Dana White News

Russell Ess - December 23, 2016

There is a perfected recipe for UFC success with Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz being the two main ingredients. McGregor and Diaz who headlined UFC 196 and UFC 202 have two of the highest, if not the top two highest UFC pay-per-view buys in the history of the UFC. Diaz was able to shock the world and submit McGregor in the second round of their first meeting at UFC 196. Then McGregor came back to win the rematch at UFC 202 by majority decision and both events were a massive success.

Russell Ess - December 22, 2016

The MMA community has been buzzing with the news of Cris Cyborg’s potential Anti-Doping Policy violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collected on December 5, 2016.

Tom Taylor - December 20, 2016

Over the last few years, the UFC has tapped into a veritable gold mine of talent in Russia. The most notable Russian fighter on the UFC roster, of course, is Dagestan’s Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is currently banging on the door of lightweight champ Conor McGregor with both hands. In addition to Nurmagomedov, the UFC is now home to Russian talents like Rustam Khabilov, Ruslan Magomedov, Ali Bagautinov, Albert Tumenov, Oleksiy Oliynyk, Omari Akhmedov, Alexander Volkov, Rashid Magomedov, Alexander Yakovlev, Shamil Abdurakhimov, and others. The list is always growing.

Russell Ess - December 14, 2016

https://youtu.be/jeSfmTYz9FI Last week leading up to UFC 206, UFC President Dana White did some interviews with the media to promote the event that took place at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

bjpenndotcom - December 10, 2016

Since the new WME-IMG UFC owners took control of the company earlier this year, they have continued to fire numerous high-profile employees, including UFC Canada’s Tom Wright, and UFC Hall of Famers Chuck Liddell & Matt Hughes to name just a few. Recently, there were reports circulating that in order to potentially secure a new TV deal, the promotion was looking to replace the “hype” style of commentary that longtime commentators Joe Rogan & Mike Goldberg brought to the table. While there has been no further reports on the matter, Joe Rogan’s friend, Eddie Bravo, recently asked on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience’s Fight Companion “Who’s taking Mike Goldberg’s spot?” which led to a period of awkward silence with Joe Rogan and Brendan Schaub, potentially indicating that there was some truth behind Bravo’s question.

Russell Ess - December 9, 2016

UFC 206 takes place on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The Canada card has had a couple big shakeups as the originally planned main event for UFC 206 took a turn when it was revealed weeks out from the fight that Daniel Cormier was forced out of his UFC light heavyweight title defense against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson due to suffering an injury.

Russell Ess - December 9, 2016

With the five famous fighters that were a part of the Mixed Martial Arts Athletes Association announcement last week, UFC President Dana White has said that “fighters can go out and do what they want to do — they are all grown men.” However, White did state that he was surprised to see Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone as one of the five fighters standing as a part of the association, especially after White helped him out with a legal situation where White paid for Cerrone’s attorney out of his own pocket. White was a guest on Tim & Sid on Sportsnet and commented on Cerrone’s involvement with the MMAAA and the conversation that he had with Cerrone following the announcement of the association.

Tom Taylor - December 9, 2016

On Friday morning, we learned that former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis had missed weight for his UFC 206 interim featherweight title fight with Max Holloway. Though this weigh-in miss will thankfully not force the cancellation of their bout, it will nix Pettis’ chances of winning interim featherweight gold. Holloway will still be crowned interim champion with a win, but Pettis will not. Needless to say, this was a disappointing twist for fight fans. Perhaps nobody was more disappointed by the news, however, than UFC President Dana White, who has been bending over backwards trying to keep the UFC 206 lineup from falling apart.

bjpenndotcom - December 8, 2016

Since Conor McGregor was pulled from UFC 200 in April for refusing to fulfill his media obligations, there have been talks of the Irish superstar making the jump to boxing to compete against undefeated boxing icon Floyd Mayweather. While at that time talks progressed to the point that Colin Cowherd even announced the targeted date for the bout, the fight never materialized. Now, on the heels of McGregor’s UFC 205 win over Eddie Alvarez last month, which saw ‘Notorious’ claim the UFC lightweight championship and become the first ever simultaneous two-division UFC champion when he picked up a second round TKO win over Alvarez, talks of a McGregor-Mayweather boxing match have once again picked up steam.

