In an admission of fault, UFC CEO Dana White said the promotion intentionally excluded the name of a former world champion in recent promotional footage.
White said Tuesday that a portion of a UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya’s quote on a recent episode of the “UFC Countdown” web series excluded his explicit mention of Francis Ngannou, a past heavyweight champ who left the promotion last year after their relationship turned sour.
In the original press conference moment, Adesanya claimed that Dricus Du Plessis made comments that discredited three prior UFC champs from Africa. This included himself, Ngannou, and Kamaru Usman. However, on “Countdown,” Ngannou’s name was omitted.
The first rule of UFC Fight Club: don’t mention Francis Ngannou’s name…
Here’s a look at the clip from the UFC 305 Countdown episode versus what Adesanya actually said at the UFC 305 Pre-Sale Press Conference.
It’s no surprise, but the UFC’s attempt to erase Ngannou from its… pic.twitter.com/PZpA7UAtSe
— AFeldmanMMA (@afeldMMA) August 13, 2024
Writer Kevin Iole asked White about the editing move on Tuesday, the UFC CEO initially wasn’t aware of the change. However, later that night, he contacted Iole again to explain what happened.
“I make it so hard on them sometimes with some of the crazy s*** I say and it’s tough,” White told Iole, describing how his comments affect the video editing team’s work. “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.”
Adesanya previously voiced disagreement with the promotion editing his video, claiming that Ngannou’s past cannot be discarded.
“You can never erase history, because the streets, the internet, will always remember,” he said.
