Dana White brings the heat during recent press tour
August 9, 2008 by Sam Caplan
(Photo courtesy of MMAjunkie.com)
UFC President Dana White has done a ton of media for tonight’s UFC 87 event to take place from the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
During the press tour, which includes his own video blog, TV, radio, and press conference appearances, he has made several intriguing statements.
There are four particular quotes from White that I’ve found to be extremely intriguing:
On Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s current legal situation:
“That one is out there like, ‘He hit her and she lost her baby.’ It was a week later. He knocked her mirror off her car. Rampage said, and he’ll tell you when you talk to him, ‘I care about everybody. I care about all life. I would never hurt anybody.’
“That’s the way he is. Now he’s in a situation where somebody’s trying to civil sue him and make some money. Absolutely not. Absolutely not, this is not a criminal thing. No way. I’m no lawyer and I’m no judge, (but) this stuff will be worked out in the court.”
Regarding Roger Huerta and his recent comments in FIGHT! mazgine:
“Roger Huerta’s a guy who’s been reading the headlines a little too much. You get out there and promote the guy and he’s like, “Look at all the papers I’m in, look at all the promotion I’m getting, I want a lot more money.’ Well he hasn’t fought anybody to get the money yet. He beats Kenny Florian, that’s a whole different ballgame.
“Roger Huerta has contract problems? What’s his contract problem? He signed a contract, he’s under contract, when his contract is up he’ll re-negotiate a new one. … What he was bitching about was doing PR. In his thing he said, ‘They got me out there doing PR.’ Yeah, moron. How do you think you make money? You don’t make money unless people know who you are and want to see you fight. Am I supposed to pay Roger Huerta to go out and do PR? Is that how it works?
“That’s not how it works. When Oscar De La Hoya fights, he’s on Leno and Letterman. The night before his fight, he weighs in in Las Vegas, and then flies to Los Angeles to do PR for the fight. Because he makes more money. Because he becomes more popular and more people want to see him fight. …What happens is these guys turn into pussies, is what happens.”
On Tim Sylvia during a recent edition of Tagg Radio:
“Look, we cut Tim Sylvia, he couldn’t cut it in the UFC anymore…. Tim has been boring people for years, I was glad to get rid of him.”
On the real reason why the UFC signed Mirko Cro Cop away from PRIDE:
“Fifty times we thought it was over and we were buying PRIDE, then we hear they were talking to these guys and these guys and kept string us along. So when Mirko Cro Cop’s deal came up, we went after Mirko aggressively, signed him, and that really started to unravel PRIDE. He was really tight with them, so once we were able to take him away, all the other fighters started talking to us too. And that was basically the last nail in the coffin for those guys. It was really a business move to buy PRIDE. That’s why we signed Cro Cop.
“It wasn’t like we brought Cro Cop in and thought he was going to take over the heavyweight division or anything. I think that’s what the fans thought — the hardcore fans who really knew a lot about PRIDE — but it was a business move to kill PRIDE.”
Man that dude is a heartless fuck.
I hope he keeps showing he doesnt give a shit about the fighters, and they all have brains to sign elsewhere for less money. Or more, for the lucky ones.
So its like.
Quinton could still make me money, so for him i will be nice and make excuses.
The rest are either already else where, or thinking about going else where, so fuck them.
He is going to damage his company by proving he doest give a shit about the fighters beyond how much money they can make for him.
kind of d-bag, he’s not the mma promoter we want but the one we all deserve.
Everything he DW said may be true, but when he throws that stuff out there he sure sounds like an ass. He’d be better off keep his mouth shut to look like the bigger man, and let the fighters cry and look stupid. When he fights back he just looks bad. School play ground bs.
dang.. did he call Huerta a moron? i mean, i know you have issues with each other but, the guy is making money for you/bringing fans in for you/doing mag covers..
Dana, you are one crazy mofo..
I’m a huge UFC backer and very much a pro- Dana guy but I think the dude was hanging out too much with Rampage and started his fasting and energy drinks diet.
Rampage: STFU and stay quiet…that is way too sensitive an issue for the Bull in the China shop approach, even if it 100% true.
Huerta: Huerta is claiming some out of context stuff… Did Dana confirm his facts? Tito truly is a moron… but Huerta, seems kinda a tough intro to Danaworld but maybe a good bitchslap was appropriate right before gettin his ass kicked by Florian.
Sylvia: The dude said all the right things since he left. He took the high road….why bust on him so badly?
CroCop: no issues with that…MMA survuval of the fittest baby
Cheers Mates
First of all, White is smarter then what most people give him credit for. He is right about Huerta and Cro-Cop, but this lawsuit with Rampage is a PR disaster. Hopefully all this money/contract negotations won’t be the beginning of the end for this great sport.
This card is going to be magical. This is the time in MMA where it might be in its “glory” stages because this sport might be headed down from where its at now. I could be wrong, but I doubt it (Charles Barkley).
