Dana White and UFC called out by fans after making TWO major blunders live on air

The UFC have come under fire for disrespecting an international fighter competing at UFC 332 on Saturday night.

Just two weeks after hosting a major numbered event in which flyweight champion Joshua Van defended his title against Alexandre Pantoja in Los Angeles, the UFC are returning for another numbered event in Salt Lake City on Saturday.

Ahead of fight night, many of the UFC stars competing on the card attended a press conference that has not gone down well online after CEO and president Dana White forgot to bring a translator for Cameroon's Ateba Gautier.

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Dana White slammed for bizarre moment involving Ateba Gautier at UFC 332 press conference

In the opening fight of the main card for UFC 332, highly rated middleweight Gautier is facing the toughest fight of his career so far as he take on Roman Kopylov.

Ahead of the fight on Saturday, both men were present at the official press conference, with many reporters speaking to Gautier both in English and French, his mother tongue.

Initially, a reporter asked the 24-year-old question in French, with the Cameroonian fighter answering in his home language.

Frustratingly, the UFC did not have a translator present for non-French speakers, an issue that White himself addressed later in the press conference.

Following the question in French, Gautier about facing a stern challenge like Kopylov in English, which he also speaks fluently no doubt partly due to the fact he trains in Manchester.

“Is he human, bro?” Gautier replied. “Is this Roman a human? He has two legs, two hands… legs. No legs. Like, the biggest legs. He is human, and we are gonna fight, and we are going to find out.

"I take him seriously. You just, like, have more professional experience than me.”

But White, potentially confused by the answer, then asked for a translator for Gautier's response, despite the fact the middleweight had been speaking English.

“We got f***ed outta that one,” White said. “We don’t have a translator here for him. Sorry.”

Gautier appeared to laugh the moment off, but it didn't stop a clip of the exchange going viral on social media, with UFC fans not at all happy with both White's failure to understand his fighter and UFC's decision not to have a translator present.

"Zero excuse for that to be honest. Absolutely ridiculous," one fan wrote on X.

Another added: "Biggest fight org on earth. Nobody speaks French."

With one writing: "Gautier handled the disrespect smoother than dana handled the apology. Got his point across and smiled through the whole thing."

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Dana White called out for major mistake in interview ahead of UFC 332

Unfortunately for White, that's not the only mishap he was involved when speaking to media ahead of UFC 332 this weekend.

Ahead of the fight, there has been some backlash from fans over the main event in which Natalia Silva and Wang Cong will compete for the women's flyweight title, which was vacated by former champion Valentina Shevchenko last month.

Given Silva's spot as no.1 in the rankings, her place in the title fight makes sense, but with Cong the sixth ranked women's flyweight, some fans have questioned why she has been given the chance to fight for the belt rather than a higher ranked alternative.

When asked for an explanation for this during an interview with MMA Fighting, White went through the Chinese star's record as the reason for her being granted the opportunity.

He said: "If you look at what she's done in her body of work. She's 10-1. I was just saying, she beat Rose Namajunas, she beat [Jessica] Andrade, she beat [Alexa] Grasso. And she beat Valentina Shevchenko in a kickboxing match."

But, as pointed out by Ariel Helwani on social media, althogh Cong did beat Shevchenko in a kickboxing match outside of the UFC, she has never fought Namajunas, Andrade or Grasso.

Instead, it is Cong's opponent on Saturday, Silva, who fought the trio of former champions, leaving Helwani asking: "I guess this is what happens when you don’t follow your own product anymore?"

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