Tag: allergies

Jason High Released From UFC After Shoving Referee at UFC Fight Night 42


(At least he’s taking it well. / Photo via MMAJunkie)

The axe has finally dropped on Jason High, following his regrettable shoving of referee Kevin Mulhall at last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 42. UFC president Dana White confirmed High’s firing in yesterday’s installment of “The Download,” his weekly address on UFC.com. Though White didn’t watch the “Henderson vs. Khabilov” event live due to illness (more on that later), he acted swiftly as soon as he heard what happened:

“What I did find out is that I guess that Jason High kid got up and pushed a referee – he’s cut,” White said in disgust. “I’m going to cut him. I look at that the way (Paul) Daley put his hands on his opponent after a fight was over. You don’t ever, ever f****** touch a referee, ever. You’re done here. He’s been apologizing on Twitter, but he’s done.”

I feel bad for High. It’s not like he went full-Yvel on Mulhall, and yet he could be shut out of the UFC for life, for a single bad decision. On the other hand, an example needs to be set that you never put your hands on an official, no matter how much you think the stoppage sucked. On the other, other hand:

“Say that Chael Sonnen was the one that lightly pushed the ref and that Jason High failed the drug test. Does Dana instantly fire Chael and then go on TV to publicly defend High?”

There’s some truth to that. Maybe High’s biggest crime was simply being expendable.

Dana also confirmed in the “Download” column that the UFC will be paying Ross Pearson his win bonus after Pearson was blatantly robbed against Diego Sanchez, and hoped that the judge who scored the fight 30-27 for Sanchez (Jeff Collins) never judges another professional fight. Also, he was struggling with allergies while relaxing in Maine and buying cars while drunk:


(At least he’s taking it well. / Photo via MMAJunkie)

The axe has finally dropped on Jason High, following his regrettable shoving of referee Kevin Mulhall at last weekend’s UFC Fight Night 42. UFC president Dana White confirmed High’s firing in yesterday’s installment of “The Download,” his weekly address on UFC.com. Though White didn’t watch the “Henderson vs. Khabilov” event live due to illness (more on that later), he acted swiftly as soon as he heard what happened:

“What I did find out is that I guess that Jason High kid got up and pushed a referee – he’s cut,” White said in disgust. “I’m going to cut him. I look at that the way (Paul) Daley put his hands on his opponent after a fight was over. You don’t ever, ever f****** touch a referee, ever. You’re done here. He’s been apologizing on Twitter, but he’s done.”

I feel bad for High. It’s not like he went full-Yvel on Mulhall, and yet he could be shut out of the UFC for life, for a single bad decision. On the other hand, an example needs to be set that you never put your hands on an official, no matter how much you think the stoppage sucked. On the other, other hand:

“Say that Chael Sonnen was the one that lightly pushed the ref and that Jason High failed the drug test. Does Dana instantly fire Chael and then go on TV to publicly defend High?”

There’s some truth to that. Maybe High’s biggest crime was simply being expendable.

Dana also confirmed in the “Download” column that the UFC will be paying Ross Pearson his win bonus after Pearson was blatantly robbed against Diego Sanchez, and hoped that the judge who scored the fight 30-27 for Sanchez (Jeff Collins) never judges another professional fight. Also, he was struggling with allergies while relaxing in Maine and buying cars while drunk:

“I was f***** up Saturday night because I had real bad allergies, so I took some Benadryl and it knocked me out,” he said Tuesday afternoon on his first day back in the office after a short weekend family getaway to his hometown in Maine.

But as White drifted off into a medicine-induced sleep, something jolted him back to consciousness on the TV.

“My eyes swelled up like I just got the s**t kicked out of me,” White explained. “It snowed in May in Maine, so they’re just going through Spring now. There was so much Pollen on my car, my eyes swelled up. So I drove into the pharmacy and the lady is like, ‘You need to take some Benadryl.’ I had never taken Benadryl in my life — I always thought it was some s**t you rubbed on your skin.

“So I asked her, ‘What happens if I drink with these?’ She said, ‘It’s going to make you more tired.’ So I took two. I drank 3/4 of a beer and I barely made it to my bedroom walking. I laid down for a few minutes and I’m dead — hallucinating, dreaming crazy s**t”

We sincerely hope that Dana is back to 100% after that traumatic experience, and that he gets some good use out of his new car. Oh, and that Jason High finds another job. That too.