D. White spoke about the death of J. Thornton in bare-knuckle boxing (Photo: Reproduction/Youtube)
Earlier this week, the combat sports world mourned the passing of 38-year-old Justin Thornton, who died weeks after being brutally knocked out in a bare knuckle boxing match organized by the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC), on August 20th.
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During the press conference held last Tuesday (05), after the latest edition of the Contender Series, UFC president Dana White spoke about what happened and attacked the bare-knuckle boxing organization.
“First of all, was anyone surprised? I mean, in a bare-knuckle fight? I'm not a fan. And I get, let's say, worried when I see some of our people go there when they leave here. My God. We’ve been fighting for 25 years, I’ve had more than 7000 fights without any serious injuries in the UFC,” said Dana White.
Before fighting bare-knuckle boxing, Justin Thornton was an MMA fighter with a modest record of just six wins and 18 losses in 24 fights. Thornton wasn't the only athlete to make the journey from MMA to BKFC. Notable names like paige vanzant, Chris Leben, Hector Lombard e Chad Mendes followed the same route.
Dana White's concern for these athletes, according to him, is due to the size of the investment that the UFC makes in relation to the fighters' health, something that, according to the president, is not done in any other organization.
“Each year we spend more than US$20 million (around R$110 million) on sports medicine. $20 million for health, wellness or whatever. 25% of our athletes are sent to specialists. A guy who comes in with an irregular brain test is sent to a specialist. If something is irregular with your heart exam, he or she goes to a cardiologist and we spend the money necessary to find out what's wrong. The result of this is that in the last 20 years, we have found ten athletes with life-threatening medical problems and having to interrupt their careers. If they weren't in the UFC, they probably would have fought and probably would have died,” said Dana White.
Finally, Dana made a point of saying that the UFC should not be mentioned even in the same sentence as bare-knuckle boxing and lamented Thornton's passing.
“We should never be in the same sentence as bare-knuckle boxing. They are two completely different worlds. Yes, I'm sorry this guy died, but you'll never see any of these other organizations do the kind of medical and safety testing that we do for our athletes."
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