Comments on: Dana White speaks out about Jon Fitch’s release during emotional radio interview

By: Insansity

Insansity — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 09:49:14 +0000

@JJ docker and the rest of the mouth breathers.

Did you read the stipulations in that contract? Are you even remotely aware of the power that grants the UFC over its fighters? They would have absolutely no legal ability to dictate their sports career for the remainder of their lives. Regardless of if they were active in the UFC or not. For any purposes what so ever. They could in theory not even describe themselves “verbally” as a former UFC champion without explicit consent from the UFC.

There is absolutely no justification for DEMANDING on pain of being banned and publicly besmirched that all fighters sign that.

UFC wants to be considered a legitimate sport on par with the rest of the professional athletic world. When they are outright strong arming their “athletes” to sell away their rights to every possible marketable aspect of themselves….

for 10-20% of the profits excluding DVD’s and any form of video game….in highly dubious terms that leaves ample room for them to end up paying out far less than even that…..with no contractual obligation for oversite from the athletes……for the eternity regardless if they currently fight with the UFC…..obligated to make at least 6 public appearances with no form of compensation a year…

You cannot possibly think this is anything but thinly veiled blackmail.

You will be BANNED from the UFC if you DARE request any other terms and be made a public example of. Your entire GYM with be blacklisted if they DARE state the very blatant shady nature of the contract. With no regards to the fighters,the sport nor the fans. Taking advantage of a near monopoly to utterly rape your athletes might have worked well with professional wrestling. But for a “sport” striving for recognition and legitimacy its downright pathetic.

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By: Nick Merra

Nick Merra — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:50:42 +0000

ihateemo – you are hot as hell

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By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:57:37 +0000

Did Dana drive to this interview in his Ferrari?

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By: skwirrl

skwirrl — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:30:38 +0000

war run-on sentences

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By: skwirrl

skwirrl — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:29:32 +0000

Don’t forget the majority of MMA fans will side with Dana White on this. Thats because by and large Ultimate Fighting fans are some of the most ignorant people on the face of the earth. They pay to see the shitty kickboxing that Dana is star of and are stupid cattle that will follow him to the ends of the Earth and couldn’t possibly understand Fitch following his principles and refusing a clause that is a slippery slope for all fighters. WAR FITCH FORM A UNION WITH YOU AS PRESIDENT

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By: rich

rich — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:00:11 +0000

Jon Fitch needs to think about this. He made $169,000 for his last fight. The UFC is the top MMA organization and where is he going to fight. Jon use your head. You are making a big mistake. EliteXC and IFL have went out of business and soon in the present economy others will follow. You are a great fighter, but you need to be a better business man.

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By: rich

rich — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:00:10 +0000

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By: JJ Docker

JJ Docker — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:33:42 +0000

“who else thinks D White was a spoiled only child? who cried if things didnt go his way?”

Regardless of whether he was or wasn’t, he’s done a hell of a job in building the UFC into a very profitable organisation in a short space of time.

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By: apapa

apapa — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:16:24 +0000

here’s the deal…dana white has long expressed admiration for vince mcmahon and how he grew the WWE.

essentially the UFC does the same thing, pulls in a lot of revenue while appearing to underpay fighters, making money off the fighters names but not including the fighters in the earnings.

UFC is the top organization and will be the last organization standing in the end Dana knows this, as did Vince McMahon. During the late 90s the WWE’s dominance was “under the gun”, WCW managed to sign a number of top stars (Hogan,Savage,Hart,Nash) and for a brief period defeated the WWE regularly in the Monday night t.v. wars.

But where is WCW now? Basically, Vince did the same thing Dana is doing…not cave to the demands of fighters, look at the brand as bigger than the fighters and wait (patiently) until your competitors go out of business.

Does anyone seriously think Affliction is going to last ??? When they go under what option left will fighters have other than going to Japan, whose MMA scene is a far cry from where it was.

Zuffa knows fighters will come and go, stars will be made, starts will retire
its the nature of any sport. We all know the UFC has the best fighters but they are far past the point of signing the best fighters….if that was their biggest concern
Fitch, Fedor, Aoki, Lindland, Barnett etc. would all be employed by Zuffa.
Zuffa has done a fantastic job of convincing the average/casual MMA fan that any fighter NOT in the UFC isn’t good enough to be there anyway.

As much what happened to Jon Fitch is unfair and a little ridiculous never lose sight the UFC is a business first.

I surprised no blogs (including this one) have ever wrote extensively on the parallels between WWE and the UFC. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

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By: red

red — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:14:08 +0000

At the end of the day all these camps make there living off of the UFC and the UFC wont let them dictate what there terms will be. If Fintch and AKK was fighting in Dream all this time he would have never had the pay day he had when he fought GSP because they can not bring in that type of money. I am sure that that agreement had some sort of benfit to the fighters and eve ryone wants more. Maybe Dana has learned from all he mistakes that boxing made over the years and is willing to not cave for the better of his company. But for all of us it is a short term loss because when its all said and done everyone wants to come back to the big game look at Randy.

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By: ultmma

ultmma — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:55:10 +0000

who else thinks D White was a spoiled only child? who cried if things didnt go his way?

How much longer can this guy the face of your company?

