC to create an interim heavyweight title fight, which Gane won back in August. Now, the two will finally settle their differences.

What do you make of Dana White’s comments towards Francis Ngannou?