UFC CEO Dana White was criticized by the combat sports community for not recognizing Top 5 heavyweight and UFC 333 main card competitor Alexander Volkov during the promotion’s pre-fight press conference earlier this week in Abu Dhabi.
White claims he “absolutely” knew it was “Drago,” but was playing along for the sake of the “shtick.” White kept waiting for Volkov — who was asking questions about UFC title shots from the crowd — to drop the curtain with a well-timed punchline.
It never came.
“I absolutely knew,” White told Main Event. “It was freaking Volkanovski out so bad — he asked me twice. He’s like, ‘You know that’s Volkov, right?‘ I said, ‘Yeah.’ I thought [Volkov] was doing some type of a shtick and I was waiting for the punchline … there was nothing. It was very odd. Even my staff thought I didn’t know.”
Can’t blame this one on the production truck.
“He’s in (the mix),” White added. “It’s not like he has to do anything to come close to the title shot. He’s in it right now, everything you said is dead on, and he’ll get his shot. Sometimes people get in these weird positions where they feel like they’re in no man’s land, but it’s just a timing issue.”
Volkov fights No. 5-ranked Rizvan Kuniev on Sat. (Oct. 24) at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi (preview here).