Seven months ago, Francis Ngannou was viewed as potentially the next UFC heavyweight champion. Fast forward seven months and two fights, Ngannou has dropped back to back fights and people are now wondering what happened.
UFC President Dana White was asked this question during the UFC 226 Post Fight Press Conference and he mentioned that Ngannou’s ego ran away with him following his knockout victory late last year against Overeem.
“He had a pretty quick rise here, and obviously the fight over Alistair Overeem catapulted him, everybody was talking about him,” White stayed during UFC 226 post fight press conference. “I thought he was going to be the next guy. I think his ego ran away with him big-time. I can tell you that his ego absolutely did run away with him. And the minute that happens to you in the fight game, you see what happens. You start to fall apart. I had some personal encounters with him, as did other people in the organization, and this guy’s ego just was so out of control. Before the Stipe fight, he took off and went to France. Didn’t really even train for that fight. And you see the results. Well, then he comes back, and he did train, but I just — ego is what hurt Francis Ngannou.”
As White noted in the press conference, UFC 226 was a great fight card that had one bad fight and people will forget about the Lewis vs. Ngannou fight since the rest of the card delivered.