Dana White Says UFC 251 Is ‘Trending Off the Charts,’ Addresses Mike Perry Incident

Earlier this week, UFC President Dana White took part in a media scrum, answering questions on Mike Perry’s recent assault incident, this weekend’s UFC 251 card, signing the Jorge Masvidal vs. Kamaru Usman title fight, and more. Below are some highlights and video of the scrum.

Dana White on Masvidal taking the Usman fight and how the fight is trending “off the charts”: “Masvidal was brilliant to take this fight, brilliant. Gilbert Burns, the No. 1 contender, Gilbert Burns against Usman, stylistically is an incredible fight. And you know, when the fight fell out, Masvidal slid into that spot. And I was just telling those guys, I just left the fighter meeting, this thing is trending off the charts. This thing is trending higher than a Conor McGregor fight. The only thing that this fight is comparable to is Conor/Khabib. Let me put it to you this way. I’ll give you an interesting stat. Our UFC store, we sold merchandise already now than we did in all of 2019. We already beat 2019 for merchandise. This thing is trending as big of a fight as I’ve ever seen my entire career.”

White on his relationship with Masvidal after Masvidal’s past complaints about fighter pay: “Guys, you’re acting like this just started. This has been going on for 20 years. And it will go on for another 20 years. You know what I mean? Yeah, it’s part of the business. Never gonna go away. Never gonna change. Never gonna be different. We’re never gonna have a scenario where you guys are going, ‘Holy s***! Jim Johnson thinks you’re overpaying him! You know, he thinks he’s making way too much money for this fight.’ We’re never gonna have that conversation, ever.”

White on not being surprised by what happened with Mike Perry: “I saw this coming in the last several months with Mike Perry. All you have to do is watch his interviews, watch the way he interacted with you guys. He literally said in an interview leading up to his last fight, ‘I hate all of you. I hate the media. I hate the fans. You want to say stuff to me on Twitter, then walk up to my face and try to be nice to me. I’m telling you, don’t walk up to me. When you seem in the streets, don’t touch me and don’t say hi to me.’ He said that leading up to that last fight, and he is a man of his word apparently, and here we are today. He obviously needs some help. That’s not normal behavior. He’s gotten a lot more angry and agitated — but you see this happen to guys and girls when they start to get a little bit of fame and they start to get famous.”

Dana White on social media being an issue for fighters: “I have a blast on social media. You see a lot of people that don’t have fun on social media. There’s some horrible things that have happened to people on social media. Everybody deals with it differently. I love criticism. I love whatever you want to call it that goes on social media between media, fans and all that stuff. I’m just built that way. He is definitely not built that way, and he’s definitely a guy that needs to stay off social media and needs to make a few changes in his life. And we’re gonna do everything we can to help him.”

If using any of the above quotes, please us a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.