It’s understandable, right? We all get a little cranky when we’re tired. Especially when we have to stay awake until 05:36 to watch a main event which wasn’t exactly fireworks. With that being said, if the entire card is on your usual time zone, that being an American time zone, despite taking place in Manchester, England, there isn’t really an excuse to be all that annoyed. This wasn’t the case for UFC president, Dana White, however. He was not happy after UFC 304.
At the post fight press conference, White was clearly annoyed at a number of aspects with regards to UFC 304 and we’ll take a look at them here.
You can check out Dana White’s entire press conference here:
Dana White’s Big Rant
White’s section of the post fight presser began with a reporter asking him about the UFC 304 main event where Belal Muhammad dominated Leon Edwards to become the new welterweight champion of the UFC. He answered saying:
“Wasn’t a barnburner”, implying that the fight was boring and that he wasn’t entertained. He didn’t comment on just how good Muhammad’s performance was, however, merely commented that he had been training with Khabib (Nurmagomedov) and so the performance is what you’d expect.
He then went onto questions about a potential Tom Aspinall and Jon Jones fight and the conversation trended towards asking about the new 12-6 elbow rule, where White had an opportunity to yet again berate former referee, Steve Mazzagatti.
The UFC boss was then questioned again about him upping the post fight bonuses permanently to $100k, to which he completely shut down the idea. He responded stating:
“I think tonight showed that we should not, no. Upping them doesn’t change anything, it doesn’t make them fight any harder, it doesn’t change anything. I’m not doing this again, ever. Today was the last day that I’m doing that.”
“Never again, so you can thank everybody on this card for that. Nobody fought any harder, there was no sense of urgency, holy s**t I want the hundred thousand. Seven straight- Who gives a f**k”
“Seven straight f**king decisions. F**k that s**t, never again”
Muhammad Mokaev Controversy
Asked about Muhammad Mokaev and Manel Kape, White again seemed to go off on both men. He stated,
“There was so much bad shit that happened behind the scenes with that thing, yeah not good”
And when questioned on the future of Mokaev, now that his contract has expired he said,
“Yeah that’s what we tell guys, we tell guys how to fight”
“The matchmakers are not big fans of his (Mokaev)”
He was asked if he’d be interested in re-newing Mokaev’s contract, White shocked many by saying,
“I think the PFL are going to get a great, undefeated guy, good luck to him”
White also criticised the manner of the fight after the pre-fight antics, he hinted that the first round was boring.
It’s a shame that White was in such a bad mood following what was a reasonably decent event and it doesn’t fill anyone on the card with much confidence, especially the likes of Muhammad and Aspinall who picked up big wins.
