Dana White slams accusations of favoring fighters after UFC 292: ‘There’s no such thing as Dana White privilege’
Once infamously coined as ‘Dana White privilege’ by former interim lightweight champion, Tony Ferguson, the promotional president, has vehemently denied such an existence following UFC 292 – showering praise on newly-minted bantamweight champion, Sean O’Malley after the 28-year-old struck gold in Boston, Massachusetts.
Taking main event honors for the first time in his lengthy Octagon tenure, Montana native, O’Malley landed a stunning second round TKO win over defending bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling last night at the TD Garden, securing the divisional crown and becoming just the second Dana White’s Contender Series product to land Octagon spoils.
Dana White shuts down accusation of favoring fighters after UFC 292
Sharing his thoughts on O’Malley’s route to the title – which has been highly-criticized due to the fact only one fighter on his win column remains on the promotion’s roster in the form of former champion, Petr Yan, White claimed that the thought of privilege he shows to certain fighters is completely unfounded and bogus.
“Yeah, I mean, listen – ‘Dana White privilege’,” Dana White told assembled media after UFC 292. “You don’t become the number two in the world without earning it. I don’t pick that; you people do. He (Sean O’Malley) went in there and delivered tonight. There is no such thing as ‘Dana White privilege’ in this company.”
“They can do that type of sh*t in boxing, I’m not going to say that some people can’t catch some breaks sometimes,” Dana White continued. “People are hurt; this or that happens. Certain matchups can’t happen at one time. You got a situation where Merab Dvalishvili won’t fight the champion. I mean, there are lots of different things that can happen, but it has nothing to do with us. It’s just the way that timing and everything else plays out. When you get to a title shot, you’ve earned it here.”
Off the back of his title win over Sterling, O’Malley already has sights fixed on an opponent for a return for a championship defense – offering fellow UFC 292 main card winner, Marlon Vera a shot at gold as soon as December at UFC 296.
