Dana White News

Adam Martin - December 10, 2020

UFC president Dana White took a shot at Bellator MMA, saying “there’s much better promotions all over the world” when it comes to talent. Bellator is, by all accounts and purposes, the UFC’s main rival, especially when it comes to the North American MMA scene. The UFC is still the top dog and has been for many years, but that hasn’t stopped Bellator from trying to compete and stay the course as the No. 2 promotion. Bellator, in fact, signed former UFC light heavyweight title challenger Anthony Johnson this week, indicating once again it means business.

Adam Martin - December 10, 2020

UFC president Dana White says he had Anthony Johnson under contract, but that it was “in his best interest” to go to Bellator. When news broke this week that Johnson was making a comeback to MMA with Bellator and not with the UFC, it surprised a lot of fans and media, who assumed that Johnson would want to make another title run in the Octagon. “Rumble” has been testing a comeback to the game for a little while now, and with Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones leaving the UFC’s 205lbs weight class, it seemed like a prime opportunity for Johnson to make a run for the UFC light heavyweight title in 2021.

Adam Martin - December 8, 2020

UFC president Dana White says that the upcoming roster cuts from the world’s leading MMA promotion have “nothing to do with fighter pay.” Last week, the UFC made the surprising move to release former middleweight title contender Yoel Romero. Although Romero is 43 years old and riding a three-fight losing streak, he was still ranked in the top-five and the move came as a surprise to a lot of people. White told the media that these surprises will keep on coming as the promotion looks to cut up to 60 fighters from its active roster. That has led fans and media to speculate on the UFC’s motivation to cut all of these 60 fighters.

Tom Taylor - December 7, 2020

UFC President Dana White has shared his initial thoughts on the upcoming boxing exhibition match between Floyd Mayweather and Logan Paul. The Mayweather vs. Paul fight, scheduled for February 20, was announced over the weekend. In an unsurprising twist, this clash between one of the greatest boxers of all time and a YouTube star with a 0-1 pro boxing record generated some interesting reactions from the stars of the combat sports world.

Tom Taylor - December 7, 2020

UFC President Dana White has commented on the recent spike of fight cancellations due to athletes and their cornermen testing positive for COVID-19. While the pandemic has gripped the world for close to a year now, there’s recently been an increased number of cancelled fights due to the virus. White commented on the issue at the post-fight press conference for last weekend’s UFC Vegas 16 card, which was particularly hard-hit by the COVID-related fight cancellations.

Adam Martin - December 6, 2020

UFC president Dana White revealed what he thinks are the most competitive weight classes in the world’s leading MMA promotion. The UFC has never had the sheer amount of talent as it does right now. The promotion currently boasts eight men’s weight classes and four women’s weight classes, and there are incredible fighters in all of those divisions. Fans and media often discuss what they think the top weight classes in the sport are, and it’s a fun discussion that could lead to a variety of good answers. That’s why it was so interesting to hear what White had to say, considering he’s the UFC president.

Adam Martin - December 6, 2020

UFC president Dana White said that he would “love” to watch a potential middleweight bout between Marvin Vettori and Paulo Costa. Vettori picked up the biggest win of his UFC career to date on Saturday night when he won a unanimous decision over Jack Hermansson in a “Fight of the Night” war between two of the best middleweights in the world. With the win, Vettori figures to take Hermansson’s spot at No. 4 in the UFC rankings. As for Costa, despite a TKO loss to Israel Adesanya in their title fight at UFC 254, he is ranked No. 2 right now.

Adam Martin - December 6, 2020

UFC president Dana White confirmed that he will cut extra bonus checks to Jahamal Hill and Ilia Topuria after their wins on Saturday night. When the promotion announced the post-fight bonuses following Saturday’s UFC Vegas 16 event, both Hill and Topuria were not among the fighters who were given the $50,000 bonuses. Instead, the UFC rewarded middleweights Jack Hermansson and Marvin Vettori 50k each for “Fight of the Night,” while featherweight Gabriel Benitez and lightweight Jordan Leavitt each won 50k for “Performance of the Night.”

Adam D Martin - December 6, 2020

UFC president Dana White ripped MMA judge Chris Lee for his highly-scrutinized scorecards during his recent judging assignments. Lee had been involved in two highly-controversial split decision dissents in the last few weeks. At UFC Vegas 16 this past Saturday, Lee was the lone judge to score a light heavyweight bout between Roman Dolidze and John Allan in favor of Allan, for who he scored the fight 29-28. The other two judges scored it 30-27 and 29-28 in favor of Dolidze. According to MMADecisions.com, all 19 media paneled on the fight scored it for Dolidze. BJPenn.com scored the bout 30-27 for Dolidze. White also thought he won.

