Featured Image Credit: Dana White
Topics: UFC, Dana White
Josh Lawless
UFC fans fumed online after being underwhelmed by Dana White's eagerly anticipated fight announcement.
UFC kick off 2026 in a huge way at the weekend with their first event of the year as Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje throw it down in the main event of UFC 324 for the interim lightweight title.
The event in Las Vegas, Nevada, kicks off UFC's £5.7 billion deal in a huge way and both White and UFC hyped up an announcement on social media.
The teaser on UFC's account sent on X garnered 2.1 million views and there was a high level excitement for the announcement.
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Finally, after around eight hours, UFC chief White went live on his Instagram page to deliver the news for UFC Fight Night 271, which takes place in Seattle on March 28.
After all the anticipation and build-up, White confirmed that the event at the Climate Pledge Arena will be headlined by a five-round middleweight bout between former champion Israel Adesanya and Joe Pyfer.
In the women's flyweight division, Alexa Grassovs and Maycee Barber will rematch in the second bout announced for the show.
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But given all the expectation for the announcement, fans were extremely disappointed by the news White dropped and called it the "worst fight announcement live".
One user on X commented: "1.9 millions views in 11 hours with a Paramount + endorsement….and we got Dana White throwing hot garbage spackled with dumpster juice of a Israel Adesanya vs Joe Piper main event in Seattle thrown in our faces."
A second person said: "That’s the worst Dana White fight announcement live ever."
A third added: "Dana White went live just to announce and Izzy main event."
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A fourth wrote: ""Worst Dana White fight announcement stream of all time.:
A final user fumed: "We just waited 8 hours for a Dana White announcement and it was just Joe Pyfer news."
Two-time champion Adesanya is hoping to end a wretched three-match losing streak in which he was defeated by Sean Strickland, Dricus du Plessis and Nassourdine Imavov, who knocked him out in February.
His last victory inside the Octagon came in April 2023, when he beat Alex Pereira in a rematch to recapture the middleweight title.
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Last month, Adesanya had a Q&A with Bangtao Muay Thai & MMA and revealed that with two championships to his name, belts are no longer a motivation for him and he wants to "fight more freely" and take more risks.
“For me, it’s not about belts anymore,” Adesanya said.
“I’ve got two shiny belts at home. They look good. But I just want to fight. I just want to do things like I did on the way to the belt.
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“I still fought really well when I was defending the belt, but I want to fight more freely. I want to try some risky s***t like I used to. Remember the [Brad] Taveres fight? At the end of the first round, I went for an imanari roll, and I failed. I want to try s**it like that again.”