Brendan Schaub Skeptical of Dana White’s 2025 Hype, Suggests Francis Ngannou and Jake Paul Fight in UFC

Former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub isn’t buying into Dana White’s hype about what 2025 will be like for the promotion. Schaub, who has often been critical of the UFC, and sometimes rightfully so, claimed that White has promised to blow people’s minds before, but it has never come to pass.

Speaking on his own podcast, Schaub claimed that while White promised people they would be “running like chickens with their heads cut off“, he had already done that for UFC 300 and that didn’t move anyone’s minds or hearts for that matter.

UFC 300 was promised to be a big deal and in part, it succeeded due to the unprecedented last-second KO of Justin Gaethje by Max Holloway for the BMF title and Alex Pereira’s successful title defense against Jamahal Hill in a controversial match. But other than that, it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Schaub, however, also believes that White could bring Francis Ngannou back to the organization if he really wanted to give fans something they never could see coming.

“The only thing that could blow me was if it was Francis (Ngannou). Francis is going to fight the winner of Aspinall vs. Jones.”

However, if one is being honest, White has been nothing but hostile and personal towards Ngannou since the former UFC heavyweight champion’s departure from the organization. So, it is unlikely that Ngannou is ever making his way back to the hallowed halls that lead into the octagon.

Schaub also claimed that the only other scenario that could see him change his mind about the UFC in 2025 is if White somehow managed to rake in Jake Paul for a one-fight deal.

“So the problem here, is Dana will have to play nice and sign Jake Paul… BOOM! That’s it. That would blow me. That would do it more so than Francis for me.”

To be fair, this has more of a chance of happening than the Ngannou fight. Despite Paul’s continued beef with White, his is known to have drawn in serious numbers, both at the gate and on streaming. So, it would actually be a profitable venture for the UFC. However, the question, remains who does he fight in the promotion?

But even if none of these events ever come to pass, the UFC actually has a fair bit of game in store for 2025.

UFC in 2025

The first PPV of the year, UFC 312 will see two title fights take place on the same night.

While lightweight champion Islam Makhachev defends his title for a record fourth time against #1 contender Arman Tsarukyan, his teammate, Umar Nurmagomedov gets his first shot at UFC gold against bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.

This will be Islam’s toughest challenge yet. And if he manages to get past Tsarukyan, he will have proven himself one of the greatest lightweights in the promotion’s history and will consider himself free to move on in weight class and go for that elusive second belt.

Umar, on the other hand, seems to have forced Merab into a title fight he didn’t want to have, at least not this soon. Merab had been avoiding this fight like a plague and doesn’t seem too pleased that the UFC has made him sign it. Merab has time and again claimed that Umar is undeserving of the title shot and has only reached the heights he has, due to his famous last name.

2025, might also see UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones defend his title against the rightful contender and interim champion Tom Aspinall. The fight has been a long time coming and Jones has done his very best to dodge it every which way he could, but the chicken is finally coming home to roost and there’s just no way around anymore.

Featherweight champion Ilia Topuria also seems to have been done with his division and has announced a campaign into the lightweight division in search of Makhachev’s title. He, however, wants to start by taking on former champion, Charles Oliveira.

So, yes, while Schaub is right and the return of Ngannou or the signing of Paul might blow his mind, there’s a lot more happening throughout the year that would deem any of these surprises unnecessary!