Dana White News

Tom Taylor - July 8, 2018

Over the last few weeks, there has been significant buzz about Conor McGregor’s possible return to the UFC’s Octagon — most likely for a lightweight title fight with reigning champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. According to UFC President Dana White, who addressed the media after Saturday’s UFC 226 card, these reports are little more than rumors.

Tom Taylor - July 8, 2018

From the early vantage point, Francis Ngannou and Derrick Lewis’s UFC 226 co-main event battle was anticipated in the way that we might anticipate two asteroids colliding. The matchup seemed to guarantee violent, Octagon-shaking chaos, no matter who won. In the end, however, we got one of the worst fights ever: a slow, action-free fight between two gun-shy heavyweights who looked more like line dancing partners than opponents.

Tom Taylor - June 17, 2018

https://twitter.com/grindcitymedia/status/1007773336703729665 UFC President Dana White has given a few pro wrestlers the opportunity to test themselves in the Octagon, most notably CM Punk and Brock Lesnar. On Friday, the UFC boss flipped the script, and tried his hand at professional wrestling.

Tom Taylor - June 15, 2018

Last Saturday, in the first bout of the UFC 225 main card, former pro wrestler CM Punk stepped into the cage with Mike Jackson, keen to erase the memory of his disastrous MMA debut, in which he was thrashed to a first-round submission by Mickey Gall. Regrettably, Punk’s sophomore effort went no better than his first, as he was battered to a lopsided decision loss. In the wake of Punk’s latest lost, opinions on his MMA run have varied. Some admire his ambition and his heart. Others are more focused on the fact that he seems to lack the physical tools to cut in a cage fight. In the opinion of UFC President Dana White, you have to respect what the former pro wrestler attempted to do. If you don’t, well, you’re a “fucking idiot.”

Drake Riggs - June 12, 2018

Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series is back and in week 1 of season 2, the prospects delivered with four of the five fights ending via KO/TKO. Two former NFL players, one pro debut. Greg Hardy and Austen Lane started the action very fast seeing Hardy pressing the action. An eye poke from Hardy halted the action shortly after. Lane followed it with some pressing jabs that got Hardy’s attention. Hardy continued to push forward and soon after landed a big right hook that staggered Lane before he landed a left hook to end the fight just under a minute and get the win in his pro debut.

Drake Riggs - June 11, 2018

https://twitter.com/MMAFighting/status/1006272249064812544 “[Dana White’s] sense of reality is gone, it’s gone. It’s shot. It’s absolutely shot. It’s scary. Now he’s putting our health at risk. So why did you move the weigh-ins in the first place? Because in his mind he wants more exciting fights. How are you gonna get more exciting fights? Give the fighters more time to recover, right? Which is also beneficial to us because it’s healthy. It’s healthy for us to replenish, but then he realizes ‘no, now people aren’t making weight more. So this actually was a bad move. Even though it’s healthier for the fighters, we’re gonna move it back to the night time’.

Drake Riggs - June 7, 2018

UFC President, Dana White and former two-division UFC champion, Georges St-Pierre are no strangers to saying opposite things. White has come out and done so once again. During a recent interview with TSN, the UFC boss stated that GSP is retired.

Tom Taylor - June 6, 2018

On a recent episode of his Call Me Al podcast, UFC lightweight Al Iaquinta suggested that a bout with fellow fan favorite Justin Gaethje was in the works for this summer. “We’re hoping for sometime in August,” Iaquinta said. “August, September. I think they wanted it to be sooner, but like, that guy needs a rest. I was looking out for his health with that one. He needs a break for a minute.”

Tom Taylor - June 5, 2018

Last month, the UFC caused a tidal wave of controversy by cutting highly-regarded featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez, citing the fact that he had allegedly turned down consecutive fights with Ricardo Lamas and Zabit Magomedsharipov as the reason. In the end, of course, Rodriguez and the UFC were able to patch things up, and the Mexican featherweight is now expected to battle Magomedsharipov at UFC 228 this September. All the same, UFC President Dana White assures that, should any other fighters turn down multiple bout offers in the future, they can expect similar treatment.

