Dana White on why he wasn’t out there for
the main event and didn’t put the belt on Francis Ngannou.#UFC
pic.twitter.com/8Z0BKBwILM— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman)
January 27, 2022
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your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the
ESPN app. Ultimate Fighting Championship head Dana White
is adamant that there was nothing to read from his nonappearance at
the end of UFC
270. Historically, White has served as the person to wrap the belt
around the champion’s waist after Bruce Buffer announced the victor
in the UFC. While he did hand the flyweight belt to Deiveson
Figueiredo at the conclusion of the UFC 270 co-main event, he
was noticeable absent for the heavyweight headliner. Instead,
matchmaker Mick Maynard presented “The Predator” with his unified
title, instantly drawing questions from fans and media alike as to
why White was not present. Many speculated that he did not show up
as a snub to the champion currently embroiled in a contract dispute
with the company, and this concern was strengthened when White did
not attend the post-fight press conference.
At a
fan Q&A hosted by Laura Sanko
on Wednesday, White claimed this could not be further from the
truth.
“I actually walked [out of] the arena right after the co-main
event, because there was stuff going on backstage that I was
dealing with,” White said. “For anybody that would think that I was
showing any type of disrespect toward Francis – I saw Francis all
week, you idiots, I shook his hand, I said hi to him, I was out
there for the staredowns, the whole thing.
White continued, “So for anybody that thinks that there was some
type of disrespect shown towards Francis, I wasn’t out there for
Michael
Bisping’s [Luke] Rockhold fight either [at UFC 199], because I
was dealing with some stuff. And I sprinted from the back – I
didn’t even have my jacket on, I…only had my shirt on to go out
there and put the belt on Bisping, but I couldn’t make it out there
to put the belt on Francis.”
The last heavyweight championship bout without White’s appearance
came at UFC 198, when Stipe
Miocic claimed the belt from Fabricio
Werdum in Brazil in 2016. At that time, matchmaker Joe Silva
wrapped the gold strap around the Cleveland native’s waist. A span
of eight title fights in the highest men’s division transpired with
White putting the belt on the champ, until UFC 270. Some surmised
that the perceived lesser quality of the bout – the big men landed
only 106 combined
significant strikes in their 25 minutes of action, plus five
takedowns between the two – might have convinced White to leave in
protest.
White admitted that there was one time that he could recall where
he left the building out of disgust for a title tilt, coming atop
UFC 112 in 2010 in the United Arab Emirates, immediately after
UAE-based Flash Entertainment purchased 10% of Zuffa.
“There’s only been one time that I’ve walked out on a fight, and
made it very clear – showed up to the press conference and said,
‘this is exactly why I left.’ It was in Abu Dhabi with Anderson
Silva…I think [the] Demian Maia
fight.”
Unifying champ Ngannou prevailed at the end of UFC 270 to end his
contract, although a provision remains stating that as the active
champion, he cannot leave the promotion for one year. Ngannou and
his team expect that he will be
out of action for most of 2022 regardless of the contract
stipulations due to pending surgery and subsequent recover of a
major knee injury.
Even though White was not there to put the belt around him, Ngannou
did not seem to mind. On Instagram on
Wednesday, he posted about this very subject, writing simply, “It
was an absolute honor receiving the belt from Mick Maynard.
Couldn’t be a better person. Love this man.”
