Las Vegas — Dana White had not one but two big events on Saturday, with Noche UFC taking place in Glendale, AZ, and Zuffa Boxing’s Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn card going down in Las Vegas.
The UFC CEO and President hopped from one to the other, leaving Arizona midway through Noche UFC to attend the Zuffa Boxing show. Following the event, White spoke with media outlets including Cageside Press, covering topics from both cards — and where things stand with Tom Aspinall, the UFC’s reigning heavyweight champ, who is coming up on a year out of action.
Valentina Shevchenko recently vacated her women’s flyweight title, paving the way for Natalia Silva vs. Wang Cong. With Aspinall recovering from surgery due to eye pokes suffered in his fight with Ciryl Gane last year, White was asked about the possibility of Aspinall doing the same.
“We’ll definitely be talking about that. It’s one of those— Valentina doesn’t want to tie up the division. I’m assuming Tom feels the same way. I don’t know personally where he is health-wise with everything, but we should clear that up soon.”
White also addressed the Tommy McMillen vs. Marwan Rahiki fight, which earned Fight of the Night honors at Noche UFC. McMillen came close to being finished in the second round, but dug deep, and later came close to submitting Rahiki en route to a unanimous decision win.
“Badass fight,” exclaimed White. “In that arena, the [Alexa] Grasso fight and the Tommy Gunn fight, it was insane in that place. It was incredible. The Arizona event was amazing.”
The transition between the two cards went off without a hitch, White also noted. “We were able to time everything out so that UFC led right into boxing. This week went so smooth, it’s crazy.”
On the boxing front, White addressed working with sanctioning bodies, to the surprise of many fans. In particular, the WBC welterweight title was on the line in the Garcia vs. Benn fight.
“All this stuff is a work in progress. Everybody keeps saying to me ‘I thought you weren’t working with the organizations.’ I’m not going to be told what to do by anybody. I’m not going to be told how to run my business by anybody,” stated White, who adding “but a lot of these kids grew up, or are just at a level where they could fight for some of these belts. And if these guys are willing to work with us, we’ll figure out how to make it happen. We want to do right by the fighters, so we’ll see how it all plays out.”
Watch the full press conference with Dana White above.