Russell Ess - December 7, 2016

(Video has been taken down from YouTube channel) Many people were shocked when the UFC announced that Conor McGregor “relinquished” the UFC featherweight championship title recently. Many even speculated that the UFC simply stripped “The Notorious” of the 145-pound title with the Irish superstar being quite mum on the matter when it was first announced.

Russell Ess - December 7, 2016

https://youtu.be/5PbevV7PncM?t=4m57s UFC President Dana White apparently has changed his mind on a UFC women’s 145-pound featherweight division.

Russell Ess - December 7, 2016

It sounds like Conor McGregor may be out of competition for a bit longer than expected. Many were expecting “The Notorious” to take time off from fighting until his baby was born in the summer of 2017.

Tom Taylor - December 6, 2016

Though Jon Jones stands out as one of the best mixed martial artists ever, he’s had an undeniably rough few years. His recent career has been marred by everything from cocaine use to a hit-and-run involving a pregnant woman. Earlier this year, of course, it looked like a matured Jones might finally be getting his life back on track. Though it was far from his best performance, he made a successful return to action, defeating late-replacement Ovince St. Preux to win the UFC interim light heavyweight title. With this win in the books, Jones was then pencilled in for a title unifying rematch with Daniel Cormier, who has been sitting on the divisional throne in his stead. The two were expected to share the main event honors of the landmark UFC 200 in July.

bjpenndotcom - December 6, 2016

Former Bellator MMA CEO Bjorn Rebney recently found himself making headlines recently when he joined former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre, former UFC champions TJ Dillashaw & Cain Velasquez, and top ranked fighters Donald Cerrone & Tim Kennedy in announcing the formation of the MMA Athletes Association. While the association mostly received praise form fighters, many questioned the former Bellator MMA CEO’s motives, with UFC President Dana White stating:

bjpenndotcom - December 6, 2016

Last week, former UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre, former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, top ranked welterweight Donald Cerrone, and top ranked middleweight Tim Kennedy announced the formation of the MMA Athletes Association (MMAAA) along with former Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney. The move was a very historic one, with numerous fighters taking to social media to express their support for the association, as well as many looking to join the association.

bjpenndotcom - December 6, 2016

This past weekend, in the co-main event of The Ultimate Fighter season 24 Finale, coaches Joseph Benavidez & Henry Cejudo squared off in a highly anticipated flyweight showdown. With the possibility of a fight with flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson on the line, both men gave the fight everything they had. Ultimately, the judges scored the fight a split decision for Joseph Benavidez, with Cejudo being deducted a point in the first round likely playing a major part in the decision swinging Benavidez’ way. Despite that, Cejudo, as well as many members of the MMA community, scored the fight in the former Olympian’s favor. Following the fight, Cejudo texted UFC President Dana White, who replied with an apology over the scorecards.

Russell Ess - December 2, 2016

When UFC superstar Conor McGregor makes any type of significant moves, the word spreads quickly. On Wednesday, Ariel Helwani and Brett Okamoto tweeted that current UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor was granted a boxing license in the state of California. It later came to light that McGregor applied for a boxing license in numerous states.

Tom Taylor - December 2, 2016

Earlier this month, Conor McGregor knocked out Eddie Alvarez to win the UFC lightweight title. Given that the Irishman already owned the featherweight crown, this made him the first fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two weight classes simultaneously. It was a short-lived reign as two-division king. Weeks after winning the lightweight title, McGregor was stripped of the featherweight belt. At the same time, interim featherweight champ Jose Aldo was promoted to undisputed champ, while it was announced that Max Holloway and Anthony Pettis would vie for interim featherweight gold in the new main event of UFC  206.