Francis Ngannou has revealed he spent three years engineering an ‘escape plan’ from the UFC in response to Dana White.It comes after White called the former UFC champion ‘a bad guy’ this week, admitting he ‘wanted Ngannou to lose’ when the heavyweight fought Ciryl Gane in January 2022.White publicly admitted this week that he wanted Ngannou to lose his heavyweight title bout against Gane at UFC 270 in 2022GettyNgannou ultimately defeated Gane by unanimous decision to defend the UFC heavyweight title, but left the promotion the following year after a contract dispute with White.White has since claimed it was ‘impossible’ to work with Ngannou and consistently brings up how his former champion ‘isn’t a good guy’ when the opportunity arises.When Ngannou later signed with the PFL, White said the promotion had ‘signed a s****y contract with a guy that doesn’t pull any numbers.’The pair’s relationship has never recovered, and things heightened last year when White accused Ngannou of a physical altercation during previous UFC negotiations — something the heavyweight refused to confirm or deny.“Basically, if Dana says this, then I’m out here to defend myself from what Dana said, or whoever,” Ngannou said of White’s accusation last December.With the dust settled for some time now, Ngannou’s name crept up again during interviews this week with White, who has been doing media rounds ahead of a Noche UFC and Ryan Garcia vs Conor Benn doubleheader this weekend. Asked on the Nightcap show whether fans might eventually get the long-discussed heavyweight clash between Ngannou and Jon Jones, White said he doesn’t want to do business with ‘bad guys,’ referring to Ngannou.Later questioned on Big Boy about the last time he wanted to see a UFC fighter lose, Ngannou came up again.“Saying the guy that I spent over three years and a lot of money in law firms building an escape plan to get away from, meanwhile he was doing everything in his power to ensure I was never free,” Ngannou said, responding on Friday evening.“You have to take that loss — it is irreversible.”View Tweet: https://t.co/9JCZU0MxztNgannou’s working relationship with White came to a bitter end when he left the UFC and the pair have since exchanged bitter verbal blows several timesGettyWhite’s Ngannou comments ‘ironic,’ says MVP’s BidarianNakisa Bidarian of Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) is also not happy with White.Bidarian, who runs MVP alongside Jake Paul and will front the promotion’s merger with the PFL from January 2027, didn’t take kindly to White’s comments.“So ironic,” Bidarian, who also promoted Ngannou’s last MMA fight on Netflix, wrote on X.“Look at this history. You can’t lose hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits for underpaying fighters and talk about bad guys.“Who is the bad guy?”Last year, a 10-year antitrust lawsuit against the UFC was settled when the promotion agreed to a $375million payout.Bidarian, left, has slammed White over his ‘ironic’ comments based on the UFC’s antitrust suit settlementGettyThe suit was brought forward by former fighters following allegations of wage suppression largely due to restrictive long-term contracts.Over 1,000 fighters who represented the promotion between 2010 and 2017 were affected and, as of April 2026, over 90 per cent of the athletes expecting payouts have been paid, per MMA Fighting.In the eyes of Bidarian, who may end up re-signing Ngannou to his MVP MMA next year, White’s stance is pure hypocrisy.When is Ngannou’s next fight?Since leaving the UFC in January 2023, Ngannou has contested just two MMA fights, while also boxing both Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.‘The Predator’ stopped Renan Ferreira in one round in his sole PFL appearance in October 2024 before scoring another first-round KO at MVP MMA 1 in May.Ngannou knocked out Philipe Lins on his return to MMA this yearAFPPFL CEO John Martin has left the door open to a reunion with his former star when the organisation merges with MVP MMAGettyNgannou has remained out of the spotlight since his comfortable win over Philipe Lins on the undercard of Ronda Rousey vs Gina Carano, with his next fight currently unknown.Speaking to talkSPORT.com, PFL CEO John Martin made it clear he would be open to a reunion with his former heavyweight under the MVP MMA banner.“The last conversation I had with Francis, I told him what I really felt,” Martin said.“I was very — I didn’t want the relationship between Francis and the PFL to end. I have an incredible amount of respect for him.“As an athlete, I’ve spent some time with him personally and I also like him.“But I was very happy for him that he had an opportunity so soon with MVP and I wished him well.“And he may not remember this, but I said to him, ‘You never know, our paths could cross again,’ and so the idea of working with Francis again would be a really big opportunity for us.”talkSPORT's UFC pound-for-pound rankingstalkSPORT.com has collectively voted on the best fighters to form a regularly updated UFC pound-for-pound (P4P) rankings system for the rest of 2026 and beyond.Our P4P list will be updated regularly based on performances in the Octagon — with wins, records, title wins and defences, calibre of opponents, methods of victory and much more all determining who makes it.UFC champions Islam Makhachev, Tom Aspinall and Sean Strickland feature – but big stars such as Alex Pereira and Arman Tsarukyan miss out.