Dana White and the UFC Heavyweight Champion – A Rocky Relationship
Dana White and the UFC heavyweight champion. It should be a match made in heaven. Heavyweights traditionally provide more knockouts than any other division due to the nature of their size and provide the ‘holy s**t’ moments Dana White craves. In recent years, however, Dana White and the heavyweig...
Dana White and the UFC heavyweight champion. It should be a match made in heaven. Heavyweights traditionally provide more knockouts than any other division due to the nature of their size and provide the ‘holy s**t’ moments Dana White craves.
In recent years, however, Dana White and the heavyweight champion have not had a happy relationship. Dating back to Stipe Miocic’s reign, Dana White has clashed with their ‘biggest’ champion and it certainly puts a stain on the division.
Let’s take a look at Dana White’s rocky relationship with the UFCs heavyweight champions.
Dana White’s Rocky Relationship with the UFCs Heavyweight Champions
Stipe Miocic
Record-breaking heavyweight champion, Stipe Miocic, had a strange relationship with UFC boss, Dana white. At UFC 203, Miocic was the defending heavyweight champion, however, he earned less than the challenger, Alistar Overeem. Miocic was understandably frustrated and aired his displeasure, arguing that they took his kindness for weakness.
At UFC 220, Miocic ended the winning run of Francis Ngannou to retain his belt. Interestingly, he didn’t let Dana White wrap the belt around his waist as is customary in the UFC. Instead, Miocic took the belt from White and gave it to his coach to wrap around his waist. It looked awkward and Dana White didn’t look best pleased.
With that being said, White has always been full of praise for Miocic. He’s given him nine PPV headlining slots and discussed him in the conversation of the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. He allowed him to return, coming off a loss and a three-year layoff to compete for the heavyweight strap again, regardless of what you think of that fight.
Francis Ngannou
Francis Ngannou and Dana White. A relationship that never worked. Ngannou was, on paper, everything that White loves. A man who created viral moments, had a captivating backstory, could sell a fight and was must-watch. After losing to Miocic and having a dreadful fight against Derrick Lewis, Ngannou’s stock was low with fans and the UFC brass. White publicly criticised Ngannou’s performance and mentality following the Miocic loss.
It would take him four fights to get a second title shot, with the longest of these four fights going 1:11. His second title shot was inevitable and in the rematch with Miocic, The Predator lived up to his nickname and blasted the champion out of there in under two rounds. He would return a year later and eak out a decision against Ciryl Gane in what would prove to be his last fight with the promotion.
Issues began to swirl between Ngannou and White when it came to the heavyweight champion’s contract. The Cameroonian wanted to have the freedom to box professionally. White wasn’t keen on this. Ngannou wanted better pay for all fighters. White believed that the fighter contracts were fair. Differences and hiccups at every step.
Dana White publicly came out and said that Francis Ngannou ducked Jon Jones and didn’t want to fight the former light heavyweight champion. Of course, Ngannou disputed that claim.
Ngannou would walk away from the UFC whilst in his prime as the reigning heavyweight champion. Understandably, this puts a mark against any future heavyweight champion as they ‘haven’t faced Ngannou’. Later claims from White that Ngannou was extremely difficult to work with further forced the two apart, and the relationship appears to be lost forever.
Jon Jones
Jon Jones’ relationship with Dana White is better than most. White appears to adore Jones, widely regards him as the best of all time and gifted him a straightforward run at heavyweight. With that being said, cracks have certainly appeared in the relationship in recent years.
These cracks began when Jones appeared to be uninterested in a unification fight with the then-interim champion, Tom Aspinall. Instead, Jones was exploring a fight with Alex Pereira, hinting at a possible Ngannou fight and ‘retired‘ without ever facing Tom Aspinall. He’s since apologised to Dana White for not facing Aspinall, however, the relationship hasn’t been fully healed. So much so that despite Jones wanting to compete on the White House card, White refuses to allow him on the card due to the risk of him pulling out of any potential fight.
Tom Aspinall
Tom Aspinall and Dana White’s relationship was good…until it wasn’t and the break-up appears to be one-way and very unnecessary.
Aspinall did White a favour at UFC 295. Following a Jon Jones injury, Aspinall took a fight on short notice, injured and saved a title fight on the card. Of course, it wasn’t one way, Aspinall had the chance (and went on to win) the interim heavyweight title. Since then, however, there have been issues between White and Aspinall.
Logically, the undisputed champion should face the interim, otherwise there is little point in having an interim belt. This never came to fruition as we know and Aspinall was upgraded to undisputed champion when Jones retired. In the time that Aspinall was interim champion, Jones defended the belt… just not against the Brit.
The most public ‘spat’ between Aspinall and White came after UFC 321. In the main event, Aspinall was eye poked so badly that he was rendered unable to continue at the hands (or fingers) of Ciryl Gane.
Discussing the eye poke, White had commented that Aspinall “didn’t want to continue” and that “Tom didn’t want to continue in the fight”, along with claiming that there was “no damage to the eye.”
Aspinall stated he was “disappointed” with White’s comments and that they don’t have much of a relationship.
When asked at the UFC 324 press conference for an update on Aspinall, White appeared to double down on his disdain with the whole situation by stating,
“Oh Jesus, don’t let me talk about Tom Aspinall’s eye. Apparently, he’s going in for his second surgery or just had it. By surgery, I mean injections. I have no idea. Get a quote from him. God forbid I say something about it.”
It came across as insensitive, that he is unhappy with the situation and that he’s aware that his previous comments may have caused controversy. Ariel Helwani discussed the situation on his show, which can be seen here:
Dana White and the Heavyweight Champions
Going forward, who knows what White’s relationship with the current or next heavyweight champion will be? Logically, White should be behind every single fighter on the UFC roster, let alone ‘his’ champions.
The Aspinall situation in particular is a strange one. He’s the ‘baddest man on the planet’, a dominant force, a big star and most importantly, a champion who is coming off a potentially career-ending injury and yet, White appears uninterested in supporting him.
Let’s hope that White realises the potential, the interest and the allure of the heavyweight division.
