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Dana White was forced to apologize for ‘jumping the gun’ when announcing incorrect PPV main event

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow | By Kyle Dimond | Last updated Dec 10, 2025 3:09 PM ET

A huge UFC card that took place on this day in 2011 had a confusing build-up.

Many fans have reminisced about how the UFC would go out of their way to make big fight announcements feel special.

While most main events tend to get announced via Dana White going live on social media in recent times, the news for UFC 324 in January did receive a slightly grander approach.

We also saw something slightly different with the surprise announcement of Max Holloway vs Charles Oliveira 2 at UFC 326, with the promotion bringing both men on stage at a recent press conference to break the news.

The announcements may not have received feverish reactions, but they were at least correct, which hasn’t always been the case.

Dana White announced Lyoto Machida vs Phil Davis despite the fight not being possible

On this day in 2011, the stacked UFC 140 card took place at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Following highlights like Frank Mir’s submission win over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Jon Jones choked out Lyoto Machida in the main event to cap off a very strong night of action.

‘Bones’ may have secured arguably his most iconic finish at this event, but the original plan wasn’t for the light heavyweight champion to headline this particular event.

Several months before the event, Dana White had announced that Machida would be taking on rising contender Phil Davis in what he expected to be a five-round, non-title main event.

However, the UFC president quickly backtracked his announcement by admitting that he’d made a mistake via a post on social media.

Davis, who hadn’t fought since March, was recovering from an injury, which White made reference to when correcting himself less than an hour after his initial comments.

“I jumped the gun on Machida vs Davis,” White wrote on Twitter [now X]. “Just found out Davis is still recovering from knee surgery. Sorry about that!”

Phil Davis admitted that he had no idea about the UFC 140 announcement

Phil Davis shared his reaction to being announced for UFC 140 despite still working his way back to full fitness when speaking to USA Today.

“All of this is news to me,” Davis admitted. “I’m still recovering and training. That’s pretty much the story. I guess they must have looked to book me. I’m just not a go yet.”

The light heavyweight contender made his return the following January, where he suffered his first loss to Rashad Evans in a title eliminator.

“I wasn’t really involved in any of this whole story, other than I’m the guy in question,” Davis said about the plans for UFC 140. “I’ve got to get with the guys in charge and see what they want me to do next – I’m merely one of the characters in a video game. I just run down the field. I don’t call the plays.”

This article first appeared on Bloody Elbow and was syndicated with permission.

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