Dana White hates it when friendship gets in the way of fights.
The UFC president finds his bantamweight division in a state of flux after Sean O’Malley’s title win over Aljamain Sterling on August 19.
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Merab Dvalishvili, who has been on a historic run, set the record for the longest winning streak at 135llbs with a lopsided decision win over former champion Petr Yan in March.
The division’s clear number-one contender has repeatedly distanced himself from a shot at UFC gold because he is Sterling’s friend and teammate.
After ‘The Funk Master’ lost his title, Dvalishvili expressed his willingness to allow his pal to seek an immediate rematch with O’Malley.
The 32-year-old’s attitude doesn’t sit well with his boss.
“Everybody in this room and everybody that watches this video knows how I feel about this s***,” White said after the Contender Series on Tuesday.
“Yeah, I hate it. Why did you even get into this sport if that’s your mentality in the way that you think? ‘I don’t even want the title. I don’t want the championship. We’re friends, we’re this, we’re that.’
“You could be friends with everybody in this business. There’s a lot of nice people in this business. A lot of good people. This is not about friendship.
“It’s about finding out who the best in the world is. And if you don’t want to find out who the best in the world is this is not the place for you. You should be somewhere else.
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“There’s plenty of places to fight where they don’t give a s*** what you do, doesn’t work here.”
O’Malley has no real interest in fighting Sterling or Dvalishvili next.
During his post-fight interview with commentator Joe Rogan, the 28-year-old called for a rematch with the only man to beat him, Marlon Vera, at UFC 296 on December 16.
‘Chito’ stopped O’Malley inside one round after the rainbow-haired MMA superstar suffered a bizarre foot injury at UFC 252 in August 2020.
Vera, who picked up a decision win over Pedro Munhoz mere hours before his rival became a champion, is happy to run it back before the end of 2023.