Quick Hits: M-1 Global Not Happy With The Way UFC Treats Its Fighters, Dana White Says Fedor Will Put Strikeforce Out of Business, and More
Posted by Kris Karkoski on Aug 6, 2009 at 5:28 pm ET79 Comments
Strikeforce made no major announcements during a media conference call on Thursday, declining to announce an opponent, date, or location for Fedor Emelianeko’s first Strikeforce bout. Among the noteworthy bits from the call were Showtime saying that Fedor is at least 6 to 9 months away from fighting on pay-per-view, M-1 Global and Fedor saying the UFC’s offer wasn’t as good as reported and that they don’t like the way the UFC treats its fighters, and it was confirmed that the UFC did take action to prevent Gegard Mousasi vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral from taking place at Strikeforce’s August 15 event, but the fight will go on as scheduled.- UFC President Dana White was unsurprisingly vocal during today’s final pre-fight press conference for Saturday’s UFC 101 event, calling Strikeforce “Strike-farce” and saying that Fedor will “put them out of business”.
- The UFC today announced a licensing agreement between JAKKS Pacific and Round 5 that will see new UFC action figure lines.
- UFC welterweight Yoshiyuki Yoshida will participate in the famed ADCC grappling competition on September 26 and 27 in Barcelona, Spain.
- Tito Ortiz’s training for a likely fight against Mark Coleman will include sessions with popular boxing trainer Freddie Roach and UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre.
- Strikeforce has signed undefeated middleweight prospect Zak Cummings.
- Joe Riggs remains hospitalized after suffering a reaction to a prescription medication that forced him to withdraw from an August 15 matchup with Nick Diaz, but will reportedly be released next week and hopes to return to action as soon as possible.
- A lightweight championship bout between title-holder Joachim Hansen and Shinya Aoki has been officially added to DREAM 11 on October 6 in Kanagawa, Japan.
- Edith Larente’s days as an Octagon girl may be over, as she’s been removed from the official list of Octagon girls following the addition of Natasha, who won the Octagon girl search last month at UFC 100.
- Hiroshi Izumi, Makoto Takimoto, and Kazunori Yokota have been added to the card for Sengoku 10th Battle, which takes place on September 23 in Saitama, Japan.
- The UFC has released lightweight Dale Hartt to reportedly make room on its roster for fighters signed from Affliction.
Pictured: UFC President Dana White
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“The UFC has released lightweight Dale Hartt to reportedly make room on its roster for fighters signed from Affliction.”
Since when do you have to trim the fat off a roster to make room? This isn’t a football team. Just say you cut him. I can’t even picture him or think of a fights I’ve seen him in.
What would Dana have done to try to stop the fight with Gegard Mousasi vs. Babalu? Unless him tryin to sign one of them was it?
check out the article on Mousasi posted yesterday
Which article?
http://mmafrenzy.com/11169/mousasi-will-honor-strikeforce-contract-rumored-cease-and-desist-wont-derail-august-15-matchup-with-babalu/
UFC fighters are treated fine i think fedor would help strickforce because he is a name drawer as long as they don’t pay him to much. actually i think fedor in UFC would be bad for UFC because they would have been paying him to much.
tell that to Affliction
IM SO TIRED OF ALL THIS FEDOR TALK. I MEAN HE IS OBVIOUSLY SCARED TO ACTUALLY FIGHT TOP GUYS BUT WHATEVER UFC IS FINE WIT OUT HIM… BUT ABOUT TITO…MAN I’M PUMPED TO SEE HIM BACK IN THE UFC. IM SURPRISED TO SEE HIM TRAINING WITH GSP. IS HE TRAINING WITH JUST GSP OR GREG JACKSON. I DOUBT IT,CUZ RASHAD NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT THAT…
He is not scared. He owns part of M-1 Global. Why would he leave his own business to help a competitor. That is why he would have only fought if a partnership was formed with the UFC.
To fight real fighters
and to make a lot more money, to get more popular going to the UFC makes more sense than not! imo he doesn’t have to sign for life!
YZFOXRACING,
DUDE I AGREE WITH YOU, I ALSO THINK THAT FEDOR IS SCARED TO FIGHT THE REAL TOP HEAVYWEIGHTS BECAUSE AS LONG AS HE DOESN’T LOSE HE’S GOING TO CONTINUE TO CLAIM HE’S THE BEST AND ALL THE FEDORIANS IN FEDORIA WILL BE HAPPY AND CONTINUE TO SUPPORT FEDOR. HE KNEW THAT HE WOULD HAVE TO FACE BROCK FOR THE TITLE RIGHT AWAY AND WAS SCARED OF FIGHTING BROCK. ALL THE OTHER STUFF IS JUST CRAP, THE UFC TREATS IT’S FIGHTERS FAIR, BUT IF YOU MESS WITH THEM, THEY’LL MESS WITH YOU, THEY APRRECIATE LOYALTY. FEDOR WAS OFFERED THE CRAZIEST CONTRACT EVER AND DIDN’T TAKE IT, HE DIDN’T EVEN DESERVE THAT CONTRACT. FEDOR IS GOING TO LOSE TO A NOBODY AND LOSE HIS AURA AND NOBODY WILL CARE ANYMORE WHICH WILL BRING THE APOCALIPSE TO FEDORIA AND THE FEDORIANS WILL BE NO MORE.
