Dana White Says Mike Tyson Looked ‘F---king Awesome’ in Draw vs. Roy Jones Jr.

Mike and Roy left it all in the ring tonight #TysonJones pic.twitter.com/zUirisWPqN

— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) November 29, 2020

Dana White isn’t necessarily a fan of combat sports events with fighters who are past their primes.

However, the UFC president was keeping a close eye on the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. boxing exhibition while simultaneously working the UFC on ESPN 18 card in Las Vegas on Saturday night. White was admittedly skeptical that the aging boxing stars could put on a show, but he came away impressed following the conclusion of the bout, which was unofficially declared a draw after eight rounds by the WBC judges.

“You guys have been asking me questions leading up to this thing and I didn’t want to say anything negative because I love Tyson and he’s a good friend of mine. I was nervous,” White said at the UFC on ESPN 18 post-fight press conference. “He’s [54] years old. Time is undefeated. Time takes us all down. One of the things is I was worried for Mike is he has this incredible aura still. Fighting is a young man’s game. All that being said, he looked f—ing awesome tonight. I was blown away how good he looked.

“And I was worried about Roy. Roy is 51 years old. Roy’s been more active than Tyson has been. But Roy actually got more tired than Mike tonight, which was shocking. I’m happy for them. I hope they both made a f—ing zillion dollars. And it exceeded my expectations.”

Though the California State Athletic Commission had already announced that an official winner wouldn’t be declared prior to the bout, White had his own opinion about who should have had his hand raised.

“Tyson won the fight,” he said.

At the conclusion of the bout, Tyson said that he “absolutely” wants to box again. While White often takes a stance against fighters in his promotion who want to compete at an advanced age, he has no plans of trying to convince Tyson to stop.

“He’s a grown-ass man. He’s gonna do what he wants anyway,” White said. “It was actually a good fight. it was an entertaining fight to watch. I’m happy for him.”

Jones, meanwhile, has shown interest in revisiting a boxing match against Anderson Silva, who was released from the UFC following a loss to Uriah Hall on Oct. 31. When asked if he’d have any interest getting involved in promoting such a bout since it would include a future UFC Hall of Famer, White declined.

“To my core, I am a f—ing fight fan. I truly believe the fight business is for young guys. It’s not for old guys,” White said. “When you’re a fight fan, I want to see the the best up-and-coming kids in the world in every division. As a fight fan that’s who I am. That kind of stuff doesn’t interest me. Anderson Silva had his day. Roy Jones Jr. had his day. Today is not their day. There’s plenty of people that do the old guy stuff. I don’t do the old guy stuff.”