Dana White addressed a few things during the UFC 235 press conference in Las Vegas on Thursday. He gave updates on Conor McGregor, let fans know Holly Holm and Aspen Ladd was off and commented on the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) possibly sanctioning fighters for the things they say leading up to fights. White not only sees that as ridiculous but he called it “unconstitutional” when asked how he felt about the NSAC making the proposal.
“I think it’s crazy, I think it’s insane, I think it’s unconstitutional,” said White. He added, “These guys get into a cage, they can punch each other in the face, they can knock each other unconscious, they can choke each other, but they can’t say mean things to each other.”
“It’s pretty ridiculous.”- Dana White
That is not to mention the history marketing fights and trash talk has with combat sports in general. Earlier in the week when White was on Sports Center talking about what went on with McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov specifically, he mentioned the days of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier and how some of the things said back then were off-putting. He said that in the business of fighting “you come across people that don’t like each other, and that was the case in this fight.”
The formula to sell fights to fans seems to require trash talk and if there was any evidence of that, the UFC 235 press conference’s highlight seemed to be the back and forth between Kamaru Usman and Tyron Woodley. When Cody Garbrandt and Pedro Munoz were respectful with each other, Jon Jones jokingly said, “This pay per view just went,” and motioned for downhill.
According to the UFC, UFC 229 had an $86.4 million economic impact on the Las Vegas metropolitan area. It would be hard to argue that McGregor’s trash talk did not have anything to do with those numbers.
Do you think trash talk will go away in the UFC?