I AM ALSO PUMPED TO SEE TITO BACK AND I CAN’T WAIT FOR HIM TO BRING BACK THE PUNISHMENT AND DROP THOSE LETHAL ELBOWS FROM THE GUARD ON MARK COLEMAN THE WAY HE DID KEN SHAMROCK.
be serious fedor is not afraid of anybody. if he doesnt want to fight in ufc oh well get over it. brock the crock is 4-1 and will lose his first title defence guaranteed. and now fedor has to fight a guy who is 6′5 265 and is 10-0 give me a break, you dana white lovers are unbelievable. just because he uses the f-word in every sentence dosent mean hes always right
flatlandtom,
brock has already defended his belt
Stop making sense nightmare.
flatiantom,
you must be Vice President Of Planet Fedoria, all the Fedorians must love you.
Flatlandtom, maybe you and your fellow Fedorian Andrew would receive a better response posting your stuff over at some “I heart Fedor” site, or the M-1 Global main page…
Borderline on bashing of flatlandtom and Andrew… I’d like to see things stick to the facts, and not talking about other commentators. No apologies required, just a slight nudge to get back on track fellas.
just face it guys the best fighter in the world isnt in ufc you poor ufc fans ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
it was more of a unification of the ufc belt.. but dont worry shane carwin or cain has got something for your hero crock lesner. 4-1 you guys are something else lmao
Dont worry im not offended justin to attck fedor for not going to the ufc, and insulting him is just ridiculous. nobody here was in the room when they were reading those contracts or talking, and to bash a guy who fought some of the greatest fights in mma, and is 30-1 is just uncalled for. Im a fedor fan and proud of it even if he loses his next 10 fights ill be a fan. i still like nog and cro cop, and hell im a cheick kongo fan, and their not doing that great. when brock lesner is maybe 10-1 then we can talk about him being this awesome fighter.
Good that you weren’t offended, but I said that in regards to growing trend, of which their comments towards you were a part.
I agree bro fedor dont wanna fight in the ufc and its clear we wont see em there…but atleast we got belfort and tito back…
Not liking the Dana White “hate – on ” mode he goes into when a promotion tries to better itself . Obviously the deals StrikeForce has put together have him concerned at some level .I
hope they have a rematch with Eddie Alvarez vs the winner of Aoki/Hansen . Alvarez vs Melendez would be cool but I like both guys so it can wait . It’s too bad wanderlei is tied up with UFC ….. him and Liddell would do better in the waters of StrikeForce or Dream .
Both Wandi and Chuck would do well outside the UFC… then again most 205’s would do well outside the UFC what with all but one of the top ten 205’s(sherdog rankings) being from outside the UFC
(I know Wandi is a MW now but still)
all the companys go under, meanwhile m-1 is always ok. dana is now saying other stuff because the 6 fights for 30 million was total bs. trikeforce with the co- promotion is going to make bank. they dont care if strikeforce goes under they get paid, he can go make more money in japan at the same time.
it is pretty clear dana is a crybaby.thats like if the steelers or pats talking crap just because the lions got the free agent they wanted. you look like a bigger man if you just move on. they dont need fedor so why cry about it. plus the hw division is the weakest so the the strikeforce hw roster is smaller but the fighters are on the same level.
strikeforce is going all or nothing so i hope the best for them, they will never be as big as ufc but it is good for the fighters to have options. dana just wants all the power.
oh well i will continue to watch both org. and love it. i cant wait for this weekend or for the 15th. the carano and babalu fights should be great.
go kenflo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was all one paragraph, I separated it by subject because it hurt my eyes to try to read it. -Justin
Hm, where to begin.
1) Yes, a bunch of companies go under while M~1 doesn’t. That is because M~1 leaches off of other promotions and really has no cost to anything that they do, they just take the profits and Fedor and run. M~1 doesn’t actually do anything, it’s more a name than anything else (yes, they do put on M~1 Global events but who gives an eff).
2) How will StrikeForce “make bank” when they are forking over a sh!t ton of cash for Fedor to be on their card and then giving up half of their profits will still absorbing all of the costs for puting on the event?
3) Is Dana being a crybaby? Maybe. Or maybe he keeps on reiterating why the negotiations fell apart and how batsh!t crazy M~1 is so that all the Fedorians can see through thick fog that M~1 casted over their eyes. But at this point, Dana White being a crybaby is just opinion.
4) Which fighters for StrikForce are on the same level as Lesnar, Carwin, Cain, Couture, Big Nog, CroCop, Mir, Dos Santos and Kongo? Or did you mean that the StrikeForce HW’s are on the same level as Al-Turk, Hearring and McCully? Because the UFC cast-out Werdum and the Sam’s Club tire changer (not that there is anything wrong with that)/ MMA star Brett Rogers are not on the same level as top level competition in the UFC’s HW division. The only HW that they have that is really good is Alistair “It’s not steriods, I eat horse meat” Overeem but he hasn’t faught for StrikeFocre in 3 years.
5) I do agree with you that StrikeForce is going all in and I have always respected them as an orginization. I am also looking forward to watching this weekend’s fights and the following weekend’s fights and will continue to watch both promotions.
6) KenFlo is going down.
^Correction, Alistair hasn’t fought for StrikeForce in almost 2 years, not 3.
Tito training with GSP is sick, could only better his game if you ask me. I honestly feel that Fedor will bring more negatives than positives for Strikeforce, the whole M1 Global co-promotion and all the side crap will effect their whole thing in a bad way, they were doing good withought him, oh well.
Dana is becoming a joke, one day he respects Strikeforce and says they are running things the right way and all that, then they make a move to try and better themselves and suddenly they are “Strike-farce”…Dana is a baby, he has served his purpose and it might be time for him to move on. As we’ve seen over the last year when it comes to big decisions Lorenzo is the one who takes over. I was a huge Dana supporter but over the last week my respect has decreased rapidly, at some point he needs to start not only behaving like a professional but he needs to start acting like a man.
You said the above perfectly darkshner
” I was a huge Dana supporter but over the last week my respect has decreased rapidly, at some point he needs to start not only behaving like a professional but he needs to start acting like a man.”
That is how lots of us MMA fans feel!
Strangely, it’s also how a lot of us feel about Fedor since one day he tells Bas wants to fight the best in the world, the next he signs with Strikeforce.
BURN!!!!!!!!!!
So you wouldn’t be upset if a company you had respected and essentially allowed to survive all of a sudden starts making moves “against” you?
They’ve allowed Strikeforce to go unchecked because they’ve respected Scott Coker and the fact he’s always been in a different market. Now they’ve entered into open competition by talking PPV’s and major link-ups with DREAM, so now they are infringing on your market and just like he’s done with everyone else in competition he’s bashed and belittled them. How many companies are left standing that have competed against the UFC? So obviously he’s getting the job done. Besides, if this was what made you think Dana needs to be more professional then you clearly have let a lot of stuff slide… so why now?
There is a difference between being upset and acting professional. A difference between acting with Character and being a character. Dana acts like my 2 year old when he doesn’t get a toy he wants…
Yes I would be upset but I would not be a jerk or whiny child about it nor would I respond by putting everyone who disagrees with me down. B/c I would be an adult in a professional working environment.
Are you just arguing or is such behavior actually being rationalized?
I’m surprised at these responces… heaven forbid anyone critize anything related to the UFC, even when White continues to act like this, again and again, with fighters, organizations, whatever.
And as Dbiz has to relate everything back to fedor, I’ll take the bait. Fedor is different b/c he always shows respect and self-contol [even after a fight and we all know how tough that is *wink* brock], I beleive it is not so much wanting to fight the best as not wanting to work under someone like Dana.
The UFC’s best was a rookie signing and a pretty much instant title shot (with wins over and aging randy and mir [please]). Then what, Carwin (no ground skills) & cain who have neither be tests vs a few teir 1 fighters yet…. The UFC’s best are in a different weight class brother.
There have been more fighters publically complaining and feuding with Dana then any other promotion I know of.
But go ahead and defend him, in fact, why not use his methods of misleading info, immaturity, ad hominem
1) Dana has always been this way, it’s not going to change why complain now when someone has essentially declared war on you. I’m not defending his actions but simply asking what’s so different now to change your opinion?
2) You act like an adult in a professional work environment but you aren’t in the business of promoting fights. Smack=Ratings. That goes way back even before a QB declared he’d knock off the best team in the league that year.
3) I didn’t mention Fedor or Brock and I’ve stated my opinion on both in the past.
4) Could it be that you hear complaining because the UFC is the largest MMA promotion in the world also receives the most media coverage? You don’t hear much complaining because there’s only one major promotion in North America outside the UFC. Outside of Fedor how many of the Strikeforce guys are either UFC cuts or guys that are still getting their feet wet? Every promotion has issues, regardless of whether or not you hear about them, so don’t be naive to think it’s just because you hear the UFC’s vocalized means they aren’t out there.
“There have been more fighters publically(sic) complaining and feuding with Dana then any other promotion I know of.”
It’s a numbers game, the UFC has employed WAY more fighters than any other promotion, ever. They currently have over 300 fighters on their Roster, Affliction had what? 30? Strikeforce has less than 100, DREAM has less than 100, PRIDE maybe at one point had 150? (purely guessing on PRIDE). Then you take into account all the fighters that used to fight for the UFC that don’t anymore, half of Strikeforce’s roster. Look at the numbers and you quickly will see why they have more people that don’t like them.
Gotta agree with you Dr. Doom. Dana doesn’t really handle himself in situations where he didn’t get what he wanted. I say good for Fedor. Good for Strikeforce. The UFC is just like any other company that we working stiffs work for. Sorry but most UFC fighters would be cut in a second if Dana or the UFC brass saw fit. The fighters should be the same way. If there is a better deal elsewhere take it. Yeah, “I wanna fight the best fighters”, but I also want to be paid.
Yeah, the UFC really shouldn’t have tried to stop the Mousassi fight. It reeks of crybabyness. Nice to see Coker taking the higher ground.
They feel they have rights based on the Affliction deal. I see no reason they shouldn’t try to defend them. They won’t win, but making the effort hurts no one.
Kind of like negotiating with Fedor. Everyone knew that Fedor and M-1 would ask too much, but they at least put forth an offer.
