Dana White: CBS Would Be “Out of Their Mind” To Air Strikeforce Again
UFC President Dana White today commented to the LA Times about Strikeforce’s debut on CBS this past Saturday, which was headlined by Fedor Emelianenko’s second-round knockout of Brett Rogers:
“CBS would be out of their mind to put that rinky-dink [Strikeforce] . . . on the air again . . . and without that backing, [promoters] won’t have the money to pay [Emelianenko].
The guy just got his face smashed in by Brett Rogers. Do you know what Brock or [UFC heavyweights] Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez would do to Brett Rogers? It’s time to bring this guy [Fedor] in, to see Brock Lesnar smash his head.”
Despite White’s disappointment in the card, “Fedor vs. Rogers” peaked with nearly 5.5 million viewers and both Strikeforce and CBS have gone on the record to say they’re satisfied and encouraged by the figures.
Tags: Dana White
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HAHAHAHAHA, oh Dana. This guy cracks me up. First he’s all, we want Fedor we will pay him ridiculous money. Now he’s back to dissing Fedor and hyping UFC heavyweights. I got to say he sure is good at what he does.
Although the only way this Dana quote is effective to me is if Fedor loses. To me Fedor was as impressive as he always is. To me this is like if Fedor beat Carwin. Rogers and Carwin are relitivly the same level of competition for fedor and if he had beatin Carwin their is no way Dana would say **** even if his mouth was full of it.
Good try Dana, at least it was good for a laugh.
Rogers and Carwin on relatively the same level? youre not speaking through angst against dana are you? IMO all said UFC heavyweights would do just as Dana described to Rogers.
i disagree. roughly, carwin and rogers have had similar amount of fights, in similar style. they are both big sluggers with good take-down defense.
the punch that broke fedors nose by rogers would have been a KO by shane carwin END OF STORY.
gibor,
Carwin’s longest fight was 2:11, in his very first fight. Rogers has been to the second round three times. Carwin also has take down and GnP ability that Rogers lacks.
Rogers and Carwin are ABSOLUTELY in the same category….in fact, personally, i think Rogers would take Carwin … and man, Dana Dana Dana….what is happening to that giant cranium of yours. This guy is losing it. Go worry about your headliners for 106 and 108 considering how weak they are instead of looking to sh*t all over King Fedor cuz your jealous he is not with you. Pathetic.
This little snippet from Dana really got my blood boiling….what a ******. Wow
First off, lets start with this:
Dana White is a businessman first and foremost, and there was no fu<king way that he was going to do anything but disrespect Strikeforce:Fedor vs Rogers as loudly and as often as he can. And considering as how he almost always has the bigger microphone, he would be a fool not to.
Second, from a certain POV Dana's right.
Production values and commentating deficiencies aside, their card rested solely on Fedor and some guy who works at Sams Club.
Yes, its honest work, and I'm not dissing anyone who works for a living, seeing as how everyone does in some capacity, but really?
Brett Rogers?
Yes, Rogers seems like a decent guy, although I didn't see him touch gloves before or shake Fedor's hand after and thank him for the di<k-slapping on national TV. And yes, Dana is right when he says that Rogers would be outclassed by guys like Mir and Velasquez.
Dana is a master of mixing truth with hype.
Third, Dana can't help but brag about his favoritest fighter toy, Brock Lesnar, when he has an audience. Yes, we all know by now that some MMA fans, myself included, think that Lesnar would maul Fedor, and others feel that Fedor's superior skill and experience would allow him to hook Lesnar, or maybe even KO him with the broken handed Sunday punch.
Regardless of which side of the line you fall on in that argument, you have to admit that Dana is going to do his damnedest to keep reminding people that its HIS promotion, and HIS champions, that are the best in the world, and not what CBS aired this past Saturday night, and what Showtime airs regularly.
What would you have him do?
Congratulate a fighter that allowed his handlers to embarrass the planet's top MMA promoter and promotion?
Praise a rival MMA org that signed a fighter than I'm sure Dana wanted blacklisted in the US after walking away from the UFC?
Speak positively about a network that in all likelihood didn't give him the TV deal he wanted?
C'mon, people.
This is Dana Fu<king White we're talking about here.
CBS, Fedor, and Strikeforce are highlighted on his sh!t-list. Trust me, this might be the first time we're hearing Dana specifically put Strikeforce and by extension Scott Coker on blast, but as long as they agree to work with Fedor, and M-1 Global, it He11a sure won't be the last.
