Can you guess what they are?
Dana White appeared on ‘My Mom’s Basement’ recently, a show hosted by Robbie Fox of Barstool Sports. During that appearance White’s buddy did his best to serve up softballs for the UFC President.
One of the more interesting questions provided to White was about his pet peeves when it comes to his roster of fighters. In response, White offered two things he absolutely loathes to hear from fighters.
The first was about fighters’ managing their career timelines in the way they think is best.
“Well, I never like when guys say, ‘I just wanna wait around.’ That’s the patented, worst move of all-time,” White said (ht bjpenn). “Look back throughout history for guys that said, ‘I just wanna wait around’ and see how that plays out for you. That story ends the same every way.”
The second annoyance White discussed was when fighters opt not to fight their friends.
It shouldn’t be that surprising that both these issues pertain to fighters wanting to pick who, when and where they want to fight. White and the UFC have been brutal over the years in enforcing the promotion’s plans ahead of the athletes.
It’s also not surprising that solidarity between fighters is something that really grinds White’s gears. His company has been direct over his tenure when it comes to stamping out the possibility that fighters may form a professional association or that the US moves to expand the Muhammad Ali Act to MMA.
White’s answers also highlight what he wants out of a fighter: a ‘company man’ who will fight anyone, anywhere, anytime or say something like “I’ll fight him for free!”
When it comes to fighters not wanting to fight their friends, it’s very possible that White had Kamaru Usman on his mind.
The UFC welterweight champion, and number one men’s pound for pound fighter, seems to have exhausted his opposition at 170 lbs. Usman has gone on record saying that, if he beats Leon Edwards in his next fight, he may move to a different weight class.
However, Usman has also said that he has no interest in moving up to 185 lbs because his friend, and fellow Nigerian, Israel Adesanya is the current champion there. Instead, Usman has said he wants to make a big jump up in weight and compete in the light heavyweight division.