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Francis Ngannou’s Next Fight is Clear After Dana White BLOCKS UFC Return
Francis Ngannou has only one viable opponent to fight next if he is to stay in mixed martial arts through 2026, after Dana White blocked any prospective return to the UFC.
Ngannou joined the UFC in 2015, fought 14 times for the organization and won the heavyweight championship, before leaving in 2022. He has fought thrice since then — twice in boxing, losing to both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, before a return to the cage in 2024 where he defeated Renan Ferreira with ease.
But he has fought just once outside the UFC, despite signing a deal with the PFL. And, speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show this week, Ngannou said he was owed just one fight from the PFL, before likely entering free agency right before the UFC’s planned event at The White House in June 2026. He even indicated a willingness to fight Jon Jones at that show.
White reacted to the news Thursday on The MacLife, and it ensures there’s only one real opponent for Ngannou to fight next, if he is, indeed,to stay in mixed martial arts.
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“There was nothing that made me happier than throwing that guy over to the f****** PFL,” White told The MacLife. “Let me tell you what, if we let guys go, feel bad for the f****** company that gets them. We let them go for a f****** reason. I don’t have to let anybody go.”
He then made his feelings clear on where he stands on Ngannou, and whether he’d eveer compete again in the UFC, against Jones, Alex Pereira, or Tom Aspinall. The answer, it seems, was a big, fat, no.
“I don’t want to be in business with guys that I don’t like and that I don’t think are good guys.”
“And when you talk about good guys and bad guys, I’m in the fight business,” White added. “S*** happens, and I’m pretty lenient when it comes to tough guy s***. I’m not lenient with bad guy s***.”
Francis Ngannou’s Options Are Dwindling
It leaves Francis Ngannou with very few options in 2026, and, in all likelihood, provides him with just the one fight left with PFL, which could come against the likes of Russian combat star Vadim Nemkov. “I think about Francis and the possibility of fighting him,” Nemkov told MMA Junkie recently.
“If that’s what my next fight is then great. It’s really for PFL to set up and make it work.”
Nemkov must first dispatch Ferreira, whom Ngannou has already defeated with ease, when they come to blows on the 13th of December in Lyon, France. But, should he succeed against Ferreira, then it increases the probability of a future Ngannou showdown.
It’s something PFL CEO John Martin alluded to when he told MMA Junkie that the organization has a “special fight” lined up for its heavyweight superstar. “Francis has one more fight on his contract and I’m looking forward to putting on a really, really special fight for him,” said Martin. “So you’re going to see him fighting in 2026.”
“Then, we need to talk to Francis about what his future is after that. He’s 39 years old. I don’t know how long he wants to fight for. I don’t know if he has continued ambition in MMA, or whether he wants to go back to boxing a little bit.”
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