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UFC Fight Night 37 Results: Dana White Needs to Respond to Criticism, Not Mock It

(Photo via Getty)

Even though the likes of Alexander Gustafsson, Jimi Manuwa, Michael Johnson, and Melvin Guillard all met in the cage in a Fight Pass card in London today, the biggest fight of the weekend wasn’t contested in a cage. It happened over twitter.

MMA Fighting’s Luke Thomas tweeted the following yesterday:

A reasonable sentiment, especially in an age where the UFC is going to put on two events in the same day, though the tweet was not specifically directed at the UFC. It was tweeted two minutes after a jape at Bellator’s expense. Dana White ignored such nuances. He took the tweet personally, and responded with 140-character artillery fire this morning:

(Photo via Getty)

By Matt Saccaro

MMA Fighting’s Luke Thomas tweeted the following yesterday:

Hilariously, Dana White didn’t know Luke Thomas—one of the most well-known figures in the MMA media—was a media member. Once White found out how accomplished Thomas was, specifically that he was on an episode of UFC Countdown, White brought the hammer down. But there’s something more concerning about White’s behavior. He doesn’t care about legitimate criticism that’s offered politely and eloquently. White’s intransigence in the face of disagreement is nothing new, however, but it’s starting to wear thin; he’s been more churlish than usual lately. He went mental when the always-reasonable Georges St-Pierre announced his retirement. More recently, he behaved questionably at a media luncheon, and buried Alistair Overeem and Jose Aldo after fantastic performances.

“Dana is gonna Dana” is no longer a valid excuse for such behavior. Lorenzo Fertitta has proven that you can respond to criticism courteously while maintaining the UFC’s “as real as it gets” image. Dana White needs to do the same or be yanked off stage with a Vaudeville hook. We understand he’s used to hearing whatever he wants from the media, but acting in a hyper-emotional, immature manner when writers offer their take on issues in the sport (which is their job) is unacceptable. More unacceptable than that is intentionally telling fans not to watch your product and disregarding their opinions, as White did on twitter this morning too.

The UFC’s product is clearly diminishing in value. Fans are getting restless. While White is to be commended for his accessibility on social media, hurling insults that read like they were written by a 14-year-old as well as telling fans to not watch the UFC’s product is harmful. Instructing potential customers to not buy what you’re selling is a terrible practice, but to Dana White it’s business as usual. In case you don’t understand why that’s a bad idea, check out this exchange between MMA firebrand Front Row Brian and famed MMA historian Jonathan Snowden. Telling fans to ignore your product has disastrous results. Words of apathy become acts of apathy. There are fights on tonight? Meh, who cares? Instead of fostering behavior like that, Dana White should be trying to demolish it root and stem. But White will do no such thing. If you don’t watch every single card, and shell out more cash than any other sports fan, your’e not a real fan, dummy!

By the way, here are the complete results for UFC Fight Night 37, a card some of you might not been real enough fans for:

Main Card

Alexander Gustafsson def. Jimi Manuwa via TKO (knee, punches) – Round 2, 1:18
Michael Johnson def. Melvin Guillard via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Brad Pickett def. Neil Seery via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Gunnar Nelson def. Omari Akhmedov via submission (guillotine) – Round 1, 4:36

Preliminary Card

Ilir Latifi def. Cyrille Diabate via submission (neck crank) – Round 1, 3:02
Luke Barnatt def. Mats Nilsson via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:24
Claudio Henrique da Silva def. Brad Scott via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Igor Araujo def. Danny Mitchell via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Louis Gaudinot def. Phil Harris via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 1:13

To Be Truly Innovative, UFC Fight Pass Should Save Fans Money

Let’s make one thing clear from the start: UFC Fight Pass is an amazing idea.
Perhaps no single entity has as much potential to chart the future of MMA as the UFC’s new digital subscription service. Its invention signals our sport’s f…

Let’s make one thing clear from the start: UFC Fight Pass is an amazing idea.

