Dana White News

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.

Tom Taylor - February 8, 2018

Over the last few months, there has been significant buzz about undefeated boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. stepping int the Octagon to compete in MMA. It all began when Mayweather suggested he’d been in talks with the UFC.

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 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.

Chris Taylor - January 21, 2018

Dana White discusses Francis Ngannou’s first UFC setback and what could come next for Stipe Miocic. "I don't see why he couldn't fight at heavyweight."@danawhite asked @dc_mma if he'd be interested in a title shot with @StipeMiocicUFC. Can we get this, please? #UFC220 https://t.co/FljOglKMIB

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].”

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.

Russell Sai - January 17, 2018

It’s becoming much more clear that Dana White is not going to let Conor McGregor remain the UFC lightweight champion if he does not have plans of fighting until the later part of 2018. Speaking on the Toucher and Rich radio show on Wednesday, White said that the fight between Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov is going to take place. In addition, White sounds like he does have plans of stripping the belt from McGregor so the lightweight division can move along.

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 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.

Justin Golightly - January 6, 2018

Dana White wants to launch ZUFFA Boxing and suddenly he’s at war with SHOWTIME and other promoters. He went on a tirade the other day on what he beleived were false SHOWTIME numbers regarding the historic Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather boxing bout. Since then, SHOWTIME executive Stephen Espinoza, who he worked together with to promote the fight, clapped back at his claims. Now Bob Arum has add fuel to the flames in his own, level-headed and precise way. Dana White wanted to talk numbers, so he’s talking numbers. “A lot of what [Dana White] says is inconsistencies but I don’t want to take it apart piece by piece. What’s really happening is the UFC is cratering. You look at the ratings they’re getting and you look at their pay-per-view business, which is way down. Why? Because they don’t have the marquee stars that they had before. Because the UFC model is to keep the money for itself and not pay the fighters the way people in boxing pay the fighters, which is a major part of the revenue. So really, he has a real problem getting a deal that will justify the $4.5 billion price that they sold UFC for and neither FOX or anyone else will come close to that price.”

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.

Tom Taylor - January 3, 2018

UFC President Dana White certainly catches his fair share of criticism. Whether it’s for his profanity-laced diatribes, his ruthless approach to business, or the way he treats his fighter, it seems he’s always under fire for something. Somewhere underneath White’s prickly exterior, however, is a heart of gold, and every now and then, that heart reveals itself. Perhaps the best example of this occured in 2010, when White opened his wallet and paid for the emergency liver-transplant of a seven-month-old baby girl in Thailand.

Russell Sai - January 2, 2018

Conor McGregor was described as “obsessed” after he lost to Nate Diaz at UFC 196. Coach John Kavanagh even mentioned that the loss to Diaz stung much worse for the current UFC lightweight champion than the Mayweather loss did. However, according to Dana White, the loss to Mayweather seems to be growing on “The Notorious.” “Conor wants that fight again really bad,” White said recently on FS1 (transcribed by Damon Martin for MMA Weekly). “I told Conor what you did was amazing. I was sitting there with my partner Lorenzo [Fertitta] and I kept saying, ‘Oh my god, we found this kid in Ireland four years ago. He’s going into the sixth round with Floyd Mayweather. He’s going into the seventh round with Floyd Mayweather.’