Dana White News

Adam Martin - October 29, 2021

UFC welterweight Nate Diaz has to ask himself if he wants to fight the young savages in the UFC, president Dana White says. Diaz is one of the biggest superstars in MMA and he has one final fight left on his UFC contract. Over the past few months, we have seen Diaz take to social media to try and score fights with the likes of Dustin Poirier and Vicente Luque, to name a few, but so far the UFC hasn’t booked him for his next fight yet. With Diaz having just one fight left on his current UFC contract, it is important to both the promotion and the fighter that they select the right opponent for Diaz in what could potentially be the final fight of his UFC career.

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.”

Adam D Martin - October 27, 2021

UFC president Dana White doubled down on Paulo Costa moving up to light heavyweight, saying that “he’s a 205lbs fighter now.” Costa showed up heavy to fight week last week and his planned middleweight bout against Marvin Vettori was moved up to light heavyweight after Costa couldn’t make the 185lbs middleweight limit. The fight turned out to be a war between two very tough and durable fighters, but ultimately, it was Vettori earning the decision. Either way, there was some thought that because Costa performed so well in the fight, and since it was his first time missing weight in the UFC, that White could cut him some slack and give him another chance to make the middleweight limit. Apparently not so.

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.

Drake Riggs - October 25, 2021

FORT LAUDERDALE — Kayla Harrison will be a free agent after this Wednesday’s PFL 2021 Championship. Appearing during the fight week’s media day, Harrison answered the usual round of questions – lastly focusing on comments from Dana White earlier in the day.

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.

Adam D Martin - October 20, 2021

MMA legend and current Bellator heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko blasted UFC president Dana White, saying “he has no respect towards fighters.” Emelianenko is one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time, having fought for many of the top fight promotions in the sport’s history. The Russian currently stars for Bellator MMA, where this weekend he fights UFC veteran Tim Johnson in a heavyweight bout that headlines Bellator 269. There is a chance that this could be the final fight of Emelianenko’s incredible MMA career, and if it’s the case, then he would do so without having fought for the UFC. It’s arguably the biggest “what if” story in mixed martial arts history as Emelianenko was never able to prove his heavyweight greatness at the UFC level.

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.

Christopher Taylor - October 12, 2021

UFC President Dana White shared his thoughts on last weekend’s Tyson Fury vs. Deontay Wilder trilogy following tonight’s Contender Series event. Fury put his WBO and The Ring heavyweight titles on the line last Saturday in Las Vegas, when he squared off with Wilder for a third time.

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.