Perhaps no single entity has as much potential to chart the future of MMA as the UFC’s new digital subscription service. Its invention signals our sport’s first baby steps toward a glorious, a la carte future in which fans and promoters alike are less beholden to pay-per-view providers and television networks.

Indeed, Fight Pass may someday be all things to all people.

Unfortunately, in the present, we’re not quite there yet.

As the fight company’s online network stumbles out of its free trial period and into the bright lights of the for-profit world this week, it still has some holes in its game.

The UFC has worked to clean up alleged security defects and cancellation issues reported during the hasty launch late last year, but the complete fight library promised at the network’s unveiling remains very much a work in progress. Early adopters also report some streaming issues and continue to gripe about the overall user experience, claiming it’s difficult to find what they want when they want it.

Those bugs are negligible, however, once you consider the real major flaw of Fight Pass: Right now, it’s a bad deal for MMA fans in the United States.

While some international viewers are able to use the service to watch a more complete menu of the UFC’s 2014 schedule, viewers stateside only get access to the company’s lowest tier of new live events.

In essence, they’re being asked to pay an additional charge for fight cards that used to be free or didn’t exist at all because they weren’t up to the standards we expect from the world’s largest MMA organization.

Even for the UFC’s most ardent admirers, it’s tough to spin that as a bargain.

The subscription service’s fee of $9.99 per month (or nearly $120 per year) comes on top of what hardcore fans currently spend annually on pay-per-views: $719.87 if you bought all 13 of them in 2013.

That’s in addition to the escalating cable costs many experienced when the UFC moved away from FX and onto the fledgling Fox Sports 1 last summer, and it comes on the heels of the promotion inflating the price of its December UFC 168 PPV by $5 for no discernible reason other than because it could.

At a time when it’s getting more and more expensive just to watch the UFC, the primary goal of Fight Pass should be cutting the sport’s most attentive fans a price break—not asking them to pay extra.

That’s something World Wrestling Entertainment understood when it launched its own online network in February.

For the same monthly cost as Fight Pass (plus a six-month contract), the WWE Network grants users live access to all the promotion’s PPV events, making it a screaming deal for anyone who was going to buy them anyway and a compelling draw for people who weren’t.

There’s no small irony in the fact that WWE—a company notorious for failing to understand its fans—managed to offer up a better package for subscribers than the usually fan-friendly UFC. By cutting the cord with traditional PPV providers, though, Vince McMahon’s decidedly old-world sports entertainment empire did exactly that.

In order for Fight Pass to become the truly revolutionary force everyone wants it to be, the UFC will eventually have to follow suit.

Imagine if a Fight Pass subscription was all-inclusive, if it got you live access to the PPV cards and FS1 cards and everything else. Not only would interest in the service spike, but the UFC could also significantly raise the price while still offering fans a deal.

(Author’s note: If Fight Pass included PPVs and Fox events, I’d gladly pay $50 per month, as I’d be saving a boatload on my cable bill alone.)

So far, UFC brass say they either can’t or won’t do it. Company president Dana White told FoxSports.com’s Damon Martin in January that he thought WWE was “devaluing” its product by giving away the whole kit and caboodle for $10 a month.

There’s also the matter of the UFC’s broadcast partners, both on PPV and cable, who would no doubt need some serious convincing before anything radical could happen. But assuming the company could raise the price of Fight Pass to premium levels if it included premium content, surely there would be enough money to make everyone happy.

The UFC only exists in its current form because for years it did things the television establishment thought were impossible. It’s only as successful as it is today because it always faced forward and rarely succumbed to the pressures of professional sports’ old guard.

Fight Pass could be one more victory in that battle, rewarding loyal fans by saving them some money while pushing the entire industry in a bold new direction.

In order for the digital subscription service to be everything it can be, the future must be now.

Or at least it must be soon.

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UFC: Gilbert Melendez Beat the Boss, Now What?

