Dana White News

Adam Martin - October 29, 2021

UFC welterweight contender Khamzat Chimaev was praised by UFC president Dana White ahead of his comeback fight this Saturday at UFC 267. Chimaev has not fought in over a year since he knocked out Gerald Meerschaert in September 2020. Following that win, which was Chimaev’s third straight victory in the Octagon, the promotion booked him against Leon Edwards in what would have been a No. 1 contender fight at welterweight. However, Chimaev was forced to withdraw from the Edwards fight due to contracting COVID-19. In fact, he actually retired from the sport for some time citing his illness, though he eventually was able to recover and return to action.

Adam Martin - October 29, 2021

Dana White blasted Jake Paul following his critical comments of Claressa Shields, saying “he better be careful, she might knock him out.” Paul criticized Shields following her loss to Abigail Montes at the PFL Championship and soon afterwards, Shields fired back at the YouTuber-turned-boxer. In Abu Dhabi ahead of UFC 267, White was asked if he heard the comments that Paul made towards Shields, and he said that he did. As far as White goes, Paul is biting off a bit more than he can chew.

Adam Martin - October 29, 2021

Dana White responded after Joanna Jedrzejczyk asked for a bigger piece of cake, saying that “Joanna ate a lot of cake when she was champion.” Despite having not fought since March 2020, Jedrzejczyk has been in the news as of late for several reasons. First, divisional rival Marina Rodriguez said that she wanted to see her removed from the rankings following her win over Mackenzie Dern earlier this month. After that, the UFC rankings did in fact remove Jedrzejczyk from the rankings pool. Since then, she has come out and said that she would like to return to the UFC and plans to in 2022, but she is hoping to get a new contract, or as she says, “a bigger piece of the cake.”

Christopher Taylor - October 27, 2021

Dana White has reacted after news broke that former UFC welterweight Mike Perry has inked a multi-fight deal with BKFC. ‘Platinum’ (14-8 MMA) fought out his UFC contract back in April, suffering a unanimous decision loss to Daniel Rodriguez. The setback marked Perry’s second in a row, and fourth in his past five fights overall.

Adam D Martin - October 27, 2021

UFC middleweight contender Marvin Vettori “absolutely makes sense” as the backup for the upcoming 185lbs title fight, says Dana White. Vettori defeated Paulo Costa via unanimous decision in the main event of this past Saturday’s UFC Vegas 41 card. The fight actually took place at 205lbs because Costa struggled to make weight, but it was at its heart a matchup between two elite 185lbs fighters. Vettori got the job done by decision, and overall he has won six of his last seven fights, with his only recent loss coming to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya during that stretch. Currently, Vettori is ranked No. 2 overall at 185lbs.

Harry Kettle - October 27, 2021

UFC president Dana White has given his thoughts on Oron Kahlon calling Afghani opponent Javid Basharat a “terrorist”. During the weigh-ins for last night’s Contender Series, Kahlon missed weight and proceeded to label Basharat a terrorist in front of UFC officials and the media. It doesn’t appear as if anything came of it in terms of official punishment, but when they got inside the Octagon, Basharat made him pay with a dominant performance that was capped off by a nice submission victory.

Christopher Taylor - October 25, 2021

Former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson claims MMA superstar Nate Diaz is leaving the UFC after his next fight. Diaz (20-13 MMA) was last seen in action at June’s UFC 263 event, where despite mounting a late comeback, he ultimately suffered a unanimous decision loss to Leon Edwards. The setback marked Nate’s second in a row and put him on the final fight of his current contract with the UFC.

Christopher Taylor - October 25, 2021

Dana White has responded after former UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos slammed the promotion for their lack of “professionalism”. Dos Santos (21-9 MMA) was cut by the Ultimate Fighting Championship shortly following his TKO loss to Ciryl Gane at UFC 256. That setback had marked the Brazilians fourth in a row, with all four losses coming by way of technical knockout.

Christopher Taylor - October 25, 2021

UFC President Dana White is doing his best to try and persuade superstar Nate Diaz into signing a new contract with the promotion. Diaz (20-13 MMA) was last seen in action at June’s UFC 263 event, where despite mounting a late comeback, he ultimately suffered a unanimous decision loss to Leon Edwards. The setback marked Nate’s second in a row and put him on the final fight of his current contract with the UFC.

