Francis Ngannou laughed off what former boss Dana White had to say about him.

The former UFC heavyweight champion — who made the choice to leave the promotion and vacate the title in 2023 — and current PFL star was a big talking point during White’s post-fight scrum after Thursday’s Power Slap event. White was asked about Ngannou’s quick knockout win over Renan Ferreira at PFL Battle of the Giants, and it led to White ripping on PFL founder Donn Davis and saying he wanted to cut Ngannou years before.

“The Predator” reacted to White on Sirius XM Fight Nation.

“I think Dana’s trying to make things up to buy good faith in the position he has lost,” Ngannou said. “Dana has lost in this situation… and he cannot stand it. Bro, I won everything: I left. We’ve been apart almost two years and the guy is still out there, he can’t live without it, and hounding me. Regardless of what happened, I’m not about him.

“I went out there, did a fight, had a good fight for my son’s memory, but they guy can’t stand… I don’t know what his problem is. He can make everything up as he wants, that’s his problem. He needs to make peace with himself. …

“You could’ve just said, ‘We couldn’t find an agreement, or couldn’t come up with a deal, good luck to him. That’s it, good for him,’ and we continue our lives,” Ngannou continued. “What’s the problem here? But I think the problem is that he can’t handle this loss. I’m sure he’s been praying for my downfall, but I keep doing my thing and rising as soon as I left the UFC. In any senses, I’m more than what I was.”

“Freedom isn’t free, but remember that the benefits always outweigh the price. Don’t let the bully talk you out of it,” Ngannou said, responding on social media.

“Divert attention to the real matter by manipulating the narrative,” Ngannou wrote in a follow-up tweet.

White has claimed that Ngannou left the UFC to make more money fighting lesser competition, and that he left because he didn’t want to risk fighting Jon Jones.

“Francis is all about the money,” White said. “Francis left because he knew that if he fought Jon Jones and didn’t win, it would hurt his chances of making the money that he wanted to make. But realistically, his deal was bigger here. His deal was bigger here if he stayed in the UFC. … They can deny it all they want, why the f*ck would I lie? Why do I care? It doesn’t matter to me one way or the other.

“I was going to cut Francis when he lost two in a row. I was going to cut him. Somebody around here begged me not to do it. So it wouldn’t have mattered to me, one way or the other. There’s a much deeper story to this whole thing, and he would have made more money if he stayed in the UFC.”

Ngannou, as expected, completely disagrees, as he entered free agency after capturing the UFC heavyweight title with a brutal knockout of Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 in March 2021, and then a successful title defense against Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 10 months later.

“Which money is he talking about? The money that he owes me?,” Ngannou said. “Remember, all of this ended with [them] saying, ‘Oh, we’ll backpay you from the money that we owe you for the Stipe [Miocic] and Ciryl Gane fight,’ all of that. They never back payed me.

“Now I have made more money than I have ever made in the UFC — I would say twice the money that I could have ever made in my entire UFC career if I had continued in the UFC. … But either way, if I had made less money, if I’m not making enough money that I could’ve made in the UFC, that’s my problem. Why is he so pissed about me not making that much money? Like, c’mon man, live your life.”

The UFC is back in the Middle East with the featherweight title on the line at the top of the lineup.

UFC 308 (ESPN+) takes place Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi.

Get main card pick results from our 11 editors, writers, radio hosts and videographers, as well as additional analysis, below.

Shara Magomedov vs. Armen Petrosyan

Records: Magomedov (14-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC), Petrosyan (9-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC)
Past five: Magomedov 5-0, Petrosyan 3-2
Division: Middleweight
Rankings: Magomedov honorable mention
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Magomedov -175, Petrosyan +145
Junkie pick results: Magomedov 11, Petrosyan 0

Dan Ige vs. Lerone Murphy

Records: Ige (18-8 MMA, 10-7 UFC), Murphy (14-0-1 MMA, 6-0-1 UFC)
Past five: Ige 3-2, Murphy 5-0
Division: Featherweight
Rankings: Murphy No. 14, Ige honorable mention
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Ige +165, Murphy -195
Junkie pick results: Murphy 9, Ige 2

Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic

Records: Ankalaev (19-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC), Rakic (14-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC)
Past five: Ankalaev 4-0-1, Rakic 2-3
Division: Light heavyweight
Rankings: Ankalaev No. 4, Rakic No. 11
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Ankalaev -390, Rakic +290
Junkie pick results: Ankalaev 11, Rakic 0

Khamzat Chimaev vs. Robert Whittaker

Records: Chimaev (13-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC), Whittaker (27-7 MMA, 17-5 UFC)
Past five: Chimaev 5-0, Whittaker 3-2
Division: Middleweight
Rankings: Whittaker No. 4, Chimaev No. 10
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Chimaev -220, Whittaker +180
Junkie pick results: Chimaev 6, Whittaker 5

Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway

Records: Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC), Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC)
Past five: Topuria 5-0, Holloway 4-1
Division: Featherweight
Rankings: Topuria No. 1, No. 4 pound-for-pound; Holloway No. 3, honorable mention pound-for-pound
Odds (as of 10.21.24): Topuria -245, Holloway +200
Junkie pick results: Holloway 6, Topuria 5

Preliminary card picks

Although they don’t count toward the standings, MMA Junkie staff members still pick the fights on the prelims. Here are the results:

• Ibo Aslan vs. Rafael Cerqueira: Aslan 7, Cerqueira 4
• Rafael dos Anjos vs. Geoff Neal: Neal 9, dos Anjos 2
• Myktybek Orolbai vs. Mateusz Rebecki: Orolbai 9, Rebecki 2
• Brunno Ferreira vs. Abus Magomedov: Ferreira 6, Magomedov 5
• Chris Barnett vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu: Nzechukwu 9, Barnett 2
• Farid Basharat vs. Victor Hugo: Basharat 11, Hugo 0
• Rinat Fakhretdinov vs. Carlos Leal: Fakhretdinov 11, Leal 0
• Ismail Naurdiev vs. Bruno Silva: Naurdiev 8, Silva 3

Check out all the main card picks below.

