There was a lot for Dana White to unpack following this past weekend’s first event of their new Paramount+ era, and at the UFC 324 post-fight press conference he addressed a number of problematic issues that had came up both before and during the event.
Things hadn’t gone smoothly even the day before the event, with Cameron Smotherman feinting after walking off the scales on Friday, leading to him falling flat on his face on-stage.
Smotherman’s fight with Ricky Turcios was subsequently cancelled and the fighter is now undergoing further tests to understand why it happened.
“I mean, if doctors don’t know how it happened, how the f*** do I know how it happened, you know what I mean?” White said when asked about the incident. “Could be nerves. It could be a million things.”
“People faint at weddings, you know. I don’t know how. Listen, I’m glad all he got was some stitches on his chin.
“I mean, he fell face-first, no hands. First thing I asked was, ‘Does he have his teeth?’ So that, for a really scary, horrible situation, it turned out about as good as it could.”
That wasn’t the only fight that was pulled from the card on short notice, as on the day of the event Michael Johnson vs. Alexander Hernandez was nixed amid talk of suspicious betting activity.
This is something that had already happened with an Isaac Dulgarian fight back in November, and White confirmed after UFC 324 that the same thing occurred again, prompting them to take immediate action.
“That’s what it is. Happened again,” White confirmed after reports that the betting line had shifted significantly in a short space of time. “We got called from the gaming integrity service, and I said I’m not doing this shit again. We pulled the fight.“
“The FBI’s already deep into all this stuff anyway. I’m sure this one will be next.,” White noted.
However, White would only say, “I don’t know,” when asked whether either Johnson or Hernandez would be released like Dulgarian had been just a couple of days after his fight was flagged.
White was also quizzed about fan complaints that there was a metric ton of adverts during the UFC 324 live broadcast on Paramount+, even getting in the way of some fighter walk-ins and corner-work in-between rounds, which wouldn’t have happened on a traditional numbered PPV event.
“I haven’t seen it yet and all of this is a work in progress,” White said. “It’s $8.99. You’re not paying f*cking, however much more, these guys have got to make some money too.”
It’s worth noting that the UFC’s co-ordinating producer Zach Candito has since addressed one part of that issue, insisting that the 30 minutes it took to get onto the first event on the card was just a one-off.
“Just a debut show – lots to get in #UFC324,” Candito told fans on X. “Don’t expect the new norm to be 30 minutes after the hour. Just trying to do some special stuff. It’ll be at least 10 minutes earlier next week. All is well. All is well :)“
