Dana White on Jon Jones-Daniel Cormier brawl: ‘I would have separated them’

UFC president Dana White was noticeably absent for the brawl between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier in the lobby of the MGM Grand last week.

With White on vacation in Bora Bora, UFC PR director Dave Sholler took over his boss’ usual role as the person who squares the fighters off for photos, and, well, you know what happened by now.

White is back from his vacation, and he spoke at length about the brawl between the UFC light heavyweight champion and his undefeated challenger. And as you might expect, White told UFC.com that had he been there in Las Vegas, the brawl never would have happened.

“As soon as Jones went up and their bodies touched, I would have separated them,” White said. “Sometimes you’ll see me put a hand in, or sometimes you’ll see me do something else. I would have separated them. It was the head butt, Jones headbutted Cormier. That’s what upset [Daniel] and made him push him back. I would have got my arm in there before that contact was even made. I would have seen the contact coming and I would have stopped it. Then I would have been right in the middle. Would I have stopped that whole thing from going down, who the f– knows? I wasn’t here.”

Despite what went down at the MGM, White hasn’t lost his enthusiasm for watching fighters square off. So we should expect another staredown – this time with White in the middle – in the leadup to the rescheduled fight on Jan. 3.

“When those guys get up there and you have the mentality of a fighter, and not everybody is the same,” White said. “There are some guys who can go up there and can stare at each other and it’s all good, and then there are guys where there can be any little thing that can be off, or something that was said leading up to them being face to face, and anything can happen. These guys are fighters, man, they’re ready to go. And that’s what makes the weigh-ins so amazing and why I love it so much. Those staredowns, there’s nothing f—— like it.”

UFC president Dana White was noticeably absent for the brawl between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier in the lobby of the MGM Grand last week.

With White on vacation in Bora Bora, UFC PR director Dave Sholler took over his boss’ usual role as the person who squares the fighters off for photos, and, well, you know what happened by now.

White is back from his vacation, and he spoke at length about the brawl between the UFC light heavyweight champion and his undefeated challenger. And as you might expect, White told UFC.com that had he been there in Las Vegas, the brawl never would have happened.

“As soon as Jones went up and their bodies touched, I would have separated them,” White said. “Sometimes you’ll see me put a hand in, or sometimes you’ll see me do something else. I would have separated them. It was the head butt, Jones headbutted Cormier. That’s what upset [Daniel] and made him push him back. I would have got my arm in there before that contact was even made. I would have seen the contact coming and I would have stopped it. Then I would have been right in the middle. Would I have stopped that whole thing from going down, who the f– knows? I wasn’t here.”

Despite what went down at the MGM, White hasn’t lost his enthusiasm for watching fighters square off. So we should expect another staredown – this time with White in the middle – in the leadup to the rescheduled fight on Jan. 3.

“When those guys get up there and you have the mentality of a fighter, and not everybody is the same,” White said. “There are some guys who can go up there and can stare at each other and it’s all good, and then there are guys where there can be any little thing that can be off, or something that was said leading up to them being face to face, and anything can happen. These guys are fighters, man, they’re ready to go. And that’s what makes the weigh-ins so amazing and why I love it so much. Those staredowns, there’s nothing f—— like it.”