Former UFC fighter cites Ngannou's return and raises doubts about Dana White's 2025 promise

Dana White poses next to Francis Ngannou . Photo: Reproduction/@francis_ngannou

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Dana White stirred up MMA fans at his last UFC press conference, held after UFC Tampa in 2024. The organization's president stated that something is being planned for 2025 that will make everyone "lose their minds." Former fighter Brendan Schaub , however, has his doubts about the executive's statement and suggested something that would truly surprise everyone.

In response to Dana White's comments, Schaub, a finalist on the tenth season of TUF , commented on his podcast about how difficult it is to be surprised nowadays. The former fighter stated that the only thing that would truly shock him would be Francis Ngannou 's return to the UFC after fulfilling his last fight under his PFL contract. According to Schaub, the Cameroonian could then face the winner of Tom Aspinall vs. Jon Jones , but he believes this is unlikely to happen.

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“With the Internet today, with rumors and fake news, it’s almost impossible to surprise anyone. When I heard that, I thought, ‘What could it be?’ The only thing that would really surprise me, that would shock me, would be if it was Francis. He has one more fight on his contract with the PFL. He’s going to fight that fight against, God knows who, some poor guy who’s going to get knocked out by him. And then he’ll be a free agent. If they said, ‘We’ve got Francis back in the mix. Francis is going to fight the guaranteed winner of Aspinall-Jones.’ That would surprise me. But that’s it. That’s very hard to happen. Other than that, what else could it be?” Schaub said.

Dana White promises unexpected surprises for 2025

Without revealing details, White said that, in addition to the big fights already announced for next year's calendar, there is something completely new being prepared, which no one will be able to predict.

“I foresee a lot of big fights. I have something in the works right now that’s going to blow your minds. You’re all going to be running around. I have something in the works that you’ll never imagine for 2025. It literally started coming together last night. Yeah, we’ve got some really fun stuff coming up,” the UFC president said.

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