Dana White has responded to Islam Makhachev.
Makhachev recently came out and criticized the UFC for the lack of promotion for UFC 284. He thought the UFC wasn’t doing a good job of promoting the event, which sees Makhachev headline the card in his first title defense against featherweight champ, Alexander Volkanovski.
After those comments went viral, Dana White went on The Jim Rome Show to respond.
Dana White on Islam Makhachev’s Claims
“Yeah, that’s not true. First of all, I’ve talked to Islam. First of all, who interviewed him? Who translated for him? I mean, the guy speaks Russian. Taken out of context. First of all, he lives in Dagestan. What does he know about what’s going on for the promotion of the fight? He doesn’t know anything. It’s going to be one of the top-five biggest fights of all time,” Dana White said.
“First of all, the event sold out. Right? You couldn’t get a ticket if you wanted to get a ticket in Perth. And this thing is trending right now to be the biggest pay-per-view event in Australia, which, it’s like six percent behind the Conor McGregor [vs. Dustin] Poirier 3 fight. It’s probably going to break the record. So to say that the fight hasn’t been [promoted], that’s just ridiculous. That’s what you call some internet BS.”
UFC 284 goes down on Saturday in Perth, Western Australia with the main event being one of the best fights this year. It seems the UFC’s number one pound-for-pound fighter fighting the UFC’s number two pound-for-pound fighter with Volkanovski having the chance to become a champ-champ if he defeats Makhachev.
Islam Makhachev (23-1) is coming off the most impressive win of his career as he scored a second-round submission over Charles Oliveira to become the UFC’s new lightweight champ. In his tenure, he holds notable wins over Dan Hooker, Thiago Moises, Bobby Green, and Arman Tsarukyan among others.