So you agree with how Dana and the UFC handled all of the above? Cause you sure are appearing to rush towards defend anything they do?per request of John, edit~FR702
I will answer this, even though you wanted it struck out because I may need to clarify what I meant.
Zuffa feels they may have had a contract with Mousasi, had his management not lied to him about the value of the contract. That his management is now a co-promoter with Strikeforce makes Zuffa feel that their negotiations were not in good faith and that Mousasi’s management illegally obstructed them.
If you were a successful business owner and someone stepped in to undercut your negotiations on a bid, not by offering a better deal but by lying about what was actually in your bid, you would either send the cease and desist or jump straight to a lawsuit. Don’t claim otherwise. If you wouldn’t do that and defend your rights, you would never have become the successful business owner.
Regarding Dana’s rants…Those rants got him and Zuffa where they are today. That brashness is actually very effective in MMA. There is a certain refreshing quality when he speaks out against or in favor of someone because it is how he truly feels. He doesn’t mince words, he doesn’t talk nice to someone’s face then become the “anonymous source close to the UFC” to trash someone. He isn’t talking out both sides of his mouth depending on who is listening. When he was negotiating with Fedor’s people, he said he wanted to bring him in and showcase him in the UFC. When this “top fighter” elected to go face inferior competition, he reacted with his honest feelings about the move.
I can also see why he is upset with Strikeforce – not because they sought to better themselves but because he and Coker had a good relationship and Coker has repeatedly said he didn’t want to go head to head with the UFC. Now Dana gets to watch as Coker makes the same mistakes as other orgs, partnering with a leech like M-1 and trying to take him on head on. He now has no option but to do what he can to crush Strikeforce. His job demands it. And Coker put him in that position.
Strikeforce could have been powerful as a mega-regional MMA promotion in the US. They have good fighters. They have some who may have gone to the UFC quickly, they have some who for one reason or another stay in Strikeforce. Take Babalu as an example. He may genuinely not want anything to do with the UFC, but I can see why he was cut after that disgraceful extended choke. I can also see how he would feel hurt by that action.
In the end, I don’t think Strikeforce has actually made themselves stronger. I think they have weakened themselves. Every event with Fedor is an instant 2-way split. For those events to be profitable, they need to make much more than double than they would without him. The Dream partnership will bring even more splits. Yes, they have access to more fighters, but they also have to mor than double gross profits at each show. In the end, I think they may have set themselves up for a fall. I just hope they can weather this year with Fedor and decide at the end if it is worth it.
Since they have been selling out venues without him, he won’t increase attendance much. M-1 owns rights to most of the profits from his merchandise sales. they already have deals in place with CBS and Showtime. I don’t see the upside beyond a fighter, and one who will cost them millions in pay alone.
That, and that alone, is why I understand why Dana is upset by the deal. Zuffa has the resources to eat those losses. I’m not sure Strikeforce does.
dbiz-
on the matter of Strikeforce, do you think that they, and by they I mean Scott Coker, simply had had enough of the “little brother” syndrome, and decided now was the time to shoot for the stars, with Fedor?
I don’t have any sort of concrete info or links, just some thoughts and a half-formed opinion at this point.
It might be that Coker has determined that the MMA landscape is such that it can sustain 2 major promotions in North America, and with Fedor they have their best chance of breaking out and making a go of it as something more widespread than the “California Cagefighting League”.
Also, perhaps Coker has his fellow promoters from DREAM and M-1 Global and whoever else they drag into this alliance in his ear egging him on, and urging him to take a stab at the bigtime?
Telling him stuff like, “C’mon, Scott, fu<k Dana White, fu<k the UFC, they aren't putting any food on your table or paper in your pocket, lets do this thing and screw with them bigtime. We want you to be the lead dog on this thing, you're our boy, we should act now, we got Fedor, and thanks to the UFC negotiations he's hot again, we're so thug life we're not even levelling with Mousasi on what the UFc is offering him, blahblahblah."
Hearing sh!t this or something like it a hundred times, even with all of those laughable B-movie accents, has got to start getting to a guy after awhile, even a good guy like Scott Coker who should know better.
After all, when this Strikeforce Alliance thing craps out, and you all know it will because not only is the financial aspect horrific for Strikeforce but anything M-1 Global touches turns to sh!t, it's Coker and Co. that are going to take the hard hit.
And its not like Strikeforce has anything to fall back on, such as printing up t-shirts that every pimp and poser wants to wear, and can pay Dana to flog them for him.
After the fall, DREAM, or some PRIDEful incarnation thereof, will simply head back to Japan and run their shoot-fighting shows in pro wrestling rings. M-1 Global doesn't actually exist, except in the delusional minds of Vadim Finklestein and WAMMA champ Fedor, so there isn't really much for them to lose, because they aren't bringing much of value to the table other than fedor himself.
So like the poor sucker who winds up getting stuck with a hefty bar tab after coming out of the restroom because all of his buds have bailed on him, it's Strikeforce that will be left trying to pick up the pieces when this thing goes bust.
Is it possible that Scott Coker got conned into this thing, and now has the unpleasant task of dealing with a very pi$$ed off Dana White and much, much larger competitor in the UFC?
