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UFC CEO Dana White is coming clean about his walkout on Howie Mandel’s podcast.

In the days leading up to UFC 298 in February, White appeared on a slew of podcasts to promote the event. Certainly nothing out of the ordinary, but one particular appearance made headlines.

Sitting down with actor and comedian Howie Mandel, White declared, “I am so f*cking tired of doing podcasts” before taking off his headset, getting up, and walking out mere seconds into the interview. Mandel and others in the studio sat in stunned silence.

As it turns out, the whole thing was staged as White and Mandel had already met earlier that same day and concocted the scheme.

“So what happened was I did the Sage Steele podcast when she called me Joe Rogan,” White said during an appearance on the Flagrant podcast. “First of all, Sage Steele and I are good friends, I love Sage. She asked me to be her first guest on the podcast, so I go out there. Now, the studio is owned by Howie Mandel where these podcasts take place. She was signed to Bill Maher’s podcast company and they’re all done there in Howie Mandel’s studio.

“So we get done with the podcast and Howie Mandel walks in and he’s like, ‘100 podcasts a week happen here, I’ve never watched any of them. I watched the whole podcast, love who you are, what you stand for,’ and all this stuff. We hit it off, started talking. Great dude.

“So he’s like, ‘Let me show you around the studio.’ He’s involved in all kinds of shit. He owns social media companies and all this other stuff. Howie Mandel owns a lot of shit that people don’t realize. Smart guy, great guy. So we’re walking through and stuff and he goes, ‘Would you do me a favor?’ I said, ‘Yeah, what’s up?’ He’s like, ‘Would you come in and get up and walk off my podcast?’ I go, ‘I would be f*cking honored to walk off your podcast because I’m so f*cking sick of doing podcasts, it’s not funny.’

“We go in there and do it, right? He’s like, ‘Take this to the grave.’ I said, ‘Done, I’ll take it to the grave.”

Why did Dana white spill the tea?

So why didn’t Dana White honor his agreement to take it to the grave? According to the man himself, as he was making another public appearance, a group of loyal UFC fans began an anti-Mandel chant. That’s when he decided to come clean and prevent any unwanted backlash being directed at Mandel over the pre-planned incident.

“I go do this thing with the Nelk Boys, we’re doing this ‘Monkeybomb’ f*cking tour, the whole f*cking crowd starts chanting, ‘F*ck Howie Mandel!’” White said. “I go, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, timeout, I can’t do this.’

“Howie Mandel’s the f*cking greatest dude ever. Sorry, Howie. It’s just when I go out and people just start f*cking sh*tting on the guy — and I’m sure he could give a flying f*ck — I couldn’t do it. So Howie Mandel’s f*cking awesome.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Prediction
| BJPenn.com

Here’s what you may have missed!

At 40 years of age, Jared Cannonier is one of the best Middleweights alive.

Heading into his fourth consecutive main event slot, “The Killa Gorilla” didn’t quite have the momentum he deserved. The former title challenger has made his desire for a second shot plenty clear, and wins over Sean Strickland and Marvin Vettori — the latter being a record-setting beat down — should have placed him in the immediate mix for a chance at gold.

Fight politics being what they are, however, Cannonier needed more. UFC doesn’t like giving 40 year olds title shots, even if they’re knockout artists … and especially if their first title shot was a bit of a stinker and there’s other popular names in the mix. Consequently, Cannonier was forced to look down the ladder and find Nassourdine Imavov, a very talented up-and-comer 12 years his junior.

The fight was highly competitive. Cannonier was strangely determined to wrestle, and his efforts fatigued him. Even so, Cannonier was up on two of the three judges’ scorecards heading into the fourth, and the fight was very much up for grabs. Imavov did his part of reaching for the victory, cracking Cannonier with a nice right hand over the top.

Cannonier was hurt. His legs wobbled, but he regained his footing. He took a few steps away from Imavov, but he kept his eyes on the advancing “Sniper.” Cannonier threw a counter hook and blocked a couple punches. His guard was high and his legs beneath him when referee Jason Herzog stepped in and called the fight.

Now, I love to bash judge and referee incompetence whenever possible, but Herzog is one of the best in the game. This is a case of a largely great referee doing a difficult job for a long time — mistakes are bound to happen. The real unfortunate aspect of this specific mistake is the circumstance, namely that Jared Cannonier is now royally screwed, and there’s no forcing the cat back into the bag.

