10 Fighters Dana White Never Wanted As Champion

as much as Dana White would love for all of his champions to make him buckets of cash and be super easy to work with that's just not the reality of the UFC so today we thought it would be fun to take a look at ten title holders the promotion's president absolutely could not stand and didn't want us champion we're not saying they never got along but these 10 fighters wore divisional crowns and in part or entirely pissed off the boss in doing so I'm Tommy from MMA OnPoint and these are the top 10 fighters Dana White never wanted as champion number 10 Fabricio Werdum when Werdum defeated fedor emelianenko at Strikeforce in 2010 he broke one of the all-time greatest winning streaks in MMA history Dana White had long-running issues with Fedor in their most recent history a fight with Brock Lesnar that had fallen apart and when asked about Fabrizio's win white used ver dooms past to drive a stake into his rival everybody's talking about how great this guy is no he's not then he goes and loses the Werdum a guy who we cut from the UFC for losing but that loser they cut eventually came back to the UFC after Strikeforce was absorbed by Zuffa and found himself on a five fight win streak with an interim heavyweight title for his troubles his next opponent would be the man Cain Velasquez the two-time UFC champion who was on a four fight run of his own with two epic beat downs of Junior dos Santos and after a long layoff due to injury the promotion was looking to make a huge push in the Mexican market utilizing the champions heritage in their second ever show in Mexico City unfortunately for Dana White the UFC reject ruined all that he took it to cardio Kane at increased elevation and stole his title in the third round the UFC has not held a pay-per-view in Mexico since number nine Georges st. Pierre you either die a hero or you live long enough to piss Dana off GSP was certainly good business for the UFC during his reign as welterweight champion and during those times st. Pierre and DFW got along just fine but following his controversial victory over Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 Georgia announced he was planning on taking some time away and just like that there was trouble white was fuming about the judge's decision post fight um I'm blown away that Georges st. Pierre won that fight does anybody here think that Johny Hendricks didn't win the fight more so than the decision the UFC president was having none of the champions desire to take a break you owe it to the fans you owe it to that belt you to this company and you owe it to Johnny Hendrix to give him that opportunity to certify it again Whitewood later while not revealing them dismiss G ESPYs reasons for needing time away you know he's very emotional about some [ __ ] that's going on with him right now and it's really not that bad a month later George vacated his title and left this giant disaster behind him for a few years he would return in 2017 moving up to middleweight take the title from Michael Bisping at UFC 217 one of the stipulations of getting that fight was that GSP would have to defend against Robert Whitaker if he won George vacated again having fought this pin with a digestive disease Wight was not surprised there's a reason I put that stuff in the contract for him to sign there's a reason am i shocked and I don't think anybody's shocked talk started heating up in 2018 about a second return and a lightweight title fight against Habib nurmagomedov but after st. Pierre's official retirement that next year he revealed the UFC ultimately shot down the idea of the fight for fear that GSP would again vacate the title should he win this is all very recent so literally right now white doesn't want George as a champion number eight tim sylvia widely considered to reign over one of the weakest heavyweight divisions in the history of the promotion tim sylvia wasn't exactly breaking pay-per-view records by the time he matched up with a recently unretired 43 year old Randy Couture at UFC 68 to give you some perspective on whites position Sylvia didn't even headline in his previous title defense despite being a champion in the heaviest weight this had only happened to other times since Dana took over the promotion and one of those times was again with Sylvia at UFC 44 in a classic moment the underdog Couture absolutely dominated Sylvia all fights and as per white saved the heavyweight division things got worse though by that next year Tim wanted a shot at Brock Lesnar and wanted Brock Lesnar pay when Dana said no he asked out of his contract and was granted his release something that almost never happens in the UFC further demonstrating how little they valued their former champion after being stopped by Fedor in 36 seconds that affliction banned later that year White told Yahoo Sports we all have to thank him for getting rid of Tim Sylvia he's been stinking up the joint the last couple years and phaidor did everyone a favor by beating him so easily and getting rid of him in 2012 Sean Shelby had put into motion an attempt to resize him in the newly strike force but white veto the return saying nobody cares about Tim Sylvia number seven Germaine Durand Ameen Dana White was pretty sour after UFC 208 was a highlight for you plane ride home the whole show was a bit of a dud and not only did the main event not deliver it ended in controversy after Jermaine de Rana me hit Holly Holm twice after the horn and was deducted no points the foul should have warranted a draw in this inaugural featherweight title fight which according to Dana would have been the only possible way this night could be white rarely match makes post fight or at least doesn't like to but on this night there was no doubt who was next Chris cyborg the woman they built the division for in the first place GDR had a rough start to her title run but a big fight with one of the best of