Paddy Pimblett, Dana White and Jared Gordon
MMA fans reprimand Dana White for his comments at the UFC 282 post-fight press conference on Paddy Pimblett
MMA fans were appalled by Dana White’s reaction to Paddy Pimblett and Magomed Ankalaev fights. While Pimblett edged out a unanimous decision victory, Ankalaev had to settle for a split draw despite dominating three rounds.
While several sections of the MMA community sided with Jared Gordon claiming that ‘Flash’ won the fight against Pimblett, Dana White instead lambasted Gordon for taking his foot off the pedal in the last round:
“I thought that Jared Gordon’s game plan in the third round was horrible. He felt that he had the first two rounds and he went in and pushed him against the fence and I’ve got to go after the referee too. A big fight, co-main event, third round, crowd’s going crazy, you’re going to let them stand against the fence the entire fight? But these are the things that happen. What are you going to do? Horrible game plan by Gordon. The ref let it happen and he threw the fight away.”
Furthermore, for the Ankalaev fight, White claimed that he zoned out midway through the fight and overlooked the Dagestani to book Glover Teixeira vs. Jamahal Hill for the title next:
“I don’t even know [who was winning], I started to zone out after like f**ing three rounds. I heard that Ankalaev is upset, and whatever. What do you want me to do? You know? You got beat up the first two rounds, then you take him to the ground and you started … what are you gonna do?” You do Glover vs. Jamahal Hill in Brazil for the vacant title,” White continued, answering his own question. “That’s done. You’re welcome. That’s what we do. It’s me, it’s Christmas.”
Miffed by Dana White’s comments, disgruntled fans expressed their rebuke in the comments section of the video.
One fan wrote: “Dana doing everything he can to protect paddy the precious Pimblett.”
Another fan wrote: “Dana was referring to the judges when he said he gave everyone 50,000 who got to finish (their job)”
Yet another fan laced into White with an rage-fueled rant: “Dana just showed with this press conference. He doesn’t care about fighters unless they’re famous as he trashes Gordon, Jan, and Magomed for being boring when they worked their asses off and got screwed by judges and all of MMA Media and VerdictMMA agrees. Instead he will blame the fighters and defend the judges and then go behind Jan and Magomed and give Jamahal Hill a title shot for no reason. Terrible stuff.”
Some other fans cited irony in White’s comments”
“Paddy literally said he took the last round off … which means that If Dana thinks he was winning till then outrageous”
“Paddy literally said he coasted the 3rd and Dana doesn’t have a word to say. I’ve heard him berate and humiliate plenty of guys for saying that exact thing. Paddy must have given him such a good stroke job with all that dirty talk about Ariel. What a clown. Both of them.”
“Most disgusting part is all of his media jockeys not confronting him about judging, not to mention CLAPPING for him at the beginning. Just a bunch of corporate puppets.”
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