UFC president Dana White didn’t hold back after a controversial decision went against one of the sport’s most respected featherweights.
The card marks the UFC’s first Fight Night event of the year, and also their debut on Paramount under the new broadcasting deal.
Taking place at Meta Apex, UFC Vegas 113 is headlined by a bantamweight clash between Mario Bautista and Vinicius Oliveira.
Despite putting together an eight-fight unbeaten run in the UFC, Bautista hasn’t ever really caught on with fans or made much noise within the promotion.
Mario Bautista’s controversial win over Jose Aldo sparks Dana White’s rage
Bautista made his debut against Cory Sandhagen, widely seen as one of the toughest matchups in the division, and lost by first-round submission. He then put together a couple of wins before dropping another fight.
But then he went on an eight-fight win streak, including a decision over Jose Aldo, who many consider the greatest featherweight of all time.
The two met at UFC 307 in what was clearly the biggest fight of Bautista’s career up to that point. It was a real chance for him to prove himself against a big name. But despite the stakes, it turned into one of those forgettable fights where not much happened outside of clinching against the fence.
Bautista won by split decision, but it didn’t go down well with Dana White.
“If you’re not trying to fight, how do you win the fight?” White said in his post-fight press conference.
“And if you’re looking at attempted takedowns, what about stuffing the takedowns? When you can tell that the guy definitely doesn’t wanna stand and strike and just wants to stall against the fence, yes, the referees, that’s their job, they’re supposed to (break it up).
“When they see it continually happening, then you keep breaking them up, it’s common sense. When the guy keeps doing it and is doing everything he can to not fight and not win the fight as a ref you should break it up immediately,” White continued.
Bautista was then booked to face Umar Nurmagomedov
White didn’t hold back in criticising Bautista’s approach at the post-fight press conference, and he followed it up by handing him a tough assignment for his next outing.
After his split decision win over Aldo, Bautista was booked to fight Umar Nurmagomedov, a bout he went on to lose by unanimous decision.
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