Country star Jason Aldean performed an emotional cover of Tom Petty's 'I Won't Back Down' on Saturday Night Live over the weekend - but one person who wasn't impressed was UFC president Dana White.

While Aldean - who was on stage at the Harvest 91 festival at the time of the shooting - was roundly praised for his performance, White claimed that he snubbed an invitation to appear at a UFC event in Las Vegas the same night, and therefore insulted the survivors and victims of the tragedy.

White told TMZ that he invited Aldean along to appear/perform at UFC 216 - which went ahead as planned and included a tribute to the first responders, survivors and victims - and that he had said no, instead choosing to appear on SNL.

"His image was more important then coming back to Vegas and playing for the people who are his fans and who got shot watching him play," he said. “F*ck you Jason Aldean. Stay out of Vegas.”

He added that other country music stars had also been asked, but had also turned him down. "Country music was attacked. Those were country music fans. Those are people who buy your albums and none of you country music people could sing the anthem in front of survivors and 1st responders?"

Instead, Everlast performed 'America the Great' in the octagon.

Watch Aldean's SNL performance below: