You may not often see fans celebrating a missed fight, especially on a card like the UFC Freedom 250. But that’s exactly what’s happening. UFC CEO Dana White recently spoke to TIME, where he revealed that he had tried to add a women’s fight between Mackenzie Dern and Zhang Weili to the UFC White House card, but failed. 

“We did try to make a women’s fight,” said White. “We couldn’t get it done.” 

White’s intention was clear. He wanted to boost the card’s international appeal. Zhang Weili, representing China, would have drawn massive viewership from the region, while Mackenzie Dern’s American-Brazilian background also brought strong appeal. Unfortunately for White, he revealed that Weili is currently taking time away from competition.

Weili vacated her strawweight title to chase a title at Flyweight. She fought Valentina Shevchenko in November last year, but was utterly dominated by ‘Bullet.’ Dern later fought for Weili’s vacated title against Virna Jandiroba and won the title. Despite becoming a champion, Dern felt she didn’t truly earn it because she wanted to beat Weili, the previous champion. 

As things stand, the UFC Freedom 250 card does not feature a women’s bout. The event currently includes seven fights, headlined by Ilia Topuria’s first title defense against Justin Gaethje. So, learning that another high-profile matchup could have been added would normally disappoint fans, right? Surprisingly, that wasn’t the case. 

After Combat Casuals shared the update on X, many fans actually seemed relieved that the fight never materialized.

Failure from Dana White gets a celebratory reception

Fans never miss the opportunity to criticize Dana White, but this time things were different. “This was a positive thing 🙏,” one user commented, while another added, “Thank f—k 😭🙏.” The same sentiment was expressed by someone else, who wrote, “Thank You, Lord.” And a fourth posted, “We used to pray for times like this.”

Zhang Weili’s loss to Valentina Shevchenko turned out to be a largely one-sided affair, with Shevchenko using her size, wrestling, and control-time to dominate the fight. Many fans viewed the bout as uneventful and overly grappling-heavy. 

Mackenzie Dern, meanwhile, has also built a reputation for grinding out decision wins through positional control rather than explosive finishes. Because of that, some fans likely had little interest in seeing another matchup centered around extended grappling exchanges.

But not everyone was against the fight. “Why? You are the boss, and you could not get it done? You are a liar, baldy,” the user lashed out at Dana White. But if Weili doesn’t want to fight, there’s little White can do about it besides offering more money. 

That being said, it appears the UFC Freedom 250 card will have to go on without a feminine touch. And from the looks of it, fans aren’t too bothered about it.