all time could certainly put her back in everyone's good graces a week after Duran to me won the title cyborg was cleared of any wrongdoing for a potential you sought a doping violation and with that final hurdle out of the way the bout was tentatively scheduled for UFC 214 in June but that may the Iron Lady released a statement through her management that she refused to fight cyborg due to her past with peds this went over about as well as New Coke at least at the time we'll get back to that later the backlash from fans and media was constant and a few weeks later Dana White had had enough Duran to me was stripped of her title ending her 128 day reign in an official statement the UFC said the champions are expected to accept fights against the top contenders in their respective weight classes in order to maintain the integrity of the sport number 6 Nico Montano yo it's pretty incredible for a fighter to go from their UFC debut contain a wife being completely done with them in less than a year's time but here's Nico Montano after winning tough 26 to become the inaugural flyweight champion Montano simply had nothing but trouble her first title defense was meant to be against super popular axe murder in Kyrgyzstan e Valentina Shevchenko who had recently moved to flyweight and brutalized Priscilla cash Wei de but a surgery would leave the champion sidelined Ariel Helwani would report that the UFC was getting tired of waiting on Nico and we're looking to have her fight the bullet in July but Montano was not going to be ready until October so she was scheduled for a fight in September and as a result was way past weight going into fight week eventually being hospitalized during her cut 10 months after her debut and being crowned champion white made this announcement yeah she didn't make weight I mean that's that's pretty much it the title is vacated so it's a vacant title right now Montaigne would take to social media to point out how many champions have gone longer without being stripped but white saw star and Shevchenko and they weren't going to wait any longer Valentina won the vacant title that December a year after Nico's debut number 5 Colby Covington at first it would have seemed that Colby Covington was exactly the type of champion Dana White would want he was brash and in-your-face he caused all kinds of chaos on the microphone but a clash with the boss would nearly clip his wings before he ever flew the trouble started after he captured interim gold against half el dos anos Dana White wanted him to fight rival tyron woodley three months later at UFC 228 but Covington had planned a surgery to correct a sinus issue and rejected the offer after the fight failed to materialize several more times white wanted Colby to fight tomorrow Iseman but Covington wasn't in the contender business anymore and rejected the fight so Dana gave us pin the title shot against Woodley instead at UFC 235 and stripped Colby who went on a media tour bashing white and the UFC everybody knows I ain't got nothing to say to Uncle Fester next Colby invaded 235 fight week harassing goostman with a bullhorn and in a now infamous video confronting Dana at a blackjack table before waiting outside the casino next to White's car the UFC president wasn't too impressed I offered you the fight you know I offered you the fight you could have took it now you're gonna have to wait four hundred-plus days after winning the interim title Covington would try to get back in the UFC's good graces by taking a short notice fight with Robbie Lawler while champion Othman was out with an injury after dominating the fight there was no doubt he was next in line and a title bout was scheduled for December which he would go on to lose after all that you'd have to wonder how Dana felt about Covington and this response when asked to comment on Colby telling the media he would hit white in the head with the title if he tried to put it around his waist says it all good luck with that he's a big mouth [ __ ] idiot number four Amanda Nunez when Dana White gave a tour of his offices at the new UFC HQ a huge image of Amanda Nunez featured prominently on one of the walls and while the two are now thickest thieves with white appreciating her accomplishments as the greatest female fighter ever things were not always that way Amanda núñez played the ultimate spoiler Ronda Rousey was a promotional cash cow and a rematch to regain her title from Holly Holm would records that was until home decided she wanted to fight Misha table while waiting from Rousey a decision white was not happy about because the worst possible outcome came true when tape pulled out a final round Hail Mary choke to win the fight so they lost the huge rematch but at least eight was Rhonda's most bitter rival her return would still be huge tate was given a fight to bolster her title reign at UFC 200 against measly number four amanda Nunez oops Nunez decimated Misha now all the UFC had was Rhonda's coming back and damn did they push that I mean it was barely featured in any of the promotion leading up to the fight it's a wonder she was even on the poster there was no doubt who Dana and company wanted to win this one so long as Rousey performed Ronda mania would be running wild again in no time instead Nunez beat Rousey worse than Holly did forcing the Golden Goose to retire sometimes these things happen in MMA number three Demetrius Johnson a few years into the UFC flyweight divisions existence there were two things that were apparent Demetrius Johnson was the best 120 fiber in the world and nobody cared about flyweight fights despite being literally the most successful UFC champion of all time Johnson and the division were simply not drawing in the numbers the promotion was looking for and for years according to white there was consideration for dropping the division entirely frankly there still is that consideration but the glue that everyone felt was