UFC president Dana White was absent at Friday’s UFC 84 weigh-ins. He was also nowhere to be found at the Ultimate Fighter media day or at Thursday's UFC 84 press conference.

It would appear that the UFC’s response in attempting to avoid bad blood and any potential confrontation that could ensue between White and Ortiz is to take White out of the equation.

It is highly unlikely, however, that White will skip UFC 84 entirely. It's customary for White to adorn the winner of any UFC championship fight with the UFC championship belt, so expect to see White fashioning the UFC lightweight championship belt around either BJ Penn or Sean Sherk later tonight; though it will be interesting to see if White is anywhere close to the arena when Ortiz fights.

Win, lose or draw, the UFC will have a hard time censoring Ortiz after the fight, especially if he wins; and Ortiz will likely take his last opportunity to verbally stick it to White and/or the UFC with his post fight comments.