Dana White Named UFC Fighter That Scares Him the Most

In his esteemed career, UFC President Dana White has stood in between some of the toughest men on the planet the day before they go into battle. Over the years, he has had many scary fighters plying their trade on his roster.

White, during an interview with British mixed martial artist Paddy Pimblett on the latter’s YouTube channel, was asked to name the scariest fighter he has ever dealt with during his time in the sport.

When you think of the baddest inside the Octagon, names like Francis Ngannou and Alex Pereira immediately spring to mind. Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, and Jose Aldo also spring to the front of peoples’ minds in this conversation.

White has previously spoken highly of some of those names. When he spoke to Pimblett on his YouTube channel ‘Chattin Pony’ in 2022, Pimblett brought up the subject of the scariest fighters White has worked with.

Dana White on Scariest UFC Fighters

He named three fighters, but one stood out more than the other two

Of Jon Jones, White said: “He is a freak of nature.”

Jon ‘Bones’ Jones was the multi-time UFC light heavyweight champion. He is considered an all-time great and never lost his title in an MMA fight. He stands at 6’4″ (1.93 m) and used to fight at 205lbs (93kg) but that’s after cutting weight.

Of Alex Pereira, White said: “One of the scariest guys and intimidating dudes right now is [Alex] Pereira. When you look at the guy, he looks like a stone-cold f****** killer. Off the top of my head, he and Jones are two that come to mind.”

Dana White’s Scariest UFC Fighter

However, when speaking about the baddest of them all, White, without hesitation, named Derrick Lewis.

Nicknamed ‘The Black Bear’, Lewis can boast victories over Curtis Blaydes, Alexander Volkov, and Ngannou, and has more knockouts than any other UFC heavyweight.

“Always when you’re f****** with the heavyweights – Derrick Lewis,” White said.

Derrick Lewis’ professional MMA record (as of 01/06/25)
41 fights	28 wins	12 losses
By knockout	23	7
By submission	1	2
By decision	4	3
No contests	1

“When Derrick Lewis comes to a staredown, the only thing that makes him even a little bit not scary is that he actually has a sense of humour. He’s funny sometimes, but God forbid you get in there with Derrick Lewis and he doesn’t like the other fighter.

“I was in between him and another guy one time at the face-off, and it was just like, ‘I might as well not be there’. If these guys want to do something, they’re going to throw me into the third row, and there’s not a thing I can do about it.

“When you touch him, Lewis is one of the most powerful dudes that I’ve even been in there with on a face-off. I can’t remember who the other guy was, but they were both trying to get in each other’s face, and I tried to stop it, and I was like, ‘This is f****** unbelievable how powerful these two are’.”

Lewis will be looking to add to his impressive KO record when he next steps into the Octagon to take on Brazil’s Tallison Teixeira at UFC Fight Night on the 12th of July in Nashville, Tennessee.

Lewis hasn’t fought since knocking out Rodrigo Nascimento at UFC St. Louis last May. Before a loss to Jailton Almeida on short notice, he set the UFC all-time knockouts record by finishing Marcos Regerio da Lime at UFC 291 in just 33 seconds.