what wrong with UFC??

EPO_MAN

Dana white...


This man is an executive of a company , a business man and to see him toadying about fighetrs like he is their buddy and on a par with them is cringe-worthy.
But have we seen him near a ring in anger???
The serve serving ego is so annoying.....

At least vince mcmahon in WWE will take a beating for the good of the show.....

Rant over...it just stuck me while watching the Ultimate Fighter that the man is a gimp...

goo

I don't like him, but I don't base it on him not fighting. Like, he and his mates bought the company, it's not as if they picked one of the sport's elder statesmen to represent them, so he has no background in the sport as far as I know. Who could he even fight. Dana White vs. Joe Rogan?

Valmont

Well if he keeps bringing quality events like UFC 59 and season three of the Ultimate Fighter so far, I don't care what he does! More power to the man!

dlofnep

Dana is a legend. He's made the UFC better as a whole. Given us a weekly show, more events, more publicity. Regardless of what you think of him as a person, he does the UFC alot of good. You can't compare him and Vince McMahon.

goo

Yeah I've only gotten into MMA in the last year or so and he's bound to have a big part of that.

cormie

UFC = REAL, WW = Acting, right?

FiannaGym.com

I agree Dana White is terrible for the UFC. Or maybe its just Zuffa. Compared with other fight organisation the pay to take ratio is probably the worst out there.

Even if Sakikbara (sp) is invoved with Yakuza he is a much better leader than Dana White. Just look at the pay scales in UFC, its insane. Also, while Dana White isn't the match maker he is responsible for it and the UFC could now be dubbed Ultimate Fighting Rematches. Its insane.

Dana is also Full of "rhymes with it", he claims that Nevada Atheltic Commision wont allow knees in the Turtle position, but he made them banned in Cali. Basically he is protecting wrestlers (read: Americans).

ANyway, the reason I think Dana is bad for the UFC is because he's bad for the sport of MMA. When the UFC first started out it premoted "mindlessly" (or at least only to increase it's own popularity) and the UFC bombed soon afterwards. Dana is doing the same thing now, MMA and ultimately the UFC will suffer because of it.

Mostly I dont like Dana because he involves himself in fighting when he knows nothing about it (remember his comentary of LIddel v rampage and his "speech" to TUF 1) and because the pay in UFC is shameful - Just imagine if TUF was billed as a competition for 2K to show 2k to win. No one would watch it or take it seriously.

Peace

Dana White is doing a good job running the UFC even if he is a bit of a prat. The problem is that the UFC is owned by Zuffa, a profit seeking firm. This means profits will supersede the interests of the sport when the two are contrary. I think most of the problems people have with the UFC stem from it being controlled by a profit driven firm rather than being a non-profit like most other sporting organisations.

damo

I agree that Dana White has done alot for mma and the ufc, but i really think he should take a more behind the scenes seat. The man is gonna make millions (and surely already has) over the next few years from the ufc, that should be enough for him but he really seems to crave celebrity status, you cant watch 5 minutes of a ufc based programme without seeing his head on screen...he just loves those cameras.

Anyone else think he should go behind the scenes and let Randy Couture take the reigns as the on-screen 'president'?

FiannaGym.com

ALso, I just read on the under ground that Dana White is looking to get UFC rules sanctioned in all the united states. Even though he said all the UFC will in future be held either in Cali or Nevada. The posters on the underground claim that this is so an "upstart" organisation can not out do the UFC by using different rules (e.g. the rules of pride).

If you dont know the underground is at mma.tv


Peace

Valmont

Ok so he isn't an angel, and it is crap the way they won't allow knees in the turtle position (I really hate that, it's unrealistic) but answer me this, did you enjoy UFC 59? It was a great event, so was 57 and 55 and 54 and 53 and 52, the ultimate fighter is entertaining, forget about what he doesn't know about fighters or what he is paying them, just look at the results. isn't that whats important?

But I suppose things could be a lot better, but that won't happen so why complain?

ninjaburr

You can deslike White all you want but step back for a moment.
UFC is based in America.Can you imagine the legal nightmare that involves setting up a sport where two people smack the crap out of each other on television!!!!Booking gigs in them huge stadiums and getting air time is big money.You need someone with a good head for business in something like this.While I am sure there are a lot of good fighters out there how many do you think also have experience in business!!!
The only gripe I have with the UFC is that they really should be angling for a world market.Can you imagine a UFC europe v's UFC america tournament!!!It would be like the america cup!!

Dragan

Lots of good points raised so i am just gonna ad my opinion of some of em if thats cool!

1) Dana is very good for the UFC right now, but maybe needs to change tack "going forward". Under Zuffa and Dana the UFC went from losing money to making money, it really is that simple. NO promotion is doing more right now to promote MMA on a worldwide scale than UFC. Sure, Pride FC is bigger shows, paydays and budgets but more people know the initials of UFC than Pride right now, it's just the way it is. Tell someone you train MMA and they say "what....like UFC?".

2) America is the UFC's market. They don;t really need to worry about ticket sales and ppv buys anywhere else ( we get it free remember, but how long before a switch to SKY Sports occurs and we lose that? ) most of there money is made in the states, so they are trying to make a product that appeals in the states. It's sad but until there home market saturates that IS the best way for the UFC to do business.

3) A company like the UFC does well to put a face and a personallity to the management. Like him or not, you don't change the channel when Dana is on the telly. To put it simply, he knows he's the boss and so do the fighters. People talk Dana down for cosying up to fighters but would it be better if he was distant to them all and didn't care? I believe that Dana is a firm fan of MMA , and to be honest if i got to work with all the fighters i would be pretty chuffed about it to.

4) UFC is a company. At the end of the day the need to make money. Thats they way the world works. It's not as if Pride is running at a loss or anything. Lets not be crazy here folks, Dana wants to make money, fighters want to make money, Zuffa wants to make money, sponsor's, Sherdog.....it's all about money at the end of the day. Are the fighters being paid enough? Nope. Will that change? Hopefully. UFC has only been running on a Profit for a year now, hardly long enough for Directors to feel comfortable in upping costs. Sad, but true.

EPO_MAN

dlofnep wrote:

You can't compare him and Vince McMahon.

I think you've missed the point. The point being if you're gonna hangabout the ring hi -5 the fighters, cry on their shoulders - be a trainer or wrestler.
McMahon (although I am aware - surprising isn't it - that they're different sports) does it and then gets in the ring and takes his beatings etc....

I don't doubt he has done a lot for UFC / MMA but do we really have to see him astride in the ring showing off etc...

dlofnep

EPO_MAN wrote:

I think you've missed the point. The point being if you're gonna hangabout the ring hi -5 the fighters, cry on their shoulders - be a trainer or wrestler.
McMahon (although I am aware - surprising isn't it - that they're different sports) does it and then gets in the ring and takes his beatings etc....

I don't doubt he has done a lot for UFC / MMA but do we really have to see him astride in the ring showing off etc...

Oh I have got the point. Basically Dana is evil devil man, blah blah etc..

He's done more for MMA across the pond than anyone else. I'm greatful for all he's done.

FiannaGym.com

If "commercial success" or making MMA "mainstream" is your measure then yes, Dana has done alot for MMA.

I, as a MMA fighter, belive he has only done bad, monopolising MMA, giving terrible pay days and terrible UFCs. I suppose its just down to the fact that Pride is so much better. Hopefully Pride or ROTR will break into the American market and force the UFC to become good again, because as far as I am concerned its really poor.

Its quite easy to make MMA successful if that is your only goal, just like in the early 90s. It is difficult to make a great competitive sporting enviornment Dana has proved that.

Peace

Dragan

FiannaGym.com wrote:

If "commercial success" or making MMA "mainstream" is your measure then yes, Dana has done alot for MMA.

I, as a MMA fighter, belive he has only done bad, monopolising MMA, giving terrible pay days and terrible UFCs.

Spot on, the main difference is people's assertation that UFC=MMA. This is simply not the case.

I have no doubt that Dana would be delighted if all other promo's crumbled and UFC was the only one left standing. No one should ever get confused between UFC the company and brand and MMA the sport, just like Pearse has pointed out!

I have no doubt that the widespread recognition of UFC means more people go to smaller, local shows but the UFC is still taking the joy that is MMA and is turning it into a flawed product.

Good for the UFC and MMA to a point, bad for MMA in the future unless something changes quick.