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Ultimate Fighting Championship
Martial ArtsMixed Martial Arts

UFC’s Dana White on Dan Hardy, Marc Goddard incidents – ‘I will fire anyone on the spot who approaches official’

  • White says UFC employees approaching referees, judges or officials ‘can never happen again’ after commentator Hardy’s spat with Herb Dean
  • ‘And if you’re a fighter and you put your hands on or threaten any official, you will never ever fight here again, period’

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Dana White separates Chris Gutierrez and Cody Durden during the UFC Fight Night weigh-in at UFC APEX on July 31. Photo: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Nicolas Atkin

If you were wondering where Dana White came down on commentator Dan Hardy’s spat with referee Herb Dean last weekend, the UFC president has made his opinion crystal clear.

“Let me say this to you guys, I’m glad you asked that question,” White told media after Friday’s UFC Vegas 5 weigh-ins. “I want to make this very clear: if you work for me and you approach a judge or referee or any type of official, I will fire you, you will lose your job, you will never work for me again if you do that.”

Former UFC fighter Hardy screamed “stop the fight” when Dean failed to intervene after Jai Herbert was clearly knocked out by an overhand from Francisco Trinaldo at UFC Fight Island 3 last weekend. “The Outlaw” continued his criticism in a verbal cageside spat with Dean, which is prohibited by the promotion’s rules.

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“Nobody has the right … listen, you wanna criticise judges, referees, you didn’t agree with a decision or things like that,” White added. “We love Dan. Dan got emotional and the problem is now with this set-up. it’s a lot easier to do, to interact with everybody from the fighters to the refs to media.”

White also pointed to veteran UFC referee Marc Goddard getting shoved by a fighter after a DQ at the UAE Warriors 12 event in Abu Dhabi on Friday night.
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