Dana White slams reporters, says USADA comment was taken out of context (Video)
UFC President Dana White held his usual post-fight press conference following the highly praised UFC 290 pay-per-view card. White seemed to be in a jovial mood and answered a lot of questions that came in the aftermath of the stacked card.
But he wasn't happy with everything. And it may not come as a surprise he's unhappy with some of the MMA media.
When asked by FanSided MMA's Amy Kaplan about tweets made by Conor McGregor, hinting that he desires to fight in December — the month that his coaches' fight against fellow The Ultimate Fighter season 31 coach Michael Chandler is expected — he used the response time to attack media members that he claims took him out of context.
This all stems from an interview White did with TSN's Aaron Bronsteter during the week in which he was asked about the matchup and made a remark about USADA.
McGregor has not re-entered the USADA testing pool, and USADA has previously stated it is going to hold through with making McGregor be in the testing pool for six months prior to being allowed a fight.
Dana White suggests he was taken out of context, says more work needed for Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler to be official
"There's a lot of business that needs to be handled before we talk about this," White said. "I was doing an interview on Friday, and a bunch of f***ing scumbags wrote stories that I said 'Fuck USADA. I don't care what USADA says.' That's not even remotely close to what I said. So, first of all, I'd like to say 'f*** you' to everybody that wrote that story, number one. And number two, there's a lot of stuff that has to go on before [McGregor] fights.
"My point was, no matter who is talking about it, whether it's USADA or whoever, and this and that, it's not even what we're talking about right now. Everybody wants to keep bringing it up so that pieces of s*** can write stories like that. Never did I say 'I don't give a shit what USADA thinks,' or disrespecting USADA or anything like that. It doesn't matter what anybody says. I don't know how this whole thing is gonna play out. Let's wait and see."
For full reference, White's quote to Bronsteter during the interview before UFC 290:
"We'll see how that plays out," White said. "They’re saying that now, but we don't...who knows? I don’t talk about s*** until s*** happens. To sit here and think hypothetically how a million different things could happen, no idea.
"The Conor thing, who the hell knows how that’s going to play out? Who cares what USADA says? We’ll see what happens when it happens. So I don’t know."
McGregor removed himself from the USADA pool at some point in 2021 following his leg break during his trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier at UFC 264.
It is still possible that McGregor could be given an exemption from the six-month rule. Brock Lesnar was given a USADA exemption for his fight with Mark Hunt back at UFC 200.