I sure as sh!t hope not, because I like the Strikeforcr product, carry Showtime on my cable system to support it, and genuinely thought up until a few days ago that Scott Coker was one of the smarter guys in the business.
Now I'm not so sure, and possibly we should maybe give Coker the benefit of the doubt, but doing business with those di<king around with the UFC's efforts to acquire Mousasi, and then putting him on a Strikeforce card, doesn't seem to me to be the way to keep everything cool in school with the Vegas crowd.
Or is it just me??
Is there an edit function here? I re-tract the above… not worth posting such.
Only for the moderators.
Trust me, eldiablo.
There will be no “high ground” for Scott Coker now that he’s started doing business with M-1 Global, which is the backyard wrestling of MMA…
Tito training with GSP thats M A D ! ! !
Why isn’t Rachelle Leah a ring girl anymore? The new ring girl is cute but she isn’t like the two ring girls.
Rachelle Leah is doing other things for the UFC.
The amazing thing to me is, with one lucky punch we could easily see Fedor on his back. What happens then? All of a sudden, the mystique is gone…and we all know how how the tide can change as far as people’s opinions go. What if the UFC invests MILLIONS into Fedor, only to have him Cro Crop-ed in is first fight. The UFC did it’s best, and with the way things tend to go their way, don’t be surprised to see a Strikeforce fighter take out Fedor. Before you know it, in the blink of an eye, people aren’t talking Fedor…and the UFC saves a bundle. You heard it here…not signing Fedor (and giving in to his crazy demands) will be seen as a GREAT move in about a year or so.
Doesn’t seem so long ago Chuck Liddel was the man, blink your eyes, he’s irrelevant. (as far as being a contender, anyway.)
Anyway, go Ken-FLO!
I agree. I like that he ended up with strikeforce as well… MMA is getting a lot of recognition and the best org’s are planning / will be planning some amazing fights [I think is response to eachother]
John, just a quick grazing through these comments, I can see that we are mostly on the same page regarding Fedor.
I am amazed at how many people are so quick to bash a 30-1 fighter just because he did not sign with the world’s biggest organization. It doesn’t matter if a handful of those wins are against some tomato cans, because even more of them are against scary dudes in their prime.
My initial reaction to his decision was disappointment, but then I put some thought into it…
The UFC made it perfectly clear that his first fight would be against Brock Lesnar. No warm up fight, no spoon fed can like Cro Cop and Rampage got. So Fedor has to take his legacy into the cage (for the first time!) against a wrestling phenom that will out weigh him by at least 50lbs come fight time. If you don’t think fighting in a cage is a big difference, ask Mirko. If you don’t think fighting a guy that out weighs you by 50lbs and knows how to use that 50lbs, ask Herring, Mir and Couture.
So I am going to maintain my faith that Fedor is going to burn up his last 3 M-1 Global fights in strikeforce, and then make a stab at the UFC after he has got some cage-time and has absolved himself from his present management. Whether that means selling his stocks or just getting bought out by Finkelstein, I don’t know.
However, if Fedor loses any one of his three fights in Strikeforce….well, there’s always the Japan side-show circuit…
They gave him the same deal as Henderson, then. Hendo’s first two fights: Rampage, A. Silva. Belt unification, that’s the name of the game. If you look at WHY Rampage got his “tune up” match as you call it, it’s because he didn’t hold a belt when he arrived AND Liddell had just fought the month before. So, instead of sitting a big name idle for months, they gave him a fight.
Now, Fedor’s may not be a truly legit belt, but he does hold it. As such, it makes sense to unify as quickly as possible when he enters an organization. Had he signed with the UFC instead, it would be entirely possible, as far as timing goes, to square him off with Brock. Is it a bit of a cheap move? Sure, but they did it to Randy too.
Even more than that, though, it’s finding out if Fedor is still legit or if M-1 has been handpicking fights. I tend to believe they have and this does make it look like a duck-and-run.
Plus, if you look up above, you’ll see my reasons for disliking this move on a business level.
Lets get something perfectly clear right now, and hopefully people will remember it moving forward and there won’t be any more of this sh!t like, “Dana’s bad, the person I like more is good”.
Oh, and John, take notes, as there will be a quiz later.
Dana White has essentially been the driving force behind the greatest period of success and growth our sport has ever seen.
Period.
Does he do things that I don’t personally like?
Absolutely.
Signing and fast-tracking Brock Lesnar comes to mind almost immediately.
Does he say things that I personally don’t agree with?
Sometimes, but for good or bad he says things and takes actions I’m not OK with because of his rabidly passionate love for this sport, and his desire to make MMA the greatest sport in the world. He legitimately BELIEVES in what he’s doing, or saying, and thats a LOT more than I can say for anyone assiciated with pretty much any other MMA promotion in the world, except maybe Strikeforce.
I also say things and do things primarily because my love for this sport overrides my better judgement and upbringing. However its fine for me to opt for some mythical high road, because I’m just a fan, one of millions worldwide.
Dana White has on his shoulders the enormous responsibility of steering the sport’s flagship organization thru turbulent waters, and in unforgiving economic times.
