Dana White dismisses allegations of favoritism and corruption by the French athletic commission at UFC Paris, attributing the drug-testing delays experienced by fighters Brendan Allen and Renato Moicano to poor judgment rather than foul play.
Dana White firmly dismisses any allegations of favoritism by the French commission during UFC Paris.
Last Saturday, the UFC made its third appearance in Paris, and drama unfolded before the fights. Brendan Allen, who faced Nassourdine Imavov in the co-main event, accused the French athletic commission of corruption. Why? Because he and Renato Moicano were detained for drug testing after their weigh-ins.
Allen claimed they were held for hours, disrupting his recovery routine. Both fighters were up against French opponents at UFC Paris, raising suspicions for Allen.
Interestingly, Allen wasn’t alone in his concerns. On Tuesday, Moicano—who triumphed over Benoit Saint Denis in the main event—expressed his displeasure on his podcast. However, he considered the possibility of mere incompetence rather than outright corruption.
“I made weight at 10:00 a.m. and left around 2 p.m. Unbelievable,” Moicano remarked. “Four hours waiting to test because I had no water in my body.”
“Only two commission members were present, yet they insisted we stay put post-weigh-in with a chaperone. But more than three or four athletes were there. Whether corrupt or just clueless—either way—it’s not right to test someone without water.”
For what it’s worth, Dana White suggests it was the latter—plain old incompetence.
On Tuesday, White addressed these claims while speaking with reporters after Dana White’s Contender Series. He firmly denied any corruption allegations.
“It’s not true,” White stated. “They felt singled out, but it wasn’t intentional. The French have their own doping agency. Did they exercise poor judgment around weigh-in times? Yes. It’s when fighters are most miserable and dehydrated.”
“No foul play occurred. We understand their feelings but assure them it wasn’t true.”
In the end, Allen lost to Imavov by unanimous decision, while Moicano clinched a second-round victory over Saint Denis in the main event.