Dana White tore a strip off Contender Series fighter Adama Diop on Tuesday night before mercifully signing the Senegalese heavyweight.
Diop opened a +410 dog to opponent Zaurbek Sabanov, who was the -590 favorite. Neither man looked particularly good last night, and both seemed pretty gassed after the first round. It was Diop who dug deeper, though, hitting Sabanov with shots against the cage that made the Ares veteran turn his back for a referee stoppage.
It was not an entertaining fight or an impressive
finish. It felt more merciful to the crowd than anyone else that the fight was called when it was. And UFC CEO Dana White didn’t hold back when he went through his list to determine who would get a UFC contract and who’d get a pass.
“All right, big guy … your fight was horrible, sloppy, and one of the worst fights I’ve ever seen on the Contender Series,” White declared. “Your stand-up is horrible. You tried to wrestle your way to a win til the crowd started booing you out of this place. And if you fought in the UFC. a UFC heavyweight would knock your a– out the way you did this kid and get the win.”
“Here’s the even bigger problem,” he added. “You’re 31 years old. So if you don’t get this opportunity tonight, what are you going to do? Where are you going to end up? How is it going to go?”
This all seemed like a setup to send Diop packing. But instead, White signed him.
“Don’t make me regret this,” Dana said. Later when speaking to Diop, he added, “Take this s— seriously and get in the gym.”
Adama Diop becomes the first fighter from Senegal to make it into the UFC. We’ll see if he manages to stick around there.
