Issue 025

May 2007

By James Hoy, portrait by Percy Dean

“PRIDE is in big trouble, Bodog is run by a criminal, EliteXC is a cynical move by a boxing promoter who jumped ship and the IFL sucks!” 

Notoriously outspoken, Dana White is not prepared to let the UFC’s domination of the market slip anytime soon – and he had a clear message for those currently eyeing up the UFC’s crown as king of the US MMA organisations. “I don’t think there is anyone even close to us at the moment.”

New British rivals Cage Rage, who’s appropriately titled event Judgement Day is pitted directly against UFC 70 on April 21, were told there was room for the two promotions to exist in the U.K but were warned: “The biggest mistake Cage Rage could ever make is to try and outgun us. They won’t.”

Speaking at the press conference for UFC 70, the vocal UFC president said the only real competition he faced was PRIDE FC – but even then he had signed up their top guys, and he was far from finished. With that he announced the latest catch; heavyweight star and Cro Cop’s former BJJ coach, Fabricio Werdum. At the time of going to press the deal was still being finalised but it is expected he would fight Andrei Arlovski in Manchester.

The IFL also bore the brunt of White’s barely concealed contempt: “The IFL sucks – they can’t even sell 500 tickets in the U.S. I’m not worried about them, believe me.” 

Dana also claimed that the businessmen behind the International Fight League were riding off the success of the UFC – at one point the IFL’s stock was worth $12 a piece – and that they thought they could make some money because of the work his organisation had put in over the six years he has been in charge. 

White was none too impressed with the long-time boxing promoter Gary Shaw’s attempt at an MMA event; EliteXC’s. He said the production was of the last event was “horrible” and had a few words to say about the main event too. “They were promoting it as the two guys who launched mixed martial arts – that’s bullshit. It was Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie, not Frank Shamrock and Renzo Gracie.”

He also called into question the legitimacy of the controversial finale in which Shamrock was disqualified for illegal knee strikes. “When I heard about it I thought Renzo must have shot in and Shamrock was firing knees to the back of his head. The knees that I saw were questionable. I don’t know if they planned it to happen or whatever.” 

White also had a few words to say about Shaw, who heads up EliteXC. “We bought the UFC six years ago – this thing [MMA] was dead, nobody wanted to touch it with a ten-foot-pole. Guys like Gary Shaw were laughing at us. Now the money in boxing has dried up in the U.S and guess what – they are all moving into MMA. The ship is sinking and now they are jumping over to the MMA boat.” 

White happily divulged that he based the way the UFC operates by using boxing as a model of what not to do. “The guys are that are jumping into MMA are the guys who killed boxing. I’m not worried at all.” 

And as for BodogFight – well let’s just say Dana has not got much time for the man described as the ‘creative driving force’ behind the promotion, Calvin Ayre:  “You know your dealing with a real dick when someone refers to themselves as ‘billionaire’ Calvin Ayre.” Referring to Ayre’s repeated evasion of US taxes and shaky legal status thanks to his online gambling empire, he said “That guy is a criminal; he can’t step in this country without getting arrested.”   

White called the BodogFight St Petersburg headline match-up between Matt Lindland and Fedor ‘stupid’ due to the weight difference, and said he was determined to get the Russian over to the UFC at some point in the future. 

Dana will face more competition when he moves the UFC out into the rest of the world – and it seems his choice of date for the UK event is a direct challenge to the largest British MMA promotion, Cage Rage. The Brits have answered back by revealing Bob ‘The Beast’ Sapp will debut on the 21^s.  According to the UFC president, he didn’t even think about Cage Rage when setting a date: “Cage Rage is not even on my radar. I am in no way shape or form coming over here to crush Cage Rage. And I think these guys will find out I can make them more money.”

It remains to be seen whether Cage Rage will try to fight off the international juggernaut that is the UFC, or if they become one of a group of promotions that feeds it with new talent – which from the sounds of things is the way Dana wants things to go. Whatever their intentions, the UFC outlined they were here to stay, and UK MMA better learn to live with it.