50 of the best moments of Dana White’s career
By Amy Kaplan
Dana defending Jon Jones
By Joe Duffy
Jon Jones is arguably the greatest fighter in UFC history and to date has only one blemish on his record. Jones has only suffered one loss in his MMA career, and it came against Matt Hamill by way of disqualification. The disqualification happened because of an illegal elbow, but the stoppage that followed was certainly questionable. Jones was dominating Hamill and had him on the brink of being finished, but landed a downward 12-6 elbow, that warranted a stoppage in the action from the referee, Steve Mazzagatti. The fight was stopped by Mazzagatti after Hamill deemed himself unable to compete, but this came much to the dismay of White.
White came to the defense of his rising star, stating to the media that Hamill bowed out because of an injured shoulder and not because he was injured from the illegal strike. White stressed to the media that Mazzagatti should have taken a point and allowed the fight to continue.
“It shouldn’t have happened,” White stated when he was asked about the Jones loss. “Why the fight was stopped had nothing to do with the elbow.”
It was one of the many disagreements in what would be a long-standing rivalry between White and Mazzagatti for the years to come. White is even on a current mission to have the fight overturned.
UFC donates $1 million for brain health
By Kristen King
One severe aspect of competing in mixed martial arts for an extended amount of time is the very high likelihood of developing some sort of brain injury. With talks of neurological disorders like Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) ramping up in the last couple of years, Dana White and the UFC opted to lead the charge in getting the best support for fighters who have and are continuing to compete.
In 2016, the UFC announced the donation of $1 million to the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. With the donation, fighters will have the chance to go to the center for tests to see how the overall health of their brain is and find out what they can do in order to better protect themselves in the future.
A move like this truly emphasizes the way in which White cares for the safety and longevity of the fighters in his promotion, making this one of the best moments of his career.