Dana White didn’t like what Dan Hardy had to say about him and the UFC in recent days.
The UFC president responded to the accusations Hardy made when he claimed White staged the video of him showing concern for Calvin Kattar in a loss to Max Holloway in January 2021. White denied staging the video and ripped the former UFC commentator for the accusation.
“I can tell you we’ve never staged anything ever,” White told MMA Junkie at the UFC 280 post-fight news conference. “We have a documentary that we filmed during COVID – that’s why I was mic’d. I’ve never been mic’d. I was mic’d because of that.
“Are you talking about when I was talking about ‘Let’s get him straight to the hospital’? Do you know how many fights a week I say that to (UFC chief business officer) Hunter (Campbell) or (UFC chief medical consultant) Dr. Davidson? ‘No interviews, no nothing – that guy goes straight to the hospital.’ Everybody should have been concerned about Calvin Kattar that night.”
That night in Abu Dhabi, many thought the fight should’ve been stopped earlier and Kattar shouldn’t have been allowed to go into the fifth round of the fight with Holloway.
White said he doesn’t care about Hardy’s comments and thinks Hardy is making accusations because he’s bitter about his release from his duties as a UFC commentator in early 2021, reportedly after a disagreement with a female employee during the promotion’s run of events in Abu Dhabi that same year.
“I don’t give a f*ck what anybody thinks, so you don’t have to worry about me staging anything, and I definitely don’t give a f*ck what Dan Hardy thinks,” White said. “Dan Hardy’s a guy that was mistreating a woman who worked here, and that’s why he was fired. So obviously he’s bitter, and I’m assuming that’s why he would say something like that.”
It didn’t take long for Hardy to fire back at White. The Englishman posted his response Sunday on Twitter.
“Mistreating a woman, Dana White?” Hardy posted. “How dare you accuse me of such a thing. Clear proof that you were told lies about what happened and why they steered all of the ‘Dan Hardy’ questions away from you.”
Mistreating a woman, @danawhite?
How dare you accuse me of such a thing.
Clear proof that you were told lies about what happened, and why they steered all of the ‘Dan Hardy’ questions away from you. @mikewhoatv #NumberOneBullshit#UFC280 https://t.co/on0BhPfSSI
— Dan Hardy (@danhardymma) October 22, 2022
Dana White responds to ‘bitter’ Dan Hardy’s accusation of staged video, Hardy fires back