It is no secret that UFC president Dana White is a huge fan of heavyweight champion Jon Jones and regards him as the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) in MMA. So, for the past few months, fans have been constantly trolling him for bringing up Jones in every conversation. But what White recently did just takes the cake.
Nick Klein, a fighter in Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS) got awarded a UFC contract right after he claimed ‘Bones’ is the greatest fighter of all time. And although that wasn’t the sole reason why the UFC president picked him to join the UFC, fans seem to think it could have played a role,
“Easy way to make some headlines smart kid”
One fan pointed out how Nick Klein was pandering to the crowd, i.e., White since he was sitting ringside and said, “play to the crowd. smart man.”
Another fan made a joke about Klein getting the “Dana White privilege” even before his first fight in the UFC. Ready to gamble over this he added, “Betting the house on his next fight. Save this post”
According to another fan, if the DWCS fighter had said the same line “with an Irish accent as Conor McGregor, he would get an immediate title shot”.
One fan tried his luck by making the same statement and trying to get into the UFC, and asked, “Dana White, Jon jones is the best fighter to ever live. Can I be in the UFC now?”.
This man then pointed out how Nick Klein had the characteristics of all the big UFC stars: “Conor Chest tat, O’Malley mullet, Jon Jones glazing, Dana White (could) never refuse him”.
Meanwhile, White remained unbothered by the ‘glazing’ allegations and decided to remain angry at the state of UFC rankings.
White calls out ‘lazy, incompetent’ rankings
The UFC does not do its own rankings for fighters to avoid personal bias. So instead, they leave it in the hands of MMA Media to decide the rankings.
However, the UFC president has not been happy with the state of the rankings and has called them out for being lazy.
“What’s not fair is to have fighters go in and do what they do and just have people that are either lazy or incompetent f*ck up their s*it”
The biggest disappointment for him was Khalil Rountree’s ranking. After the war he went through against light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, he remained ranked #8 in the division which White could not fathom.
But that’s just not how rankings work. Rankings can’t change if someone shows heart in a fight. Sports don’t work like that. A win is a win, a loss is a loss. Besides, Khalil was at best, trying to put on a show for the crowd, which is why he promised them he would only stand up and strike with the champion.
That’s like Shaquille O’Neal saying, he’ll only do free throws because it gets the crowds entertained. That’s not a strategy, it’s barely a prayer for that matter.
If the UFC remains angry and unhappy with the rankings, they need to maintain a standardized procedure for the same and make it as transparent as possible. White cannot complain about Khalil still being at #8, while Stipe Miocic gets a title shot after 3 years of inactivity. It’s an either-or-or situation, can’t have it both ways!
