Dana White Gets Called Out for Mixing Up Conditions That Prevented Ring Girls at Zuffa Boxing 10

Dana White‘s latest appearance at a Zuffa Boxing event has landed him in hot water after the UFC CEO appeared to confuse Ireland with the United Kingdom while explaining why ring girls were absent from the event.

White attended Zuffa Boxing 10 at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland, where he also appeared on a stream with Nina Drama. During their conversation, Nina noticed that the event did not feature the traditional ring card girls and asked White why they were missing. In response, White claimed that the “UK” had prevented the promotion from using ring card girls unless it also employed male ring card holders.

“Don’t even get me started,” White stated. “The UK won’t use ring card girls unless you have ring card boys.” 

While the absence of ring girls was certainly unusual for a combat sports event promoted under White’s banner, his explanation immediately drew attention for another reason. Zuffa Boxing 10 took place in Ireland, not the United Kingdom. As such, UK boxing regulations would not apply to the event. If White had said the same in regard to Northern Ireland, it would have made sense since the territory is part of the UK. But the same does not apply to Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, as it’s called politically.

Noticing White’s elementary error, renowned combat sports journalist Luke Thomas immediately pushed back and reminded him that Ireland is not part of the UK.

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“That’s interesting because Ireland isn’t in the UK,” Thomas posted on X.

Well, now that it is clear that the UK could not interfere with another sovereign country’s boxing laws where the event is taking place, what do the Irish rules say about the presence of ring girls?

According to Ireland’s Employment Equality Act 1998, Section 25, an employer generally cannot discriminate based on gender. However, the law specifically creates an exception for unusual employment roles where an employer may prefer to hire a man or a woman depending on the nature of the job.

Since ring card holders have traditionally been women, Irish law provides them with the flexibility to continue making a living in the profession within its jurisdiction. But despite Dana White’s obvious mistake, it is still unclear why they could not hire ring card holders for their latest Zuffa Boxing event.

Regardless, this isn’t the first time the UFC head honcho has mixed up the UK and Ireland.

Conor McGregor corrects Dana White for mistaking Ireland for the UK

Dana White might not care too much about fans and experts chastising him for misidentifying a country in his latest mistake, but he once angered Conor McGregor with his incorrect representation of Ireland.

In 2015, just ahead of ‘The Notorious’ championship fight against Jose Aldo at UFC 189, which was later canceled, McGregor, alongside Dana White and his bitter rival, appeared on The Tonight Show. There, while promoting the fight, the UFC CEO said the whole UK would be watching Conor McGregor fight for the belt, which immediately drew resistance from the proud Irishman.

“Well, I personally think this is the biggest fight of the year,” White said. “This is a fight where the world will be watching. When you have a fight where countries care about the fight, it’s a big deal. All of Brazil (points to Aldo) will be watching him to defend his title. All of the UK.” 

“Ireland will be watching,” McGregor added while interrupting White.

“I thought that was the same thing? Apparently not,” Dana White remarked. McGregor replied, saying, “It most certainly is not.”

So, as we can see, Dana White has historically misattributed the identities of two countries, making his latest blunder less surprising. However, it would be interesting to know the UFC CEO’s thoughts on the actual reason the ring girls were not present at Zuffa Boxing 10.

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