Dana White's Latest 'Takedown' Video Is Based On A False Premise

The pre-event criticism of UFC 300 was with White, not the fighters

UFC CEO Dana White must have been bored this week. With some time off between UFC 300 and the next ESPN contract-obligation-content-filler card from the UFC Apex, White decided to take a victory lap the only way he seems to know how, by using the achievements of the UFC fighters to pat himself on the back, while at the same time denigrating some people he thinks are MMA media members.

With a huckster's grin planted on his face, White, standing in front of his not-at-all tacky "Art of War," wall design, said, "As we rolled into UFC 300, the 'MMA experts' weighed in on what they thought of UFC 300, and for all the fighters who were are this card, when I said that it was the greatest card ever assembled in the history of combat sports, this is what the media thought of you guys."

Let's stop and examine what the UFC's chief carnival barker is selling in this latest ham-fisted, unnecessary, and not-at-all-childish (attempted) takedown video.

First, the air quotes White used around MMA experts were necessary because some individuals featured in this petty passion project are, at best, hot-take merchants. That is, folks who say outlandish things that they may or may not believe to generate clicks and engagement. At least White's first takedown video, which focused on the media's chagrin around staging events during the pandemic, concentrated on legitimate MMA media. The UFC 300 clip went deep. How deep? Well, it dug up posts from random Reddit commenters, because, you know, MMA experts. Which makes one wonder just how true it is when White (often) brags about his elephant-thick skin and how little he cares about what anyone says about him.

Second, White is moving the goalposts on this one. From the start, most of the legit MMA media's criticism was directed not at the fighters competing on the card but at White for overpromising on the main event.

White's build-up to the announcement of the UFC 300 headliner made fans (and media) believe that it would be an earth-shattering fight. Instead, White delivered a good booking that, according to one of the participants, was offered to him the day before the UFC announced the fight. That announcement came less than a month before fight night, which left fans and media thinking that the UFC had settled on what it could get for a main event and had not delivered what it had promised.

Third, White seems to be taking an unwarranted victory lap here. There's no mention of the UFC matchmakers who put the card together. There's no pat on the back for the production team, who made the night feel special through the video packages and graphics they put together. And finally, and most glaring, White seems to be taking credit for the performances the fighters put on at UFC 300.

If anyone deserves the bulk of the credit for what made UFC 300 one of the best nights in UFC history, it's the athletes who didn't get their fair share of the revenue they generated at the event.

All the above brings up another topic. If White is so eager to take credit for the success of UFC 300, he should be equally enthusiastic to take the blame for what he is trying to pass off as UFC-quality fight cards at the UFC Apex.

Take a look at the next Apex event. It's not great. The same could be said for UFC 301. Outside of the main event of that pay-per-view card, there's not a single contest that screams "must watch." Are we going to get a mea culpa from White on all the UFC Apex Fight Night events that he didn't even bother to attend? Doubtful.

White's latest distraction is self-serving and built around a false premise. But hey, at least the face of an organization worth north of $10 billion got to "burn" Reddit users BigMac826 and PrinceOfDoge.

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