(Click here to open a PDF of the staff picks grid in a separate window.)

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has cleared the NFL‘s concussion protocol and will play against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. It’s his first start since being concussed in Week 2.

The Dolphins designated Tagovailoa to return to practice on Monday after he spent about a month on injured reserve after suffering his third concussion of his NFL career on Sept. 12.

Tagovailoa has since met with numerous medical experts who deemed it safe for him to play football again, according to the team. He needed to clear the NFL’s five-step return-to-play process, which came after he participated in practices and took contact without exhibiting concussion symptoms.

Tagovailoa was examined after Thursday’s practice by an independent neurological consultant, who cleared him to play Sunday, coach Mike McDaniel said.

“Words can’t describe how excited I get for all players that have opportunities that I know they don’t take for granted,’ McDaniel said Friday. “It’s very exciting from a human perspective as a coach for this team.”

Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa on return from IR: ‘Willing to play the odds’

Tagovailoa was concussed when he collided with Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin. He ran for a first down and initiated contact by lowering his shoulder into Hamlin instead of sliding. Tagovailoa said Monday that he has been symptom-free since a day after being diagnosed with the concussion.

“We’ve been talking to him ever since his injury,” Dolphoins running back Raheem Mostert said. “I’ve been telling him, ‘Hey, you need to work on sliding.’ And we all joke around and laugh, but on a serious note, he knows that he has to protect himself a little bit better.”

He has a history of head injuries since entering the NFL. He was diagnosed with two concussions in 2022 and also suffered another scary hit to the head, which led to changes in the NFL’s concussion rules.

Tagovailoa has traveled across the country in the past month meeting with numerous medical experts who spoke with him about his concussion history, the Dolphins said. No doctor recommended he retire, and the decision to return to the game was made with his doctors and family, the team said.

Tagovailoa said he wouldn’t wear a Guardian Cap — an optional protective soft-shell helmet cover — because of a “personal choice.” Tagovailoa already wears a quarterback-specific helmet designed to help reduce head injuries.

Can Tua’s return rescue the Dolphins’ season?

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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If there’s one thing to know about Dan Ige, he’s always ready to fight.

Considering he accepted a fight against Diego Lopes on about three hours’ notice at UFC 303, it’s tough to imagine Ige would every shy away from any opponent or offer the promotion made to him. Just after nearly pulling off the upset over Lopes back in June, Ige made a request to get a slot on the UFC 306 card in September, which was scheduled to take place at Sphere in Las Vegas.

Despite his best efforts to secure an opponent for that date, Ige says a fight never materialized.

“The night of the fight [UFC matchmakers] told me they were going to work on something,” Ige told MMA Fighting. “I saw fights starting to get announced. I was just kind of sitting and waiting and then I saw [Dana White] was going to announce the Noche card. I was at strength and conditioning, it was a Friday, and he said he was going to announce it. So I was like maybe I’m on it. Maybe I just don’t know. Let’s see what happens.

“They end up announcing the card. Just things didn’t work out for me to go out there and fight a Mexican fighter. There wasn’t a fighter available. We were asking for Yair [Rodriguez] because he’s one guy in the top 15 outside of [Brian] Ortega and Lopes, who were already going to fight. He was on the list but he wasn’t ready until like November or December. So we just moved on.”

Ige eventually received an offer to face Lerone Murphy at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi and he wasted no time accepting the matchup.

Of course there was a moment as he was flying halfway across the globe to get to the event where Ige thought he had another opponent change when an erroneous report started circulating that Murphy was out and he was being replaced by Brazilian prospect Jean Silva.

“I was literally on the plane. I was out flying over the Atlantic ocean at that point and I saw the tweet and I’m like what is this?” Ige said. “Then I started getting hit by reporters. I went and tweeted ‘fake news’ because I didn’t hear nothing. I’m actually going and looking, checking my emails. There’s no emails. I texted Sean Shelby, I’m like I’m trying to take a nap right now. I’m like bro, is this real? I’m getting hit up by reporters and he said fake. It is what it is.

“I would have been ready. Because I didn’t come all this way to not fight. Whatever, it is what is. We’re fighting Saturday, whoever it is. I’ll be ready.”

While he gladly would have accepted anybody as an opponent, Ige is obviously happy that didn’t happen because facing an undefeated contender like Murphy gives him a chance to take a bigger step forward in his career.

“We got the Lerone Murphy [fight]. It’s a big fight on an outstanding pay-per-view,” Ige said. “In my opinion, this PPV, this card, this lineup is stacked. It’s an exciting fight card. It’s a big fight card right in the middle of a PPV so I really have no complaints and I get to fight up in rankings.”

Ige was previously scheduled to face Murphy earlier this year but an injury knocked the British featherweight out of the fight.

Now Ige is excited to finally face him, especially after Murphy scored an impressive win over Edson Barboza back in May.

“Lerone was a guy we were looking at because we were previously booked and then him being ranked ahead of me,” Ige said. “So I knew he was an option. Even guys ranked behind me, it doesn’t matter. I fought the who’s who. I fought guys coming up. I’ve given a lot of guys chances right to fight into the rankings.

“For me to go out there and fight a No. 11 guy and give myself that opportunity to climb the ladder again, I can’t complain about it.”