Ah, the famous Dana White announcement. Something that has recently come to excite fans when the UFC boss takes to Instagram live (or in this case, a pre-record for a half time show) to announce upcoming fights, some of which the media haven’t been privy to beforehand.
The latest Dana White announcement saw huge fights being released. Paddy Pimblett vs Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title, the return of the GOAT, Amanda Nunes as she meets Kayla Harrison in potentially the biggest ever women’s fight and Alexander Volkanovski is now scheduled to rematch Diego Lopes in Australia at UFC 325.
The issue with the latest Dana White announcement is that it has left fans with far more questions than answers. UFC 324 kicks off the Paramount Plus era, which, one can assume will bring more ‘casual’ eyes to the sport. These lay people who don’t follow the sport of MMA will watch UFC 324 and rightly assume, as the UFC always states, that the best are fighting the best. This simply isn’t true in this case.
Let’s take a look and pick the bones out of the latest Dana White announcement.
The Problem with the Latest Dana White Announcement
The issues are two-fold. With that being said, let’s address the other fights announced for the card. Sean O’Malley vs Song Yadong is a great, logical fight. Alex Grasso vs Rose Namajunas again makes sense. Waldo Cortes-Acosta deserves a big name and he’s got that in Derrick Lewis. Arnold Allen vs Jean Silva is a featherweight banger, although you could argue Allen deserves a higher-ranked opponent. Finally, Umar Nurmagomedov vs Deiveson Figueiredo is fun, however, it would have made more sense to have #1 vs #2, Umar vs O’Malley and #5 vs #6, Yadong vs Figgy, but these are not the worst fights in the world.
The issues lie in the co-main and main events.
The co-main event is great, logical and as we put this week, is the fight that needs to happen. Harrison has all but wiped out the division in her short tenure in the UFC, as did Nunes when she was active. The two have a friendly rivalry having trained together at ATT for a long time and it’s a fight that we need to see. Fans want it, the UFC want it and both Harrison and Nunes want it. It’s a great fight and there are no issues with the matchmaking here. The issue is that it’s the co-main event, under an interim title bout.
This is arguably the biggest women’s fight of all time and it’s been pushed into a co-main event slot behind a questionable interim title fight. It could easily headline a ‘numbered event’ on it’s own, it doesn’t need any support act, however, to push it down the pecking order is simply insulting.
The history between these two women is vast, there’s a storyline to sell, both women know how to sell a fight. There are plenty of questions to be asked about how the fight goes, which we’ll look at closer to the fight, and yet, it’s the co-main event. There is little logic in this.
Pimblett vs Gaethje – An Insult to the Deserving
Here is the main issue with the latest Dana White Announcement – Pimblett vs Gaethje will clash for the interim lightweight title. Let’s add some context to this fight before breaking down the thinking behind it.
Paddy Pimblett is a big star, not a megastar, but he certainly has a lot of fans. He’s 7-0 in the UFC, picking up his biggest win last time out against Michael Chandler in a 5-round co-main event, which he finished in round three. With that being said, Chandler was 1-4 coming into the bout. He’s got wins over King Green and Tony Ferguson, but again, Green was 3-3 heading into that one and Ferguson was 0-6 before the Pimblett bout.
Gaethje is currently 4-3 in his last seven fights. Two of his last three wins have come against the same man, Rafael Fiziev and he’s on just a one fight winning run. He’s 37 years old and has already had two shots at undisputed gold, losing on both occasions. He’s been fairly inactive in recent years, fighting twice in 2023 but only once in 2024 and once in 2025.
Pimblett is ranked #5 in the division and has been climbing the ranks without actually fighting. Gaethje has held on to his #4 spot, despite having only one win over an opponent ranked in the top 10 on his record.
The man who should be in this spot is Arman Tsarukyan. The #1 ranked lightweight is 5-0 in his last five with three finishes. Of these five, his last three have been ranked in the top 15, including former champion, Charles Oliveria.
Why bother having rankings if they mean nothing? Why have a #1 contender if they aren’t going to get the next shot? It also begs the question, what are they going to do with Tsarukyan next? Oliveira and Max Holloway appear to be on a collision course, #4 and #5 are matched. He’s just beaten #6 and #7 is coming off a loss.
Gaethje throwing a tantrum and refusing to fight unless it’s for a belt has worked and it sends out a dangerous message to UFC fighters. Sit out, don’t earn your stripes and you’ll get what you want.
To have an interim title shot between two men who are arguably undeserving above a women’s mega-fight speaks volumes as to where the UFC is at this time.
It’s a worrying sign of things to come in the Paramount plus era if this continues.
Why Lopes?
The UFC 325 main event is the one that makes absolutely no sense. Volkanovski just beat Lopes, handily with scores of 48–47, 49–46, 49–46. Since then, Lopes bounced back with a good win over Jean Silva. It was a good win without a doubt, but there are two men who are more deserving of a shot.
Lerone Murphy is undefeated at 17-0-1 and is coming off a huge knockout win over Aaron Pico. He made a championship statement and unfortunately, the UFC didn’t listen.
Movsar Evloev is also undefeated at 19-0, coming off a win over Aljamain Sterling in December of last year. Although he doesn’t have the most entertaining fighter, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t deserve a shot.
Granting Lopes a rematch also holds up the division. If the rematch goes as the first fight went, it just holds up Volkanovski getting more, different wins and at 37, The Great, doesn’t have long left. If Lopes were to get the win, a trilogy would be likely, further holding up the division.
Logically, the UFC will make Evloev vs Murphy. It’s a good fight; however, with that fight, they’re instantly killing off a prospect. There are two fights there that Volkanovski could have had against young, up and coming undefeated fighters, but the latest Dana White announcement has killed that potential.
