The long-awaited moment is drawing closer with each passing second. After years away from U.S. soil, Khamzat Chimaev is finally set to return at UFC 319 in Chicago for the biggest fight of his career, a middleweight title clash against Dricus Du Plessis. It’s a showdown between two undefeated forces in the division, but only one comes in with championship-round experience, while the other has yet to cross that threshold inside the UFC octagon. As UFC CEO Dana White plans a historic White House celebration to mark America’s 250th birthday in 2026, one might wonder, is there anything Dana White can’t do?
Well, apparently managing space for his UFC fighters is one area he’s slipping in, something he used to handle much better. Just yesterday, Joe Riggs and Drakkar Klose joined Tim “Red Hawk” Welch in the studio, where Klose opened up about his upcoming fight at UFC 319, his dialed-in fight camp, and the crew broke down du Plessis vs. Khamzat. And it is during the discussion, that Dana White was even labeled “cheap” over his recent mismanagement.
While breaking down upcoming UFC fights, Tim Welch and his guests took a detour into a conversation that highlighted something fighters and coaches have quietly noticed – Dana White cutting back on some of the perks they once enjoyed. Tim pointed out the disappearance of the once-standard green room experience. “They don’t even have the green room anymore,” he said. “Whatever happened to that? Before, you could go shower up. All the fighters, coaches, they had a green room for you. They had a little buffet line sitting out there.”
Drakkar Klose responded bluntly, “Dude, they got cheap,” suggesting that budget cuts were behind the vanishing amenities. When Tim asked, “Is that what it was?” Drakkar replied, “I think so,” before offering a plausible explanation. “When COVID happened, they were like, ‘F—, dude. We can cut all these.’” Tim immediately agreed, saying, “That’s correct. That’s when it stopped. It was COVID. I mean, you can do that whole thing for the fighters for more than five grand.” Drakkar added, “That’s five grand on a hand for Dana,” subtly implying that for someone like White, it’s a negligible cost, yet those cuts have stuck around even after the pandemic subsided.
The conversation soon turned lighthearted but revealing. Tim recalled, “I know when you go to the interviews, after usually they have a buffet line there. You grab yourself a little something.” Drakkar replied, “That’s the media s—, yeah. That was five days for Steiny, so you can be front row.” Then Joe Riggs jumped in with his own observation. “At the Apex, man, I don’t know if it’s where the green room used to be, but I go in there and there’s still a lot of meals,” he shared.
To that, both Tim and Drakkar agreed, before Joe added with a laugh, “I grew up f—— poor as hell, so I’m always trying to get food if I find it.” However, it seems the issue of the missing green room isn’t something Dana White is concerned about right now, with his focus on much bigger things. So what is it?
Dricus Du Plessis ups the ante as Dana White eyes $1.4B UFC payday
Every fighter dreams of competing in front of their home crowd, and Ilia Topuria is no different, as he wants Dana White to bring the UFC to Spain. Similarly, middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis is pushing for an event in his homeland of South Africa. While El Matador continues to wait, Du Plessis revealed that the UFC has already been involved in talks about hosting a show in the Rainbow Nation, and he’s been part of those discussions.
“The right people were speaking to each other. I was involved with these conversations, and ever since this fight [against Chimaev] was made, my attention shifted to this fight,” Du Plessis told the New York Post in a recent interview. “I know the conversations are there between the UFC and South Africa, the sports ministers, the cities, and the arenas. Everything is in conversation.” Though the plans aren’t finalized, the champion confirmed that meaningful discussions have taken place.
As for a concrete update, Du Plessis admitted, “I don’t have anything. And that’s definitely something that I will get after as soon as I’m done with this fight.” Moreover, TKO/SEC filings show the UFC’s segment revenue for 2024 was about $1.4 billion, which helps explain the organization’s appetite for pushing into new international markets such as South Africa. That financial backdrop makes a South Africa event commercially sensible if local logistics and government agreements align.
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