“I’m done,” spat a venomous Dana White, his wrath to be felt by a mere mortal as it had so many times in the past. “If he wants to fight in the UFC, he better talk to Lorenzo quick.”
And just like that, it was over. White had won, crushing his opponent…

“I’m done,” spat a venomous Dana White, his wrath to be felt by a mere mortal as it had so many times in the past. “If he wants to fight in the UFC, he better talk to Lorenzo quick.”

And just like that, it was over. White had won, crushing his opponent like a bug trapped in a tiny octagonal cage, there solely to be stepped on by the boss and discarded with even less ceremony.

That’s life in the fight business, particularly the top of the MMA mountain: accept White’s terms or get lost. He will not be engaged in bullying unless he’s the one doling out the figurative wedgies, and if you want to risk your livelihood by testing him on it, then do so at your own peril.

His opponent this time was Gilbert Melendez, perhaps the uncrowned champion of the 155-pound division, and a man who had ridden his own iron will through trying times already during repeated attempts to join the UFC in the past.

And he altered the fantasy narrative above by beating White clean. For once, the UFC president didn’t win. He couldn’t bully his way into enforcing his own favor. A mortal didn’t come rest at his feet, but instead called his bluff and won the hand.

Sure, White likely prefers that which is written above to the truth, particularly when he’s grown so accustomed to said narrative, but it wasn’t meant to be this time.

Melendez took White’s hostility and threats and turned them into a lucrative offer from Bellator, then sat back and waited for Lorenzo Fertitta to call and clean up the mess that his negotiations had become.

The result? Everything short of a line of personalized Gilbert Melendez designer cagewear. Though to be fair, we haven’t seen the whole deal yet. That could be coming too.

Melendez will coach The Ultimate Fighter against Anthony Pettis before he gets a crack at the lightweight title again. He’ll be given the chance to continue his career as an analyst for FOX. He’s guaranteed to be on pay-per-view at least three out of every four fights, of which he’ll get a cash cut.

To put it mildly, Melendez made out alright.

But that’s what’s coming from the contract—the exposure, the big fights, the big money. He earned that with years of hard work and good showings in the cage (and sometimes ring), and he earned it with a willingness to take the biggest fight of his life against Zuffa and win it handily on all judge’s scorecards.

What’s next, though, for Melendez as an entity in the UFC? What of the things that aren’t negotiated on paper, his daily dealings with the men he just battered in the boardroom the way he’s battered so many in combat?

One would like to think that his successful negotiating tactics won’t cast him with a black mark from the head office, but it’s hard to think that it’s all water under the bridge. The way Melendez got his terms may very well change the face of the sport, and there are plenty of dudes who have already caught the scent of that trail.

History indicates that might be a tough pill for the UFC to swallow, and if it’s an issue that they see get out of hand in a hurry, they may look at Melendez as Patient Zero for the outbreak. Contract or not, they’re not going to offer him much additional support if they feel jilted down the line by the deal he negotiated.

If his life outside the cage doesn’t get harder though, Melendez is in a position to flourish inside it. He’ll only get big fights from here on out, and he’ll only be paid big purses for his work. At a time when the UFC needs big names more than ever, he’s a big name with a big contract who’s going to get big usage from the promotion.

At the end of the day, that’s all any fighter wants. Sometimes they have to get it by any means necessary.

Then again, for a collection of athletes that make their living battering one another in a steel cage, should anyone be surprised? The fight is what they live for, and winning it is more important than anything.

Melendez knew that all along. Now White and the UFC do too.

