UFC President Dana White is not walking back any of his criticism of Francis Ngannou following an ugly loss to Derrick Lewis at UFC 226 in July.

Ngannou (11-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) came out on the wrong end of a unanimous decision in a low-action fight with Lewis (20-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) at UFC 226 in Las Vegas. The crowd booed, flashed their cell phone lights and even did the wave over the course of the underwhelming heavyweight contest, and afterward the UFC boss didn’t hold back with his thoughts on the bout.

Earlier this year, Ngannou was on top of the world as he prepared to challenge then-champ Stipe Miocic for the title at UFC 220 in January. Some of his luster was taken away in a five-round mauling, and then Ngannou hurt his brand even more with the performance against Lewis.

Although Ngannou admitted he was scared to pull the trigger against Lewis after such a lopsided beatdown against Miocic, White indicated there was more to the story. He said Ngannou’s ego got away from him after a quick rise up the ranks, and even a month later, his opinion hasn’t changed.

“Francis Ngannou at the time he was coming up, I believed this guy was going to be the guy, was going to be the heavyweight champion,” White said on the “UFC Unfiltered” podcast. “He lost his mind. This guy completely lost his mind and started to act – I don’t know – in a way you just don’t act. I completely saw it coming. Obviously Francis Ngannou is a massive, strong, hard-hitting guy, and anything can happen when he gets in there, but Stipe had this thing where he feels completely disrespected. This guy’s always on fire and pissed off at the world and pissed off at us. I saw that coming. I knew he was going (to win).

“Francis Ngannou left the training center here (in Las Vegas) where he trained for previous fights, took off to France, was in France training or doing whatever he was doing leading up to the Stipe fight because he absolutely, positively knew he was going to be beat Stipe.”

In the wake of White’s harsh comments, Ngannou came out with a response and indicated he was utterly perplexed and “hurt” by the harsh words. He said he hoped if White had a problem with him he would express the issue in person rather than through the media.

White did not state whether he has communicated with Ngannou since UFC 226, but he made it clear his stance hasn’t changed on the heavyweight powerhouse. White said Ngannou has come corrections to make in his life going forward and likely won’t meet his full potential until that happens.

“Ngannou has a lot – I don’t know – he has a lot of things he needs to fix personally and professionally,” White said. “We’ll see if he ever gets back on track again.”

For more on the UFC schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.