Dana White is a mammoth figure in the combat sports world now. He is the CEO of perhaps the world’s most popular MMA promotion and he didn’t get here not knowing the business. In a recent interview, someone asked White if he likes to keep a “leash” on his fighters in terms of what they can say.
In response, the UFC head honcho told the reporter that he believes in “free speech”. And sometimes, that could go against him too. But does White respond to that any differently? Perhaps he could and decides not to. Here’s what a former UFC champion said recently.
Dana White always keeps it cool
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Dana White is known for making big bucks and not interrupting his fighters no matter what they say. Jamahal Hill, the former light heavyweight champion recently sat down for a conversation where he discussed a lot of things around this freedom of speech White provides.
He spoke about Sean Strickland and his unabashed nature where he goes off on the microphone saying whatever it is he believes in. Hill loves that and is fully in support of fighters being allowed to speak their mind. In fact, he detailed how Dana White wouldn’t stop a fighter even if they were going after him.
“Fighters literally call Dana out like fighters literally go out publicly and they call Dana out,” said Hill. “He has no problem with this. Hey look if y’all, if you’ve ever met Dana or been around Dana in person you will know this dude is unbothered as sh*t like it’s the type of unbothered you should strive for in your life.”Clearly, after working so long in the MMA industry and making
so much money out of it, there’s very little that could bother White. Every once in a while, you’d see the UFC boss be angry about some decision or mistake made by an official. But it is rare for him to pick a fight with a fighter. Or is it?ADVERTISEMENT
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White versus Tito Ortiz, what really happened?
Back in the UFC’s heyday, Dana White was once the manager of Tito Ortiz around 2001. In January of the year, White was promoted to President after his childhood friends, the Fertittas, bought the promotion. Ortiz was then the 205-pound champion of the promotion and demanded more money than he was promised after defeating Ken Shamrock at UFC 40.
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Soon, the bad blood between the two started. Ortiz would shame White in public. This one time he wore a t-shirt that had derogatory things about White printed on it. It got so bad that the two decided to settle their differences by going into a boxing ring together. Unfortunately, that match never quite materialized. But if it had, do you think the UFC head honcho would have won?