Dana White believes fighters can avoid event cancellations by refraining from injuries – UFC News
The Ultimate Fighting Championship has been going through a rough patch. President of the UFC Dana White has been emphasizing that the injury bug has affected the recent events more than ever. In his recent interview, White came up saying that fighters avoid
cancellation of events by being more careful.
Usually, fights are cancelled and opponents are replaced due to injuries but this year we saw the first ever UFC event that went into complete cancellation, UFC 151. Dan Henderson was scheduled to face UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. However, an
injury sustained by the former forced him to withdraw from the match. White tried replacing Henderson with Chael Sonnen but Jones refused fighting another opponent with just an eight-day notice.
In an interview with MMAJunkie.com, White spoke about the lessons he has learned from the cancellation of UFC 151.
“Yeah, the fighters need to let us know ahead of time they're hurt. Don't try to ride it out and say, ‘We'll see if I feel better,’ said White.
“We've always had this weird relationship with Henderson. When Lorenzo and I went to dinner with him when he came to get his knee checked, he was like, 'I thought for sure you guys were going to tell me I have to fight.' Dude, we don't do that to anybody.
We've never in the history of this company told somebody that they have to fight. We don't make people fight. He said PRIDE used to do some real dirty [expletive]. I said, 'Well, we don't, contrary to popular [expletive] belief. We don't.'”
White revealed that the organisation has always been generous to fighters and no fighter has been sent out injured to be in the cage. However, White believes that fighters need to be careful while preparing for events.
For now, White believes the Ultimate Fighting Championship needs to find a solution to the injury bug. According to White, there must be a way to prevent cancellations from happening again and again. It was the first time in Dana White’s eleven-year career
that an event was cancelled.
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