Tag: Dana White

Dana White: ‘Ronda Wouldn’t Just Beat Floyd Mayweather, She’d Hurt Him Bad’

If Floyd Mayweather doesn’t want to get hurt, he had better steer clear of Ronda Rousey, according to UFC President Dana White.
The month of April has been ripe with debate over a hypothetical superfight pitting the greatest boxer in the world ag…

If Floyd Mayweather doesn’t want to get hurt, he had better steer clear of Ronda Rousey, according to UFC President Dana White.

The month of April has been ripe with debate over a hypothetical superfight pitting the greatest boxer in the world against the UFC women’s bantamweight champion.

UFC commentator Joe Rogan sided with Rousey during an appearance on ESPN Sports Nation. Even UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones hopped on the Olympic judo medalist’s bandwagon when asked to predict a winner on Fox Sports’ Crowd Goes Wild.

Boxing is only one of the many aspects of fighting allowed in MMA. Considering that the stances in boxing and MMA aren’t even the same, Mayweather would instantly be handicapped in various forms of striking and grappling. 

It’s hard to forget the embarrassing UFC 118 co-main event bout between UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and boxing legend James “Lights Out” Toney. Clearly out of his element, Toney just plodded around awkwardly in the cage before getting taken down and pummeled by Couture.

With that said, people generally tend to look at things differently in a fight involving two men, as opposed to the greatest boxer in the world fighting a woman. There is an innate human presumption that the man will win in this particular situation.

However, cooler heads can prevail in understanding that each aspect of MMA is an art that warrants the same dedication Mayweather has given to boxing all these years. Rousey is without a doubt the more well-rounded fighter, which is exactly why White sees her dominating Mayweather in any kind of fight that allows all aspects:

You put Ronda Rousey in any fight situation — a street fight, a mixed martial arts fight. Not only does she beat Floyd, she’ll hurt Floyd really bad, White said on ESPN Sports Nation. But you take Ronda Rousey and you put her in a boxing match, obviously we know what’s going to happen there. But a real fight, Ronda Rousey will hurt Floyd. I don’t know if anyone has seen Floyd in real life, but he’s [a smaller guy]. If Ronda gets her hands on him, she’ll hurt him. I’ve seen her throw big men and hurt them.

UFC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis called the entire Rousey vs. Mayweather debate “ridiculous” on the Fox Sports panel.

Women’s boxing legend Ann Wolfe told ESNews Reporting that “Floyd would beat the s—t out of Rousey, MMA or whatever.”

To Pettis’ credit, it is a bit ridiculous to be breaking down a fight between Mayweather and Rousey. Not only are we talking about two completely different sports, but we are also talking about a man fighting a woman, which would immediately be denied by any governed state athletic commission.

It still beats breaking down Rousey’s past feuds with Arianny Celeste and Kim Kardashian. Who would you put your money on in an MMA fight: Rousey or Mayweather?

 

Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Dana White Confirms Anderson Silva Will Return End of This Year or Early 2015

There is still no concrete date set for Anderson Silva’s return to the Octagon, but it appears “The Spider” certainly will fight again under the UFC banner.
This news was confirmed by UFC President Dana White on Tuesday when he addressed the issue on E…

There is still no concrete date set for Anderson Silva‘s return to the Octagon, but it appears “The Spider” certainly will fight again under the UFC banner.

This news was confirmed by UFC President Dana White on Tuesday when he addressed the issue on ESPN’s SportsCenter. White suggested the pound-for-pound great would be fighting at the end of the year or in early stages of 2015, and while there wasn’t a clear timeline specified, the UFC’s front man solidified the former middleweight king would definitely be returning. 

The Brazilian striking phenom has been on the sidelines since suffering a gruesome leg injury in the second round of his rematch with Chris Weidman at UFC 168 last December. At 39 years old and facing a lengthy recovery from a severe bone break, doubt of the former champion’s return to the Octagon lingered heavily in the immediate aftermath of the injury.

Nevertheless, those clouds began to lift several weeks into the new year, as Silva’s rehabilitation took off much quicker than previously imagined. The precision-knockout artist posted pictures on social media of his jiu-jitsu sessions just nine weeks after having surgery to repair the damaged bone. Silva has continued to post training photos throughout his recovery, and each offering has further stirred expectation for his comeback. 

