Dana White News

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2018

Speaking on the UFC Unfiltered podcast this week, UFC President Dana White unleashed a virulent tirade targeting Oscar De La Hoya and Tito Ortiz for allowing Chuck Liddell to fight again — and ultimately be knocked out again. “Listen, I love Chuck Liddell and I don’t ever want to badmouth Chuck Liddell,” White said (transcript via MMANytt). “People do think I’m badmouthing Chuck Liddell , but the reality is, first of all, let’s says this first, I heard last week that the cokehead, ‘Oscar Del La Weirdo’ is talking s***, that I don’t have any place to tell guys when to retire. First of all, it’s called friendship you f***ing cokehead. I’ve been friends with Chuck Liddell for 20 years and the reality is that Chuck Liddell retired when he should’ve retired, 8 or 9 years ago, whenever it was.

Tom Taylor - November 28, 2018

Ahead of his UFC 229 fight with undefeated UFC lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor unleashed plenty of his famous trash talk. Unfortunately, some fans felt that McGregor crossed some lines with his trash talk of Nurmagomedov, as he targeted the champ’s family, ethnicity, religion and more. UFC President Dana White, however, doesn’t see it that way. Speaking to ESPN recently, White essentially said that all’s fair in the fight business, and that Conor McGregor mentioning Khabib Nurmagomedov’s religion and family is no different than Muhammad Ali targeting George Foreman ahead of The Thrilla in Manila.

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2018

There’s recently been reason to believe that the end is near for the UFC flyweight division. First, the promotion traded the former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson to ONE Championship in exchange for Ben Askren. Then, it cut ties with a number of talented flyweight fighters — some of whom claimed to have heard that the division is being decommissioned. UFC President Dana White, however, has remained fairly tight-lipped about the division’s future. Speaking on the latest episode of the UFC Unfiltered podcast, Dana White shared his latest update on the division — though it didn’t exactly clear things up.

Tom Taylor - November 27, 2018

File UFC President Dana White into the group of people who seemed to strongly disapprove of last weekend’s Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell rematch. Speaking on the UFC Unfiltered podcast, the UFC boss unleashed a virulent tirade against the bout’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya, Tito Ortiz, and the California State Athletic Commission for allowing this fight to happen.

Drake Riggs - November 22, 2018

UFC 232 on December 29 plays host to plenty of great matchups to close out the year. One of which happens to take place at 145-pounds as top contenders Alexander Volkanovski and Chad Mendes face off. For the former two-time title challenger in Mendes, this will be only his second fight since returning from a two-year suspension in July.

Cole Shelton - November 22, 2018

Israel Adesanya is a rising star in the UFC. The New Zealander signed with the promotion early in 2018 and has had a phenomenal year. The 29-year-old went 4-0 in 2018 and is the favorite to win breakthrough fighter of the year. Adesanya went from a virtual unknown to being ranked sixth in the middleweight division in only a matter of a couple months. In his most recent effort, Adesanya defeated Derrick Brunson at UFC 230 which put him into the top ten of the rankings. Following his stoppage victory over Brunson, Adesanya stated his desire to fight for the title in his next octagon appearance. However, with Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum booked for early in 2019, Adesanya will most likely have to win another fight before being granted that opportunity.

Tom Taylor - November 20, 2018

UFC President Dana White has not been shy about his disdain for former ONE Championship and Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren in the past. Yet Chael Sonnen believes the UFC President will come to love the American wrestler, who has finally joined the UFC roster. In fact, he thinks Askren is likely to become White’s favorite fighter.

Tom Taylor - November 20, 2018

Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz’s trilogy fight is just around the corner. The fight, which is being promoted by Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions, goes down this Saturday, November 24. As this trilogy fight between the two MMA legends looms on the horizon, many members of the MMA community are quite excited. Others, however, would prefer to see Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz sticking to their retirement plans.

Chris Taylor - November 17, 2018

Undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather (50-0 Boxing) is interested in setting up a super-fight with current UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov (27-0 MMA). Of course, Floyd Mayweather is requesting that this potential contest take place inside the ring under official boxing rules.

