Dana White in Furious Exchange with Reporter as UFC Boss Booed by Fans

Dana White was involved in a furious exchange with a reporter as the UFC boss was booed by fans.

The UFC chief has taken on a new role promoting boxing, with Saturday night's blockbuster fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford marking a key moment for him outside the octagon.

But at the pre-fight press conference, tensions boiled over during a discussion surrounding the Muhammad Ali Act of 2000.

The US federal law was passed to protect boxers' rights and help prevent potential monopolies from developing within the sport.

When a reporter raised the issue at the press conference, it sparked a tense exchange with White.

The reporter asked: "Why do you want to make sweeping changes to the Muhammad Ali reform act that is meant to protect fighters..."

White quickly shut it down: "This is obviously a long discussion. If you want to talk about that, then set up an interview. This isn't about me. My business is about these two guys on Saturday night."

But that did not stop the reporter from wanting to ask the UFC President a follow-up question on the matter.

White interjected: "Listen, I get it, you want to showboat right now.

"Set up an interview with me if this is really what you want to talk about."

The reporter continued to persist, which only served to increase White's frustration.

White said: "Listen, if you want to be an a*****e, let's do it in private and we can do an interview.

"If you want to showboat, I get it, if you have questions for these two that are fighting on Saturday, that's a different story."

The tense exchange, which can be viewed in the clip above, lasted nearly two minutes, with spectators in the crowd growing increasingly frustrated at the situation.

But in a light-hearted moment, Crawford grabbed the mic and jokingly said 'fight, fight, fight,' which drew laughter from those in the conference.

Attention will now turn to Saturday's fight at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, which promises to be one of the biggest fights of the year.

Alvarez will defend his WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF super-middleweight titles against Crawford, who has stepped up two weight classes for the fight.

If the American can defeat the Mexican, then he will make history as the first male boxer to become the undisputed champion across three divisions.

The event will be streamed live to more than 300 million Netflix subscribers but the ring walks are not expected until between 04:00 and 04:30 am (GMT) on Sunday.