“This F*****g Story Was Huge” – Dana White Blasts off on Journalist

Despite being hailed as a success by Dana White, UFC 249 wasn’t the benchmark for protocol following by any standards. Fists bumps were thrown and social distancing was essentially absent.

When Kevin Draper from the New York Times reported the glaring differences between the UFC’s plans and its on-ground actions, Dana White was anything but impressed by it.

White went on a profanity-laden tirade on the journalist. The sole reason for it was that Draper wrote a story highlighting how the organization was not complying with its safety standards.

The New York Times obtained a copy of the UFC’s “Jacksonville Event Operations Plan” to help combat the spread of COVID-19.

They dissected the plan and it pretty easy to see the fallacies. Joe Rogan did his usual post-fight interviews. However, they should have been conducted with Rogan on the outside. Dana White was himself not wearing a mask. Furthermore, he was handing out fist-bumps to fighters when they went on the scale.

When all of this was brought forth, Dana was of the mindset that he had helped New York Times gain more viewers.

“F*** that guy. F*** that guy,” White said during the post-fight news conference. “You know what happened with that guy? That guy who’s never covered the sport was writing a story about Endeavor and then the UFC was one of the Endeavor … you know.

“And what happened when this guy and this paper covered the UFC – when they’ve never covered it before? What do you think happened?

“This f*cking story was huge. They did killer traffic. Now they’re writing stories, three a week, and they’re posting live results. I don’t care what this guy thinks or what he has to say, what he writes. Good for him, he’s pulling traffic,” White said.

Dana White calls Kevin Draper a ‘d***head’

White’s comments about the New York Times journalist weren’t factual. Draper had covered mixed martial arts even before the pandemic barged onto the scene. Three people involved with UFC 249 have already tested positive. Moreover, since the virus can take as much as 14 days before surfacing, there’s a fair chance that the fallout could increase.

The article could also hurt the UFC’s business. However, White doesn’t seem to care much about it.

“I don’t give a f*ck,” White said. “Don’t give a f*ck.”

“A lot of criticism coming into this week, the fact that we wanted to go, and this d*ck head from The New York Times that found out MMA was popular,” Dana said.

“We’ve had two events now, all the testing that we’ve done. We’ve had one positive. And I don’t know, you guys sit in a different position than I. I don’t know how you feel how the whole thing has gone or how it’s felt, and if you’ve felt safe here if you’ve felt comfortable, but it’s worked.”

Instead of acknowledging the truth in Draper’s reporting, White was busy blowing his own trumpet. He patted his back for being the first major sporting organization to be back in action.

Above all, Dana feels his biggest achievement has been that he has shown the world how sports can be brought back into the picture.