Weigh-ins at UFC Nashville mainly followed the same script. Fighters stood on the scale, checked their weight, and were cleared for fight night. But one moment slipped through the cracks: a fighter briefly missed weight, and Dana White immediately got the footage deleted from the UFC’s official YouTube channel.

Chidi Njokuani initially weighed 171.5 pounds for his scheduled welterweight fight against Jake Matthews, which was half a pound above the non-title fight limit. According to MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck, he was given extra time, returned later, and successfully made weight at 170.5 pounds.

On paper, that was it. However, the UFC didn’t just move on; they erased the original clip with the miss so that no future fans can find out about this major fumble by the fighter. This is not the first time Njokuani has had difficulties with the scale.

In March, he weighed 1.25 pounds above the limit in his fight against Elizeu Zaleski, the one that he won via a second-round knockout. In fact, his weight management issues have been since his Bellator run from 2015 to 2019, when he frequently competed in catchweight bouts due to similar problems.

Despite the fact that the scale mishap was brief and soon fixed, the choice to delete the footage calls into question the UFC and Dana White’s commitment to transparency. Rather than acknowledging the sequence and making the entire weigh-in procedure public, the head honcho chose to get rid of the evidence.

Njokuani, who is currently on a three-fight winning streak, will still appear on the Nashville card as scheduled. However, as the UFC grows in popularity, small omissions like this will be noticed, and they raise larger questions about what the promotion chooses to keep and what it secretly edits out. Such a bad PR move can be particularly harmful to the organization, especially when planning a patriotic event at the White House.

Dana White’s White House Card and the ‘Dream’ main event

If the UFC wants to position itself as a patriotic powerhouse in time for America’s 250th birthday, moves like hiding weigh-in footage will not help. The same company that intends to stage a historic pay-per-view at the White House should not be quietly editing reality.

Nonetheless, while worries about transparency persist, UFC CEO Dana White has his sights set on something far greater: a card so stacked that it dwarfs even UFC 300. White recently said on the Full Send Podcast that he plans to deliver “the baddest card of all time” on the White House grounds. The intended main event? Jon Jones takes on Tom Aspinall.

Despite Jones’ retirement just weeks earlier, White stated that the former champion is back in the USADA pool and considering a comeback, all for the opportunity to represent his country on an unprecedented stage. Between that and Conor McGregor officially tossing his hat into the ring, the UFC CEO made it clear: if he had to choose, Jones would be the headliner.

The ambition is massive, but so are the reputations on the line. As the UFC approaches its most historic event yet, how it handles minor details, such as a missed weight clip, may matter just as much as who appears for the main event in Washington, D.C.