Dana White has ripped into 'bad guy' Francis Ngannou after revealing that he was once accosted by the ex-UFC star following a dispute over fighter pay.  

Prior to his unceremonious exit from the UFC back in January 2023, Cameroonian MMA star Ngannou had ruled the roost in the heavyweight division. 

However, Ngannou chose to walk away from the company after reportedly turning down an offer that would have made him the highest-paid UFC heavyweight ever.

Neither White nor Ngannou explicitly revealed the reason for his exit but the UFC chief had, at times, alluded to friction between himself and 'The Predator'.

On Tuesday, that all changed after White made an appearance on Andrew Schulz's 'FLAGRANT' podcast and revealed that they had clashed on multiple occasions. 

White said: 'He had just fought and he comes up to my office. I said, 'What's going on?' And he was p***ed off that he didn't get a $50,000 bonus.

'I'm starting to leave and he grabs me by my shirt. And, like, pushes me back in my office. And I said, 'Dude, get your f***ing hands off me.' 

'I could see in this guy's face and in his eyes and in the way he's acting who this guy really f***ing is.' 

White also claimed that Ngannou similarly accosted UFC executive Hunter Campbell shortly afterwards. 

'My guy Hunter [Campbell], they were talking about something, it might have even been that same thing [about the bonus],' 

'When Hunter started to walk away, Francis grabbed him by the f***ing back of his collar, f***ing pulled him back and said, 'We're not done talking yet.'

'This guy's not a good f***ing guy. He's a bad guy.' 

After leaving the UFC, Ngannou signed a lucrative deal with rival MMA promotion, the Professional Fighters League (PFL), who allowed him to also crossover into boxing.

Ngannou went on to fight British stars Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in under six months - but lost on both occasions. 

The Cameroonian had put in a good performance against Fury, even scoring a knockdown, but was then brutally KO'd in his match-up with 'AJ'. 

White would go on to gave a blunt assessment of Ngannou's performance against Joshua and suggested that he'd been fortunate in his fight with Fury.

'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,' White said.

'Listen, you know how I feel about crossovers into boxing.

'That's how they end, just like that.'