Mandel Nallo says UFC Edmonton weigh-in nose-pick was for his sons before Dana White handshake

The Canadian lightweight gave White a finger point instead of a handshake, then stopped Nate Landwehr for his first UFC win.

Mandel Nallo has explained why he picked his nose onstage at the UFC Edmonton ceremonial weigh-ins, moments before Dana White offered him a handshake ahead of his faceoff with Nate Landwehr.

Nallo told Ariel Helwani the gesture was a message to his two sons. "I have two boys; they're 5 and 7... I wanted to notify them that I knew they were watching," he said. He asked them what he could do to show them, and they told him to pick his nose. "I'm a committed nose picker," Nallo said.

White then held out his hand. Nallo said there was no time to explain, so he gave the UFC chief a finger point to avoid any contact. "There was no disrespect. It was kind of like a 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' moment," he said. Turning the handshake down outright would have looked worse, he added: "I just had to roll with it."

Nallo also said his sons, who train jiu-jitsu, do not know what he does for a living or how violent MMA can be.

Nallo (15-4, 1 NC) stopped Landwehr on Saturday, 17 October, for his first UFC win. The 37-year-old had lost his promotional debut to Jai Herbert by TKO earlier this year, and has never had a professional fight go to the judges.

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