Adam D Martin - December 6, 2020

UFC president Dana White provided an update on veteran lightweight Matt Wiman after he suffered a brutal slam KO loss to Jordan Leavitt. In the opening main card fight at Saturday’s UFC Vegas 16 event, Leavitt picked Wiman up, carried him across the Octagon, and knocked him out with a devastating slam just 23 seconds into their fight. It was an absolutely brutal KO, as Wiman was knocked out cold the second his head came down against the canvas. For Leavitt, it was an incredible victory in his UFC debut, as he became only the 12th fighter in the promotion’s history to win a fight with a slam KO. It’s the kind of knockout that earned him a $50,000 bonus.

Christopher Taylor - December 5, 2020

Marvin Vettori called out Paulo Costa immediatley following his sensational win over Jack Hermansson in the main event of UFC Vegas 16. Vettori (16-4-1 MMA) extended his current win streak four in a row on Saturday night, defeating Hermansson by way of judges decision in a thrilling five round affair.

Chris Taylor - December 5, 2020

Dana White spoke to reporters following the conclusion of tonight’s UFC Vegas 16 event where he discussed the release of Yoel Romero. On Friday evening ESPN’s Ariel Helwani reported on Twitter that the former UFC middleweight title challenger, Romero (13-5 MMA), was now a free agent.

Tom Taylor - November 30, 2020

UFC President Dana White says there is “no hurry” to schedule the UFC debut of former Bellator lightweight champion “Iron” Michael Chandler. Chandler signed with the UFC in the fall, and was was immediately pegged as the understudy for the UFC 254-headlining lightweight title fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje. In the end, both Nurmagomedov and Gaethje made it to the Octagon that night, which meant Chandler’s services weren’t needed, and his UFC debut was put on ice.

Tom Taylor - November 30, 2020

You can count UFC President Dana White among the multitudinous new admirers of Puerto Rican welterweight prospect Miguel Baeza. Baeza returned to the Octagon in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 15 last weekend, defeating hard-nosed Japanese star Takashi Sato by submission. With the win, which broadcasted on ESPN, the 28-year-old improved to an impressive 10-0 overall, and gave the impression that he could become a big star in the near future.

Adam Martin - November 29, 2020

UFC president Dana White still believes that UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov will come back to the Octagon to make it 30-0. Nurmagomedov submitted Justin Gaethje with a triangle choke in the main event of UFC 254 on Fight Island in October. Immediately after getting the finish, the Russian champion took the mic and used his post-fight speech as an opportunity to retire from mixed martial arts. However, he never made it official, and in the past few weeks, we have heard rumblings that Nurmagomedov is in fact considering fighting one more time.

Adam Martin - November 29, 2020

UFC president Dana White says that he believes everyone is going to be infected by COVID-19 at some point in their lives. White was asked by reporters following UFC Vegas 15 how the coronavirus pandemic has been impacting his company. The UFC president said that COVID-19 has become part of the routine for the promotion now. That’s why when several recent main events were scrapped due to the coronavirus White said that it was just another day at the office. For the UFC bossman, the promotion is getting used to his fighters catching COVID-19. In fact, White told the media that he believes everyone will catch COVID-19.

Adam D Martin - November 29, 2020

UFC president Dana White reacted following Anthony Smith’s slick triangle choke submission win over Devin Clark at UFC Vegas 15. Smith had suffered brutal losses to Glover Teixeira and Aleksandar Rakic earlier this year, so he had a lot to prove here against Clark in a fight that filled in as the main event on short notice. Although the bout was scheduled for five rounds, Smith didn’t need that much time to get the job done as he was able to lock in the submission and coax the tapout over Clark in the first round. It was a much-needed win for Smith, who figures to still remain in his customary spot in the 205lbs top-10 rankings.

Adam D Martin - November 29, 2020

UFC president Dana White issued a cryptic response when questioned about the current status of featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez. Rodriguez was supposed to fight fellow contender Zabit Magomedsharipov over the summer in what would have been a No. 1 contender bout, but Rodriguez pulled out of the fight with a supposed ankle injury. Neither Rodriguez nor Magomedsharipov has been booked to fight again since the injury, one that wasn’t supposed to keep Rodriguez out this long. It makes you wonder if there is something else going on that we don’t know about, and White alluded to just that on Saturday night.