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

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Frank Shamrock Talks Stark Realities Facing Former Fighters Like Chris Leben

Two weeks ago, former UFC fighter Chris Leben let rip with a vicious tweet that sent shock waves throughout the MMA community:

The tweet has since been deleted—replaced with the story that Leben acted out because he’d lost his dog—bu…

Two weeks ago, former UFC fighter Chris Leben let rip with a vicious tweet that sent shock waves throughout the MMA community:

The tweet has since been deleted—replaced with the story that Leben acted out because he’d lost his dog—but interest in the original message’s meaning has only snowballed. Ex-UFC fighter and fellow Ultimate Fighter alumni Nate Quarry chimed in with his own criticism of the UFC’s practices. Some fans blame Chris Leben for engineering his situation by making his own mistakes—including drug addiction and failure to pay income tax—while others question the promoter’s responsibility to former fighters.

Talking to former UFC champion Frank Shamrock uncovers stark realities about the life of a retired MMA fighter.

“I don’t think some guys realize that at some point, physically, they’ll be done, and at some point, their drawing power will be done,” says Shamrock. “In fact, they will literally stop overnight. There’s no backup, no union, no protection, no pension—there’s nothing to help them move to the next career.”

In January, Leben—loser of four straight fights in the UFC—announced his retirement from the sport. He’d played a pivotal role in the resurgence of the UFC as a contestant on the first season of Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter (TUF). During his professional career in the organization, he racked up numerous “Fight of the Night” and “Knockout of the Night” awards, but when he quit the sport, the bonus checks and the limelight abruptly faded away.

The size of Leben’s purses has been a matter of debate, but a fighter can have problems regardless of their career earnings. Fans need look no further than boxing superstar Manny Pacquaio to witness an example of a fighter earning multimillions in purses and falling victim to reckless spending and tax woes. Or the infamous Mike Tyson, who had $300 million in career earnings, but declared bankruptcy with $38.4 million in debt as of 2004.

Chris Leben’s salaries as a mid-tier fighter with the UFC likely represent the spare change floating in the recesses of Pacquiao or Tyson’s couch cushions. There was never any question that Leben would require a job to see him past his career as an MMA fighter, just as so many other prominent retired fighters have worked positions in broadcasting, coaching, running their own gyms or even selling luxury cars.

Says Shamrock, “At the end of the day, I’ve always made the bulk of my money teaching martial arts.”

When he retired, Leben told the public he was working as a coach at Victory MMA in San Diego, California. While Leben could have used his own earnings to get counseling or even reached out to UFC president Dana White via private channels, he chose to make his incendiary post on Twitter instead.

Leben’s actions are controversial in that the number one rule of being a member of this Fight Club is to never criticize the promotion in the public eye. UFC fighters know that discretionary bonuses, title shots, employment with Zuffa/FOX, continued employment with the UFC and other perks come down to earning the favoritism of the Zuffa brass. According to Leben’s Twitter account, Dana White and the UFC reached out to help him after he made his attention-grabbing Twitter post, although Leben’s management has been unresponsive when it comes to interview requests.

Frank Shamrock believes it’s in the promotion’s best interests to provide support to former fighters, especially exciting stars like Leben who contributed to the UFC’s financial success, “You look at the value that Leben has brought to the company and the money he has brought to the bottom line. You want to protect guys like that in the future, or at least pretend like you’re protecting them so the next generation will line up and do the same thing for you.”

Times have changed since The Ultimate Fighter debuted in 2005. TUF has shown continually diminishing returns in the ratings column and rarely produces fighters of the same caliber that the earliest seasons did. Spike TV had a nasty breakup with the UFC in 2011 and now broadcasts competing promotion Bellator. Three out of four of TUF’s first season finalists—Kenny Florian, Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin—are retired from the sport.

Yet Chris Leben has yet to fully break away from the past. To paraphrase from Donnie Darko, he was born with tragedy flowing through his veins. On the UFC 89 Countdown show, he revealed that alcoholism ran through his family and outside of stints in the Army and jail, he’d never been sober for longer than two weeks straight since he was 13 years old.

“A lot of people who go into fighting aren’t well-adjusted,” says Shamrock, who revealed his own struggles coming from a broken home, dealing with alcoholism and time spent incarcerated in his autobiography Uncaged.

