UFC president Dana White absolutely stands by his decision to make an interim heavyweight title fight.
When the UFC 265 headliner between Derrick Lewis (25-7 MMA, 16-5 UFC) and Ciryl Gane (9-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) was announced, it caused an uproar from the MMA community considering Francis Ngannou just claimed the title in March.
Ngannou (16-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) and his manager were surprised with the UFC’s decision to have an interim title fight in August when Ngannou’s manager claims that he was ready to go on Sept. 25. But as White explained Tuesday, he wanted Ngannou to defend his belt Aug. 7 and since the champ wasn’t ready, he moved on.
“Who gives a sh*t?,” White told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “I put on fights every Saturday. You wanna fight? I got fights for you. You don’t wanna fight, no problem. You don’t have to fight. So what we got now is we actually have the guy who beat Francis Ngannou taking on the undefeated up-and-comer in Houston for the interim title and whoever wins, they can fight Francis when it’s time. It’s a great fight; it’s the fight that makes sense. It’s the two best heavyweights in the world that aren’t the heavyweight champion.”
White refutes all claims that an interim title delegitimizes Ngannou’s reign as champion. He actually thinks it amplifies his first title defense, considering his history with both men.
“If anything, this will make the title fight even bigger when these guys fight,” White said. “It’ll be champion vs. champion and if Derrick Lewis wins, Derrick Lewis is the guy who beat him. Ciryl Gane has never fought him, and he’s undefeated, which means if he beats Derrick Lewis, the guy who beat Francis Ngannou, and he’s still undefeated going in against Francis Ngannou, that’s pretty f*cking exciting.
“So why doesn’t everybody just shut the f*ck up and let me do what I’ve been doing for the last 20 years? If you want to fight, I got fights every Saturday. If you don’t want to fight, no problem. Fly around the world, go on f*cking vacation, do whatever the hell you want to do, and when you’re ready to fight, we’ll be here.”
Dana White blasts critics of UFC interim heavyweight title fight: ‘Just shut the f*ck up’