Chris Taylor - November 17, 2018

Donald Cerrone is eyeing a fight with former UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor for his return to the 155-pound division. Shortly following his emphatic first-round submission victory over Mike Perry at UFC Denver, “Cowboy” teased a potential fight with Conor McGregor on Instagram.

Tom Taylor - November 11, 2018

Ever since long-time UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson was sent to ONE Championship, there’s been questions about the future of the division he ruled for so log. Not long after his departure, FloCombat reported that the closure of the division was imminent, and when the UFC released several notable flyweight fighters such as Justin Scoggins, Jose Torres, Jared Brooks and Roberto Sanchez, some of whom claimed to have heard the division was being scrapped, the wheels seemed to be in motion.

Tom Taylor - November 11, 2018

There was a time, not all that long ago, when UFC President Dana White was moving to cut Mexican featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez from the promotion’s roster. Now, he’s crediting Rodriguez with the “craziest knockout ever.” The knockout in question occurred on Saturday night, in the main event of the UFC’s 25th anniversary show in Denver, when Yair Rodriguez stepped into the cage with fan favorite Korean star Chan Sung Jung — better known as The Korean Zombie.

Tom Taylor - November 6, 2018

Riding high on a fourth-round submission defeat of Conor McGregor, Khabib Nurmagomedov has never been more popular. In fact, he’s become so popular that his manager Ali Abdelaziz now feels that he’s deserving of a $50-$100 million payday in his next fight.  “Ben Askren, [UFC welterweight champion Tyron] Woodley, none of these guys can touch Khabib,” Abdelaziz said in a recent interview with TMZ Sports. “Especially if they’re scared to get tired and these guys, they get tired. Now, I’m not even worried about Tyron or Ben Askren, I’m worrying about somebody bringing $50 million to $100 million to the table and none of these guys can bring $200,000 to the table.”

Tom Taylor - November 6, 2018

https://www.facebook.com/bigchickenshaqshow/videos/571942693236848/ Retired NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal has been an MMA fan for years. ‘Shaq’ has even talked about competing in the sport — against Hong Man Choi — in the past. That said, he has never actually fought before.

Tom Taylor - November 4, 2018

Given how long it took for Ben Askren, inarguably one of the best welterweights in the world, to sign with the UFC, you would not be faulted for thinking that the promotion’s brass were not fans of his. In fact, given the way UFC President Dana White has previously spoken about Askren, it’d be understandable if you thought he hated the welterweight star outright. Speaking at the post-fight press conference for UFC 230, which Ben Askren attended, Dana White assured this is not the case. In fact, Dana White says he came up with the deal that ultimately brought Askren to the UFC in exchange for Demetrious Johnson.

Tom Taylor - November 4, 2018

Last night, in the opening bout of the UFC 230 main card, red-hot UFC middleweight contender Israel Adesanya picked up the biggest win of his career, dissecting long-time contender Derek Brunson with some of the finest striking we’ve ever seen in the Octagon. With this win, just about everybody jumped aboard the Israel Adesanya hype train — and that includes UFC President Dana White. The boss showered the Nigerian New Zealander with praise shortly after the card wrapped up.

Cole Shelton - November 1, 2018

Jon Jones is, no question about it, one of the greatest fighters of all time. If he defeats Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232 this December 29, that will be even harder to deny. At least that’s what UFC President Dana White thinks. “That’s the question. And that is a great question. If he can come back and win the title after everything he has been through, it would be tough to deny he would be the greatest ever,” said Dana White speaking to ESPN. “We can talk about how Jon Jones could have been the greatest, and if he comes back and does this it is hard to deny.”

Tom Taylor - October 31, 2018

Ari Emanuel, Endeavor CEO and owner of the UFC, is a powerful man. So too is UFC President Dana White. As such, both have been added to the Variety500 list, which counts down the 500 post powerful businesspeople in the entertainment industry. Here’s what the Variety500 list is all about, per the site itself (h/t MMA Mania):