With his controversial tweet, Chris Leben pointed the finger at Zuffa for his troubles. In actuality, the UFC just ended up being a mechanism whereby the majority of fighters abandon the normalcy of typical jobs—like driving a truck—for the glamor of the stage. That they incur brain damage, lingering injuries or other hazards is about on par with professional sports like the NFL minus the benefits professional sports organizations often bestow through their players associations.

On paper, the UFC’s obligation to Chris Leben is no different than a casino’s responsibility to its patrons. Betting your life on hitting it big and expecting the prize to solve all your problems is a losing proposition for the vast majority of both casino patrons and fighters. The only one who consistently comes out ahead is the house—in this case, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, the majority owners of the UFC. Fighters have to be smart in using MMA as a platform for their own advancement rather than blindly believing that there is a plan to take care of them in the future.

The question now–is the UFC morally or socially obligated to pay for Chris Leben’s counseling? Offer him further advice to deal with his tax situation? Spring for rehab when stars need it like the WWE does? Is Leben entitled to financial assistance beyond the purses and bonuses he earned?

No matter what the UFC does, the organization has its back up against the wall: there are many more UFC fighters who will be retiring over the coming years, and the organization simply cannot address all of their personal or professional issues. As Nate Quarry has stated, the UFC is just a business that puts its own interests first and foremost.

Fighters have to be aware of what the current arrangement is, period.

“If you’re out there risking your body—your physical health—you’ve got to be compensated,” says Shamrock. “It’s got to be worth it to you and everybody else. And if it’s not, then don’t do it.

At the start of his career, one can imagine Chris Leben thought about winning the title and fulfilling the dream of standing on the top of the mountain, applause and accolades raining down. Now that his situation has changed for the worse, where is the light at the end of the tunnel?

“There’s no light in this industry because nobody has sparked it and maintained it,” says Shamrock. “There is a light in getting healthy personally.”

When the curtain falls, the performer must confront painful personal truths. Bright lights—dark shadows.

***

Brian J. D’Souza (@Thracian_Books) is the author of the recently published book Pound for Pound: The Modern Gladiators of Mixed Martial Arts. You can check out an excerpt right here

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Dana White on TRT Ban: ‘Couldn’t Wait for That Garbage to Go Away’

UFC President Dana White was quick to show his support for the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s motion to ban testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) in the state. He wrote via text message that he “couldn’t wait for that garbage to go away.”

Therape…

Therapeutic use exemption for TRT has been a hot-button issue in MMA for quite some time, and the motion to ban it in the great state of Nevada was unanimously approved by the NSAC. White stated very simply to MMAFighting.com, “We follow Nevada.”

The NSAC ban on TRT is effective immediately.

The UFC has now banned the use of TRT in instances where the UFC acts as the governing body. This was confirmed via a press release by the UFC:

The Ultimate Fighting Championship fully supports the decision made today by the Nevada State Athletic Commission regarding the immediate termination of therapeutic use exemptions (TUE) for testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). We believe our athletes should compete based on their natural abilities and on an even playing field. We also intend to honor this ruling in international markets where, due to a lack of governing bodies, the UFC oversees regulatory efforts for our live events. We encourage all athletic commissions to adopt this ruling.

It is still unknown if the UFC will ban TRT in states where the therapeutic use exemptions are still in effect.

The motion set forth by the NSAC is a big step in the right direction for the sport, and the UFC stands firmly behind their unanimous vote. White and company may be celebrating the vote, but they still have to enforce it in areas in which the organization is the governing body.

White has been a very vocal opponent of TRT. Now he has gotten his wish. It is banned in the fight capital of the world.

