Tag: Dana White

Mark Hunt Responds to Dana White: ‘I Have Never Turned Down a Fight’

Top 10 UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt is disputing the notion that he turned down a fight with former UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos. Shortly after UFC President Dana White said “The Super Samoan” wouldn’t fight JDS, Hunt went on Twitter to de…

Top 10 UFC heavyweight Mark Hunt is disputing the notion that he turned down a fight with former UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos. 

Shortly after UFC President Dana White said “The Super Samoan” wouldn’t fight JDS, Hunt went on Twitter to defend himself. 

 

Hunt then went on to say the only time he has ever declined a fight is when he was injured: 

 

While this makes sense given the fact that Hunt was all about a scrap with dos Santos as of Wednesday night, it begs the question: Why would White lie?

To further complicate the situation, the UFC’s head honcho tweeted last night that he had a phone conversation with Hunt: 

White did not provide any further updates as of Friday morning, but there appears to be some semblance of hope that this fan-friendly heavyweight scrap will go down after all. 

The former PRIDE star became a hot topic of conversation when Alistair Overeem, who was supposed to fight dos Santos at UFC 160, withdrew from the fight due to a slight quad tear. 

The K-1 level kickboxer has currently won four straight fights, including three knockouts, while dos Santos lost the heavyweight strap to Cain Velasquez at UFC 155 in December. 

Prior to the title loss, the Brazilian had won 10 matchups in a row, scoring seven KO’s along the way.

Hunt, fresh off of a stunning “Knockout of the Night” performance against Stefan Struve, could have the stand-up skills to provide a challenge for “Cigano’s” superior boxing game. 

Was White using public humiliation as a negotiating tool with Hunt or did he have an opponent besides dos Santos in mind all along? 

Hopefully the UFC will make a formal announcement before the end of the day.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Dana White or Don King; Who Is the Best Combat Sports Promoter Ever?

When the UFC was on the verge of extinction, Dana White talked the Fertitta brothers into buying the company based on the promise he saw inherent in such a dynamic and exciting sport.Since that time, he has fought tooth-and-nail to drag it out of the d…

When the UFC was on the verge of extinction, Dana White talked the Fertitta brothers into buying the company based on the promise he saw inherent in such a dynamic and exciting sport.

Since that time, he has fought tooth-and-nail to drag it out of the darkness and into the spotlight and now it stands as a legitimate rival to the only other real combative sport of note, boxing.

While White may have started off as nothing more than a man with a dream, content to let the sport speak for itself, he is now one of the top promoters in combative sport today.

But is he the best fight promoter ever?

The question is an obvious one, given the back-and-forth White has had with boxing promoters, specifically Bob Arum.

But if we are really going to pose the question, perhaps it is best to look at perhaps the biggest, most controversial boxing promoter in many years: Don King.

Of course, it’s hard to know where to begin with such a comparison; the “fight game” in the world of MMA is a drastically different thing simply because organizations rule the roost instead of the individual fighters.

Many would say that White is more company front man and manager rather than a fight promoter, and they have a point, to a degree.

But White is still in the business of selling fights, just like any boxing promoter.

To his credit, White has yet to lose a lawsuit brought by a fighter where Don King has been sued multiple times, although they were nearly all settled out of court.

So once we clear all the negatives from the table, we are left with their accomplishments, which are many.

White has turned the UFC (and by proxy the sport of MMA) into a legitimate sport with rules, regulations and a level of accountability no one thought would ever happen if they followed the sport from the early days.

Thus far, the UFC has had seven PPV events that sold over one million buys, with the highest being UFC 100, which did a staggering 1.6 million buys.

Don King has promoted some of the biggest gates in boxing history, but many of the biggest—Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman, Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks, Oscar De La Hoya vs. Felix Trinidad—would need to be adjusted for “inflation” in order to get an accurate number as to just how well they did in today’s market.

But if one thing is for certain, Don King has made more millionaires than White and the UFC. For the fight between Ali and Foreman, King secured the then-record purse of 10 million dollars, way back in 1974.

Since then, King has promoted just about every big name in boxing history, including men like Ali, Tyson, Larry Holmes, Roberto Duran, Evander Holyfield, Julio Cesar Chavez and countless others.

At the end of the day, it is impossible to tell who is the best promoter. King is now 81 years old and has been in the business for well over thirty years, while the UFC is in many aspects still in its infancy.

So perhaps the real question is the simplest: who has given us the most meaningful and desired fights in their respective sports?

The answer to that question is totally selective as each fan is different; I myself feel White is the better promoter as he makes the fights we need to see more often than not.

But one thing is for sure—both men have provided us with some dandy fights.

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Dana White: Mark Hunt Turned Down Junior Dos Santos Fight

Following the disappointing news Wednesday that Alistair Overeem would be pulling out of a pivotal heavyweight matchup with Junior dos Santos at UFC 160, many fans hoped they’d see JDS fight Mark Hunt instead. The fight made a lot of sense given “…

Following the disappointing news Wednesday that Alistair Overeem would be pulling out of a pivotal heavyweight matchup with Junior dos Santos at UFC 160, many fans hoped they’d see JDS fight Mark Hunt instead. 

The fight made a lot of sense given “The Reem’s” slightly torn quad muscle and Hunt’s four-fight winning streak, especially considering “The Super Samoan’s” highlight-reel knockout of Stefan Struve last week. 

However, when UFC president Dana White addressed a disgruntled fan on Twitter, he revealed the heavy-handed fan favorite actually turned down a potential slugfest with the former UFC heavyweight champ. 

