Dana White: Alexander Gustafsson bout was done prior to Anthony Johnson’s suspension

With several domestic violence scandals still rocking the NFL, UFC officials reacted swiftly to news that emerged last week concerning Anthony Johnson, suspending the light heavyweight contender indefinitely while information could be gathered regarding reports of alleged domestic abuse in Johnson’s past.

“In reality, all the negative that’s come out about this whole Ray Rice thing is actually a huge positive,” UFC President Dana White told media on Thursday (via FOX Sports). “I think that the O.J. Simpson case really put a lot of light on domestic violence and this has taken it to a whole other level. A lot of good has come out of this bad thing. Nobody can deny that video is f–king horrifying. I think the worst thing about the video is we’ve all had as human beings our moments of anger and rage, but after he hits her he just doesn’t give a s–t.

“That thing has not only created a lot of awareness for this thing (domestic violence), it’s making everybody including the UFC, NBA, Major League Baseball, NHL, everybody is looking at this thing differently. What we did with the Anthony Johnson thing, he has this pending case, so what we did, we came up with an outside law firm that goes in and does full blown investigations on what’s going on and we determine whether the fighter needs to be cut or on suspension until we find out how this thing plays out. The guys came back and said you need to suspend him, not cut him. ‘Cause apparently if you look into this situation this girl has a ton of felonies and she’s got a real bad history of stuff. And the thing is when she’s saying this happened, he wasn’t even in the country.”

According to White, Johnson was tentatively scheduled to challenge number-one Swedish contender Alexander Gustafsson in a blockbuster bout at UFC on FOX 13, however that bout is no longer a sure thing.

“That fight was done — it was going to be on FOX. Now it’s not done,” White said.

“Now you sit back and wait to see how this thing plays out in court. It doesn’t mean he’s definitely going to fight here, even if it goes his way.”

With several domestic violence scandals still rocking the NFL, UFC officials reacted swiftly to news that emerged last week concerning Anthony Johnson, suspending the light heavyweight contender indefinitely while information could be gathered regarding reports of alleged domestic abuse in Johnson’s past.

“In reality, all the negative that’s come out about this whole Ray Rice thing is actually a huge positive,” UFC President Dana White told media on Thursday (via FOX Sports). “I think that the O.J. Simpson case really put a lot of light on domestic violence and this has taken it to a whole other level. A lot of good has come out of this bad thing. Nobody can deny that video is f–king horrifying. I think the worst thing about the video is we’ve all had as human beings our moments of anger and rage, but after he hits her he just doesn’t give a s–t.

“That thing has not only created a lot of awareness for this thing (domestic violence), it’s making everybody including the UFC, NBA, Major League Baseball, NHL, everybody is looking at this thing differently. What we did with the Anthony Johnson thing, he has this pending case, so what we did, we came up with an outside law firm that goes in and does full blown investigations on what’s going on and we determine whether the fighter needs to be cut or on suspension until we find out how this thing plays out. The guys came back and said you need to suspend him, not cut him. ‘Cause apparently if you look into this situation this girl has a ton of felonies and she’s got a real bad history of stuff. And the thing is when she’s saying this happened, he wasn’t even in the country.”

According to White, Johnson was tentatively scheduled to challenge number-one Swedish contender Alexander Gustafsson in a blockbuster bout at UFC on FOX 13, however that bout is no longer a sure thing.

“That fight was done — it was going to be on FOX. Now it’s not done,” White said.

“Now you sit back and wait to see how this thing plays out in court. It doesn’t mean he’s definitely going to fight here, even if it goes his way.”