Dana White has dismissed concerns over poor promotion for UFC 284, saying the event will break PPV records and go down in sports lore.
The UFC president recently addressed concerns about Islam Makhachev, who is set to defend his lightweight title against featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 on Saturday night.
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The two UFC champions will square off this weekend
The Khabib Nurmagomedov protege recently suggested that more could have been done to market the bout which is only the seventh meeting between two defending champions in UFC history.
The UFC boss believes Makhachev’s comments were taken out of context, but still addressed his fighters’ apparent concerns about UFC 284 being under-promoted.
White said in an interview with Jim Rome, “I spoke to Islam. First of all, who interviewed him? Who translated for him? I mean, the guy speaks Russian. Taken out of context.
“First of all, he lives in Dagestan. What does he know about what’s going on for fight promotion? He does not know anything.
“It’s going to be one of the five biggest fights of all time. The event sold out, right? You couldn’t get a ticket if you wanted to get a ticket in Perth.
White went on to explain that Makhachev vs Volkanovski tends to be the most bought pay-per-view in Australian history before expressing his belief that it will break a record currently held by UFC superstar Conor McGregor. .
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Dana White predicts UFC 284 will break pay-per-view record
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Conor McGregor currently holds the record for highest-selling Australian PPV of all time
He added: “This thing tends to be the biggest pay-per-view event in Australia right now, which, it’s like six per cent behind the Conor McGregor [vs. Dustin] Pear fight 3.
“He will probably break the record. So say the fight ain’t been [promoted], it’s just ridiculous. This is what you call BS on the Internet.
White received a ton of flak last week when a video of him forgetting Makhachev’s name while talking about UFC 284 went viral on social media.
The 53-year-old has been somewhat distracted so far this year as he promoted his controversial slap fight league and faced the fallout of being caught on camera punching his wife on the New Year’s Eve.
White hopes to get things back on track with a record breaking event at RAC Arena this weekend.
