Well, it looks like Dana White’s recent comments about fellow MMA promotion Bellator didn’t sit well with its fighters.
Several Bellator competitors across many weight classes took to social media on Sunday to respond to UFC president’s recent comments dismissing the rival company’s light heavyweight division, along with a few other of its marquee names.
At Saturday night’s UFC on ESPN 15 post-fight press conference, White responded to Bellator president Scott Coker’s claims saying Bellator had the best light heavyweight division.
“Guys, everybody they have in their light heavyweight division we let go of,” White said. “He’s got the best light heavyweight division? We let those guys all go. It’s like the (expletive) dumbest thing I’ve heard, but I get it. He’s got to (expletive) do his thing. I’m not (expletive) on him. He’s got to try to do his thing. He’s got to try to sell fights. The way you don’t sell fights is, ‘I’ve got the best light heavyweight division in the world.’ Everybody that was there was let go from here.”
Reporters also asked White if he was interested in cross-promotional fights with Bellator, but White quickly dismissed the “silly” idea and claimed to not know about Bellator talent, including Bellator’s lightweight and featherweight champion Patricio Freire.
It didn’t take long for Freire to respond on Twitter:
“Hi @danawhite. I‘m the one who destroyed steroids machine @MikeChandlerMMA, whom you said deserves a talk, in 61 seconds. If you send some of your top fighters to @BellatorMMA, I can do the same to them too. Let’s bet like you did with PRIDE.”
White has expressed interest in signing free agent Michael Chandler, who lost the title to Freire.
Other Bellator fighters such as welterweight champion Douglas Lima and top featherweight contender A.J. McKee responded to White’s comments on MMA Junkie’s Instagram comments:
Patricio 'Pitbull' fires back at Dana White's comments dismissing Bellator
