Why Does the World Hate Dana White?

Let me state first, clearly, I am a HUGE MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fan. Anyone who claims to be a fan knows well who Dana White is. He is the president of the leading MMA organization: Ultimate Fighting Championship. Mixed martial arts has long been a victim of bad press and misinformation and no one knows this better than a man who has been in the forefront like Dana White. MMA was highly criticized in the early days by the likes of John McCain who led the charge to have UFC banned in all fifty states, he was fairly successful and by 1997 36 states had applied the ban. In the beginning MMA was touted as a "no holds barred," and "there are no rules!" type spectacle. Many fights were brutal and bloody mixing up various styles of combat from wrestling to boxing to Jiu-Jitsu. Following the machinations of John McCain UFC lost its television contracts and almost folded. Enter Dana White and the Fertitta brothers.

UFC was about to go under, they couldn't get their events televised even on Pay Per View and their popularity and fans were steadily disappearing. The time line is debated but around the time the Fertittas took over the New Jersey Athletics Commission was establishing rules for mixed martial arts fighting that it could live with. Once rules were established those who were nervous about showing MMA matches on their airwaves or allowing the UFC in their arenas began to relax. UFC's popularity began to grow and the new rules did nothing to hamper the excitement and athleticism of the bouts themselves. And out in front was always Dana White.

I'm not quite sure what people expect from Dana White. He is a former boxing promoter and carries with him the natural energy and cockiness that comes with that title. I don't know why any fan of MMA would want Dana White to be mealy mouthed and timid when many of the sports successes can be traced back to his aggression and sportsmanship. That in combination with the visionary idea of Fertittas to create the Ultimate Fighter reality show blew up the UFC beyond anyone's wildest expectations. It would seem that the resentment stems from the sport becoming popular. That's the only thing I can guess anyway.

Many fans balk at the comments Dana White makes regarding various fighters and up and coming organizations. In response to an article by Mark Kriegel one commenter offered: "Get off Dana White's lap kids" implying that somehow listening to Dana White's opinion is the equivalent of listening to fairy tales in your Grandad's lap. Just what do these "fans" of MMA expect Dana White to do? Promote a rival enterprise? Is he to take every venture by every company into the world of MMA seriously? After what we've seen over the last couple of years? Does anyone remember the horrible International Fight League fiasco? Started by some real estate developer there were "teams" that fought each other with ridiculous names. Razorbacks versus Pitbulls and Frank Shamrock mugging it up in the background. Whatever. What about the most recent embarrassment on Network t.v. no less by Kimbo Slice? Dana White is all of a sudden evil or stupid because he calls these bizarre attempts at competition what they are: retarded?

Okay, so Tito Ortiz is pissed off. Randy Couture is fed up. Everybody's got beef. My stand is that these issues stand separate from the work that Dana White has already done. Without Dana White and the Fertitta brothers there would be nothing for these crybabies to complain about. Should they have let MMA fade, as a sport, into obscurity to satisfy these "purists" and critics? Just what do these pitiful, yet vocal (and one would suspect virginal) yahoos want?

They evidently don't want a man who says what he thinks. They don't want a man who knows how to promote and garner media attention. They don't want an increase in MMA's popularity. In a phone interview with Y101 of Richmond, Virginia Dana states CLEARLY that it's not that doesn't want any competition for the UFC, Dana being a good businessman understand the necessity for competition, he just refuses to take ALL of these new organizations seriously. They come out of the chute screaming for UFC blood and then they just...fade away. The quality of their productions is downright cheese wheel in some cases. It's no wonder they fade as quickly as they pop up. Dana White is not the only person not tuning in or showing up for their events. The fans must be displeased with the other organizations as well otherwise they'd last and provide real competition for the UFC.

Perhaps his critics take issue with the fact that he doesn't seem to really give a damn what they say. They resent the fact that they blog day and night and comment negatively on every article written about him and call in anywhere they can to disparage him to anyone they can and he doesn't lose any sleep. They're mad that he doesn't get his feelings hurt. Utterly retarded.

UFC's popularity and Dana White's cockiness do not negate the fact that the man knows his stuff. Joe Rogan is often complained about when it's so obvious to anyone with minimal hearing ability that HE knows what he's talking about. Yet both men still have their detractors. Dana White has set up, arranged, worked his ass off for many of the spectacular bouts we see in the octagon on a regular basis and the more mainstream the UFC becomes the more the vocal minority crybabies whine. The popularity of the UFC is GOOD for the sport. You cannot be a fan of MMA and not want it to succeed and to a large extent that success lies in the continuing growth of the UFC.

I'm sorry but I'm with Dana. I refuse to acknowledge any organization that touts Kimbo Slice as the main event. It's utterly ridiculous. Dana White understands hype but he also understands B.S. and nonsense when he sees it. I'm reserving judgment on the t-shirt guy and his organization. I'm going to wait and see how they parlay Fedor Emilianenko's recent victory. I'm not impressed they can get Jenna Jameson to attend. Or Don Johnson.


"The Howard Stern Effect"
I'm starting to believe that the crybabies might actually be helping Dana and by extension the UFC. It is well known that at the height of the madness Howard Stern was listened to longer and more often by the people that HATED him than by his actual fans. All of these whiners are simply feeding the publicity monster that surrounds any organization that depends on viewership to succeed. So keep crying, suckers, you only make Dana White more recognizable and the UFC more popular.