Nor should it be…
Pretty much spot on with your reply jcohl. But as our mama’s once said, and I think this applies here to Dana, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”.
Dana does not need to publicly bad mouth non UFC fighters or other MMA promotions. He doesn’t. His promotion is, has been and always will be the #1 Mixed Martial Arts promotion in the world regardless of what the 2nd and 3rd tier promotions do.
I’d expect the bad mouthing and insults to be coming from the little guys trying to lay their claim to fame and compete against the UFC, not vice versa. When you are numero uno, you do not need to talk ****.
Dana White has nothing to fear and as a business man I respect him immensely. As a person I think comments like this though are disrespectful and classless. To me it shows a kink in his armor and makes him seem genuinely threatened by Fedor and Strikeforce, when we all know he has absolutely no reason to be. Competition is good for the sport.
well nobody likes a liar. to dis a fighter is not ok.
competition is good IMO, the more organizations, the more MMA venues, the better.
yea, sometimes an event relies on one or two big names, there’s nothing shameful about it.
and bret rogers- no shame in doing an honest day’s work while pursuing a passion for MMA.
“Dana is a master of mixing truth with hype”
Very True.
Let’s see Strikeforces viewership when Fedor isn’t on the card. My guess is that Strikefarce will barely get 1.5 million viewers and with Fedor suffering a broken nose and hand damage it will be at least 4 to 6 months till he’s back in the ring again. Can Strikefarce stay afloat without Fedor for that long?
Dana, keep doing what you do because of you we have mainstream coverage of MMA. Thank you Dana White!
Um ya Strikeforce has been around as company for more than 20 years soooo staying afloat isn’t much of a problem, really
also, they had over 5 million views for Fedor vs. Rogers.
Dana White, go home. Strikeforce will never be UFC, why do you care so much to bash them? Let them be, I think competition is great for the sport and the MMA fighters. You can’t have the worlds MMA fighters all fight in the UFC, there isn’t enough cards to shocase all of their talents. So why not leave Strikeforce alon and let them help grow the sport of MMA? Or atleast shut up for five minutes. The UFC will always be #1, so don’t trip!
will UFC always be #1?
there are a lot of fighters in MMA. this is THE sport of the 21 century.
the more MMA competitions, the better for the sport.
I’d love to see several major fighting groups and then I’d pit one against the other.
I think so, who else can you say has the same draw as the UFC? The fighters are overall better and the entertainment value is huge! Who else would be #1?
BTW, Fedor would beat Lesnar. Haha, let the slinging begin! SFIITB!
na, i dont see fedor beating lesnar, which doesnt take anything away from him. lesnar is simply too big.
but, IMO he looks wilted, since he is unable to take roids anymore. he’ll look like schwarzenegger on the beach soon
That’s the third time in two days you’ve made that accusation, and I told you not to anymore the first two. -Justin H
This is no different than how Dana use to bash a street-fighting thug named Kimbo and how he now praises his hard work ethic, willingness to learn and has transformed him from thug to a man of god. He is doing the exact same thing with Fedor. Insulting what he does not have.
As far as I can recall, I don’t remember ever seeing any of the UFC heavyweights knock out Arlovski in 22 seconds, in the years Andrei was with the UFC. He can insult Rogers all he wants but I think Brett is establishing himself as a young up and coming heavyweight contender. No he’s no Carwin, Valasquez or Lesnar. But show the guy some respect please.
As far as questioning FEDOR’ abilities?!? PLEASE SHUT UP DANA! He has beaten 4 of your current heavyweights and has defeated one of your top contenders on 2 separate occasions. The guy is 31-1-1 and hasn’t lost since 2000. You wanted to sign the very same man you are insulting to a 6 mil per fight contract and make him the highest paid fighter in the history of the UFC!! Here he is with a highlight reel knockout win in his cage debut while your best heavy is sick with the flu. No wonder you are so pissed off.
“3.8 million viewers” was also just their peak from 9 to 11pm. Since the Fedor fight wasn’t televised till after 11pm I don’t believe the final numbers have been released yet from 11 to 11:30pm. My guess is it’s up around 5 million at least.
Dana does not want healthy competition. He wants the world to believe that MMA starts and ends with the UFC and the UFC alone. This just simply isn’t the case and the sooner he realizes this the better.
5.46million viewers is the rough number I’ve seen for the Fedor v Rogers fight
Here is more on the final #’s
also keep in mind that the west coast didn’t see anything til 9pm (pst) which is 12am (et)
‘Quit yer Whinin’ Dana,, it was a decent card and a good main event. Can’t have it all…if Dana wasn’t so greedy, this would be his show..
