UFC President Dana White chastises Jorge Masvidal and Kamaru Usman for boorish behavior, but don’t expect it to impact their showdown at International Fight Week.
Not that it’s expected to have any immediate impact on their fighting careers, but UFC President Dana White is none too happy with the behavior of welterweight stars Jorge Masvidal and Kamaru Usman. For those that missed it, the pair came close to exchanging blows on Radio Row ahead of the Super Bowl, while appearing before the media.
It was the sort of dumb, juvenile stuff (you’re paid to fight, why do it for fee?) that tends to happen when tensions boil over between fighters — but outside of the confines of the UFC and their own staff, who are generally better-suited at dealing with these situations.
Addressing the incident with ESPN’s Will Cain Show, White made clear that he wasn’t a fan of what transpired.
“I don’t love it. People think because I’m a promoter I’m like, ‘Chi-ching. That’s great for us.’ But it’s not great for us,” he admitted. “We’re here at the Super Bowl, Radio Row at the Super Bowl, the NFL – and these two are acting like neanderthals in here.”
On the heels of a radio row dustup, @danawhite suggests Jorge Masvidal and Kamaru Usman settle their differences in the Octagon (via @WillCainShow) pic.twitter.com/OBBMzNopbm
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) January 31, 2020
“The problem is for the people that are in here that do radio and are in the media, it scares people like this,” White said in regards to the mainstream media the Super Bowl attracts. “That’s a scary, that’s a scary thing when that goes down. And if they touch each other, now the police get involved. We’re regulated by the government. Now, the athletic commissions are getting involved.”
As White would go on to note, the pair are scheduled to fight anyway, so why bother? “Those two are going to fight in Las Vegas. International Fight Week weekend, for 25 minutes they’re going to get to do whatever they want to each other. That fight’s happening. You don’t have to do it here at Radio Row at the Super Bowl.”
