Dana White got handed a fantasy booking exercise and treated it like a regular shift at the matchmaking desk. In a video with Bleacher Report, the UFC CEO built a four-fight dream card with Tom Aspinall vs. Jon Jones on top. Ilia Topuria vs. Paddy Pimblett, Petr Yan vs. Sean O’Malley 2 and Josh Hokit vs. Alex Pereira filled out the rest.
His rule going in was simple. White said he has no interest in dream fights that can’t actually happen, which was bad news for the UFC 334 fighters who came at him with nostalgia.
Uros Medic pitched Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor. White passed. Ciryl Gane wanted Jones vs. Francis Ngannou, and Kayla Harrison put her own name in against Ronda Rousey. White turned both down. He has insisted for a long time that Nurmagomedov is done, after his own attempts to coax him back went nowhere, and he said he doesn’t see any chance Khabib or Rousey fights again.
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Caio Borralho came closest among the rejected pitches. White agreed with him that Anderson Silva vs. Georges St-Pierre should have happened, but that one didn’t make the final four either.
White filled three of the four slots with his own picks. He took Pimblett vs. Topuria over Khabib vs. McGregor, and he wasn’t shy about why.
“Paddy Pimblett versus Ilia Topuria is a huge fight that makes sense and can happen and should happen,” White said. “Those are the kinds of fights I like talking about.”
The Jones pick is where it gets interesting. White called Jones definitely retired, then said he’d love it if Bones wanted to compete again and that he’d make the fight in a minute.
He then put Jones in the main event against Aspinall, on a card where the stated requirement was that the fight could actually happen. Bloody Elbow read that as a sign White still believes Aspinall vs. Jones could come together. That’s a reasonable read. You don’t throw out Khabib for being retired and then headline with Jones unless some part of you thinks the phone might still ring.
Hokit was the only fighter whose pitch made the final card. He suggested settling his feud with Pereira, and White didn’t need long to think about it. He said it was a fight that makes sense.
White added that Hokit vs. Pereira could happen regardless of whether Hokit wins or loses later Saturday. That’s a rare thing to hear from the boss on fight day, and it means the most realistic fight on the fantasy card might belong to the guy with the least name value on it.
My take: this was the most Dana White version of a dream card possible. He took a hypothetical and turned it into a booking meeting, and I’m fine with that. Topuria vs. Pimblett and Yan vs. O’Malley 2 are fights a matchmaker can sign. But the one-rule card ended up headlined by the only fight that breaks the rule, and the guy who left with the best news was Hokit, who has to go fight later Saturday knowing the Pereira door stays open win or lose.