Dana is unwilling to give up production for his events, hence the problems with HBO and NBC, and honestly who could blame him, the UFC has a “certain look” and ZUFFA created that, they should hold onto it.. Think about it Strikeforce looks a certain way, DREAM a certain way, hell the WEC looks different but out of all the UFC’s “look” is known to most, why give that up?
From a production value stand point, UFC is by far superior, so I’ll have to second your notion there FR.
Dana being Dana. I thought Strikeforce was decent. Better than some UFC cards Dana has given us but not great.
I think the point was well-made by someone above when they posted something to the effect that we need to see how Strikeforce on CBS does when Fedor isn’t on the card…
yet for the longest time people have been stating how the great Fedor was not a star in North America and would never sell to the fan base and that CBS wasn’t doing enough to “hype” the show blah blah blah YOU know the list goes on and on, just shy of 5 and half Million peak isn’t half bad honestly, and just think if Fedor did sell here in North America or people “knew who this guy was” or if CBS “hyped” the event I wonder how many people would have tuned in..
O and Strikeforce would put on Large fights on CBS as long as CBS wants them too, same with Showtime…… Just throwing it all out there, and now with the “set back” chances are that in the first quarter of next year CBS will have a card without Fedor…
How many of the 5mill though are like me in that they haven’t actually seen this Fedor guy fight and were tuning in just to see what it was about? How many of the none junkies like myself will tune in again if he’s not on? That is the question that I believe was being asked.
I think if Strikeforce has a card with Dan Henderson vs Gegard Mousasi – co’ed with Cyborg vs #1 womens challenger it would be a high number .
Will be interesting to see how the Dec 19th show goes over ……..
Doom,
good day sir… The only issue I’ve compairing the Nov 7th card to the Dec 19th card is that the Dec 19th card will be on Showtime which honestly doesn’t have the best number of subscibers in the prem cable industry, But I get what you’re saying..
The Dec. 19 card is also going head to head with WEC 46.
Oh, and as far as Hendo v. Mousasi, that would be a good fight, that I think Hendo would win, but dude has to sign a contract for that to happen, and it looks like that is something he is in no hurry to do.
who knows but ill be watching
IMO. one thing Dana is trying to do is call out Bret. you know he would be more than willing to sign him. probably even on the main card against a well known fighter. i don’t know what kind of contract Bret has but i’d rather see him in the UFC than earning another fight with Fedor in a year or so.
the next fedor fight on cbs will do better then 5.5 mill now that some of america has seen him and word of mouth will only grow fedors name!
You really should choose one name and stick with it. – Justin H
Why all the complaining guys? M-1 and Fedor are going to bankrupt Strikeforce anyways. My only complaint is how can Fedor still be considered a P4P great when he isn’t fighting the best of the best and when he does fight the brett rogers and arlofski’s he isn’t beating them in a dominate fashion. Hopefully when the Strikeforces and the Dreams get discontinued, Fedor won’t be past his prime when he fights the elite in his devision. and as much as i dislike Brock Lesner, I say he would demolish fedor with a “BROCK SMASH!”.
Hi Corey,
See the thing that helped in the death of Affliction MMA and EliteXC and at a lesser extent IFL was that they were “over paying” thier fighters like 250,000 to Vitor Belfort when he fought officially in the Prelims (which did air on FSN), I’m not saying that he is or is not worth that kind of money but when you are only selling a third of the venues tickets (the rest comp’d) and 100,000 PPV buys along with the rental of said venue there isn’t much money to be made to put on another show, hell Matt LindLand made 200,000 in his loss to Belfort and Timmeehhh made 800,000 for 36 seconds of work… Affliction MMA was paying M~1 Global (F~finkledinkle) out of their pocket not off the revenue made from each show, this is not Strikeforce’s deal with M~1 Global…. Afflicition MMA was not financially sound as a LLC, Strikeforce is a financially sound organization…. I doubt M~1 Global will bankrupt Strikeforce, this isn’t Coker’s first time co~promoting in his 25 (+) years in the promotion game, he knows how to protect himself against these worries.. Something that couldn’t be said for the likes of Atencio and Shaw, o and Affliction MMA didn’t go bankrupt, they ended out being even (ha go figure) and closed up shop do to lack of potential funds being brought into the LLC…
Dana’s just speaking to hear himself talk. He hasn’t got a leg to stand on. I’m not here to debate who would win between Fedor and the UFC Heavies, but I can say this for sure. Strikeforce put on a very entertaining card on Saturday night and they gave it to me for free.
