Diana Belbita reacted to her interview with Dana White last week, which went viral on social media. White spoke about the heavyweight title picture and noted that Ciryl Gane was not promoted from interim to undisputed champion.
The UFC CEO’s comment went viral on social media, sparking debate within the MMA community. During Tom Aspinall’s absence, Gane defeated Alex Pereira to claim the interim heavyweight title at UFC Freedom 250. As a result, many assumed that he would be automatically promoted to undisputed champion after Aspinall vacated the title.
That was not the case. However, Gane vs. Josh Hokit for the undisputed heavyweight title was later announced for UFC 334. Joe Rogan claimed White misspoke and the UFC CEO admitted to doing so during his post-event press conference.
Gane was in fact promoted to undisputed heavyweight champion, so his bout with Hokit will mark his first title defense.
Diana Belbita Reacts to Her Dana White Interview Going Viral
Diana Belbita interviewed Dana White after the UFC 331 ceremonial weigh-ins last Friday. The former UFC fighter-turned-analyst admitted that she did not think White’s comments were a big deal.
Belbita said she figured the promotion just had other plans for Gane and the undisputed heavyweight title.
According to ‘The Warrior Princess,’ White could have easily requested that the interview not be uploaded and she would have obliged. That was not the case and she did not think anything of the UFC CEO’s comments until the clip started trending on X.
“I thought there’s no problem and even after the interview, if something [went] wrong, Dana could tell you at the end, ‘I don’t want this interview to go online,’ so he didn’t say anything. So, I’m like, ‘Everything is fine. He didn’t seem surprised by the question either.’ Because I asked about if he knew when [Tom] Aspinall is going to be back and he said when Aspinall is healthy, he’ll be back,” Belbita told The Game Plan.
“I’m like, ‘Okay, does that make Ciryl Gane the undisputed heavyweight champion,’ and he said, ‘No, he has to fight for it.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, it’s his decision, UFC’s decision. Who am I to question that?’ And it looks like everything is fine.”
Belbita Says Criticism for White Was Blown Out of Proportion
Belbita also said that the criticism for White was blown a little bit out of proportion. She revealed that the UFC CEO admitted to the error later on and that everything is fine.
The broadcast made it clear that Gane was the undisputed champion. The promotion also confirmed he will defend the heavyweight title to avoid any confusion.
“We posted the interview. Everything went pretty viral [on social media]. Dana just said, ‘Yeah, I [expletive] it up.’ I don’t know, I feel like maybe he just forgot that Ciryl Gane is the interim champion and he just thought another guy in the division is now the No. 1 contender.”
Diana Belbita Opens Up About Her Viral Dana White Interview