Dana White Calls Conor McGregor His Ali, Tyson, Defends Criticizing UFC Fighters

UFC president Dana White believes he is vindicated in calling it how he sees it when it comes to the criticism of his fighters.

He is not one to mince his words and that includes bashing his own fighters. In February 2017, White virtually attacked everyone taking part at UFC 208, a subpar card, stating his favorite moment of the night was the flight home.

A month later at UFC 209, he criticized welterweight champion Tyron Woodley for his performance in an underwhelming majority decision win against Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, stating he believed the latter won the fight.

Woodley would hit back as the two had a war of words before White would criticize him again later in the year, at UFC 214 in July, when he defeated Demian Maia via unanimous decision in another underwhelming contest, albeit, Woodley suffered a partial labrum tear early on in the fight.

"Listen, when you break a record for the least punches ever thrown in a five-round title fight, and you beat it, by I think it was like 130 [strikes] and these guys threw 60 or something like that, I think that sums it up," White said after UFC 214. "[If] You ask fans if they want to see Woodley fight again, I think that will be a flat out no. Who wants to pay to see Tyron Woodley fight again?"

"He’s an absolute physical specimen, the guy could’ve finished the fight at any time he wanted to but, you know, he didn’t want to take the risks. [If] You take no risks, you get no rewards."

More recently, White criticized Kamaru Usman for his lackluster performance against Emil Meek in January and was particularly annoyed with the Nigeria native's comments that he only fought at 30 percent.

Last month, White also called Francis Ngannou's display against Derrick Lewis at UFC 226 "horrible" and said the once rising star had a huge ego problem.

In a recent appearance on FOX News, White was asked to touch upon his criticism of fighters and he saw nothing wrong with it.

"Well guess what? This isn’t the fun business," White said, as quoted on Bloody Elbow. "You don’t get to go out and put on a terrible performance and act like you just did something incredible."

"The guys that I went after and the guys that I did that to, if you watched their performances and what happened that night, most of them deserved it."

One fighter who rarely disappoints in the octagon is Conor McGregor, who will be facing lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229 which takes place in Las Vegas on Oct. 6.

The biggest star to emerge from the UFC, McGregor has transcended the sport and his return to action for the first time in nearly two years saw tickets for the event sell out in just three minutes and already become the second largest gate in UFC history, with his rivarly with Nurmagomedov also playing a role.

White reiterated how he knew the Irishman would be a star the moment he met him, comparing him to two of the best boxers of all time.

"He’s my [Muhammad] Ali. He’s my [Mike] Tyson," White added. "He burst onto the scene and I knew the minute I sat down and had dinner with him that this kid was going to be a star. I didn’t know if he’d be able to fight and I didn’t know if he’d be able to win a title, but I knew he was going to be a star."