keeping the division together at the time was DJ he was too good to get rid of right in the lead-up to his record-setting 11th title defense Johnson got caught up publicly with UFC brass about a potential fight with TJ Dillashaw to meet you wrote an open letter laying out all of his issues with the TJ fight and his treatment by the promotion over the years white responded by pointing out Johnson's poor pay-per-view numbers and questioned his position as the pound for pound number one in the world ultimately DJ would fight and defeat Ray Bourque afterwards saying he was open to a super fight for a few million Dana wasn't a fan of the idea listen he can't be in a position we like I want two million dollars [ __ ] you I don't care what you make seemingly untouchable while still winning Johnson's lost to Henry sudo at UFC 227 was the final nail in the coffin rather than cut one of the best fighters in history still in his prime DFW opted to trade him to one championship for Ben Askren number two Chris cyborg holy [ __ ] where to start with this one how about 2012 when cyborg popped for steroids and was stripped of the Strikeforce title a few months later Ronda Rousey would her bantamweight debut in the promotion many fans believing she did so to avoid about with Chris from here their paths diverged cyborg was sent to Invicta and Rousey became the biggest star in the UFC but the calls for a cyborg Rousey fight never went away the response was always the same by Dana and Ronda though make 135 and will do it along the way both took shots at cyborgs appearance Rousey calling Chris and it's in a Yahoo interview and Dana when asked about Rhonda's comments giving this infamous reply when I saw her at the MMA Awards she looked like Wanderlei Silva and addressing heels for years it was the same line white would make the fight today if cyborg could make 135 many fans felt like the UFC was simply protecting Ronda but things started coming together in 2015 when Chris signed with the UFC immediately they ran into some trouble cyborg was basically dying making ketch weigh 140 and Ronda lost her title a shift towards a featherweight division specifically for cyborg finally lightened things up between white and his new 145 pound champion but they would sour again once I made the Nunez shocked the world and kod cyborg in less than a minute at UFC 232 one fight later a victory over Felicia Spencer Chris's contract was up post fight cyborg was calling for a new contractor to rematch with Nunez a fight Dana said Chris didn't actually want this is when things went off the rails cyborg posted a doctored video of white backstage on her YouTube channel where it appeared as if he was saying he was lying about her and that was really the last straw after years of contention Dana released a video explaining his site of their long complex history and it hilariously citing GDRs fears about cyborg PDUs and then ended their relationship with this simple phrase we're out of the sideward business Chris went on to Bellator and is their current featherweight champion it's probably safe to say this one is over for good number one tyron woodley wyden Woodley have a long vocal history and while they've at times made buddy-buddy it's mostly been beef the UFC president has been regularly critical of the former welterweight champion throughout his career and tyrants been more than happy to fire back before he even held the title white wasn't a fan of Woodley safe style Tyrone's got away to the ways ago seems like he chokes in the big fights after he's shockingly kayoed robbie lawler - captured the strap at UFC 201 things didn't improve frustrated with how he was being marketed in the lead-up to UFC 205 Woodley famously told the ESPN that he the worst treated champion in the UFC history and in part attributed this to his race which prompted Dana to call him a drama queen who drove away fans the beef between the two didn't get any better after his rematch with Stephen Thompson [ __ ] the bed and soured further after another boring defense against Demian Maia when you get booed out of an arena it means people don't want to watch you fight you know would we fire back at white saying if he didn't get treated better he'd start spilling UFC dirt a long layoff due to injury would end with Tyron mopping the floor with Daren till a fighter the UFC was priming to be a big star much was made of White's expression prior to giving the champion his belt and he was absent from the post fight press conference then there was the failed Nate Diaz fight beep white accused Woodley of holding up the division with minor injuries several times denying a fight with Colby Covington on and on there's almost too much to mention they were seemingly never on the same page and now that Woodley has dropped the strap to ceman it'll be interesting to see what it's going to take for him to earn a shot given Dana and tyrant's history thanks for watching please give us a like and subscribe we've got three new videos or more for you every single week let us know what you thought of the video in the comments below huge shout out to max Randell for editing this video together follow him on twitter at max underscore randall follow-on point MMA on twitter and have yourself a wonderful day [Music] you

Channel: MMA On Point

Views: 5,659,019

Rating: 4.8470955 out of 5

Keywords: UFC, MMA, MMA On Point, Mixed Martial Arts, Dana White, UFc Champions, Joe Rogan, Tyron Woodley, Fabricio Werdum, Cyborg, Colby Covington, 10 Fighters Dana White Never Wanted As Champion, Unwanted Champs

Id: y4JzBFj6BN8

Length: 14min 43sec (883 seconds)

Published: Thu May 14 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Downgoesthereem]

1-10: Nicco Montano

[u/Didgeridoo5555]

Stipe?

[u/zushaa]

Honorable mention of Big Country winning ultimate fighter, Dana definitely didn't like that lmao

[u/mikeq672]

Anyone that wrestles or weights less than 135 pounds.