“Big” John McCarthy has gone off on UFC President Dana White over his recent comments about building new stars.
The UFC has been praised for its Dana White Tuesday Night Contender Series. The series gives fighters the opportunity to fight for a UFC contract if their performances are up to snuff. Recently, White told media members that he isn’t worried about passing on fighters who may become stars for other promotions. The UFC boss said no other promotion is creating talent the way he is.
John McCarthy Says UFC Doesn’t Create Anything
During a new episode of the Weighing In podcast, “Big” John McCarthy took issue with White’s comments.
“It’s just not true because does the UFC sign fighters from the PFL? Does the UFC sign fighters from Bellator? Yup, so what’s he doing? Why are you signing those fighters? You’re the one that’s creating them? You’re not creating anything. If there’s one promotion that doesn’t create fighters for the most part [it’s the UFC].”
McCarthy went on to use the UFC’s signing of former Bellator fighter Chidi Njokuani as an example that the Contender Series doesn’t actually do what Dana White claims it does.
“UFC doesn’t do that. They’re getting their talent from somebody else. They’re getting it from LFA a lot of the time, which is great, that’s smart. To sit there and to say that, ‘Oh the Dana White Contender Series, that’s creating new talent,’ are you f*cking high? You just signed Njokuani, Chidi Njokuani who has been with everyone and you’re saying, ‘Oh we’re signing the newest hot talent.’ Now that’s taking nothing from Chidi. I love Chidi, he’s a great guy but Chidi’s been with everybody and he’s a tough fighter but you’re not signing the new top talent.”
The Contender Series rolls along with its 45th event on Oct. 26. In the headliner, Gadzhi Omargadzhiev will go one-on-one with Jansey Silva. Also set for the card will be Christian Quinonez vs. Xiao Long, Javid Basharat vs. Oron Kahlon, Karine Silva vs. Yan Qihui, Kolton Englund vs. Manuel Torres, and Xie Bin vs. Olivier Murad.