While he’s doing a media interview for a radio station? he wants the media to shut up! shut up!

Yes media only cover the positives of the UFC. No sport fan would every want to hear anything bad about the company especially in this economy.

This just in for all your financial quarries turn off MSNBC ( there just part of the media anyway) and just ask D White he’s on a private jet 24/7 so he knows alot about whats going on with the financial crisis.

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By: ihateemo

ihateemo — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:48:43 +0000

@ Imbecile

“I can’t get my employer to change their contract terms just for me.”

It depends who you work for doesn’t it? I work in I.T. and my last employer tried to get me to sign a clause that said if I quit their company I couldn’t work for a “similar” company for ten years.

I told them I wouldn’t sign it and they still hired me. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t at least question the contract that is being presented to them. Lifetime rights for a small sum up front? No royalties paid in perpetuity for family members paid in the event of a fighters’ death? These aren’t unreasonable demands in light of the kind of money these guys make the UFC.

I am still confused as to the kind of people who sign the first thing that a company offers them. Maybe that’s why so many people hate their jobs.

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By: ihateemo

ihateemo — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:44:35 +0000

@ tHe HEAT

“i mean if ur boss sez sign this or ur out of a job most ppl would sgn it ”

Those people are morons if they do. If my boss tries to make me sign something disadvantageous to my future, you can bet your ass I won’t sign it.

Consider this a third vote for a fighters’ union.

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By: Imbecile

Imbecile — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:38:59 +0000

I think a fighters’ union would be an awful idea. I also think it is Dana White’s right to employ who he wants in his organization. Sucks for Fitch, but I can’t get my employer to change their contract terms just for me.

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By: JJ Docker

JJ Docker — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:26:52 +0000

I’m not Dana Whites biggest fan but I’ve got to say, he’s right in this situation. And the train of thought that “Jon Fitch has been cut, anyone could be next” is wrong. Fitch is a very talented fighter but how much they are paying him vs. how well known/big of a draw he is as a fighter is unbalanced, and obviously the UFC knows this. In many ways he’s the perfect guy to cut; good enough to scare and warn other fighters about business compliance but not big enough to cost them money in losing a well-known fighter or a fan favourite.

Dana’s right though, everything he says in this interview is correct. The economys terrible and getting worse, the work he and Lorenzo do for the UFC, in terms of quantity and commitment, is largely unappreciatted by casuals, hardcores, trainers and agents, and new promotions are never going to make it to the level on which they could pay good fighters good money, consistently. People jump on his back because they hate the whole capitalist thing and are pretentiously liberal in their thoughts but crucially not in their actions. The reality of the situation is that the UFC has built the platform on which these guys perform, pay them very well for it (£189,000 for a fight, Fitch, is incredible if you compare it to the salaries 10 years ago) and this means that the fighters get the fame, the fights, the training, whatever it is that they desire most from being an MMA fighter, whilst the UFC businessmen (Lorenzo, White, Silva etc) work their asses off 99% of the year and go unnoticed.

I’m all against mass capitalism and monopolies in business, where big rich guys sit back while their minions run around making them millions. But this is not the UFC. Their staff list is comparitively low and most of them work hard, legitimately, most of the year. Not just to make themselves profits, which is obviosuly the aim of any business, but to progess the sport of MMA further and further each day.

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By: Lawdawg

Lawdawg — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:04:45 +0000

Interesting article about what the fighters are being asked to sign: http://www.tapoutlive.com/images/mags/ufc_legal.pdf
May not be the whole story but it does give Fitch’s version of the dispute credence. No lawyer/agent in their right mind would allow their client/fighter to sign this agreement.

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By: joey

joey — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:00:52 +0000

I completely agree with you Tony. A fighter’s union would be such a smart idea.

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By: Tony Fennen

Tony Fennen — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:43:55 +0000

Dana is basically saying that the fighters are LUCKY TO HAVE A JOB.

There needs to be a fighters union… Just to protect the fighters from MMA Dictatorships like UFC

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By: king mah mah

king mah mah — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:28:20 +0000

He still didn’t really answer the question. Why was he cut? Because Dana had a problem with somebody else in his camp!? He talks about Fitch making $169,000. So what! Fitch should make that for fighting for the title. He says “where else can you make that in one night”. Well I guarantee you Fitch worked for a lot more than a day for that fight when you count all of his training, a lot more than a day. Then he actually expects people to believe that he lives on a plane 24-7! Don’t get me started on the economy comments. The UFC isn’t the one asking for a bailout like the big 3. People aren’t losing their pensions in the UFC, but oh yeah, that’s because they never had one to begin with! Meanwhile Dana continues to rake in the cash. Why doesn’t he try living on an average persons salary like $50,000 a year. I bet he couldn’t do it. Well maybe he could considering he doesn’t have a house. He just lives in a plane.

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By: LE

LE — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:17:34 +0000

White is such a prick! He wants to control all these fighters for the rest of their lives.

Like Jon said, he’d do it, but WHY NOT put a 3yr or 5yr limit on it. Why does the UFC own his image for the rest of his life?

What if Michael Jordan had signed his name/likeness away to the NBA early in his career? Before he became a star. He would be losing $100s of millions. Michael makes more off his name/likeness than he EVER made playing the game.

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