While the uncertainty surrounding his career coming to an end due to injury appears to be coming to a close, there are still several questions hanging in the balance. Silva was the most dominant champion in UFC history, and it will be interesting to see if he will be aiming to make a run back to title contention in his return or if he shifts his focus to landing several big fights before his time under the UFC banner comes to a close. 

 

Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Is It Time to Admit MMA Will Never Become a Mainstream Success?


(Dana White’s “If you don’t like it, we don’t want you as a fan” strategy has worked. / Photo via Getty)

By Matt Saccaro

UFC on FOX 11 was one of the better cards in recent memory, but nobody outside of the MMA bubble cared.

It pulled in only 1.98 million viewers—the lowest ever for a UFC event on Fox and a 27% decline from UFC on FOX 10. The fight card lost out to every other major network in total viewers, and only beat CBS in the key 18-49 demo.

“Fighting is in our DNA,” Dana White likes to maintain. It’s a universal action that everyone understands. If a fight breaks out, everyone stops what they’re doing to watch it. Fighting is raw, visceral, but somehow pure and sacrosanct. It has been part of humanity since the first caveman shot a double leg.

Except it’s not. Those lines we all swore were so true when we started watching MMA, the ones we cited as reasons for MMA’s inevitable (and rightful) ascent to greatness, are all bullshit. When a rerun of Mike and Molly draws more viewers than free fights, one has to question whether MMA will ever achieve the mainstream popularity fans and pundits have been anticipating for years now—unless an overweight Chicago police officer (no, not Mike Russow) and his wife are even more in our DNA than fighting.


(Dana White’s “If you don’t like it, we don’t want you as a fan” strategy has worked. / Photo via Getty)

By Matt Saccaro

UFC on FOX 11 was one of the better cards in recent memory, but nobody outside of the MMA bubble cared.

Only 1.98 million viewers tuned in—the lowest ever for a UFC event on Fox and a 27% decline from UFC on FOX 10. FOX lost out to every other major network in total viewers, and only beat CBS in the key 18-49 demo.

“Fighting is in our DNA,” Dana White likes to maintain. It’s a universal action that everyone understands. If a fight breaks out, everyone stops what they’re doing to watch it. Fighting is raw and visceral, but is simultaneously pure and sacrosanct. It has been part of humanity since the first caveman shot a double leg.

Except it’s not. Those lines we all swore were so true when we started watching MMA, the ones we cited as reasons for MMA’s inevitable (and rightful) ascent to greatness, are all bullshit. When a rerun of Mike and Molly draws more viewers than free fights, one has to question whether MMA will ever achieve the mainstream popularity fans and pundits have been anticipating for years now—unless an overweight Chicago police officer (no, not Mike Russow) and his wife are even more in our DNA than fighting.

When the biggest star on the UFC’s roster (who, by extension, is MMA’s biggest star) is only capable of drawing a maximum of 450,000 PPV buys, we have to admit that the sport is on a decline. Chuck Liddell—not Johny Hendricks, not Anthony Pettis, not any other nascent champion or young up-and-comer—is still the go-to “tough guy” spokesperson for brands running ads on Spike TV and FS1. That should tell you everything you need to know.

There are few stars on the horizon. The UFC has two potential “franchise fighters” but only makes use of the one who’ll leave for Hollywood (or baby-making) before long. They ignore the other because he prioritized his own interests over the company’s. I’ve written about the UFC’s popularity crisis extensively, so I won’t repeat myself suffice it to say that the sport’s ceiling lowers nearly every time the UFC hold’s a card.

And it doesn’t matter that media members and hardcore fans enjoyed the fights last night. What we think means nothing; we’re the minority. The people that don’t know who Travis Browne and Fabricio Werdum are, and therefore didn’t watch UFC on FOX 11, are the people whose eyeballs and PPV buys matter most. Those are the people the sport is failing to reach, and hasn’t captivated in years. When Dana White himself admits that the UFC is not mainstream despite being on FOX, then you know it’s not mainstream…and maybe it never will be.

Most of you will scoff at what I’m saying. Whenever I write articles with such sentiments, the typical comment reads “Well you and CagePotato just hate MMA because you’re assholes and hate the UFC because they took away your credentials.” If I hated MMA/the UFC, I wouldn’t write about them (and I believe I speak for the entire CagePotato editorial staff when I say that). I love MMA. And loving something means wanting it to succeed, which means pointing out what’s wrong with it so it can be better. I’m not writing this to knock the UFC, nor am I writing this to be sensationalistic. I’m writing this so that we may temper our expectations. MMA is not mainstream, and it never will be if things continue their current course. Perhaps we should make peace with that instead of retreating into denial.