This news is particularly shocking, as Wednesday night, Hunt told MMA Fighting he’d be happy to fight “Cigano” if given the opportunity.  “If I get the call for the fight, I’m there, of course, and the fans are crazy for it, so it ‘s good…Sounds like a pretty good idea to me. I’m not injured. I’m always down for a battle…I was born down. You know this.”

Following his UFC on FUEL 8 victory over Struve, Hunt is ranked No. 9 on the UFC’s official rankings.

Despite recently losing his belt to Cain Velasquez at UFC 155 in December, dos Santos is currently ranked No. 1.

White later clarified that he still plans on giving Hunt a Top 10 opponent next:

Could there have been some sort of miscommunication between White and Hunt, or was the PRIDE veteran truly all talk when it came to a match up with dos Santos?

For now, Hunt’s legion of rabid fans will have to wait at least one more fight before he steps into the cage with someone from the very upper echelon of the division. Any suggestions on who he should bang with next?

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

3 Reasons Georges St-Pierre Will Defeat Nick Diaz at UFC 158

Genuine animosity between opponents typically creates a captivating and enthralling fight. But when hostility boils over between a pair of polarizing figures like Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz, the notion of settlin…

Genuine animosity between opponents typically creates a captivating and enthralling fight.

But when hostility boils over between a pair of polarizing figures like Georges St-Pierre and Nick Diaz, the notion of settling the score becomes downright tantalizing.

The former Strikeforce champ began his verbal crusade against “GSP” after pummeling B.J. Penn to win his 11th straight fight at UFC 137. There, at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, Diaz used his linguistic talents to not only embarrass the longtime welterweight champion, but to bait St-Pierre into eventually accepting the most significant fight of his career.

The ploy worked marvelously for Diaz, and following GSP’s win over Carlos Condit at UFC 154, “Rush” announced his desire to put “The Stockton Bad Boy” in his place.

When the dust settled, both fighters were granted their respective wishes. And although Diaz certainly appears more than willing to talk a strong game, it seems like a long shot that he possesses the ingredients to knock off GSP, a man who hasn’t tasted defeat since being finished by Matt Serra at UFC 69 in 2007.

Here’s a look at three reasons St-Pierre, deemed a 5-to-1 favorite (-500) by Bodog.net, will defeat Diaz to defend his welterweight strap for the ninth straight time.

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10 Least Consistent Fighters in the UFC

Finding any semblance of rhythm or consistency within the realm of the UFC can prove an arduous task. Every time a contender moves a step up the ladder, that fighter must immediately prepare to up the ante in ter…

Finding any semblance of rhythm or consistency within the realm of the UFC can prove an arduous task. Every time a contender moves a step up the ladder, that fighter must immediately prepare to up the ante in terms of their level of competition.

In rare cases, top-tier fighters like Anderson Silva, Jon Jones and Georges St-Pierre perpetually evolve in order to rise to the occasion and meet their obstacles.

But not all of the UFC’s 376 signed fighters can lock horns with the world’s best scrappers bout after bout and maintain their job security.

Each of the 10 fighters who landed on this list have routinely experienced euphoric highs and demoralizing lows, sometimes in immediate succession.

Here’s a glimpse at the 10 most inconsistent fighters in the UFC.

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Fox Sports One Features New UFC Fight Night Series, UFC Tonight and Much More

An announcement was made Tuesday that FOX Sports 1 will debut this August as the network converts Speed TV into a new all-sports broadcast with a heavy UFC presence. FOX Sports 1 (FS1) will likely serve as the network’s answer to broadcast rivals ESPN,…

An announcement was made Tuesday that FOX Sports 1 will debut this August as the network converts Speed TV into a new all-sports broadcast with a heavy UFC presence.

FOX Sports 1 (FS1) will likely serve as the network’s answer to broadcast rivals ESPN, featuring many of the sports in their original programming line-up, including NASCAR, college football, professional baseball and many UFC shows.

The UFC will debut a new Fight Night series similar to their UFC on FX and UFC on Fuel broadcasts that will typically air on Wednesday nights from 8 to 11 p.m. ET.

According to the release from FOX, UFC Fight Night will kick off on Saturday, August 17 during the network’s debut week and then the series moves to Wednesday nights.  Sports Illustrated reporter Richard Deitsch was at the press conference held by FOX and provided additional details about the new UFC Fight Night schedule on FS1.

The new network will also become the home of UFC Tonight, a weekly magazine show featuring hosts Kenny Florian and Chael Sonnen that will move to FS1 from its current home on Fuel TV.

FOX Sports 1 will also be the new home for UFC on FOX and UFC pay-per-view preliminary fight broadcasts that currently air on FX.

Fourteen UFC pay-per-view preliminary shows along with the UFC on FOX preliminary fights are expected to air on the new channel starting later this year.

FOX Sports One will also carry numerous past fights and the UFC library, which contains hundreds of hours of footage and events.

One question that still remains for the new FS1 deal is the future of the The Ultimate Fighter reality show.  The UFC will be moving much of their live programming to Wednesday nights, while UFC on FOX and UFC pay-per-views will stay on Saturday.  The Ultimate Fighter currently airs on FX on Tuesday nights, but it’s unknown at this time if the reality show will remain on FX or shift to the FS1 channel.

UFC officials said there will be more information available at a future time regarding The Ultimate Fighter when responding to Bleacher Report on Tuesday.

FOX Sports 1 will surely be in the reality show business, however, as they are developing a new series around former boxing heavyweight champion Mike Tyson titled Being Mike Tyson, and will at some point likely feature a cameo from UFC president Dana White, who recently mentioned agreeing to appear on the show.

More details about the UFC’s involvement with FS1 will continue to develop over the next few months as well as the promotion’s place on a planned FOX Sports 2 channel that will take over for Fuel TV.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com