Title: UFC's Dana White
Tags: ufc, dana white
Blog Entry: Resou rce: http: / / www. lvrj. com Just once, Dana White shoul d tell us what he reall y think s: " Tito is a ( exple tive) idiot . He's one of the dumbe st human being s I've ever met. Every thing that comes out of his mouth makes no sense . I put up with his ( exple tive) when he was a good fight er. He's not anymo re. " He's not in anybo dy's top 10. I have no inter est whats oever in being in the Tito Ortiz busin ess. ... I've never wante d to see anyon e get their ass kicke d worse than I want to see Tito get his kicke d. " Yeah. That will do. When it comes to the fight game, hype and reali ty are so inter mingl ed that it becom es impos sible to deter mine what side of the line anyon e is strad dling durin g a profa nity- laced answe r on a confe rence call. It's as hopel ess as guess ing the exact momen t this White - Ortiz feud began . Not to menti on as tedio us. That' s the point . Ortiz might be prepa ring for the final fight of his contr act at UFC 84 on Satur day at the MGM Grand ; might be this close to endin g a relat ionsh ip that helpe d make him a mixed marti al arts legen d while also aidin g the matur ation of the Ultim ate Fight ing Champ ionsh ip becom ing the world 's most power ful produ ct of its kind; might belie ve the oddsm akers are dense for favor ing Lyoto Machi da in their light heavy weigh t tussl e; and might dream about recei ving extra vagan t free- agent offer s after ward, but he is now like all other s who exist under White 's autho ritat ive thumb . Repla ceabl e. Capit alism is great if you have the juice to make it work. The whole idea about a syste m chara cteri zed by inves tment s and produ ction and prici ng of goods and servi ces being deter mined throu gh compe titio n in a free marke t. It's good stuff . It's also not that long a jump to dicta torsh ip, which is what happe ned with the growt h of UFC under the leade rship of its presi dent, who a frien d of mine fitti ngly descr ibed Wedne sday as "the white Don King who happe ns to be bald. " " Dana White is a compl ete monst er, a contr ollin g guy who wants his hands in every thing ," Ortiz said. " He's a bully . He has alway s been about the power . He wants every thing focus ed on him. UFC is a great compa ny. They just have a monst er runni ng it. " Two thing s were inevi table as UFC progr essed into this giant of a brand : Its bette r fight ers, its colle ctive faces of the sport , weren 't going to forev er accep t stric t restr ictio ns on their earni ng poten tial and possi ble oppon ents; and peopl e with more money than God were going to copy the model and form their own MMA compa nies. White doesn 't care about eithe r. Nor shoul d he. Like it. Detes t it. It's reali ty, the resul t of succe ss he helpe d const ruct. His compa ny can keep Randy Coutu re tied up in court proce eding s for years , or at least until the heavy weigh t champ ion is too old to fight his dream match up again st Fedor Emeli anenk o. White can cut fight ers quick er than you blink , which he has done more and more latel y. He can stage argua bly the best UFC card in histo ry Satur day and yet not sched ule the one parti cipan t to today 's news confe rence every media membe r wants to inter view, merel y becau se he knows Ortiz is apt to bash him and the compa ny. Stupi d? You bet. Short - sided ? Sure. Immat ure? Absol utely . Secon ds of sleep White will lose over it: zero. It's the same with this whole netwo rk telev ision angle . There might come a time when owner s Frank and Loren zo Ferti tta tell White to give in a bit and relin quish some power when negot iatin g with a CBS, but for now, you can bet many mains tream fans who happe n past the Elite XC show on May 31 will think they' re watch ing UFC. They will assum e new sensa tion Kimbo Slice is emplo yed by it. The same goes for any Affli ction or HDNet fight s. UFC is still the winds hield and all other s mere bugs on it for now. Ortiz was once a great fight er, a champ ion who made milli ons of dolla rs stand ing under the UFC umbre lla, a centr al figur e in the compa ny's histo ry and that of his sport . But he also speak s of being an astut e busin essma n. If so, he shoul d have reali zed where the road would ultim ately lead, that it has never been about fight ers. It has alway s been about the brand , and the whole idea of his resum e not earni ng the respe ct it deser ves means nothi ng to the guy he calls a monst er. Nor shoul d it. Busin ess. Repla ceabl e parts . Like it. Detes t it. It's reali ty. " It's time for me to forge t about Dana White , to move on after 11 years of build ing my legac y and helpi ng UFC becom e a house hold name, " Ortiz said. " It's time to show every one what I am worth . Dana can just go fly aroun d in his jet and act like a super star. He has alway s consi dered anyon e who speak s out as a threa t. That' s fine. I guess being a bully makes him feel bette r about himse lf. " My guess is he could n't care less.
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