Whenever bad numbers come in, we all like to find excuses for why it did so poorly. MMA being a niche sport is never the answer. It’s the weather that’s to blame, or college football, or the economy, or anything other than the truth. When several events in a row report bad numbers, we call it a rough patch. But this is no rough patch, this is the shape of things to come. MMA needs stars to rekindle the world’s interest, but those at the top are only content to provide three letters—U, F, and C.

Dos Anjos vs. Nurmagomedov: Main Eventing the Prelims Wasted a Rising Star

Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
That job you quit that was better than you realized, that girl you let get away that maybe you shouldn’t have, that team you played on in high school that just couldn’t win the big game.
If only …

Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.

That job you quit that was better than you realized, that girl you let get away that maybe you shouldn’t have, that team you played on in high school that just couldn’t win the big game.

If only you’d had another chance, an opportunity to walk the same path knowing then what you know now, maybe things would have been different.

You’d be a CEO. You’d be happily married with kids and a white picket fence. You’d have that trophy, reminding you of the time you were part of the city champs.

That’s part of the human experience, though. Part of the way things shake out. You don’t always know what you have; you don’t always know what to do with it.

Unfortunately, that applies to entities founded on the human experience as well. Entities like, say, a fight promotion. Entities like, say, the UFC. The organization proved as much by putting Rafael dos Anjos and Khabib Nurmagomedov, the battle to be the next hot thing at lightweight, on the preliminary fights for UFC on Fox 11.

If making stars is the goal in a new age where stars aren’t plentiful and most men (and women) plain aren’t that appealing, the Dos Anjos vs. Nurmagomedov scrap played out almost as if it were from a script.

Nurmagomedov, the quirky, charismatic Russian who walks to the cage clad in a totally unexplainable giant afro wig, beat Dos Anjos from pillar to post. He was reserved when he needed to be but ferociously forceful when it was suitable, and he walked away from the bout with a signature win over a guy who was on fire coming into their fight.

The win pushed Nurmagomedov to 6-0 in the UFC, and not one of those wins has been against a guy who’d be considered less than a respectable test. In fact, there was plenty of talk that the successful party in Orlando, Fla. would be considered a fresh contender in a division that is desperately in need of one.

And it was relegated to Fox Sports 1.

That’s right. Two guys who had been a combined 10-0 since 2012 and were on a fast track to a title shot were buried under lightweights who were ranked beneath them and guys like Brad Tavares and Yoel Romero, all of whom made the network showcase on Fox.

From an entertainment perspective, that’s not the end of the world. Romero put on a great show, and the lower-ranked guys—Donald Cerrone and Edson Barboza—provided a chaotic war with a shocking finish. But from a sporting perspective, from the perspective of selling divisional relevance and fresh contendership, it was a misstep.

Dana White mentioned several times that Dos Anjos and Nurmagomedov were serving as the main event of the prelims, a slot that holds some esteem when those prelims are happening before a pay-per-view. The idea is that, be it through excitement or the stakes of combat, that fight will draw attention to the main card just in time to land some impulse buys from fans on a Saturday night.

Only this time, the fight in question was the last fight on a preliminary card for a free, wide-reaching network television show. Less people saw the fight because it was lost in the Fox Sports 1 shuffle, sandwiched between Fight Pass prelims and the Fox UFC Saturday event.

And so, instead of building a contender with literally millions of people watching, the UFC left a contender twisting in the wind. He dominated a bout with only a few hundred thousand viewers enjoying his handiwork.

That’s not ideal in any circumstance, but when it’s a fighter as obviously ready to be sold as Nurmagomedov, it’s even worse.

He’s interesting because he’s the rare case of an aggressive, high-impact grappler who throws people around with ease and never takes a backward step.

He’s interesting because of the would-be Drago Effect, the idea of a Russian coming to the cage and demolishing anyone who dares to get in his way.

He’s interesting because he’s now 22-0 and no one in the UFC has had any answer for anything he’s done.

Oh, and there’s that little story that went viral about him wrestling actual live bears for fun…when he was nine.

You don’t think that’s a package that the UFC can sell? A wig-wearing, bear-fighting, undefeated Russian who’s romping through the lightweight class without breaking a sweat?

It all boils down to the slightest piece of mismanagement in terms of constructing the UFC on Fox 11 card. Call it the main event of the prelims if you want—call it a showcase even though it wasn’t. The bottom line is that Rafael dos Anjos and Khabib Nurmagomedov should have been fighting on network television on Saturday night.

