Dana White rejects Pereira's claim that UFC directed Cormier to manipulate fans

Dana White dismissed Alex Pereira’s allegations against Daniel Cormier on Tuesday night, telling reporters after the season 10 finale of Contender Series that the UFC does not direct its commentators or fighters on what to say.

Earlier in the week, Pereira had publicly accused the promotion of instructing ‘influencers’ such as Cormier to ‘manipulate’ fans into supporting the upcoming heavyweight title fight between Ciryl Gane and Josh Hokit. Cormier rejected the claim outright the same day, and White followed suit hours later.

‘Of course that’s not true,’ White said. ‘These guys are the most paranoid people on the planet. Like we’re telling DC — I’ve never told DC to do anything, ever. It doesn’t work like that. We don’t operate like that.’

Pereira’s grievance appears rooted in his personal history with Gane. The former two-division champion lost to the Frenchman for the interim heavyweight title at UFC White House and has since pushed for a rematch, arguing that illegal blows from Gane contributed to his defeat. The accusation against Cormier arrives at the same time as UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland has been publicly voicing his own frustrations with the promotion.

White framed both situations as routine noise in a large roster. ‘We have over 700 guys on contract, and we’ve talked about two of them being sideways right now,’ he said. ‘This is normal when you’re in this business.’

The UFC president also pushed back on the broader suggestion that the organisation polices its media personalities, pointing to Strickland’s long track record of unfiltered public statements as evidence to the contrary.

‘I don’t tell anybody what to say. I don’t tell the fighters what to say, I don’t tell the commentators what to say,’ White said. ‘This thing all just plays out organically. If we did [police it], Sean Strickland would’ve been gone three f*cking years ago, and we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.’