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MMA Industry Has Cause to Celebrate as Nevada, UFC Ban Testosterone Therapy

The testosterone replacement therapy era ended swiftly and unexpectedly on Thursday, with all the fireworks of a subdued but unanimous vote by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
As the first state regulatory body to ban TRT outright for combat sport…

The testosterone replacement therapy era ended swiftly and unexpectedly on Thursday, with all the fireworks of a subdued but unanimous vote by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

As the first state regulatory body to ban TRT outright for combat sports, the NSAC reaffirmed its position as the nation’s most influential and forward-thinking athletic commission. Minutes later, the UFC joined the party by announcing it will follow Nevada’s lead and disallow TRT at shows where it does its own oversight and drug testing.

And thus, the decisive blow was finally struck in what for years has been MMA’s most high-profile performance-enhancing-drugs crisis.

As former baseball play-by-play man Jack Buck might say: Go crazy, folks, go crazy.

Clearly, the sport’s battle with PEDs is far from over. There is still a marked need for better, more thorough overall testing, and it remains to be seen how quickly other states will join Nevada in banning TRT. Even still, this must be regarded as a great day for MMA and a huge step toward a cleaner industry.

TRT was listed second-to-last on the NSAC’s 27-item agenda on Thursday and observers expected its discussion would focus merely on the commission’s standard for approving therapeutic-use exemptions. Instead, in a whirlwind dialogue and vote, the body banned TRT use entirely.

In the moments that followed, MMA social-media circles exploded in excited relief. The sport’s long national nightmare, it seemed, was on the verge of a happy ending.

UFC officials attending the meeting left hastily without talking to reporters, but minutes later, company president Dana White—who’s waffled on TRT over the years—reportedly texted ESPN’s Brett Okamoto to say he fully supported the move.

“(I) couldn’t wait for that garbage to go away,” White told MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani a bit later, as the UFC released a statement urging other state athletic commissions to also ban TRT.

It was hard not to notice a subtle sense of irony on the day, as the NSAC voted to eliminate testosterone use at the same meeting where it approved the UFC’s request to hold a pay-per-view event at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 24.

It is thought that show will be UFC 173 and feature the middleweight title bout between Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort.

Belfort became the poster boy for TRT use during 2013, winning three straight fights via head-kick knockout while seeming to recapture the speed and fearsome power of his 19-year-old self.

As a fighter who’d been caught using steroids in Nevada in 2006, Belfort’s TRT usage raised suspicions among fans and media, especially when he claimed he couldn’t remember when he started the controversial treatment or the name of the doctor who recommended it.

It had been assumed that Belfort would apply for a TUE in Nevada leading up to his clash with Weidman. No word yet on what the 36-year-old “Phenom” will do now.

The NSAC vote was also notable because it came just two days after an ESPN Outside the Lines report indicated that the mainstream media had finally noticed MMA’s massive TRT-related black eye.

The collaboration of ESPN investigative reporter Mike Fish and longtime fight journalist Josh Gross was a painstakingly comprehensive look at TRT in MMA. While the report was likely an eye-opener for the uninitiated, for people already familiar with the story, it was simply the last nail in the TRT coffin.

In its wake, it was no longer possible to go on blathering about “normal” hormone levels or “hypogonadism” without looking like a fool.

Perhaps NSAC members read the series of stories before casting their historic vote. Perhaps not. Whatever the reason, kudos to the “fight capital of the world” for finally doing the right thing on behalf of clean fighters, dedicated fans and the good name of MMA as a whole.

This decision by the NSAC and UFC isn’t a magic elixir that will cure all (or even most) PED use in MMA. State commissions will conceivably need to work even harder now to catch drug cheats. Indeed, Nevada commission members admitted part of their reasoning for banning TRT was that they didn’t have the budget to track it properly.

Make no mistake, though, this is a leap in the right direction. As other major sports work feverishly to cleanse themselves of PEDs, MMA will no longer appear complicit in aiding and abetting those who take chemical-induced shortcuts.

The loophole is now closed and those MMA fighters who continue to look for a leg up from science will have to do it outside the rules.

That alone is cause for celebration.

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