Tom Taylor - June 5, 2018

Back in April, on the eve of UFC 223, Conor McGregor arrived in Brooklyn, and promptly went ballistic, throwing a dolly through the window of a shuttle bus carrying a number of the card’s fighters. While McGregor has been the main target of fan backlash following this incident, however, he did not act alone. He was accompanied by his long-time training partner Artem Lobov, who was subsequently pulled from his UFC 223 fight with Alex Caceres as a result. In the wake of this unfortunate incident, there was much speculation as to what the future would hold for Artem Lobov, who has lost his last two bouts in the Octagon. Some members of the MMA community have expected him to be released from the promotion.

Tom Taylor - June 5, 2018

Lately, the UFC has been enduring a scourge of unfortunate weigh in misses. Fighters like Darren Till, Mackenzie Dern, Kevin Lee, Yoel Romero, and many others, have all recently missed weight for high-profile bouts, thrusting many fights into jeopardy as a result. While there are certainly many problems with the way weight cuts in MMA are carried out, many fans feel the primary issue is the early UFC weigh ins. As it turns out, UFC President Dana White feels the same way, and plans to abolish these early weigh ins.

Tom Taylor - May 29, 2018

Earlier this month, red-hot UFC featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez was ejected from the UFC roster. The reason, we were told by UFC President Dana White, is that Rodriguez had turned down multiple fight offers. Apparently, that’s a no-no. Speaking at the UFC Liverpool post-fight press conference, White defended his decision to cut Rodriguez.

Tom Taylor - May 28, 2018

From the sounds of it, The Ultimate Fighter could soon meet its end. As the UFC closes in on its new broadcast deal with ESPN, and new programs like Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series continue to gain popularity, the future of the UFC’s long-running reality show is uncertain. This, straight from the mouth of UFC President Dana White. “We don’t know yet,” White told MMAJunkie over the weekend (transcribed by Jed Meshew for MMA Fighting). “We’re coming up on the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter. We don’t know. It might be the last one. 13 years, The Ultimate Fighter has gone. It’s incredible.”

Tom Taylor - May 28, 2018

Dana White was supposed to meet with former UFC lightweight and featherweight champion Conor McGregor in Liverpool this weekend. Unfortunately, however, this plan fell through. Having failed to link up with McGregor in the UK, White now hopes to meet with the MMA star stateside sometime in the near future.

Chris Taylor - May 26, 2018

Add UFC President Dana White to the long list of people who were incredibly disappointed that Darren Till missed weight for his highly anticipated UFC Fight Night 130 showdown with Stephen Thompson. Darren Till (16-0-1 MMA) weighed in at 174.5 pounds earlier today in Liverpool, 3.5 pounds above the welterweight limit of 171-pounds.

Tom Taylor - May 24, 2018

UFC President Dana White is going to sit down with Conor McGregor this weekend in Liverpool, England. The UFC boss will be in town for the compelling, 12-fight UFC Liverpool card. Once that card is in the books, he plans to direct his focus to McGregor.

Tom Taylor - May 9, 2018

Chuck Liddell has been toying with the idea of a comeback for quite some time, and now it sounds as though he’s closer than ever to pulling the trigger. Speaking to TMZ Sports, retired boxing legend and long-time promoter Oscar De La Hoya announced that he’s close to finalizing contracts that will see Liddell compete in his new MMA promotion — probably against his biggest rival, Tito Ortiz.

Tom Taylor - May 8, 2018

Over the weekend, reports surfaced that former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion Georges St-Pierre could be fighting Nate Diaz at UFC 227 on August 4 in Los Angeles. https://twitter.com/MIKERUSSELLMMA/status/992990891865407488