Dana White responds to COVID-19 testing criticisms from John Oliver

Dana White has responded to a piece of criticism from John Oliver, who discussed the UFC’s operations during the coronavirus pandemic on the latest episode of Last Week Tonight.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, White and the UFC recently managed to promote a trio of fight cards in Jacksonville, Florida.

Speaking during a segment on the state of sports during the pandemic, Oliver pointed out that UFC 249 undercard fighter Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and two of his cornermen tested positive for COVID-19, and that Jacare’s fight was canceled as a result.

“Clearly, staging events is risky at the moment,” Oliver said. “Just a day before last weekend’s UFC event, a fighter had to pull out after he and his cornermen tested positive, underscoring the fact that if you want to come back completely without risk, that’s just not possible right now.”

White issued a response to this critique on Twitter.

The UFC boss began by assuring that he likes John Oliver, and that he finds the Emmy-winning host funny. Yet he then accused Oliver by guiding the narrative by only sharing “selective facts.”

I like John Oliver, I think he’s funny.

But this is a perfect example of how you can control the narrative by using selective facts. We did approximately 1,100 tests, only 3 were positive, it was a fighter and his 2 trainers and we had 3 events NOT 1 (via @LastWeekTonight) pic.twitter.com/h605hNnLtd

— danawhite (@danawhite) May 18, 2020

“I like John Oliver, I think he’s funny,” White wrote. “But this is a perfect example of how you can control the narrative by using selective facts. We did approximately 1,100 tests, only 3 were positive, it was a fighter and his 2 trainers and we had 3 events NOT 1.”

What do you think of this exchange between John Oliver and UFC President Dana White?