Dana White has become MMA fans’ latest meme after a meeting with 7-foot-tall NBA star Kristaps Porzingis.
Just days removed from Brian Ortega’s hilariously terrified reaction to an angered Marc Goddard at UFC 298, which generated a flood of hysterical reactions, the UFC CEO is getting the meme treatment.
On Tuesday, the UFC CEO returned to his hometown to watch the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Celtics hand the Philadelphia 76ers a 117-99 shellacking. While there, White posed for a picture with Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla. However, it was his snap with Porzingis that generated all the attention.
Anyone familiar with the NBA already knows that Porzingis is a big guy. That would be very apparent standing next to a 5’11” Dana White, but the fact that Porzingis decided to palm White’s head like a basketball is what sent fight fans into a fit of laughter online.
“No way he let another man do that to his head,” one user wrote.
Another added, “Thought this was [Alexander] Volkov for a second!”
A third commenter got a little more creative, putting his Photoshop skills to work by removing White’s body from the equation.
Porzingis, who is an admittedly big fan of the UFC, recently commented on the trend of escalating trash-talk between fighters. He specifically discussed Dricus Du Plessis‘ attack on Sean Strickland’s traumatic childhood ahead of their UFC 297 title tilt in January.
“I’ve seen it lately that there’s a lot of talk about [trash talk in MMA],” Porzingis told MMA Junkie. It works. It sells the fights at the end, but to what level do you want to do that? I don’t know. It’s up to the fighters.
“I’m in a different game. There’s of course trash talk on the floor and things like that, and also sometimes there’s lines crossed. That’s what we do. We’re competitors and sometimes those boundaries get pushed” (h/t talkSPORT).