First and foremost his primary responsibility is to make the UFC as strong and successful as he can, because it is the engine which is pulling the rest of the MMA railcars down the tracks of ignorance and non-acceptance and into the sports mainstream and towards a popularity heretofore not imagined, or thought possible, save for a few wide-eyed dreamers and diehard fans.
If Dana White takes action in the case of Mousasi, it is because he feels that the UFC was wronged in some way, and by extension anythng that hurts the UFC hurts the sport, as the UFC is responsible for where the sport is today, and for where it is going tomorrow.
Not PRIDE, not EliteXC, not BoDog, not the IFL, not Adrenaline/Affliction, and certainly not the steaming pile that is M-1 Global.
And as much as I respect this organization and their chieftain, not Strikeforce, which has only benefitted from Dana White’s positive attitude towards them, and the UFC’s launching of the sport thru the stratosphere.
Can anyone factually argue with the fact that the UFC is responsible for where the sport is today?
Can anyone argue that Dana White is for all intents and purposes the brain, the heart, and the soul of the UFC?
From where I sit Strikeforce is skating on thin ice, and getting into bed with garbage like M-1 Global, as they revealed themselves to be in the Fedor/UFC affair, is like Strikeforce coming off of that thin ice, and replacing their skates with skates that are razor sharp and white hot, and then heading out to the thinnest part of the ice and jumping up and down like a madman.
I think Scott Coker is a good guy, and a real credit to the sport.
However if he’s going to form an alliance, particularly with a group that has severely pi$$ed off Dana White, then he has to expect some consequences for his actions.
Also, if M-1 Global is going to interfere in ongoing neogitations that the UFC is having with a fighter like Mousasi, and then try to hide behind this new Strikeforce Alliance, then Coker has to expect some blowback for it, particularly when the interference results in Mousasi fighting on a Strikeforce card and not getting the right information from a UFC contract tender.
In closing, let me be clear.
Not everything Dana White says is right, far from it.
Not everything Dana White does is right, again, far from it.
But when it comes to the business, and the sport, Dana White has been right far, far more times than he has been wrong, and no one can realistically dispute that.
And no one can claim to love both the sport AND the business of MMA more than Dana White. The guy works twice as hard and twice as long as most anyone else in this business, and it shows thru the UFC’s spot at the top of the foodchain, and the explosion of the sport’s popularity and acceptance.
Is Dana White rough around the edges?
Certainly.
But then again what would you expect?
Sports promotion is a tough business, Las Vegas is a toughguy town, and MMA is the most bad-a$$ sport going today, opinions to the contrary notwithstanding.
What sort of man did you expect to run the sport’s leading promotion, some dude from Masterpiece Theatre?
Dana White talks the talk, but there is no denying he walks the walk, and delivers event after event that can only be described as the greatest show on Earth, bar none.
So please, spare me your posts about how Dana is bad, the UFC is bad, and how if someone benefits at the UFC’s expense it’s a good thing.
Yeah, sometimes the guy pi$$ed me off something fierce.
But the hard truth is that without the UFC, and Dana White, this site in all likelihood would not exist, and if it did it wouldn’t have nearly as many frenZied devotees that it does.
Deal with THAT before you start posting sh!t calling Dana White a crybaby or a jerk, or whiny or any other sophomoric adjectives I saw posted here today…
Well said.
Amen. Couldn’t have said it better.
As far as Fedor goes, I really think he screwed his fans, and I’m actually suprised that people are still defending him and buying into M1’s smoke and mirrors show.
Great post. I think it has become clear that Strikeforce is doing what Affliction did, and that is make a run at the UFC for competition. I like competition, I think it’s great for the sport (just don’t think TOO much competition is good because it throws off consistency) and great for the fans. However, it seems like Strikeforce has a more solid ground to stand on than Affliction did. All in all, I don’t think it will be long before you see Jacare, Mousasi and some other high-profile guys make their way to the octagon.
Side Note: If the UFC wanted to really really really really KILL Strikeforce, they would have started the WUFC a long time ago.
Strikeforce has Showtime for support……..if UFC could get on board with HBO to show some fights, then it would be nighty night for Strikeforce. I don’t mind watching FREE Strikeforce on Showtime, but I feel sometimes like it is a UFC Alumni Game. Really, when Jorge Gurgel is on the main card, there are issues! (Why does he try to bang?) And I don’t want to see Shamrock fight, or Cung “I think I am Jackie Chan” Le be a champion and then go do movies. Yes, they have Fedor, Overeem, and Rodgers, but that is a vicious circle that will eat each other up. What happens when a fight between any of these two happen? You lose a contender. Some great guys on top, but no depth to any division.
Perhaps you’ve heard of this network called Spike? That deal seems to be doing very well for the UFC. There is also talk of ESPN airing some UFC cards. They don’t need HBO, because of the limited subscriber base. Spike and ESPN are included on most cable/satellite packages. HBO costs everyone who wants it more per month.
The only way to make MMA bigger than the NFL, as he has said consistently he wants to do, is to get it on free/near-free tv.
I believe ESPN is carried on the lowest tier (or equivalent) of nearly all major cable complies in the US.
For whatever reason, I can’t reply to your reply to my comment above, so I’ll reply with to this one instead.
I realize Eastman had a victory over Rampage in the past, but there was not a fight fan in the world that favored the Beastman over Jackson, so yeah, that was a tune-up fight.