Sure, you can say that the commentators were weak (although I’d take Mauro Renallo over Mike Goldberg any day), or that their production value was awful, or that they could use a Bruce Buffer of their own, but the bottom line is that for a company the size of the UFC, they have some issues they should be addressing too…
1. That GD gladiator intro/theme song on every PPV. Would you please get rid of that. It’s awful, tacky, and has been used since Zuffa bought the UFC.
2. The Ultimate Fighter has had the same intro/theme song. Again, 10 seasons and we’re still using the same intro/music. Would it kill you to get me at least a remix of the same song?
3. I look at the UFC as the WWE in the way they should be marketing themselves. You don’t have to have elaborate sets and video screens like Pride, but at least make it look like each event is different and unique. The arenas look the same, the graphics look the same, the promos look the same.
Obviously the UFC still makes Strikeforce look like crap, but until it’s perfect I wouldn’t be opening my mouth Dana.
Look at it this way, Strikeforce is on CBS. The UFC is on Spike TV. Just looking at that and knowing nothing about either company, which one would you say is doing better?
thestandard,
I’d just like to address your 3 points on production in regards to the UFC and why I disagree with you. Personally I love the way UFC has branded itself and respect it more for sticking to the basics and not becoming a tacky freak show like some pro wrestling organizations.
1. I love the gladiator intros at both the opening of the events and during the fighter’s tale of the tape. I think it’s the perfect way to depict two warriors about to go to battle just like in the days of the gladiators. Very simple, memorable and nothing fancy at all. A perfect fit if you ask me.
2. The theme song for the Ultimate Fighter is an amazing song. It’s a total pump you up song. Short and sweet with words that make sense for the show. Regardless of whether you like a song or not, part of branding is about being consistent and again memorable. Take the CHEERS theme song for instance. It’s a classic and you associate that song with the show just as you do TUF with it’s theme song.
3. In terms of sets and whacky intro’s and pyrotechnics, jumbo-trons and all that jazz, that’s more for entertainment value. Not something I like to associate with professional sports. UFC has branded itself a legitimate product here and wants the world to see it as a professional sport not a circus clown, freak side show like WWE. The entertainment comes from the fights not the crazy gimmicks and intro before hand. To be considered a real sport and not be mixed in with sports entertainment like WWE, it has to uphold a certain image and I believe their branding has done just that!
Did you actually just post something to the effect of who is doing better, the UFC or Strikeforce?
REALLY?
You’re comparing Strikeforce to a company conservatively valued at half a billion dollars in a down market?
After that, its going to be a long while before anyone takes you seriously at the frenZy, if ever.
Don’t get me wrong.
I like Strikeforce, and I like Scott Coker, and I love the way fr702 always looks out for the little MMA promotion that could, but comparing Strikeforce to the UFC is like comparing the CFL to the NFL.
And apologies to all of my frenZied brothers north of the border, it was just the first comparison that came to mind after reading thestandard’s post, which quite frankly would have been hysterical if I didn’t think he was posting seriously…
“You’re comparing Strikeforce to a company conservatively valued at half a billion dollars in a down market?”
Ok, if ufc is 1/2 billion, then shouldn’t they be paying their fighters more? Mir $40000 for fighting brock? Come on.
Dalice,
That issue has been addressed again and again and again.
1. Mir Specific
2. Another Mir Specific
Will keep digging for general numbers, and not Mir specific.
Ok, I can’t find the previous comments I was looking for. So I will try to make this short and sweet. The numbers you see on a “UFC XXX Fighter Salaries” post are the *disclosed* payouts that the fighters receive, it has been pointed out time and time again that “Fight Night” bonuses, submission bonuses, and knockout bonuses are not included in those numbers, nor are PPV/live gate percentages, and nor are the sponsorship dollars that fighters get paid to have a logo on their shorts.
In specific regards to the sponsorship money, in the past some fighters have had issues with actually getting paid by their sponsors, among other things, and the UFC instituted a “sponsorship fee” (which has been received with mixed reviews in the MMA blog world) which forced out the fly-by-nights, and has helped insure that only serious sponsors are involved in sponsoring UFC fighters, better ensuring that the fighters receive a nice payday.
All i know is that scott coker must be absolutely elated that fedor won.Who knows what the future would hold in store for strikeforce if there poster boy got KOd by rogers.He’s been in the game awhile though and i can only assume that crossed his mind.
Mauro Renallo over Mike Goldberg? get out of here! Renallo is garabage, at least when Mike doesn’t know the subject of something he asks Rogan for his advice. Whenevery Ranallo talks i always finding myself “did he really just say that?” or “that is not the name of that submission”. and its not like shamrock is going to correct him, because he is even worse. and Jimmy Lennon Junior isn’t a bad ring announcer, i actually rather like him, although he is no bruce buffer. Thank god Strikeforce didn’t pick up Goldberg (former pro wrestler not Mike) that Elite XC use to have. He was the worst.
Bottom line, Dana wanted Fedor, didn’t get him and know he’s going to steer away the gen public for respecting someone who is not involved in his organization. Period.
Second, I think Dana is putting too much on Lesnar. If Lesnar remains on a tear, I think he will walk away from MMA, just like previous challenges that he had once he got bored.
Look fedor was offered large amounts of money and advertisement in the UFC, the sob fedor or i should say M1 (i hate them) turned it down. To Dana it does not make any sense other than he is afraid, so what else do you expect him to say and talk **** about him!!
First off that Strikeforce card was amazing!!!! A lot better than what the UFC has been showing lately. Every fight was fantastic. Next, Rogers smashed a two time heavy champ in under 30 seconds. So Dana should give his head a shake. Lesnar is not going to get by Carwin. Carwin is the complete package. Lesnar beat Randy on size alone. As amazing as Randy is he is not a true heavyweight. Let’s face it Mir is washed up and Heath Herring. Herring got spanked by jake O’Brien. Give me a break. If Lesnar beats Carwin then I will give him his props but it’s not going to happen. Dana is threatened by Strikeforce. He is a control freak and he could get a major network to agree with his terms and he couldn’t control Fedor.
is Dana being a troll???????
“Pathetic?”
“Losing it?”
“Troll?”
“Control freak?”
“Talking to hear himself talk?
“Hasn’t got a leg to stand on?
Honestly, THATS the sh!t some of you want to go with here?
Lets not forget, Dana White is at the top of the food chain when it comes to MMA.
No one single man means more, or has done more for this sport than Dana.
Dana White means more to MMA than Couture, than Fedor, than Anderson or Wanderlei Silva, or Chuck Liddell.
And more than Royce Gracie.
I’ve posted the hard facts on Dana White more times than I care to remember, yet still I keep seeing these sh!t posts about how Dana is afraid of some regional promotion, of how Dana somehow made a mistake by not grabbing his ankles for the jokers over at M-1 Global, Dana this and Dana that.
How many more times do some of you need to be reminded that if it weren’t for Dana White, there would hardly BE a platform for our sport like the UFC in North America, let alone be the “greatest show on Earth”.
And I have a simple request for those of you who repeatedly embarrass yourselves with nonsensical elementary school level posts that break down to “Fedor rules! Dana drools!”:
Please, please, do your research before posting here.
And you know who you are. I prefer not having to call people out by name, but I keep seeing the same trolls posting the same sh!t week in and week out at this site, in spite of repeated re-direction by some of the frenZy’s top posters.
Just as a reminder, this is a big boy site, and not a fan boy site, and we’d all like to keep it that way. Please go to some other gutter page where you can earn your magenta belt by senselessly slamming Dana White, or calling into question Brock Lesnar’s HW dominance, or somehow trying to get others to believe that the UFC is somehow NOT the planet’s premiere MMA organization because Fedor prefers fighting guys like Brett Rogers in Chicago instead of Frank Mir in Las Vegas…
People please!! It’s only business. I sd in another post that after reading Don King’s book “Only in America”, Dana is the closest thing to “The Don” (I’m talking from a promotional stand-point not the dirtiness & crookedness). He is a master of manipulation & that’s why the Zuffa people pay him the BIG BUCKS. Look at how this post goes from far left to far right…If M-1 & Fedor ever fall-out with each other then you’ll see Dana do a complete 180..You gotta’love it….
Bottom line is, what is on TV will end up being the MMA promoter which is biggest and most important in the eyes of the general public. Dana dropped the ball not getting the UFC on TV already by )obviously) not getting enough from the partners he was looking at (is there even another story with Dana White?) and now Strikeforce will be the MMA org on the tips of the tongues of millions of casual fans.
It’s going to be eliteXC all over again but this time… exit Kimbo, enter Fedor. At least the Strikeforce golden egg is legit..