Everyone kind of knew it before the fight, but after another dominant performance from Nurmagomedov, it’s that much more obvious afterward.

 

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Dana White on GSP Injury: ‘Tough to Come Back, Giving Up Your Belt Is Crazy’

Georges St-Pierre may one day regret vacating his UFC title and taking an indefinite leave from MMA.
Time and time again, UFC President Dana White has hammered fighters with the proverbial sermon of fighting being a young man’s game.
The san…

Georges St-Pierre may one day regret vacating his UFC title and taking an indefinite leave from MMA.

Time and time again, UFC President Dana White has hammered fighters with the proverbial sermon of fighting being a young man’s game.

The sand is always draining from a small hourglass, encapsulating the majority of an athlete’s livelihood. White encourages fighters to work hard, enjoy the ride and make as much money as they possibly can.

“What people don’t realize when you’re in the moment, and your time is now, guys don’t realize until it’s over,” he said during a post-fight media scrum at the The Ultimate Fighter Nations finale. “You will never make that kind of money again for the rest of your life. You should fight as much as you can possibly fight, get as popular as you can possibly get and make as much money as you possibly can.”

Regarded as the greatest welterweight in MMA history, St-Pierre announced in December 2013 he was vacating the UFC title and stepping away from fighting. His decision to hang up the gloves came shortly after a controversial split-decision win over Johny Hendricks.

There was a slight chance St-Pierre would opt to never fight again, but the general consensus was that the former champ just needed a little time away to clear the cobwebs before making his grand return to the UFC.

Then news broke of St-Pierre’s ACL injury, his second in three years:

Initially, White seemed convinced St-Pierre would one day return to the UFC, but following the recent setback, he isn’t quite so sure anymore.

“I have no idea,” White told MMAFighting.com. “It’s tough to come back. I just think giving up your belt is crazy, and then you have a plan, I’m going to give up the belt, I’m going to take some time off, I’m going to handle my stuff and come back, and then you blow your ACL out. You never know. Life throws all these curveballs at you, you never know what’s going to happen.”

St-Pierre likely won’t be hurting for money anytime soon.

During a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, UFC commentator Joe Rogan revealed the 32-year-old star was making $5 million per fight. St-Pierre was also cast in Marvel’s recent blockbuster hit movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Despite his earning power, there is still some validity to White’s comments. The welterweight division is arguably the most competitive weight class in MMA. It’s a lot to ask of St-Pierre to come back from a second ACL injury and pick up where he left off.

For years, fans have pondered who would finally oust St-Pierre and close the chapter on one of the greatest championship reigns in UFC history.

Few could have ever imagined that he might end up being the culprit behind his own undoing.

 

Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Dana White: I’m Very Confident Gina Carano Is on Her Way Back

In order for the UFC to attract Gina Carano away from her ultra-successful Hollywood career, it’s going to have to pull all the right strings.
First off, Carano needs to be compensated heavily. As one of the most popular names in the history of women’s…

In order for the UFC to attract Gina Carano away from her ultra-successful Hollywood career, it’s going to have to pull all the right strings.

First off, Carano needs to be compensated heavily. As one of the most popular names in the history of women’s mixed martial arts, the 31-year-old carries weight that even the most dangerous fighters in the world don’t possess.

So in that instance, her contract needs to be staggering.

Secondly, the UFC and Carano need to come to an agreement as to what she’ll be able to do in a short period of time. It’s highly unlikely that the former featherweight wants to climb the divisional rung, meaning an immediate title shot opposite undefeated champion Ronda Rousey would be the most plausible move.

But despite a variety of problems that could prolong a signing, UFC president Dana White is more than convinced that the movie star will make a fairly quick transition back to the fight game.

“Gina [Carano] and I had a good meeting,” said White in an interview with FOX Sports following Wednesday’s The Ultimate Fighter Nations Finale (h/t MMA Underground). “I’m very confident that she does want to come back and she does want to fight.”

White went on to say that no deal has been made thus far, but one could be finalized soon.

In any case, this is fantastic news for fight fans of any kind. Carano is a dynamic superstar who encompasses a readied skill set capable of giving Rousey a run for her money.

Assuming Carano does in fact want to get back into the sport that launched her career, there’s no better place than the budding UFC women’s bantamweight crop heap.

 

For more UFC news and coverage,

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com