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Dana White has done an incredible job of building the UFC into a global enterprise. Managing a premier MMA promotion and dealing with a large pool of fighters with varying personalities is a difficult job that the UFC president pulls off rather well. That said, there are times when the UFC supremo finds himself at loggerheads with his superstars.
There have been times where Dana White has been at a loss for words in press conferences regarding controversies with UFC fighters. White has even been accused of lying to save his own image, eventually disappointing UFC fans.
3 UFC fighters that Dana White has falsely accused of turning down title shots:
#3 - Jon Jones
Francis Ngannou defeated Stipe Miocic at UFC 260 to become the new UFC heavyweight champion. As soon as the fight was over, the number one UFC men's pound-for-pound fighter and former two-time UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones reminded Dana White of his earlier promise.
Dana White had admitted earlier in 2021 that Jones would fight the winner of Miocic vs Ngannou 2 "sometime in the fall".
Jon 'Bones' Jones, who relinquished his light heavyweight title in 2020 to move up to the heavyweight division, tweeted: "Show me the money".
The tweet obviously meant that Jones was ready to challenge Francis Ngannou for the heavyweight title, a fight that only a handful of MMA fighters in the world would consider partaking in.
However, UFC president Dana White laughed off the comments at the UFC 260 post-fight conference, saying the tweet was Jones's way of declining the fight.
"Listen, I can sit here all day and tell you, what’s show me the money mean? I tell you guys this all the time," Dana White said. "You can say you want to fight somebody, but do you really want to?"
Jon Jones got upset with Dana White's response in the media and accused him of treating the #1 pound-for-pound fighter like "sh-t".
'Bones' has previously accused Dana White of lying as well. Jones contended that while the UFC president claimed Bones was demanding a lot of money to fight Ngannou, the undefeated MMA fighter had not quoted any amount.
The latest developments saw Dana White looking to fix Derrick Lewis vs Francis Ngannou instead of letting Bones fight.
#2 - Rose Namajunas
After defending her UFC strawweight title for the first time against Joanna Jędrzejczyk in March 2020, the UFC was looking for Weili Zhang's next challenge. A suitable opponent was found in former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas, especially after her win against Jessica Andrade at UFC 251.
However, a controversy erupted when UFC president Dana White told BT Sport that according to what he had learned, Rose Namajunas was not willing to fight Weili Zhang for the title. Naming Carla Esparza for Zhang's next bout, Dana White said,
"Do you know what? I'm hearing that Rose does not want a title shot. Rose does not want to fight for a title. So let's see how that all plays out. So, we are looking at the rankings and how it plays out. It would play out as Weili versus Carla Esparza."
Dana White's statements were quickly contested when ESPN's Ariel Helwani got in touch with Namajunas' coach and fiance Pat Barry. Helwani revealed that the UFC strawweight division's number one contender Namajunas had never said no to a title fight.
Ariel Helwani asked Rose Namajunas, who lost her strawweight title to Jessica Andrade at UFC 237 in 2019, whether Dana White's comments were accurate.
Replying to the ESPN reporter, Namajunas said, "I mean, of course, it’s not accurate. There’s always two sides to every story. I have been thinking about fighting Weili ever since I lost the belt and she became the champion.. We all know Dana says things in the media and then turns out to be not true. That was just one of those scenarios. We still haven’t talked about it since, but here we are."
Rose Namajunas is now set to challenge Weili Zhang for the strawweight title at UFC 261 on 25 April 2021.
#1 - Robert Whittaker
After defeating Jared Cannonier at UFC 254 in October 2020, Robert Whittaker became the number one middleweight contender. He was soon at the center of discussions for a title fight against Israel Adesanya.
However, 'The Last Stylebender' moved up to the light heavyweight division to take on the division's champion Jan Blachowicz. Speaking to the media at the UFC Vegas 12 post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White accused Robert Whittaker of rejecting the title fight against Izzy.
“I was like, ‘I’m going to have to sit down with this kid (Adesanya) and convince him on why he needs to fight Whittaker. Whittaker comes out and says he doesn’t want to fight him – craziest (expletive) I’ve ever seen.. I thought Whittaker deserved the shot and Whittaker doesn’t want it, so yeah, we’ll let (Adesanya move up).” - Dana White
Robert Whittaker accused Dana White of twisting his words, claiming that he was always ready to fight Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title and just wanted to work out a timeline. 'The Reaper' told MMA Junkie,
"I certainly think he (White) took a little twist to what I said. I never said I don’t want to fight Izzy. I’m looking to fight March, April.. I would like to fight Izzy. I do want that fight. We just had to work it into that timeline. I have no control on what the UFC’s going to do or what Izzy’s going to do, but whether he’s here at middleweight or up at light heavyweight, I’ll take the fight."
Robert Whittaker added that he was taken aback after Dana White accused him of rejecting the title fight against Israel Adesanya. He said,
"They (UFC) never reached out to me – not once. Either he misinterpreted it or twisted it a little bit. That one took me for a little bit of a ride. But like I said, my timeline stands. That (Adesanya) is the fight that I’ve earned."
'The Reaper' is in shape and ready to take on Israel Adesanya, who is expected to return to the middleweight division after his loss against Blachowicz at UFC 259. However, Whittaker first takes on Kevin Gastelum at UFC Vegas 24 on April 18, 2021.
