5 UFC fighters who failed to impress Dana White despite a big win
UFC president Dana White is undoubtedly the most successful promoter in MMA history. But, at times, he’s also an abrasive figure who is difficult to please.
Over the years we’ve seen numerous examples of UFC stars who came out on top in big fights, only to draw the ire of Dana White, who simply wasn’t impressed with their performance.
Usually, White tends to dislike any fighter who goes into a bout with a safety-first approach, particularly in a big fight. It’s those kind of performances that have made him most angry.
With that in mind, here are five UFC fighters who failed to impress Dana White despite a big win.
#5. Curtis Blaydes failed to impress Dana White against Alexander Volkov
When Curtis Blaydes was matched with Alexander Volkov in the summer of 2020, it felt like the final step towards a UFC heavyweight title shot for the young fighter.
‘Razor’ was riding a run of seven wins and just one loss, and had begun the year by stopping former champion Junior dos Santos in devastating fashion.
Prior to the fight with Volkov, Blaydes promised another impressive win. But while he ended the night with his hand raised, it was in very different fashion to how he’d beaten dos Santos.
He told you the gameplan! 🤼♂️ @RazorBlaydes265 https://t.co/CuMvrr2SBx
‘Razor’ essentially outwrestled Volkov for five rounds, clearly winning, but never coming close to stopping the Russian. If he’d expected a title shot off the back of the win, he was about to be sorely disappointed.
Sure enough, it didn’t take Dana White long to hit out at Blaydes in the media after the fight. The UFC president seemed furious with his showing and stated that as far as he was concerned, ‘Razor’ had “the wrong attitude.”
He went onto say that Blaydes ended up “looking stupid” after failing to back up his trash talk, and essentially shot down any idea of him having a title shot.
Despite another three wins in the years that have followed, ‘Razor’ has still not fought for gold in the octagon.
#4. Tyron Woodley failed to impress Dana White against Demian Maia
Prior to Tyron Woodley’s UFC welterweight title defense against Demian Maia in the summer of 2017, all of the talk centered around former champion Georges St-Pierre.
According to most sources, ‘GSP’ intended to return to action later that year after a four-year absence, and the word was that Woodley was the man in his sights if he could overcome his Brazilian challenger.
‘The Chosen One’ did defeat Maia handily, but it wasn’t in the way that he’d have hoped. Despite enjoying a clear advantage both standing and in the wrestling department, Woodley didn’t open up quite enough to finish his foe off.
Wonderboy✅ Wonderboy
✅ Maia
Tyron Woodley successfully defended his welterweight belt at #UFC214...
#AndStill https://t.co/ljRTI7W2On
Unsurprisingly, that drew the ire of Dana White, who was quick to bury his champion in the media despite his victory.
White questioned whether any fans would want to see Woodley fight again. He followed that by pointing out that the fight had broken the record for the least punches thrown in a title bout.
As for the potential clash with St-Pierre, the UFC president was quick to shut that down too. He instead confirmed that ‘GSP’ would be fighting Michael Bisping for the middleweight title instead, with his reasoning being “because I know Bisping will show up and fight.”
Woodley went o nto demand an apology from White for his outburst. Unsurprisingly, it never came.
#3. Merab Dvalishvili failed to impress Dana White against Jose Aldo
One of the biggest performances in the UFC in 2022 came when Merab Dvalishvili was able to outpoint the legendary Jose Aldo in their bantamweight clash. It was the first time that ‘The Machine’ had really stepped up to fight an opponent at the elite level, and the Georgian performed excellently.
Although he didn’t finish Aldo, he clearly dominated the Brazilian physically. When the bout was over, the former featherweight champion decided to hang up his gloves.
Remarkably, though, while most observers were impressed with Dvalishvili’s performance, Dana White saw things a little differently.
Dana White thinks Merab Dvalishvili fumbled what should've been a big moment in beating Jose Aldo.
"I don’t think Merab did himself a lot of favors."
#UFC278 | Full story: bit.ly/3AbLoot https://t.co/qcMGlJemta
The UFC president appeared to hit out at ‘The Machine’ after the bout, suggesting that he simply hadn’t done enough against Aldo to warrant a bantamweight title shot in the near future.
White stated that while he respected Aldo, the Brazilian had put together “no offense,” and yet Dvalishvili “hadn’t gone after it like a guy that looks like he wants to fight for the title.”
Later, he claimed that the promotion had given the Georgian a chance to shine, and that hadn’t happened in the fight.
Quite what White was expecting from ‘The Machine’ given Aldo’s reputation as one of the greatest fighters of all time is anyone’s guess. Put simply, the UFC president once again proved to be a tricky man to please.
#2. Frank Mir failed to impress Dana White against Mirko Cro Cop
Ever since 2006, the UFC has handed out a number of disclosed post-fight bonuses to the best-performing fighters on its events, usually for delivering the ‘knockout of the night’ or the ‘fight of the night’.
At UFC 119 in September 2010, though, the promotion surprisingly didn’t award a knockout bonus, instead giving out two ‘fight of the night’ awards alongside CB Dollaway’s ‘submission of the night’ award.
This wouldn’t have been strange if there were no knockouts on the card, but that wasn’t the case. In the headliner, Frank Mir dispatched Mirko Cro Cop with a violent knee in what was probably one of the best knockouts of the year.
So why didn’t Mir receive a bonus? Essentially, despite scoring a highlight-reel knockout, the former heavyweight champion hadn’t come close to impressing Dana White.
In some ways, it was understandable. The bout hadn’t been that exciting for the most part and featured far too much clinching – but the knockout seemed to have made up for that.
Not in the eyes of White, though. The UFC president was furious after the event, accusing Mir of having no heart and even suggesting that the former champion could be cut from his contract if he produced another similar performance.
It seemed like a wild overreaction even for White’s standards. Sure, the fight had headlined what was a disappointing event overall, but Mir had at least delivered a big finish.
Thankfully, the UFC president’s threats proved to be empty and Mir remained with the promotion for another six years, headlining numerous other shows and fighting for the title again in 2012.
#1. Anderson Silva failed to impress Dana White against Demian Maia
It’s arguable that the winning performance that made Dana White the angriest was Anderson Silva’s middleweight title defense against Demian Maia in April 2010.
Not only did White refuse to present Silva with his title belt in the aftermath of the fight, instead leaving the job to the Brazilian’s manager Ed Soares, but he even went as far as to say that he’d cut ‘The Spider’ from his contract if he produced another similar performance in the future.
To be fair, in this case, White had good reason to be angry with his champion.
Firstly, the bout headlined the UFC’s first ever show in Abu Dhabi. While the event started excellently, by the time Silva stepped into the octagon, two disappointing fights – Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie and B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar – had ground things to a halt.
It was down to Silva and Maia to save things, and early on, it looked like they would. ‘The Spider’ seemed to be operating on a different plane of reality to Maia, and had him hurt in the early rounds.
However, for reasons only known to him, Silva then essentially stopped fighting entirely. Instead, he chose to dance around the octagon, easily avoiding Maia’s attacks but doing little in return.
By the time the fight ended, the octagon was being showered with boos from the crowd, who had witnessed one of the worst title bouts in UFC history, as well as one of the weirdest performances from ‘The Spider’.
Therefore, it was hardly a surprise to see White spitting feathers after the bout, and demanding more from Silva in his next title defense, which was booked against Chael Sonnen four months later.
Thankfully for everyone involved, Silva did just that – putting on a thriller with ‘The American Gangster’ and submitting him in the fifth round. From that point on, Silva never annoyed White again and went on to become a UFC legend in the process.