UFC President Dana White thinks that Jared Gordon has one person to blame for him not fighting at UFC Vegas 74: Jared Gordon.
Two days out from fight night, Gordon was pulled from his bout with Jim Miller that was scheduled to take place Saturday at UFC APEX in Las Vegas. Gordon, himself a short-notice replacement for Ludovit Klein, was to return to action just six weeks after being knocked unconscious in a fight against Bobby Green at UFC Vegas 71 (that bout was ruled a no-contest due to Gordon being knocked out shortly after being on the receiving end of an accidental headbutt from Green).
Gordon mentioned that he had recovered from a “minor concussion” during last Wednesday’s fighter media day and shortly afterward it was announced that he would no longer be competing at UFC Vegas 74.
White was asked about Gordon’s withdrawal at Saturday’s post-fight press conference and he put the onus of the decision on the fighter’s shoulders.
“When you come into here on press day and you announce that you had a concussion six weeks ago and you healed yourself from the concussion, you’re done,” White said. “We’re not going to let you fight. Yeah, we pulled him, because he basically said—He should have told us that six weeks ago. He should have showed at least the company and your opponent some respect and at least did that six weeks ago.
“You’re not a f****** doctor. You didn’t cure yourself from a concussion. Not to mention, so what did he do, did he get a concussion, was he self-diagnosed? Or did he go to a doctor and did a doctor diagnose him with a concussion? You have to be honest when you get injuries. Of course, the minute we hear about it, no fight is worth keeping on if it’s going to risk somebody’s health, safety, longevity, whatever it might be. We will pull you out in 2.5 seconds.”
It’s unclear what, if any, concussion protocol Gordon was required to undergo following his knockout at UFC Vegas 71. It’s also not clear why Gordon would be permitted to compete six weeks after being rendered unconscious on a broadcast that aired live on ESPN+.
As far as White is concerned, the UFC simply did its job once Gordon made his injury public.
“[The matchmaker’s] not at fault if we know we’ve got a healthy guy that’s going into a fight,” White said. “Like I say all the time, with this thing, with [Power Slap], we spend the money to make sure that we have healthy guys competing, but when a guy comes in and starts saying, ‘Oh, I had this.’ We’ve dealt with this in the past. Guys have come in media week and said crazy s*** about what happened in their training camp and stuff like that and we yank them. It’s absolutely consistent with what we’ve always done.”
Gordon is yet to comment on the situation since his withdrawal was announced. See his comments from last Wednesday’s media day below:
“I had a minor concussion but I got over the symptoms fairly quickly and I did everything I could to recover. Supplements, I was in the hyperbaric chamber for the last six weeks, and at this point in my career I was like, sometimes you’ve got to risk it a little bit to get what you want. I think a little bit of risk is not too bad. I mean, I’m risking it anyways even if I didn’t have that outcome six weeks ago, so I was like, let’s do it. This is what we do. We fight. I make a living doing this, so it’s another reason to do it. They gave me a new contract, the UFC, another deal, and a bump in pay, and I think it was worth it.”
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