Why Dana White Swore at a Boxing Reporter Who Asked The Sport’s Biggest Question

Dana White got into a heated exchange with boxing reporter Sean Zittel during a public press conference on Thursday, the 11th of September.

It all went down at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, just two days before the monumental pound-for-pound clash between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, who is the undisputed champion in the super middleweight division, and Terence Crawford, who is one of the sport’s most-skilled fighters. Crawford will hope that skill is enough to offset the experience Canelo has campaigning at 168 pounds, considering the American has never previously boxed north of 154.

But mid-week, when the main event fighters took to the stage with White, who is lead promoter, the UFC boss lost his cool. And it was seemingly all because Zittel asked the most pressing question in the industry.

Why Dana White Swore at a Boxing Reporter

This is what Zittel asked White: “Why do you want to make sweeping changes to the Muhammad Ali Refort Act which is meant to protect fighters, to bring about a business model that currently has your company already paying out $375 million in anti-trust lawsuits and has two potential pending class-action lawsuits pending as well.”

The context was the significant paydays that fighters like Canelo, and other box office fighters in boxing, generate for themselves, and how this is a contrast to similar level of fighters in the UFC.

The Muhammad Ali Revival Act is a co-sponsored bill which is pitched as a way to provide boxers with “better opportunities, better pay, and greater safety standards,” per US representatives. According to sources GIVE ME SPORT spoke to in recent months, though, it is window dressing and amounts to a “power grab” so that UFC can circumvent the current Ali Act, which protects fighter standards, to instead create a Unified Boxing Organization, or UBO, and run its own rankings, crown its own champions, and stage its own events. It’s what one source told us is a UFC-ification of the sport.

White responded to Zittel: “This is obviously a long discussion. If you want to talk about that, set-up an interview, this isn’t about me and my business. This is about these two guys on Saturday night.”

Unfazed, Zittel had more. “My follow-up, Dana, earlier this week the California State Athletic Commission had a hearing about TKO trying to bring those changes … and it was postponed three months …”

White then interrupted Zittel, and said he was trying to “showboat.” He then, again, told him to set up and interview so they could discuss it further.

To which Zittel said: “Dana … if TKO can’t make those changes, will you still invest in the sport? Will you compete in the market?”

White, by this point, had had enough. He called Zittel an “a**-hole” and told him to “beat it.”

Canelo, showcasing his personality in English once again, calmed the tension by shouting the following:

“FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”

Watch the exchange right here:

The fiery exchange underlined just how high the stakes are beyond the ring. Between billion-dollar reforms, promoter power plays, and a looming superfight, Thursday’s press conference showed that the battle for boxing’s future is already raging — and sometimes, it’s as heated as the fight itself.