Dana White News

Tom Taylor - February 22, 2018

After a long period of quiet, the anti-trust lawsuit levied against the UFC is once again trundling along. As expected, this ongoing legal battle is revealing some very information about the UFC, its decision makers, and their practices. One of the more interesting stories to emerge over the last few days came from UFC President Dana White, who essentially took responsibility for Conor McGregor‘s superstardom in a deposition. From his deposition White taking credit for McGregor’s success. pic.twitter.com/qAbABVMwR2

Tom Taylor - February 22, 2018

On April 7, in the main event of UFC 223, Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov will battle for the UFC lightweight title. What exactly that means for Conor McGregor, and the UFC lightweight title he still technically owns, remains to be seen… Speaking to TMZ this week, UFC President Dana White reaffirmed that when Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov step into the cage at UFC 223 in April, they’ll be fighting for the “real title.” “I said in the last press conference [in Boston]: That fight will be for the title,” White said (h/t MMAJunkie.com). “It’s not for the interim title. That fight is for the real title.”

Drake Riggs - February 12, 2018

Before Jon Jones came and took over the light heavyweight division, the 205-pound UFC title went through a revolving door of champions. From 2007 to 2011, the title was never defended more than once and saw five title changes. Right in the middle of what some called “the golden age” where 205 was one of MMA’s greatest divisions, The Ultimate Fighter season 2 winner, ‘Suga’ Rashad Evans obtained some of that gold. Evans was undefeated at the time and was a large personality who felt he wasn’t quite getting what he deserved. Something Evans believes is similar to the situation of a certain champion today. Evans spoke about the comparison today with MMAFighting:

Tom Taylor - February 8, 2018

Last weekend, in the co-main event of the UFC’s return to Belem, Brazil’s Priscila Cachoeira was brutalized by the far more experienced Valentina Shevchenko en route to a second-round submission loss. In the wake of this brutal fight, there has been widespread criticism of referee Mario Yamasaki. In the eyes of many fans and pundits, the referee should have stopped the fight much earlier. UFC President Dana White was particularly critical of Yamasaki post-fight. Priscilla Cachoeira, you showed so much heart and toughness in that fight. I’m honored to have you fight in the UFC. Unfortunately the ref is there to protect you and Mario DID NOT do that. This isn’t his first disgusting performance in the octagon. Another unfortunate thing is that i can’t do anything about I️t only the Brazilian commission can and i am hoping after this scary, incompetent showing he hopefully will never set foot in that Octagon again. Strikes landed was 230-3.

Drake Riggs - February 7, 2018

UPDATE: Dana White says Tyron Woodley vs. Nate Diaz isn't happening, but a Woodley vs Rafael Dos Anjos is the fight the UFC is trying to make. https://t.co/yAIKjR1ZHs — FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) February 8, 2018

Tom Taylor - February 7, 2018

It’s no secret that UFC President Dana White is an extremely wealthy man, and that’s he’s willing to drop serious sums of money when the mood strikes. White’s latest extravagant purchase was documented on the show Pawn Stars. On a recent episode, the UFC boss enters the famous pawn shop in search of weapons for his new “weapons room.”

Tom Taylor - February 4, 2018

Last night, in the co-main event of the UFC’s anticipated stop in Belem, Brazil, former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger Valentina Shevchenko made her debut in the new UFC women’s flyweight division opposite Brazil’s Priscila Cachoeira. The fight wasn’t close. From the opening bell, Shevchenko was an absolute predator, eating her opponent alive en route to a lopsided, second-round choke. While Shevchenko couldn’t have been more impressive in this flyweight debut, her win wasn’t all positive. Unfortunately, many members of the MMA community had criticisms of referee Mario Yamasaki, who probably could have halted the action sooner, and protected a few million of Cachoeira’s braincells.

Russell Sai - January 24, 2018

Nate Diaz gave his fans a real reason to look forward to the summer. The scrapper from Stockton stated on Tuesday in a social media post that a return in May or June is coming. TMZ caught up with Dana White on Wednesday and asked the UFC president about Diaz wanting to fight again.

Justin Golightly - January 20, 2018

As the smoke settles from the announcement that Tony Ferguson will fight Khabib Nurmagomedov potentially for the UFC undisputed lightweight title, it turns out that this is only the beginning of what could be the biggest year for the organization of all time. That is, if half the things Dana White predicts will happen actually come to fruition. In am interview that went down right after the UFC 223 presser, White goes on to say he believes Conor McGregor, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Brock Lesnar and either Nick or Nate Diaz will fight in 2018. “I’m going to take the odds [that Conor McGregor will fight more than once in 2018]. I’m going to say yes. I’m going to make a lot of money, I’m going to say yes [that Georges St-Pierre fights again this year]. […] I’m going to take the odds again and say yes [that Brock Lesnar will return this year]. I’ll take the yes [that Jon Jones returns as well]. I’m going to go with yes [that one of the Diaz brothers fight again this year too].”

