UFC chief Dana White has got into a high-profile spat with reigning middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.
It was announced that Adesanya would take on Australia's Robert Whittaker in February at UFC 271, to which the New Zealander replied with a 'cap' emoji, which is slang for lies or lying.
This prompted White to launch into an expletive-loaded rant against Adesanya, and was outraged at the allegations.
"Why would we lie?" White said in quotes published by Fox Sports. "When have we ever f***ing lied? This fight's coming up ... we lied about it? Twenty f***ing years, have we ever lied about making a fight?
"Some fights are harder to make than others, but I don't think we've ever lied about making a fight. Why would we lie about that fight?"
Adesanya recorded a second-round knockout at UFC 243 to win the world title and take it off Whittaker, before unsuccessfully trying to move up to light heavyweight.
After losing a title fight against Jan Błachowicz at UFC 259, the 32-year-old returned to middleweight and defended his title with a second win over Marvin Vettori.
His coach, Eugene Bareman, intimated that he was hoping to delay the rematch with Whittaker for later in 2022 so that it could be held in a larger, stadium venue.
"Maybe we are working on something different. Maybe if we can delay this Robert fight for a few months, maybe we can have it in a big stadium in Australia. Maybe that's the right thing to do. And that's okay. Let's get everyone together and delay Robert for a bit.
"I'm sure Robert would love to do this fight in a massive stadium on his turf ... Let's put someone else in this February slot. You don't know, and I'm not willing to confirm it. [Whittaker] had the title fight, and now he might have to be pushed back. I do not know."
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But for now, the re-match between Adesanya and Whittaker is set to take place on 13th February.
Topics: UFC, Dana White, Israel Adesanya