Sure we can compare two 205’s against Fedor vs Brock, but remember, when Lightheavy weights step into the ring, the size difference is usually negligible. It will never be that way with Brock. Fedor would enter at 230-240 max, and Brock would walk in at 280 at least as he usually does.
Ask yourself, would you fight a legitimate guy that weighs 50lbs more than you in a manner that you are unfamiliar with (a UFC event, with all the behind the scenes rules that that entails, and in a cage), when a loss for you would be career altering, and a loss for your opponent would be received with a collective shrug of the shoulders?
Cro Cop said it best when he spoke of how a Fedor loss to Brock would be bad for the sport of Mixed Martial ARTS. It would be strength and brute force beating the ARTS and thus making trained fighters look less and less impressive.
Also, if the only way to find out if Fedor is legit is to put him in against Brock, then that does not say much about the rest of the UFC’s heavy weights. Actually, I find it hard to believe that there are people out there that might actually be questioning his legitimacy…
So…It would be bad because he might lose despite being technically more proficient. Yeah, that’s logic that anyone can get behind.
@ BuzzBradski-
Let me share with you what others here at the frenZy shared with me, when I was bemoaning the fact that the Neanderthalic Brock Lesnar had defeated Frank Mir, a man with a lot more submission ground skill than Fedor.
I was basically told that one of the driving forces behind martial arts was for a smaller, weaker, less physically capable opponent to find a way to defeat a larger, stronger, more physically capable opponent thru the use of skill and intelligence.
Mir should have hooked and submiited Lesnar a second time, but clearly did not, and thats all she wrote for now. Maybe Mir will get a rubber rematch, maybe not. Time will tell.
Mir carried a lot of extra pressure on his shoulders in that fight, in terms of looking after “the good of the sport”, and so on.
Are we supposed to believe that Fedor lacks the courage to undertake a challange Frank Mir undertook not once but twice?
If Fedor and/or his handlers were SO concerned about the sport, and SO concerned with the whats good for MMA, then he should have relished the opportunity to step into the Octagon with a modern-day bully like Lesnar and demonstrate how skill and technique trump strength and size in martial arts, and by extension mixed martial arts.
THATS what a true mixed martial artist does. What Fedor and his handlers pulled makes Fedor look more like a con artist than a mixed martial artist
Actually, it turned out that Fedor and/or his handlers were more concerned about themselves than the sport, and opted for easier fights against easier opponents rather than taking Lesnar head on. I’m not sure what sort of martial arts training or tenets you may have been exposed to buzzbradski, but in my experience the spirit of martial arts isn’t served by running away from the “neighborhood bully” and picking fights with others that you think you can beat.
Nor does any martial art I know of disseminate that or any similiar ideology.
Its fine for Fedor to be afraid of someone much larger and stronger and fitter than he is, but its not fine to try and disguise or deny your true motivations for being afraid to fight, nor is it fine for Fedor and/or his handlers to swerve their supporters and the MMA community by putting out fabricated accounts of whats actually transpiring within M-1 Global as it related to Fedor.
And as for your finding it “hard to believe that there are people out there questioning [Fedor's] legitimacy”, let me respond by saying that there are many of us finding it hard to believe that there are people out there still convinced that a Japanese-style shoot-fighter who hasn’t fought a decent opponent in over 4 years, and has never fought a true MMA contest, by which I mean in a cage, with modern-day MMA rules, and standardized rounds, and fought said contest against a viable HW opponent, can be regarded as anything other than a paper champion.
Wow, i thought I was participating with a website that was open to opinions and looking to drum up some decent conversations. However, it seems this is sherdog in disguise, only with less profanity.
How dare I defend Fedor! How dare someone question Dana White’s professionalism! How dare anyone compare Strikeforce’s top three HW to the all mighty UFC’s!
I am amazed at how many of you are capable of reading Fedor’s mind and know exactly what motivates him. I am also amazed at how most of you are not able to put yourself in his shoes. Do you think he should be more concerned with his company and his career, and his future, or should he be just dedicating himself to pleasing the keyboard warriors and fight who everyone claims to be the best. Yeah, the same guy that everyone said was a joke, just two fights ago.
jcohl,
Mir couldn’t even get to full guard with Brock on top of him, and you say that he should of hooked and submitted him. Sure, just like that. What was he thinking? I wonder if the 280lbs sloth laying on top of him and the bricks landing on his face had anything to do with it. I don’t remember saying anything about Fedor caring about ‘the good of the sport’. I’m sure he’ll be more concerned about his orbital bones when he does eventually fight Brock. It was Mirko that spoke of such things.
Calling Fedor a ‘paper champion’ is about the saddest thing I’ve read so far. You never would have said that 2 weeks ago. Jesus, even GSP says the guy is the best.
dbiz
Your sarcasm does nothing to convince me that you are worth being concerned about.
Have fun rocking those keyboards, guys. I’ll just go back to reading the articles.
buzz,
Mocking the guys that post in the comment section is not a good way to get started.
