A lot of people were surprised or even upset when UFC president Dana White recently released a video taking media members to task. He specifically targeted those members of the media that had been highly of him finding a way to keep the UFC operational during the pandemic.

That really should have surprised no one. It’s not out of character for Dana White to speak his mind on most topics, let alone members of the media that he doesn’t feel have given him fair coverage.

And if that’s not enough, he came out and said that he had something for those members of the media. He said so in October on former UFC fighter Mike Swick’s YouTube podcast, “Real Quick with Mike Swick.”

Swick recently did a follow-up podcast talking about White’s video retaliation and framed it up from a former fighter’s perspective.

You can watch White’s full video post below.

(Video courtesy of UFC)

TRENDING Dana White confirms three UFC events in eight days upon return to Fight Island

Dana White’s video taking the ‘negative media’ to task

UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz was recently elected to the Huntington Beach, Calif. City Council, where he was also named the city’s Mayor Pro Tem.

Ortiz has always been a lightning rod for criticism, whether it be inside or outside of the cage. That has continued and even amplified since he was elected to city office.

A longtime supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, Ortiz has also been quite vocal about the coronavirus pandemic and expresses criticism of the effectiveness of efforts to counter it with policies like requiring people to wear masks.

During Ortiz’s first city council meeting, he fielded a heavy dose of criticism from a Huntington Beach resident, who attended via phone.

He was recently engaged in further critical conversations over mask wearing with another council member during a recent meeting, all of which are video recorded. Ortiz was not wearing a mask at the meeting.

Tito Ortiz city council mask confrontation

By MMA Junkie Staff
December 24, 2020 6:00 am

Follow @MMAjunkie

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/gallery/photos-best-of-miyuu-yamamoto

Colby Covington won’t back his former teammate in the UFC 257 main event.

Dustin Poirier faces Conor McGregor on Jan. 23 at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, a rematch of their UFC 178 bout in 2014. McGregor got the best of Poirier when they fought at featherweight, needing less than two minutes to take out “The Diamond.”

Covington (16-2 MMA, 11-2 UFC), a former teammate of Poirier at American Top Team, thinks McGregor gets the job done again — and quickly.

“My best fake friend Dustin Sorrier,” Covington told Submission Radio. “All I can say guys, is you guys make sure you got the Kleenex ready at the press conference, because you know Dustin Sorrier is gonna break down on the mic, he’s gonna cry to the world, get everybody to feel sympathy and feel bad for him. He’s gonna get sparked again in the first round, because he’s completely washed up and has no chin anymore and no heart.”

Covington recently departed ATT after nearly a decade with the gym. Rifts with the likes of Poirier and Jorge Masvidal caused a separation within the gym, with Covington often having his own tailor-made training sessions.

American Top Team owner Dan Lambert was unhappy with the drama, prompting Covington to issue an apology to Poirier. But now that Covington has left for MMA Masters, he isn’t pulling any punches towards his former teammate.

“It’s not gonna be competitive,” Covington added. “I think Conor’s just gonna spark him first round. Just get the Kleenex ready, cause Dustin’s gonna be crying up a storm at the press conference and getting everybody to feel bad for him. ‘Wah-wah, feel bad for me, I didn’t accomplish my dream.’ Yeah, cause you’re a (expletive). You didn’t work hard enough for it. What is up with society these days? People think that everyone should get a participation trophy. Dustin needs his safe space. Go in your safe space, Dustin.”

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/12/colby-covington-conor-mcgregor-dustin-poirier-washed-up-finishes-first-round

Belal Muhammad is being made to wait in his quest to climb the UFC welterweight ladder.

Muhammad (17-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) was scheduled to face Dhiego Lima last weekend at UFC Fight Night 183, but was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19.

Initially targeting a return on the UFC’s first event of 2021, Muhammad realized that might not be feasible after getting hit fairly hard with COVID-19 symptoms.

Before Muhammad was booked to face Lima, he drew another unranked opponent in Sean Brady, but Brady was forced to pull out and he was replaced by Lima. So whether or not the UFC decides to rebook him against Lima, all Muhammad knows is that, if he gets a win next time out, he’d like a ranked opponent next.

“It all depends on whether Lima wants to wait or not,” Muhammad told MMA Junkie Radio. “This thing pushed me back a little bit just because if I do end up having to fight Lima again, I have a set plan where it’s like, ‘Alright, I beat Lima and now I finally get a ranked guy.’ I got my number now, he came up, basically got lucky because he got a ranked opponent now. It took me forever to get a ranked opponent, he got a ranked opponent so it’s all on him if he wants to wait for me to get healthy and fight me because your goal is to be in the rankings. So if he wants to wait for me, that’s a ranked guy, so why not wait for me?

“But if he doesn’t, cool, I don’t really care. I don’t have anything personal or anything against him. I just want a name, I want somebody to fight, and I wanna move up that ladder. I want to keep moving up that ladder. For me, the only thing that’s heartbreaking is I would have fought him, if I would have beat him, my next fight for sure would have been against a ranked guy. So let’s see who the UFC gives me now, (and see) what they’re thinking now.”

Muhammad admits that though Lima (15-7 MMA, 4-5 UFC) is unranked, it would be convenient if they rescheduled that fight, considering that he was already in training camp for him.

“If it’s gonna be Lima again, I was already training for him, so hopefully that will be a lot easier if we could just do that and then pop that up in February real quick.”

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/12/ufc-news-belal-muhammad-wants-ranked-opposition-after-dhiego-lima