Francis Ngannou’s head coach hopes the fighter and UFC CEO Dana White hash things out.
The relationship between Ngannou and White has continued to go further and further south following Ngannou’s decision to part ways with the UFC in 2023, vacate the heavyweight title, and sign with PFL. Recently, White shared a story of an altercation from a few years back where things nearly got physical between them.
Xtreme Couture coach Eric Nicksick was asked for his reaction to the occasional back-and-forth between his fighter and White.
“I think that my relationship with certain individuals are different than the relationship with other people,” Nicksick told MMA Fighting. “I know what Francis brings to me and my family, and the way that he treats me, and that’s the way I judge him by his character. Same with Dana. Dana’s been nothing but nice and great to me. I wish that somewhere down the line that these two could mend those fences, just on a personal level. I’d rather have friends than enemies, and at the end of the day, I hope that these guys can reconcile and put away their differences.
“But when I look at it, too, it’s almost like, just let him continue to live his life. We don’t need to continue to talk about this shit. This, whatever happened, was probably almost seven, eight years ago. Why are we bringing up old shit like that, you know? And I think it’s just, in a lot of ways, it’s, I don’t know—This is my personal opinion: I feel like deep down, Dana does like Francis, and I think that he does miss the fact that they would like to have him on that roster because of where the heavyweight division is at now in the landscape of it. Hopefully, at some point, those two can sit down man to man and just let all this shit go. Like, why do you want to carry that energy, you know what I mean? …
“It’s like, f*ck, I don’t want to carry that energy every day. So hopefully they can reconcile and just let that shit go. Even if Francis never fights in the UFC ever again, like just move on.”
As far as what’s next for Ngannou, it certainly doesn’t appear—at least, at the moment—that he’s heading back to the UFC anytime soon if ever again. Ngannou is still under contract with PFL, with promotional executive John Martin recently telling MMA Fighting they had something “special” planned for the promotion’s biggest free-agent signing ever.
Nicksick said he recently spoke to Ngannou on a video call and was blown away with what he saw.
“Yeah, I mean we talk all the time and he was out in Dubai, he’s back in Cameroon, he’s coming back to Vegas here soon,” Nicksick said. “Francis always holds his cards close to the chest and I just know Francis. He’s a guy that he’s going to call me up on a Sunday and say, ‘Hey, we’re fighting Friday.’ It’s one of those things with him.We talked recently and that’s basically what he said.
“He goes, ‘Hey, Bubba, I want to come back and get back into MMA.’ I told him, ‘We need to get back before a fight is booked and start getting your body to where we’re comfortable,’ and he’s actually in really, really good shape. He’s the lightest I’ve ever seen him. He called and FaceTimed, I saw his face right away and it was like chiseled. Usually, he’s like a little bit more plump and he’s been eating and stuff like that, but his knee is feeling good, so he’s getting his roadwork. He’s training every day and his weight was down.
“I was like, ‘Yo, we got something coming up.’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, I’m working on a few things.’ So hopefully, we see him back in the cage in 2026. And then the sky’s the limit for him, man.”
Ngannou has only competed for PFL one time since signing with the promotion, destroying Renan Ferreira in quick fashion at PFL Battle of the Giants in October 2024.
It appears Ngannou could have a future date with PFL heavyweight champ Vadim Nemkov, but if it were up to Nicksick, he’d love to see “The Predator” back in the octagon.
“He can do whatever the hell he wants to do I think, on a personal level, I’d love to be able to see him compete in the UFC just because of the level of competition that he would go against,” Nicksick said. “But if he fights Nemkov, shit, he looked great in his last fight, too. So he’s a guy that we’ve got to take serious. So whatever opponent rises, we’ll be ready for.”
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