Russell Sai - January 20, 2018

Dana White dodged answering if Conor McGregor will be stripped of his undisputed lightweight title during the Boston press conference On Friday leading up to UFC 220, which takes place today. Instead, White insisted that the winner of Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov “will be the champion.” However, White did state that McGregor’s ideal plan of returning to competition in the Octagon in the third or fourth quarter of 2018 is much too long of a time without an undisputed UFC lightweight title fight.

Drake Riggs - January 19, 2018

"The winner of this fight will be champion." – @DanaWhite on the #UFC223 main event pic.twitter.com/zkcfGMwHk0 — UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) January 19, 2018

Russell Sai - January 18, 2018

At this moment, which fighter would you like to see matched up against Conor McGregor? Many say that UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson makes the most sense. Many others are still hot on the idea of a Nate Diaz trilogy. However, according to Dana White, there are a ton of people that are intrigued by a Conor McGregor vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov scrap.

Justin Golightly - January 17, 2018

Yesterday a ton of reports flooded the net like a tsunami. News broke that Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson wouldn’t just be fighting each other, but that it’d be for the undisputed title after Conor McGregor is stripped. We at BJ Penn followed up with sources close to Tony Ferguson and was able to confirm the news that it was a done deal. Some reports seem to counter the news, but it looks like we were on the right track. Dana White himself just made the news official today: It’s on! Dana White on our show confirmed that Khabib vs. Ferguson is indeed on for UFC 223 in Brooklyn. #UFC

Tom Taylor - January 15, 2018

If things had gone according to plan, Uriah Hall would have battled the retiring Vitor Belfort in the co-main event of last night’s UFC St. Louis card. Regrettably, Hall was hospitalized as the result of a weight-cut gone awry, and forced out of the fight at the last minute. Despite the fact that Hall is reported to have endured seizures in the midst of his botched cut, UFC President Dana White still isn’t happy with him.

Tom Taylor - January 9, 2018

In an era of combat sports where terms like “super fight” and “money fight” are such popular buzzwords, the UFC has been catching some flack for its matchmaking strategy. The widespread worry is that the promotion is focused on booking the most lucrative fights, rather than fights between the best competitors available. In the opinion of UFC Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Epstein, however, these worries are a little unfounded. Epstein defended the UFC’s matchmaking strategy in a recent chat with ESPN, assuring that it’s still based on competition, not profit.

Tom Taylor - January 9, 2018

Back in the summer of 2016, the UFC was sold to WME-IMG for a whopping 4.2 billion dollars. While this initially looked like a great investment, with fighters like Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey still actively competing, 2017 was a much slower year for the UFC. Conor McGregor didn’t fight at all. Neither did Ronda Rousey. Neither did Brock Lesnar. Jon Jones fought once, but then failed a drug test. Georges St-Pierre fought once, but seems to have re-retired post-fight. You get the picture… According to UFC President Dana White, however, there’s no cause for alarm. In fact, the UFC is still doing great business – such that WME-IMG is probably pretty pleased with their investment.

Russell Sai - January 5, 2018

It’s quite clear that UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor is not very fond of Showtime Sports Executive Stephen Espinoza. During the Mayweather vs. McGregor world tour press conference, McGregor felt that he was being set up by Showtime at every chance they got. “The Notorious” called out Espinoza, calling him a “weasel” after his mic was turned off for a period of time during the first stop of the tour in Los Angeles.

Justin Golightly - January 5, 2018

Ahead of a new TV deal the UFC needs and the beginnings of ZUFFA Boxing being worked out, Dana White doesn’t care at all about burning bridges, especially if that bridge is SHOWTIME. They worked together to promote Conor McGregor’s gargauntuan boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, with White saying that the whole thing was an easy experience. However, it looks like that wasn’t the case behind the scenes as White just recently publicly buried them in this recent interview. “Think about this — and I don’t give a sh-t about SHOWTIME’s f-cking full of sh-t press release they put out — [Conor McGregor’s boxing match with Floyd Mayweather] is the biggest fight ever. Ever in combat sports history. The thing did over 6.7 million buys and if the service didn’t drop, we would have gotten closer to 7 million. It was the biggest event ever.”