A week ago, Cannonier vs. Du Plessis was a feasible match up, a fight that could happen with just a smidge of luck. Better yet, the match up was a very reasonable one for Cannonier. Du Plessis has blocked plenty of punches with his face, and Cannonier hits like a mack truck. I would favor the South African champion overall, but “Killa Gorilla” would definitely stand a reasonable at shutting off his lights if the two were to fight in the next three months.

Now? Cannonier is AT LEAST two fights away from a title shot. More likely, he’s three or four wins away. Even if UFC opts to book an immediate rematch (probably not) and pretend this didn’t happen at all, Cannonier is delayed months before having any possibility of a title shot. That’s all too long for a 40 year old contender. Instead of having a reasonable — if still long — shot at gold, Cannonier now requires an absolute miracle. That’s the outcome of a mistake from the referee, an element outside of Cannonier’s control.

Put bluntly: it sucks!

In a more abstract sense, it’s a great example of how luck and popularity can play such pivotal roles in creating a champion.

For complete UFC Lousisville: “Cannonier vs. Imavov” results and play-by-play, click HERE!

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Nassourdine Imavov doesn’t think there should be any controversy with his win over Jared Cannonier.

On Saturday, Imavov headlined UFC Louisville against Cannonier, scoring a fourth-round TKO victory, after hurting “The Killa Gorilla” with a right hand and follow-up shots. However, it was a controversial ending as Cannonier never was dropped and was in the act of punching back when referee Jason Herzog intervened. But Imavov says there shouldn’t be any issue with the stoppage.

“Absolutely not,” Imavov said through a translator in his post-fight press conference. “It’s the job of the referee to decide if a fighter is able to keep going or not. He took already a lot of damage. He would have taken even more if they fight continued. So I think it was the right decision to stop it.”

Up until the finish, Imavov and Cannonier were locked in a competitive, back-and-forth battle. Cannonier started strong early, but the momentum began to shift in the second round as Imavov got more comfortable with the range and timing. Ultimately, that set up the punch that led to the stoppage, and according to Imavov, that was the plan all along.

“It was not the game plan to start too fast,” Imavov said. “I do a lot of five round [fights] now. It’s not the same pace. In my opinion, I only lost the first round. The other round I started to dominate, at the beginning of the second round…

“It’s perfect. It was exactly what I was looking for. I was looking for a finish. I would be lying if I would say that an early stoppage wouldn’t [have been] better, but the thing is, it takes some time to finish someone. What I’m happy with is a lot of people critiqued my cardio, and in this fight I proved that my cardio is very good, finishing him in the fourth round.”

Controversy or not, the win is the biggest of Imavov’s career thus far. The 29-year-old French fighter will likely move into the top-five of the UFC’s middleweight division this week, putting him in the thick of title contention. And with the UFC heading back to Paris on Sept. 28, Imavov hopes his next fight will be on home soil, against an opponent who he already has history with.

“Sean Strickland,” Imavov said when asked what he wants next. “He’s in front of me. We already fought at [light heavyweight]. I would like to take my revenge at [185 pounds]… Paris. UFC Paris. September.”

Imavov and Strickland previously fought in a light heavyweight contest at UFC Vegas 67, when Strickland stepped in to replace Kelvin Gastelum on just a few days’ notice. Strickland won the fight by unanimous decision, setting up his eventual middleweight title run. Imavov clearly hopes a win over Strickland would also propel him to a title shot in similar fashion, but whether that happens next or someone else gets the opportunity, “The Sniper” is confident he becomes champion before his career is over.

“What I know is I’m 28, I just did a dominating performance against one of the top [guys] in the division, and I’m not even at my best,” Imavov said. “I can even progress more. I’m already good enough to get the title, to get the belt. But the farther it’s going to be, the better I’m going to be.”

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

A banana split submission happened in the United Kingdom.

During Saturday’s FCC 38 event in Liverpool, William Haycox finished opponent Ryan Lockyer with the rare, and extremely painful looking submission hold in the first round to remain undefeated as a pro mixed martial arts fighter.

Check out the highlight-reel finish by Haycox in the video below.

The stoppage took place with a little over a minute left in the opening round. Haycox is a highly touted lightweight prospect from the U.K. scene following 10-0 amateur career — finishing all of his opponents via submission. The tap out streak continued into the start of his pro career, earning a third-round submission in his pro debut, before going to the scorecards for the first time in May 2022 when he defeated Danijel Grbic via unanimous decision.

Lockyer had a bunch of amateur experience in his own right, and suffered his first pro loss after earning a first-round TKO victory in March in his pro debut.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts