"Nothing happened behind the scenes. They’re both great guys who have had incredible careers here."
That's Dana White telling TMZ Sports his decision to release Alistair Overeem and Junior dos Santos from the UFC wasn't personal, just business ... and everyone's still on good terms.
Junior dos Santos signed with the UFC in 2008. Overeem has been with UFC since 2011.
Both guys were cut from the UFC roster this week -- so when we spoke with Dana on Thursday ... we asked why.
"People get cut every week … I think those two are pretty self-explanatory. It's nothing negative, it's just part of the sport.
40-year-old Alistair is coming off a loss to Alexander Volkov -- he was 6 and 4 in his last 10 fights.
37-year-old JDS is on a 4-fight losing streak -- most recently suffering a TKO loss to Ciryl Gane in Dec. 2020.
"If you look up what they’ve done recently ... you look at their age ... you look at everything that's going on, it's pretty self-explanatory," White said.
White praised both guys as being super tough and consummate pros.
"Alistair Overeem never said no to a fight, never turned down a fight … would fight anybody."
"And, JDS is one of the nicest human beings in the sport, I have nothing but amazing things to say about both guys."
Bottom line -- "Age, it gets us all man."
There's more ...
Dana is FIRED UP for UFC 259 on Saturday -- especially the main event, middleweight champ Israel Adesanya vs. light heavyweight champ Jan Blachowicz.
Only Jan's belt is on the line on Saturday -- so, if Israel wins, he'll be the UFC's next Champ Champ!
"Jan Blachowicz might not be very well known but I feel like this is his coming-out party," White says.
"If he can beat the undefeated midweight champion Israel Adesanya, everybody will know him and be talking about him on Sunday."
Another big fight is UFC superstar Amanda Nunes vs. Megan Anderson.
"The thing that makes this fight real fun is both of these women have knockout power. We'll see lots of fun female fights that are very technical, fast pace, etc -- these two women can knock other women unconscious and the fact that they have that kinda power, makes this fight very badass."
NO. LIES. DETECTED!