Dana White On UFC Heavyweight Title, Paddy Pimblett, More

UFC president Dana White was on-hand for the London event on Saturday.

White expressed his appreciation for the fans and the event, stating that he wants to bring the Octagon back to the country this year.

The UFC has remained close to Las Vegas for the most part since COVID. However, the London stop has always been a key one for the promotion.

On Saturday, Tom Aspinall took a step in the right direction with another win at heavyweight. That title is currently held by Francis Ngannou.

However, Ngannou is down for the count at the moment after undergoing surgery on his knee. He has also had plenty of contract issues with the UFC.

“It’s very possible,” said White, of an interim title being created again (thanks to MMA Fighting for the quotes). “We find out this week. If nine months is true, if it’s going to take nine months for him to get cleared to start training again.

“That’s almost a year before he would fight. We would do an interim title.”

The UFC also did that before Ngannou unified the belts with his most recent win.

UFC London also brought the debut of Paddy Pimblett to the Octagon. After getting knocked down, Pimblett secured a first round finish.

“I was getting tired of hearing, ‘Oh wait til you see his walkout, wait til you see this and that,'” White said. “I want to see him fight. He needs to win. But he did and he did spectacularly.

“And when he was in trouble, he came back and he turned the fight around.”

White noted that the popularity of Pimblett was outstanding on social media.

“I posted the faceoffs for the heavyweight. Did 120,000 views,” White said. “Paddy’s faceoff did 1.3 million.

“This kid’s got a ton of hype behind him and he showed everybody that he’s the real deal.”

Every fighter on the UFC London card earned a $50,000 bonus – a first for the promotion. Nine of the 12 bouts ended either via knockout, TKO or submission.

“They all deserved it,” White said. “(The card) couldn’t have been a better night. You couldn’t write a better script.”

Dana Becker

The world of MMA is one of the few sports that brings together people from all walks of life. I try my best to tell those stories and also present breaking news to the masses.