Dana White suggests ‘common sense’ rule change after Paddy Pimblett’s UFC 329 fine causes uproar

Dana White disagrees with the decision to fine three fighters following UFC 329.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission [NSAC] withheld $2,500 from the purses of Max Holloway, Paddy Pimblett, and Gable Steveson after the July 11 card in Las Vegas.

Paddy Pimblett’s manager demanded ‘common sense’ after his star client was punished for leaving the cage to celebrate choking out Benoit Saint-Denis in 52 seconds.

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Dana White reacts to three UFC 329 stars being fined

Dana White agrees that a ‘common sense’ rule change needs to be made in the aftermath of UFC 329.

The UFC CEO insists fighters should not be fined for excitedly celebrating wins by leaving the Octagon.

“It’s one of those tough things because these guys get so excited,” White said on Tuesday.

“When you think about how hard they train, they’re gone from their families, they cut weight, they do all this stuff, and then they win, they’re not thinking about fines or any of that stuff.

“What I think should happen is if you jump out of the cage to do something violent or something, then you should get fined, and you should be [punished].

“The perfect example is Khabib [Nurmagomedov] when he went after [Dillon Danis]. Those types of things. But if you just get overly excited and you jump out of the cage, I don’t think it’s a big deal.

“This is pretty much common sense. I mean, this isn’t some f—ing big executive decision that needs to be made that they need to call and talk to us.

“I mean, it’s pretty simple: if a guy jumps over the cage with bad intentions toward another fighter or somebody in the crowd or something like that, yes, fine the s— out of them. But if they don’t, then they shouldn’t.”

Why are UFC fighters fined for jumping out of the Octagon?

‘Big’ John McCarthy recently explained why fighters cannot leave the cage to celebrate their wins.

The legendary referee says the rule was introduced after Khabib Nurmagomedov scaled the Octagon wall to attack Dillon Danis after beating Conor McGregor at UFC 229 in October 2018.

“Khabib Nurmagomedov set the standard for, ‘We cannot have people leaving that cage’. So now you have all these guys that not only get on top, then they jump off, and they jump down, and they hug people,” McCarthy said.

“It can’t be done because look at the danger that actually is created for the people that are there just to enjoy themselves. You get fights and people running into other people, knocking them down, you just can’t have it.”