I would be worried if the Rampage baby saga made it as far as court. If what White says is true he won’t get convicted but it will be a long way back to the top for Quinton.
And Dana gets personal kudos from me for the Tim Sylvia comment.
I don’t know if I’d say White is “right” about Huerta, 50 dollars a day to promote youself+The UFC, or he could do a seminar at some mma gym promoting just himself, still make a personal connection w/ fans and come away with 20 times as much money.
“Right” is very subjective. He’s “wrong” for calling Huerta a moron for dissenting, I’m pretty sure that doesn’t help in re-signing him (probable loss to Florian tonight or not).
And no one buys the “we signed Cro Cop to get the PRIDE guys” crap. He got screwed in the deal and that’s it. His “we’re smarter than everyone because we knew we were signing a sucky guy for $300,000 a fight just to get more guys” crap is lame. No smart person could possibly buy that. Weren’t they going to give him a HW title fight in his second UFC bout but Cro Cop wanted one more (the loss to Gonzaga) tune up? Read a book.
Doing seminars at some MMA gym might be OK for some money now, but it doesn’t even compare with the potential $$ one can make by doing PR for the UFC.
Your right Huck. They brought Cro Cop in because he was on of the top heavyweights out there. They were signing him to try to solidify there heavyweight division. Same reason they got Big Nog. The salesman is trying to serve us a heaping pile of shit.
I like Dana but doesn’t need to be running his mouth like he does all the time. You watch somebody is going to clean his clock one day. Can’t you just see Mr Fester at a press conference looking like Geraldo Rivera.
White’s style is blunt on his best day, but I can’t really argue with his comments about Rampage’s auto accident or the situation with Huerta. Anybody in the public eye has a big ol’ bullseye on their back. Rampage’s accident was unfortunate, and it’s really unfortunate the lady had a miscarriage. But proving the accident caused it is more complicated than filing a lawsuit and making the allegation. Is it possible that she’s sincere but mistaken? Yes. Is it possible an aggressive attorney sees the opportunity to negotiate a lucrative settlement with Rampage’s insurance company to avoid the bad publicity? Hell, yes. That sort of thing happens every day.
The message to Huerta is simple: You do for the UFC, and then the UFC does for you. Don’t charge me in negotiations for our pr that we paid for to enhance your career. And even if you win against top tier fighters, you still have to market yourself. Welcome to the business world and the adult world, dude.
“You do for the UFC, and then the UFC does for you”. Then when you leave Dana will shit on you, example in this press confernce Tim Sylvia. That’s why Huerta would be smart to make Huerta fans not UFC fighter fans.
Dana is coming off more and more like Eric Bischoff.
“That’s why Huerta would be smart to make Huerta fans not UFC fighter fans.” And he does that by winning against top-tier fighters and marketing himself, just like White said. Welcome to the business world and the adult world, dude.
It doesn’t matter if it is true or not, a considerate human being doesn’t say that about someone who just lost their child. Can’t White handle the tiniest bit of adversity without responding like a child? I think the attack on Tim Sylvia — and on Crocop for that matter — is more of an indirect attack against Fedor and his hype, since Tim has been very gracious in his parting with the UFC.
I agree that the comments about Tim Sylvia were harsh and unnecessary. But anybody who’s read this blog for more than 10 minutes has read the exact same thing about Sylvia over and over again. I don’t think the comments about Cro Cop were an attack, however. White seemed to be explaining the reason why he was anxious to sign Cro Cop, which may or may not be credible. White didn’t comment on Cro Cop as a fighter in that excerpt. And even if White did criticize Cro Cop, the guy might have it coming. Cro Cop’s performances in UFC were a surprise and disappointment.
Bottom Line : Dana White is a total douchbag and really needs he his ass kicked by one of his contracted fighter on camera
Dana White should really shut his mouth regarding 1. legal matters that affect others(ie Rampage) 2. Anything remotely medico-legal
He should simply say “I cannot comment on these matters at this time.” But he just blabbers away like he just got off the short bus.
Enough.
seriously though…someone else had said it…sylvia has been nothing but even handed. Even stating in one of the affliction interviews that he would like to return to the ufc one day and did not want to participate in the baiting questions of the interviewer.
He seems to be a stand up kind of guy…and yeah maybe dana thinks hes boring and is glad to not be paying him…but you dont viciously throw him under a bus in public like that…
dana is without class…although im not sure that is news to anyone.
I appreciate much of what Dana has done for MMA, but those comments make me want to buy all the Affliction PPVs and get others to buy them too. I wonder if Dana will now keep Huerta on the shelf if Huerta won’t sign a new contract on Dana’s terms to try to stall Huerta’s career and keep him from fulfilling his UFC contract (which I believe has one fight left), then going to a different organization. Even with the loss I’m sure there are other organizations who would want him.