Reporter Sean Zittel and promoter Dana White argued during the press conference for Saturday's Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford fight. Photo Credit: WWE on YouTube. Photo Credit: WWE on YouTube.
By Reice Shipley on

On Thursday, Dana White got into his latest tense interaction with a reporter during the pre-fight press conference ahead of Saturday’s first-ever event put on by Zuffa Boxing, headlined by the super fight between Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford. And even though the reporter in question, Sean Zittel, didn’t get the answers he was looking for from White, Ariel Helwani gave Zittel his props for asking the hard questions others wouldn’t.

When Zittel got the chance to ask questions to White, he challenged White on Zuffa Boxing’s efforts to amend the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act.

“My question to you is, why do you want to make sweeping changes to the Muhammad Ali Reform Act?” asked Zittel. “Which is meant to protect fighters, to bring about a business model that currently has your company already paying out $375 million in anti-trust lawsuits, and has two potential pending class-action lawsuits on the way as well.”

Zittel would ultimately not receive an answer, with White instead asking Zittel to “set up an interview” with him to discuss that topic. But Zittel wouldn’t back down, prompting White to call him a “a**hole” who was “showboating” for the fans in attendance.

This is, of course, far from White’s first public spat with a reporter. And perhaps his most famous rival in the media, Ariel Helwani, spoke out on social media against White upon seeing his personal attacks on Zittel for simply asking a reasonable question about the future of the sport of boxing.

“Dana’s interpretation of media doing its job is ‘showboating’ and ‘being an asshole,’ which is laughable,” wrote Helwani in a post on X. “This is not a new stance, btw. It’s just been a very long time since real questions were asked at these pressers.”

Helwani’s contentious relationship with White has been highly documented. White famously banned Helwani for life from receiving UFC press credentials back in 2016 after Helwani broke the news of Brock Lesnar’s return to the UFC before the company was able to. And despite the decision later being uplifted, White and Helwani have had a contentious relation ever since.

Helwani has been unafraid to call out White and the UFC on several different fronts, most notably when it comes to fighter pay. So it’s not exactly a surprise to see how someone like Helwani would naturally have a great deal of respect for anybody questioning White’s motives in Zuffa Boxing’s new venture into boxing.

Interestingly, White’s interaction with Zittel was not the only controversy to come ahead of Zuffa Boxing’s inaugural event on Saturday that Helwani can relate to.

According to BoxingScene, one of its reporters, Lance Pugmire, was denied accreditation for Saturday’s event, which reportedly comes due to Pugmire’s “strained relationship with multiple stakeholders” involved in deciding the credentialed media.

So while Saturday’s event may very well be a highly anticipated one for fans, it has not been overly kind to the media on several different fronts.

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley