Dana White Calls Out Former Fighter’s Conspiracy Theory
Following all the chaos that erupted surrounding UFC 279, there were conspiracy theories arising that UFC President Dana White was quick to shut down, with authority, in his DWCS (Dana White’s Contender Series) press conference Tuesday night.
White and the UFC were accused of planning for rising star Khamzat Chimaev to miss weight so that the UFC 279 main card could be shuffled around. Originally Chimaev was set to headline the event against UFC icon Nate Diaz, but the Swede foolishly weighed in 7.5 pounds over the 171-pound welterweight limit.
Following the failed weigh-in the UFC changed up the matchups to have Diaz face Tony Ferguson as the main event with Chimaev against Kevin Holland in the co-main.
The conspiracy was thought to have come from Pat Miletich, a former UFC welterweight champion. White showed no remorse towards Miletich for that theory in his press conference.
“I don’t know if Pat really said that, but if he did, he has to be the dumbest motherf***** on the planet,” White said. “I mean, you know how f****** stupid you have to be to even think something like that, let alone say it publicly and act like you’re f****** serious… If Pat really said that, holy s***, we might have to send him to the out f****** clinic, the brain clinic, to get him checked out.”
While White was under the impression that Miletich was the one starting the rumor, he was corrected by a reporter that the theory instead aligned with that of podcaster Brendan Schaub who was a heavyweight fighter from 2009 to 2014.
After he was notified of his blunder White apologized to Miletich before taking aim at Schaub.
“I apologize to Pat Miletich, then,” White said. “That make sense.”
Schaub and the UFC headman have not seen eye-to-eye very much with the former fighter criticizing how White runs the promotion and the latter taking offense to previous comments.
The theory is not that crazy to believe as there was a large skill discrepancy between Diaz and Chimaev, while Diaz and Ferguson were much more evenly matched. On his podcast, following UFC 279 Schaub explained his reasoning behind thinking the UFC had this planned all along.
Schaub has since responded to White’s comments in a lengthy Instagram post in which he calls out White for saying he and others are ‘“Dummy” “dumbass” “f****** idiot” cause we have questions about “the chaos” at UFC 279?”‘
In the end, it was reported that Chimaev’s coach, Andreas Michael, was the one who told the No. 3 ranked welterweight that he should stop cutting weight due to issues his body was facing.
The events surrounding UFC 279 were chaotic enough that it is not surprising the issues have rolled into the next week. Because of that, the rivalry between White and Schaub will likely remain for quite a while with the events reigniting the hatred between the two. And who knows? Maybe one day we will see Dana White vs Brendan Schaub settle their beef in the octagon.
