With three title defenses and a near-flawless track record in professional MMA, Islam Makhachev is one of the most dominant champions on the current UFC roster. Not surprisingly, the Russian appears in first place in the organization’s weight-for-pound ranking. But do you know how hard he had to fight to get to this position? Well, the lightweight didn’t just have to go one-on-one against his opponents; he also went against the infamous Dana White privilege in the UFC.

‘Dana White privilege’ has always been a hot topic of discussion in the UFC. While fighters such as Aljamain Sterling claim that it is real and the promotion’s head honcho is biased towards some of his fighters, others argue that it isn’t true at all. Adding his own experience to it, Islam Makhachev reveals that he too had to fight against the Dana White privilege to get his hands on the title.

Speaking to Demetrious Johnson on his YouTube channel, the UFC lightweight champion revealed that he had to go on a 10-fight winning streak before he got his hands on the title. Because of his lack of skills when it came to speaking English fluently, the fighter believes he had to wait longer before he got a shot. “Big way—10-fight win streak. 10-fight win streak. That’s why I told, after the last, before the belt, I told everybody, “Now I think I have the key for the title shot,” you know? Because I have a 10-fight win streak.” 

He further added, “And I know—I don’t know—I say I did everything I can; just give me the title chance, you know? I don’t know, maybe before I didn’t speak English, didn’t promote, you know? I have, all my life, problem to fight with some top fighter, you know? Nobody wants to fight. I don’t know. It’s so hard, you know?”

Makhachev further compared his struggle with that of Khabib Nurmagomedov, since ‘The Eagle’ also went on a multiple-fight win streak before he received a shot at the title. But do you know that Islam Makhachev and Aljamain Sterling aren’t the only fighters who have spilled the truth about the Dana White privilege?

Darren Till confirms Dana White’s bias in the UFC

While the UFC head honcho claims that he is completely unbiased towards his fighters, Aljamain Sterling stated that Dana White does have his favorites. One such fighter, according to him, was Sean O’Malley, who ended up knocking out Sterling at UFC 292. Another UFC fighter who confirmed the existence of the bias is Darren Till.

In a YouTube interview, the former UFC fighter stated that he didn’t understand why so many fighters turned down fights. That is the reason behind the head honcho being a big fan of Conor McGregor because he didn’t back out of a challenge while he was in the UFC. However that has changed since 2021, as ‘The Notorious’ has yet to return after years of absence and anticipation.

However, Darren Till, too, had a similar attitude and reaped its fruits. He said, “That’s why Dana loved me so much. I never ever once turned down a fight, and when I moved up to the middleweight division, Dana said to me, Do you wanna fight your first fight?” Kelvin Gastelum had just come off his fight with Israel Adesanya… [inaudible] Alright, I want Kelvin, and he’s like you sure you want him? [Inaudible] Dana, give me Kelvin Gastelum, co-main event, Madison Square Garden.” Well, it looks like more fighters believe in the existence of bias by Dana White, despite his refusal of such a bias. But what do you think? Let us know in the comments.