LAS VEGAS – UFC President Dana White figured the excitement leading up to and following UFC 226’s co-main event would erase the memory of what happened between Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou.

“The card was so bad, we had one bad fight – what are you going to do?” White said at the post-fight press conference at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

When it came to the fighters who stepped into the cage, White wasn’t nearly as sanguine. But Lewis (20-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC), who earned a unanimous-decision win, managed to make out better than Ngannou (11-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) in the UFC executive’s estimation – though he called the fight an “abomination.”

White disagreed with Lewis’ own assessment – as expressed to the promotion immediately afterward – that his stock plummeted in the wake of the widely panned bout.

Ngannou’s performance? White indicated it was the result of a character flaw.

Ngannou “let his ego ran away with him” after a rapid rise where White thought “he was going to be the next guy.”

“Big time,” White said. “I can tell you that his ego absolutely ran did run away with him. The minute that happens to you in the fight game, you start to fall apart. I had some personal encounters with him, as did other people in the organization, and this guy’s ego was so out of control.”

The exec cited Ngannou’s decision to fly to France prior to an ill-fated title shot against now-former champ Stipe Miocic as evidence of the Cameroon fighter’s downfall.

“Ego is what hurt Francis Ngannou,” White concluded.

What hurt Lewis, he said, was a chronically bad back. “The Black Beast” reported having back spasms during the fight, a problem that canceled a fight at UFC 216 against ex-champ Fabricio Werdum.

White ultimately gave Lewis a pass for previous fights that were exciting – a credit Ngannou wasn’t afforded – and was more concerned that the injury could hinder his future career.

“He’s a fun guy – he’s funny,” White said of Lewis. “When he gets in there and throws, the fights are exciting. But he always has problems with his back. And that’s going to be a problem. You don’t want to go in there with a bad back against (Daniel) Cormier. But I like him, and I don’t think his stock dropped at all.

“Tonight is the last time he was in a boring fight. The card was so good, people will forget about that. And the heavyweight championship was so good, it was immediately erased from people’s memories.”

For complete coverage of UFC 226, check out the UFC Events section of the site.