Dana White recently dusted off his old fire-breathing persona this weekend, posting a video that torched the FIFA World Cup Final broadcast production as the worst in sports.
The UFC boss admitted the swipe doubled as a mea culpa for his own promotion, which he had recently blasted with the same insult.
White, the UFC’s chief executive, is known as a perfectionist about how his events look on television, and he insists on his promotion controlling its own production. That obsession spilled over publicly at UFC 329, where a graphic misidentified boxer Shakur Stevenson as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams on the arena screen and TV feed, leaving White fuming at his crew from cageside.
In the aftermath of that blunder, he branded his own staff “the worst” production team when it came to celebrity cameos. After tuning in to the World Cup Final in New Jersey, he decided soccer’s broadcasters had somehow topped that low bar.
The rant surfaced via Dana White (via social media), capping a rare return to the combative public style fans have seen far less of in recent years.
White walks back his own “worst” claim
Following what he described as a drab 1-0 Spain win over Argentina that went to extra time, White posted the video conceding defeat in his own contest for worst production.
I actually tee’d up the guys who are doing the production, the guys responsible for the production of the World Cup for you guys to hit a grand slam home run,” White said.
Even though everybody in my team was arguing with me saying you are the worst I said ‘no, we are the worst, they didn’t f— it up as bad as we did.'
He continued:
So what do you guys do? You triple down today and just go ‘f— you Dana White, you’re not beating us! We are the worst production team in the history of sports to ever show celebrities.’ I bow down, congratulations to the producers of the World Cup.
White also took aim at the pre-match flyover, saying:
You guys win, you guys f—ed up that flyover too! I’m not going to nitpick, I’m just giving you credit where credit is due, you guys absolutely f—ing suck, we are the second worst.
A familiar target for White
The dig fits a long pattern. White has repeatedly said he is not a soccer fan and does not expect that to change, questioning the sport’s scoring and entertainment value in past interviews.
The UFC 329 flap remains the more thoroughly documented recent example of White ripping a broadcast team, and it clearly shaped his framing here. You can read more on that episode in our earlier coverage of Dana White ripping his production team over the UFC 329 broadcast blunder.
