MIAMI – UFC CEO Dana White was not surprised to see Francis Ngannou get stopped in his second professional boxing match.
White expected Ngannou to lose to former boxing heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua during their colossal crossover bout on Friday in Saudi Arabia. Ngannou was dropped twice before getting knocked out in the second round in what was a seamless performance by Joshua. White believes the result was predictable.
“I saw it on social media,” White said regarding Ngannou’s KO loss at the UFC 299 post-fight press conference. “Yeah, going into the Fury fight, if Fury trained for the fight and didn’t show up and look like he ate Tyson Fury, that’s probably the way that fight would’ve ended too.
“I mean, listen. You know how I feel about crossovers into boxing, that’s how they end, just like that.”
The UFC is expected to make its debut in Saudi Arabia later this year. White is impressed by the type of promotion Saudi Arabia has been doing around their big boxing fights. Although he’s a fan, he assures the UFC production will remain the same.
“I think the difference is that – and I don’t know this for a fact, I’m just assuming – but the boxing events that they’re holding, they’re their events, and they own all the production and everything else,” White said. “They put some money into those things. They really do. But when we go, we’ll be running the production.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 299.
