Last December, UFC and Dana White agreed to a sponsorship deal with Reebok, which forced fighters to exclusively wear Reebok attire in the octagon.
The deal that benefited the UFC, but individual fighters suffered, losing independent sponsorship deals that were used inside the octagon.
As a result, many in UFC were upset. Some, like legendary cutman Jacob "Stitch" Duran, spoke out. Duran expressed his displeasure to MMA blog Bloody Elbow, and his comments led to his firing on Tuesday.
"We told our concerns to our higher ups who brought them to their higher ups but we were informed it's a no-go," Duran tells Bloody Elbow. "We were told there's nothing left in the kitty for us so there wasn't much we could do."
That really got fans angry, some of which took to social media to criticize White. Let's just say White was having none of it.
White fired back, and MMA fans lashed out at the UFC President on Twitter. The verbal sparring was long, and at times, brutal.
There were the good comebacks:
@TheBowTieSC ya u must be a big fan, u don't even know how to spell his name.
— Dana White (@danawhite) July 23, 2015
@NewMeroNCity go away moron or whatever ur name is
— Dana White (@danawhite) July 23, 2015
@RealMattSears good more money for food
— Dana White (@danawhite) July 23, 2015
And the bad:
@TheRobEmma WHOA!!! Get a new profile pic!!! That's brutal
— Dana White (@danawhite) July 23, 2015
@Chumluk ur life is screwed up!!! Worry about that goofball
— Dana White (@danawhite) July 23, 2015
Don't expect Dana White to quickly offer up apologies or admit to mistakes -- his hardheaded leadership is part of why UFC has risen to prominence so quickly.
Then again, White also famously proclaimed that a woman would never fight in UFC -- and Ronda Rousey proved him wrong by becoming arguably more famous than any of the males.