Journalist Ariel Helwani did not hold back and criticized Dana White after his major heavyweight title error. Helwani felt it was another example of White not having the same vested interest in the UFC as before.
While speaking with Sportsnet’s Diana Belbita last week, White said that Ciryl Gane was not promoted to undisputed heavyweight champion. That confused many within the MMA community, as Tom Aspinall relinquished the title due to his eye injury.
As a result, it is expected that Gane, the interim heavyweight champion, would then be promoted. However, the promotion corrected that mistake when announcing that Gane will defend the heavyweight championship against Josh Hokit at UFC 334.
Despite White claiming he misspoke and the promotion correcting the error, Helwani still made his feelings known.
Ariel Helwani Sound Off on Dana White After Major Error
Ariel Helwani sounded off on Dana White and noted that White is not in tune with the promotion anymore.
“It just goes to show, [White] has no clue what is going on. He is not tied to the business, he is not locked in,” Helwani said on his YouTube channel.
Helwani admitted that he was initially optimistic because there was something possibly more exciting in the works. However, once it became apparent that White misspoke, the Canadian journalist doubled down on his criticism.
“It’s the UFC, they can do whatever the hell they want. But maybe they thought, ‘Gane caused the injury. Tom [Aspinall] had to defend his interim title. Why don’t we have [Gane] go into the fight as the interim champ and it’s essentially a vacant title fight?’ I actually kind of liked it,” Helwani said.
“That doesn’t happen. The broadcast, they announce the two fights. Joe Rogan said, ‘Dana White misspoke, he can’t hear, he’s deaf.’ What is this nonsense? Come on, guys. He has no idea, Just call it what it is. He probably didn’t understand the question because he didn’t even know. Dana White continues to say he doesn’t look at social media, he doesn’t know this, that, and the other. He’s very selective with what he knows.”
Helwani Believes White Should Be More Engaged With the UFC
Helwani also blasted White for claiming he does not pay attention with what happens on social media. The Canadian journalist pushed back on the claim, particularly because White constantly touts Power Slap’s social media engagement.
Helwani feels White has lost his passion for the UFC.
“You’re the freakin’ president of the UFC, one would think you at least follow the UFC and interact with things that they do and look at things that they do. So, the algorithm alone would feed you MMA and UFC content,” Helwani said on his YouTube channel.
He continued:
“Even at the presser at UFC 331, he’s talking about Forrest Griffin walking out. His references in his brain are like, ’09 to ’12. The last few years, I don’t know what’s going on up there. It’s a wild thing.”
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