Dana White denies Saudi rift, says he’s still promoting Canelo vs. Crawford

Dana White is still promoting the Terence “Bud” Crawford vs. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight this September.

That’s the official word from White himself, who says he hasn’t been paying attention to reports that there was a rift between UFC parent company TKO and Saudi Arabian boxing power broker Turki Alalshikh. Turki originally announced White as the primary promoter of Crawford vs. Canelo before saying Saudi promotion company SELA would be taking care of things. The Ring — a news outlet owned by Turki — released an article suggesting White and TKO were not involved any more.

With no one coming out to clarify the situation and all the chatter about TKO boxing suddenly grinding to a halt, many speculated that there must be issues between the two parties. But at the UFC 316 post-fight press conference, White said it had more to do with boxing’s ‘omerta’ style of deal making than anything crazy going on in the background.

“There’s a lot of f—ed up things about boxing, but … they don’t say s—t,” White said. “Nobody talks. It’s the most amazing thing. If we sign a deal, I got to get my phone and say ‘Hey we just signed—’ because 90,000 people will be out there talking about it. These guys don’t talk.”

“I’m promoting the fight,” White said of Crawford vs. Canelo, with a big smile on his face.

Asked if the event would take place in Las Vegas, he said “I’ll let you guys know when it’s time to let you guys know.”

“I know what’s going on, I know what we’re doing, and I don’t really pay attention to that stuff,” White insisted before admitting it’d been a minute since he talked to Alalshikh. “I can’t remember the last time I talked to [Turki]. We’re good. We’re very good.”

“Unless you hear it from here or we put out a press release, don’t believe any of this bulls—t,” the UFC CEO said at the end of the press conference. “It’s like this Turki stuff. Everyone was saying — and I know Turki said some stuff — but unless we come out and say something, it’s all bulls—t. I just don’t get sucked into that stuff any more.”

“I don’t even care, I don’t even listen to it. And most of the time, the s—t that I hear, I hear from you guys when I come to things like this. Otherwise, I don’t care enough to pay attention to any of this stuff.”