Dana White thinks fighters who turned down fights are actually afraid to lose – UFC News
President of the Ultimate Fighting Championship believes fighters who turn down fights are actually afraid of losing. Recently, quite a lot of fighters, including light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, light heavyweight contender Lyoto Machida and heavyweight
contender Cheick Kongo, demolished White’s plans of giving fans some interesting showdowns. The president now seems to be furious over such attitudes, believing that the only reason fighters do so is from the fear of losing.
“[Turning down fights] is a lot more normal for guys who are worried about losing,” White said during the post UFC 154 press conference to MMAJunkie.com. “Guys who feel like they're in a position where they lose, you know what I mean? You're either fighters
of you're not.”
After Jon Jones against Sonnen for UFC 151 and Lyoto Machida for UFC 152, it is Cheick Kongo who got White upset by not taking up a fight against Roy Nelson at The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale on December 15, 2012.
However, Kongo has iterated that he never refused to fight Nelson through his Twitter account and that he only refused to take a fight on such a short notice.
“I did NOT REFUSE to FIGHT Roy Nelson,” read Kongo’s tweet. “I REFUSED to TAKE A FIGHT on SHORT NOTICE. Which is NOT THE SAME AT ALL.”
“Listen, if you turn down fights, I'm going to (expletive) say it,” added White. “And if you turn down a fight at least admit you turned down a fight.”
“He turned down a fight, whether it's on short notice or not, he turned down a fight.”
It seems like for White, turning down fight is a matter of being scared. White has said time and again that if a fighter is hungry, he would take up the shot anytime. For fighters, on the other hand, it is an entirely different issue. Most of them are not
coping up with White’s urgent plans of making fights.
Lyoto Machida had asserted that he would at least need three months to prepare for a fight against Jon Jones, something Dana White was not able to give him.
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