However, in recent years, Dana White and the heavyweight champion have not had a happy relationship. Dating back to the Stipe Miocic era, Dana White has clashed with their “greatest” champion, and that certainly puts a stain on the division.
Let’s take a look at Dana White’s rocky relationship with the UFC heavyweight champions.
Dana White’s rocky relationship with the UFC heavyweight champions
Stipe Miocic
Record-breaking heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic had an odd relationship with UFC boss Dana White. At UFC 203, Miocic was the defending heavyweight champion, but he earned less than the challenger, Alistar Overeem. Miocic was understandably frustrated and expressed his dissatisfactionarguing that they viewed his kindness as weakness.
At UFC 220, Miocic ended Francis Ngannou’s winning run to retain his title. Interestingly enough, he didn’t let Dana White wrap the belt around his waist, as is customary in the UFC. Instead, Miocic took White’s belt and gave it to his coach to wrap around his waist. It looked awkward and Dana White didn’t look very pleased.
That said, White has always been full of praise for Miocic. He’s given him nine PPV headlining slots and featured him in the conversation of the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. He allowed him to return after a loss and a three-year layoff to challenge for the heavyweight title again, regardless of what you think of that fight.
Francis Nganno
Francis Ngannou and Dana White. A relationship that never worked. Ngannou was, on paper, everything White loves. A man who created viral moments, had a compelling backstory, could sell a fight and was a must-watch. After losing to Miocic and having a terrible fight against Derrick Lewis, Ngannou’s stock was low with fans and the UFC brass. White publicly criticized Ngannou’s performance and mentality after losing Miocic.
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It would take him four fights to get a second title shot, with the longest of these four fights lasting 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 in less than two rounds. He would return a year later and take a decision against Ciryl Gane in what would prove to be his final fight with the promotion.
Problems began to arise between Ngannou and White when it came to the heavyweight champion’s contract. The Cameroonian wanted the freedom to box professionally. White didn’t feel like doing this. Ngannou wanted better pay for all fighters. White believed the fighter’s contracts were fair. Differences and hiccups at every step.
Dana White came out publicly and said Francis Ngannou was avoiding Jon Jones and didn’t want to fight the former light heavyweight champion. Naturally, Ngannou disputed that statement.
Ngannou would walk away from the UFC while he was in his prime as the reigning heavyweight champion. Understandably, this leaves a mark on any future heavyweight champion as they ‘didn’t play Ngannou’. Later claims by White that Ngannou was extremely difficult to work with forced the two further apart, and the relationship appears to be lost forever.
Jon Jones
Jon Jones’ relationship with Dana White is better than most. White seems to idolize Jones, widely considering him the greatest of all time and granting him an easy run at heavyweight. That said, cracks have definitely appeared in the relationship over the past few years.
These rifts started when Jones seemed uninterested in a unification fight with then-interim champion Tom Aspinall. Instead, Jones was exploring a fight with Alex Pereira, hinting at a possible Ngannou fight and ‘retiring’ without ever facing Tom Aspinall. He has since apologized to Dana White for not facing Aspinall, but the relationship has not yet 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 a potential fight.
Tom Aspinall
The relationship between Tom Aspinall and Dana White was good… until it wasn’t anymore and the breakup seems one-way and very unnecessary.
Aspinall did White a favor at UFC 295. After a Jon Jones injury, Aspinall took a fight on short notice, got injured and saved a title fight on the card. Of course, that wasn’t possible one way or another: Aspinall had the opportunity (and subsequently won) the interim heavyweight title. However, there have been problems between White and Aspinall since then.
Logically, the undisputed champion must face the interim belt, otherwise there is little point in having an interim belt. As we know, this never came to fruition and Aspinall was upgraded to undisputed champion when Jones retired. During the time that Aspinall was interim champion, Jones defended the title… just not against the Brit.
The most public ‘spat’ between Aspinall and White came after UFC 321. In the main event, Aspinall suffered such an eye poke that he was unable to continue at the hands (or fingers) of Ciryl Gane.
When discussing the eye poke, White had noted that Aspinall “didn’t want to continue” and that “Tom did not want to continue in the fight,” along with claiming that it was “no damage to the eye.”
Aspinall stated that he “disappointed” with White’s comments and that they are not really in a relationship.
When asked for an update on Aspinall at the UFC 324 press conference, White seemed to double down on his disdain for the entire situation, saying:
“Oh Jesus, don’t make me talk about Tom Aspinall’s eye. Apparently he’s going for or just had his second surgery. By surgery I mean injections. I have no idea. Get a quote from him. God [expletive] forbid me to say anything about it.
It came across as insensitive that he is unhappy with the situation and that he is 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
Who knows what White’s relationship with the current or next heavyweight champion will be? Logically, White should be behind every fighter on the UFC roster, let alone ‘his’ champions.
The situation in Aspinall is especially strange. He is the ‘worst man in the world’, a dominant force, a huge star and most importantly a champion who suffers a career-ending injury and yet White doesn’t seem interested in supporting him.
Let’s hope White realizes the potential, interest and appeal of the heavyweight division.
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