It’s not about him pleasing the keyboard warriors, it’s about proving he’s the best against the best. Someone who has a competitive drive would want to do that, especially someone who claims they’re not in it for the money, as Fedor claims. I don’t personally think that Fedor is “ducking Brock”, but I also don’t think that M-1 ever had any intention of letting Fedor sign with the UFC. I also, personally, still question M-1’s honesty with Fedor about the contract, especially considering what they did with Mousasi.
In regards to Fedor being a “paper champion” what’s the last belt that he held? WAMMA. They don’t exist anymore. Before that? PRIDE. They also don’t exist anymore. Holding a belt of an organization that was created simply to give you a belt (WAMMA) is pretty much the definition of “paper champion”.
If you don’t want to get involved in the commentary, that’s fine, but do come back and read the articles.
Buzzbradski, maybe I suggested that Frank Mir should have hooked and submitted Lesnar because that was how he defeated him in their first fight?
Also, 2 weeks ago Fedor wasn’t really much of a topic of discussion, so why would I have dragged my thoughts on Fedor into what was then a discussion regarding the post-100 Lesnar meltdown, and then the Affliction collapse.
And of course GSP said that someone other than himself was the best, he would have sounded like a tool if he’d have said, “the best? c’est moi!”
Sorry that the tone or tempo or whatever here isn’t to your liking, but you should stick around nonetheless, as this site is the finest MMA site I’ve ever visitied or contribued to…
“Why does he try to bang?” <– I found that funny.
But in addition to what dbiz said, what's wrong with Gurgel? I actually like him as a fighter and he stands and trades with his opponents because he wants to make it a great entertaining fight. He knows what the fans want. But I do agreem there is no depth in StrikeForce…currently.
What’s wrong is that he could win nearly all of his stand-up losses if he would just remember that he is a BJJ balck belt, and a good one. Avoiding your skill sets is a bad, bad, bad idea.
Yeah, he definately could have won those matches and it is a bit annoying when you know that he could have won those fights if he would have just taken the fight to the ground. In any case, he still puts on a great preformance every time he fights.
Just as an FYI to all of you who catagorize Strikeforce as “free” because it is on Showtime should keep in mind that Showtime is a premium channel, which you’re paying for every month you carry it on your cable or satellite service.
In my case I carry Showtime SPECIFICALLY for MMA, and adds maybe $120 a year to my cable bill.
That does in fact make Strikeforce a pretty good value if they stage 3 or more events per year, but any less and they’re about as expensive as a PPV, and even a bit more…
If you want to be nit-picky, Spike isn’t free either, because you still have to buy cable/satelite. So far the IFL and EliteXC have had the only free shows, since they were on stations you could get with just an antenna.
I’ve been Justipedia’ed!
But then if you want to get even more nit picky there’s no such thing as free TV because you have to buy the TV and electricity… but since most people buy a TV as a “basic necessity” as well as having electricity in their home (granted, I do still know people that don’t have TVs, and they’re neither old nor homeless) the basic, over the air stations are what most would consider “proper” free TV. I know a lot of people that have TVs and no cable/satelite, many of them hook a computer to the TV and use Hulu… but then they’re still paying for internet. Anyways… I’m going to shoot that rabbit and quit following it’s trail.
as to the people that complain about brock’s “immediate” title shot. what happens if fedor would of gotten the same treatment??? fedor gets “the number 1 contender at the time” in herring and gets by him. then fedor gets to fight “the old dinosaur” randy and gets by him. would you fedor lovers still complain that fedor got a cake walk to the title, or would you proclaim his greatness???
[i know brock got beat by mir, but i dont want to start a fight about fedor losing to mir, because according to his fans fedor doesnt lose, so i left out the mir fight]
The Fedorians remind me of “The Super Fans” from SNL.
“Who would win in a fight, God or Fedor? Trick question, Fedor is god”.
Who would win a fight between Ditka and Fedor?
Trick question. Fedor IS Ditka…after a box of twinkies and a wax job.
view, M-1 Global and Fedor saying the UFC’s offer wasn’t as good as reported and that they don’t like the way the UFC treats its fighters,
if it wasn’t as good as reported? Then your insinuating that you would have taken it? So why don’t you make it puplic that thats the offer you want?
o because your a joke!
You kinda see why he didnt sign with the UFC though .
There are quite a few clauses in these contracts that stick with the fighters the rest of their career . If you fight for the UFC you can’t use your footage in other promo’s / cant use your likeness in video games etc etc . That stuff takes from your pocket even after you retire … which sucks ass .
But , by doing so the UFC can go do with , and make whatever profit from your life’s work so to speak for as long as they want to ….
These types of things dont matter to most fighters but for someone like Fedor its a lot to give away . the co promote things obviously was in the forefront but it wasn’t the only reason he didn’t go to the UFC .
I also don’t think he was scared of anybody either …….. Brock will be exposed shortly for being a “Tyson” like fighter ………… bad as sh1t until the right guy hits back just as hard .
The UFC already owns Fedor’s footage, they bought it from pride, and now Affliction. As far as the video games goes, EA made the fighters in their game sign a lifetime contract, too. That situation is not unique to the UFC, and I tried to point that out when the whole John Fitch thing happened.
The co-promote thing is ridiculous. Why would anyone think they could waltz in and because they have one fighter the UFC wants that the UFC will decide, “Hey it would be a good business decision to hand over half our profits just so we can have this one fighter.”?