Video: Dana White Has Intense Interview Over UFC 223 Bus Attack
Dana White has an intense interview with Waleed Aly of the Channel 10 show to promote UFC Fight Night 142 in Adelaide and UFC 234 next February. This is when Aly brought up the UFC 223 bus attack.
Back in April during fight week of the UFC 223 pay-per-view event, Conor McGregor and several members of his entourage decided to fly from Ireland to Brooklyn, New York, to get revenge on current lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
It all started once the UFC lightweight champion got into an argument with McGregor’s training partner, Artem Lobov, earlier that week. This led to McGregor attacking the fighter bus that had Nurmagomedov. He was arrested as a result and charged with three counts of assault and one count of criminal mischief.
Aly brought up how there haven’t been any real punishments involving these fighters for their actions. This includes the bus attack and their UFC 229 post-fight brawl.
“We have a hearing that’s coming up in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) that’s coming up in December. They will lay down fines and suspensions and whatever they’re going to do. They’re actually coming after me for the promotion of the fight. So it was a bad night and believe me everybody asks me this question, White said (H/T to News.com).
Dana White Fires Back
White continued by stating that this incident isn’t good for business as they don’t need outside drama in order to sell fights.
You know, ‘This happened and it was bad, but it’s good for your business’, it’s really not good for business when things like that happen. We don’t need that type of stuff to sell a fight.”
This led to White defending himself by stating that McGregor was definitely punished for his actions.
“We do a show called UFC Embedded where we follow the fighters around. So those cameras were there when that happened because of that. But do you understand, he (McGregor) got arrested. He went to jail! He had to go before the New York Attorney-General. So they already took care of it, what am I going to do? What’s a suspension going to do? He was suspended, he couldn’t fight because he was in jail!”
Dana Doesn’t Back Down
Aly doubled down with his take and made it known that he wasn’t criticizing White but trying to get an answer from him.
“I’m levelling, that’s what I do. I put on fights. This guy was arrested, he was down there because we were supposed to be talking about a fight he was going to be in. He came and attacked a bus and got arrested and went to jail.”
White brought up how the UFC is overseen by the NSAC. Following their UFC 229 post-fight brawl, they’re both suspended for their actions.
“Now we’re overseen by the NSAC, so these guys can’t fight. They’re both on suspension, they’re going to get fined a certain amount of money. Whatever that number is that they suggest and then there’s going to be a suspension held out. That’s what Nevada does, they govern us. So what else am I going to do? Suspend them for another year? It doesn’t make sense.”
Finally, the UFC President made it known that reality is always better than a script that is written for MMA. In his view, anyone who thinks otherwise is wrong.
“Let me tell you what, reality is better than any script you could ever write. If you think that we would put our top guy in a position where he attacks a bus. Hurts other fighters then gets sued by all of them and then gets arrested. We’re not that good.”
UFC president @DanaWhite shares a big Aussie announcement, explains why the bus incident wasn’t good for business and discusses the evolution of the sport. #UFC234 #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/mA1Qysc6KN
— The Project (@theprojecttv) November 13, 2018
