“I think Francis is at a place right now, where he doesn’t want to take a risk,” White said. “He feels like he can fight lesser opponents and make more money.
“The guy weighs over 300 lbs, just had knee surgery, hasn’t had a real training camp. I think that probably has a lot to do with it. He doesn’t know what’s going to happen with his knee, he’s not getting younger,” White said. “It’s not like this is something that has never happened before. There’s been other guys that have come to us and said I don’t want to compete at this level anymore.”
Former UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez wasn’t a fan of the disrespect showed, saying it’s hilarious for White to claim that Ngannou is afraid
“UFC simply lost the bid for Francis, instead of admitting that, they go with the narrative the the scariest motherf***** alive is afraid to fight in the UFC. Hahahahahahahahahahaha. These jokes write themselves,” Alvarez wrote on twitter.
“Nobody in the UFC is “afraid” of anyone. The men who fight there are there to fight the best… The UFC is afraid to pay fighters, this is the only reason people leave,” Alvarez also wrote on Instagram. “Fighters don’t give a f*** who the next opponent is, they do care about what the pay will be. Keep it real and just say, ‘We lost the bid, someone is paying more,’ and end it there.