Dana White seems to think that Jon Jones’ stardom has gone to his head.
During an interview with New Media Expo at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the UFC president took the stage to speak at length about social media, the growth of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and where MMA is headed.
As the sport has grown more popular, so too has the profile of certain UFC stars. With that in mind, White also had some choice words for some of his own fighters, especially light heavyweight champion Jones.
Stemming from comments Jones made during an MMA Fighting interview last year about being treated “like a piece of meat” in the wake of the cancelled UFC 151 event, White didn’t hesitate to call Jones a “diva” for how the champion conducted himself:
Speaker: But [the UFC 151 fallout] continued to roll, because that fighter [Jones] said about how he felt like he was treated “like a piece of meat” and you guys were going at it.
Dana White: That’s a little diva, there. You know what I mean? “Being treated like a piece of meat.” That’s a diva.
White is famous within the social media industry for galvanizing the UFC’s social media effort to give the company a widespread net over platforms like Facebook, Twitter and other such tools.
White’s own public outrages on Twitter—which sometimes include public spats with other athletes and even his own fighters—are pretty commonplace for MMA fans, but they nonetheless make headline news outside of major MMA news circles.
Jones has been a major problem for White in recent months, not just due to playing a part in “killing” UFC 151, but also for an infamous DWI charge that caused the promotion a major publicity black eye.
MMA fans who want to see what White is talking about will likely tune in to FX Networks later this month as Jones takes the spotlight in the upcoming 17th season of The Ultimate Fighter. Interestingly, Jones will be coaching against Chael Sonnen, the man who stepped up to replace an injured Dan Henderson at UFC 151 before Jones pulled out of the event altogether.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com