TORRANCE, Calif. — If you thought that Dana White and Roy Nelson were going to become best friends just because “Big Country” re-signed with the UFC, well, think again.
Daniel Cormier, who will meet Nelson in the co-main event at UFC 166 in Houston next month, has already indicated that he plans on requesting the local commission order Nelson shave his infamous scraggly beard before the heavyweight bout.
Asked about this by reporters at Monday’s UFC Weidman-Silva 2 media tour stop, White couldn’t resist going off.
“I don’t want that nasty thing rubbing on my face either if I was in a fight,” said White. “I hate that whole, you can grow a beard down to here and still fight in MMA thing. You know? It’s not even allowed in boxing, and they don’t go to the ground and have side control. Who would want that thing laying on their face? Seriously? That long, nasty, ratty looking thing in your mouth, rubbing on your face. It’s ridiculous.”
Pat Healy was ordered by the Ontario commission to trim a beard that was nowhere near as wild as Nelson’s heading into his UFC 165 fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov. So if Healy’s beard wasn’t kosher, then White thinks that Nelson’s has to go.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to have beards that big,” White said. “Trim it down and make it look normal. You know? It’s disgusting.”