Chael Sonnen is warning Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall not to get on the wrong side of Dana White. Jones has notoriously avoided fighting Aspinall for months now.
And while the British fighter insists he doesn’t care about Jones, he also doesn’t want to fight anyone else. However justified that may be, it means that UFC’s heavyweight division has now been stalled for the foreseeable future.
The UFC president has historically been a stickler for good matchmaking, which means he doesn’t enjoy being pushed around by fighters. So, seeing the amount of leeway being given to Jon Jones is a shock to fans. But with the fight no closer to being finalized, even after months of speculation, Sonnen claims that both champions could face White’s wrath.
In an episode of the Good Guy/Bad Guy Show on YouTube, the former middleweight contender warned Jones and Aspinall and said, “If Dana does not succeed in getting that fight closer, he’s going to start to get angry. And that’s the one piece these guys haven’t had to deal with yet. They have not had to deal with an angry Dana White.”
Dana White to Alexander Volkov after his fight with Ciryl Gane:
“You got f***ed.”
@espnmma #UFC310 #UFC #MMApic.twitter.com/vNbcwCOUdu
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) December 8, 2024
“I have (seen an angry Dana) only once, and it’s not the same guy. It’s not a guy you want to say no to, I’ll leave it at that,” the UFC analyst asserted, making his co-host, Daniel Cormier remember one such instance when he had just joined the promotion.
DC fought White over pay dispute
Cormier made his UFC debut when he was 34 years old, which is pretty late for a fighter. He made the move from Strikeforce to the UFC, looking for bigger opportunities and, naturally, a bigger paycheck.
So ahead of his first fight, when he spoke about his purse with White for the first time, things didn’t go too well.
The UFC president is notorious for being very conservative in matters of paying fighters, especially unproven talents making their UFC debut. Cormier revealed what it was like trying to bargain with him regarding his purse, “Not bad, it was just when I first got there. I wanted more money, and we started arguing.”
‘DC’ claims that after things cooled down, the UFC boss texted him saying they didn’t fight, but Cormier clearly remembers what happened. He also remembers how, back then, they would have to deal with Dana and Lorenzo Fertita, and they both played the roles of good cop – bad cop very well.
Chael Sonnen with a 10-7 against Dana White pic.twitter.com/U0r6RvjMwu
— Dovy (@DovySimuMMA) February 16, 2021
Where White was the zero tolerance, say it to your face guy, and Lorenzo was more cool, calm, and collected. This dynamic worked very well for them, according to both Cormier and Sonnen.
But ‘DC’ does not remember seeing White so worked up since then. And to think, it was all because he asked for $100,000 instead of $80,000.
