Islam Makhachev defends Dana White for forgetting his name ‘I don’t hear anybody say right’

On Saturday night, while doing a post-fight interview at 1 a.m local time, UFC president Dana White forgot the name of the UFC lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev. The fans quickly took to Twitter to blast White for the disrespect but it doesn’t seem to have bothered Makhachev.

“For U.S people, this is not easy,” Makhachev told MMA Junkie. “My surname he forget. Makhachev (is) not easy for the U.S. Like Nurmagomedov. I don’t hear anybody say right. Everybody does some mistake. I don’t care. … For sure he respects all champions. I don’t think bad about people.”

What does bother Makhachev is the UFC’s lack of promotion about his UFC 284 bout versus Alexander Volkanovski.

“All media, when they come they give me the same question, ‘What do you think about promotion?’ For me, I tell them, ‘Hey, I’m ready to travel around the world and promote this fight,’” Makhachev said. “But the UFC don’t want. Two days ago I talked with Dana on Instagram and (he said) we have some plan, but I wait for his answer.”

The UFC hosts the No. 2 pound-for-pound king vs. the No. 1 pound-for-pound king in Perth Australia on Saturday in a fight that White calls one of the biggest in UFC history.