Adam Martin - October 24, 2021

UFC president Dana White revealed the fight night weights of Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori at Saturday night’s UFC Vegas 41 event. Costa and Vettori were originally scheduled to fight in a 185lbs middleweight bout in the main event of UFC Vegas 41, but Costa showed up to fight week heavy. Because he was unable to make the 185lbs limit, the UFC then talked about booking the fight at a catchweight of 195lbs, instead. But Costa could not make that weight, either, and the UFC was finally forced to move the fight all the way up to 205lbs in the light heavyweight division. Because Costa was so heavy, he was forced to give Vettori 30% of his purse.

Chris Taylor - October 23, 2021

Dana White provided an update on superstar Nate Diaz during tonight’s UFC Vegas 41 post-fight press conference in Nevada. Diaz (20-13 MMA) was last seen in action at June’s UFC 263 event, where despite mounting a late comeback, he ultimately suffered a unanimous decision loss to Leon Edwards.

Chris Taylor - October 23, 2021

Dana White shared his thoughts on tonight’s UFC Vegas 41 main event between Marvin Vettori and Paulo Costa during the post-fight presser. The former middleweight title challengers, Costa and Vettori, were originally supposed to collide at their natural fighting weight of 185lbs. However, earlier in the week ‘The Eraser’ revealed he would not be able to make weight for the contest and the bout was utlimately moved to light heavyweight, much to the chagrin of UFC President Dana White.

Adam D Martin - October 20, 2021

UFC president Dana White reacted after promotional superstar Conor McGregor allegedly attacked DJ Francesco Facchinetti in Italy. McGregor allegedly broke the nose of Facchinetti this past weekend at a party in Rome. According to the DJ, he and McGregor were having a good time at a party when McGregor got angry out of nowhere, punched the DJ in the face, and broke his nose. According to the DJ, he now plans on suing McGregor for this incident. Of course, it’s far from the first time that McGregor has been in trouble with the law, so it’s only natural that his boss, White, was asked about the incident involving the UFC’s biggest star when speaking to the media.

Adam D Martin - October 14, 2021

Carla Esparza says she plans on waiting for a UFC women’s strawweight title shot despite a warning from UFC president Dana White. Esparza is currently riding a five-fight win streak and, in her last appearance, absolutely smashed the face of Yan Xiaonan with ground-and-pound en route to a second-round TKO stoppage and a 50k POTN bonus. In addition, Esparza holds a notable win over Marina Rodriguez during her win streak, who looks to be a top contender following her recent victory over Mackenzie Dern. Overall, Esparza has done everything that she has had to in order to get a title shot at 115lbs. And yet, the UFC decided that they were going to book a rematch between Rose Namajunas and Weili Zhang that takes place at UFC 268.

Christopher Taylor - October 13, 2021

Jon Jones revealed that he was molested as a child and has things he needs to “deal with” following his recent domestic violence arrest. The former UFC light heavyweight kingpin, Jones (26-1 MMA), was arrested last month on charges of battery, domestic violence, and injuring / tampering with a vehicle.

Harry Kettle - October 13, 2021

UFC president Dana White has spoken about the UFC release of Luis Pena and whether something similar could happen to Jon Jones. Just a few days ago Luis Pena was arrested on charges of domestic violence, just a few months removed from being arrested for robbery, battery, and criminal mischief. While the outcome of his case has yet to be determined, the UFC acted swiftly by releasing Pena from his contract with the promotion.

Harry Kettle - October 11, 2021

UFC lightweight contender Dustin Poirier believes Daniel Cormier could replace Dana White as UFC president one day. It’s a task that many folks probably wouldn’t want, given the stress that comes with it, but for many years now Dana White has held the position of being UFC president. It doesn’t appear as if he’s going to step down anytime soon but when he does, the company needs to be ready to replace him.

Adam D Martin - October 6, 2021

UFC president Dana White says that UFC fighters do not want the media or fans to know how much money they make with the company. Fighter pay is often a touchy topic with White and the UFC. There have been lots of stories about UFC fighters being paid poorly as of late, and boxer Jake Paul has been leading the charge to get the fighters a bigger percentage of the UFC’s revenue pie. Despite the numbers saying otherwise, White has remained adamant that UFC fighters are paid quite well. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why White says the fighters want their numbers private despite there being fans and media who are curious as to what they make.