In a wide-ranging interview on ESPN's Jim Rome Is Burning, UFC President Dana White talked about why Kimbo Slice is in the UFC, why Fedor Emelianenko could still end up in the Octagon and why Herschel Walker never will -- and he said a fight between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida could happen in 2010.
Although Silva and Machida are friends who say they won't fight each other, White reiterated when pressed by Jim Rome that he thinks a Silva vs. Machida light heavyweight mega-fight could be close to happening.
"Anderson Silva is two fights away from cleaning out his entire division, and he's had two fights at 205 pounds where he's looked absolutely phenomenal -- he's actually looked better at 205 than he did at 185," White said. "I think we're probably a couple fights away from a mega-fight like that."
What White didn't say is how he'll be able to persuade Silva and Machida to fight each other when both of them say they'll never do so. But he sounds as adamant as ever that it's a fight he wants to see, and a fight he'll be able to make if Silva and Machida both keep winning.Other comments from White's Jim Rome is Burning appearance included:
On network television: "I think a network deal would help us, it would take us to another level, but I'm in no hurry. When the right deal comes, I'll take it. ... We will end up being on network television."
On Rampage Jackson: "We're both mad, but the reality is he made a commitment. Now he's saying 'Dana talked me into being on The Ultimate Fighter.' He's right. I did talk him into coaching on The Ultimate Fighter. But he expected, and at the end of the show you're supposed to fight. He's supposed to fight now and he's not keeping his end of the deal. I'm upset about it."
On Kimbo: "The one thing about Kimbo that I really respect is this guy could have done a million different freak show things. ... He probably could have made a lot more money up front, but this guy came on The Ultimate Fighter, took my challenge, and is legitimately trying to become a mixed martial artist."
On Strikeforce signing Herschel Walker, who said he'd like to fight White: "Do I want to fight Herschel Walker? No. I don't want to fight Herschel Walker. ... He has no business fighting. ... For CBS to be putting on some type of freak show, that's where I don't want this sport to go."
On Fedor: "Fedor's not afraid to come over and fight or do any of that stuff. He's got nutty managers. These guys are from Russia, coming to America trying to strong-arm us into some deal we won't want to do. Go do that to the butcher down the street in Russia. It doesn't work over here in the United States. If this guy wants to come put himself up against the best in the world he'll eventually make it to the UFC."
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Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ridiculous
just like you were so sure you were gonna sign fedor too huh dana?? and herschel's too old?? yeah, what about the freak show you were trying to sell us for another $45 to see tito vs coleman?? huh dana?? you're boy was so old he couldn't even get thru a training camp. and garaunteed that would have been a boooring decision fight with 2 old guys trying to hold eachother tighter than you hold your piggy bank when u sleep at night, scumbag.
i'd take a healthy, well conditioned herschel fighting for a good cause on showtime anyday over tito vs coleman.
did you really think you were gonna continue doing 1 million + buys after ufc 100?? obviously... you were so sure of it you even said floyd wasn't a superstar and no one wants to see him fight and that you'd do more ppv's than him... HAHAHAHA loser, he smoked you like a fat one by himself. what did he do?? 3-4 times the ppv's. maybe more.
and really you think anderson and lyoto are as greedy as you are when it comes to money. i hope they never fight eachother and you're left standing there with ur foot up ur a$$ once again. there's something in the martial arts that has to do with morals and honor. clearly dana wasn't around when sensai gave that discussion. whatever. dana sucks. here, i'll tell it dana style...
dana white sucks, he's disgusting for mma. he's a joke and he's not a superstar. no one cares about him and brock lesnar is on steroids and he's not a martial artist and he's bad for the sport and ufc sucks and gsp is a cheater and is probably just finishing another steroid cycle and carlos conduit sucks and couldn't even beat 3 no name fighters and dana is still gonna promote him as a contender. i can go on and on about what a scumbag dana is.
piprock up in dis biotch.
words from a true jerkoff ,,amen
pippy,
i gotta tell you, you are just so cool.
up in dis biotch, so clever, so mature and so very original, wow!
lyoto and sylva not greedy? if that's what you call it.
and when they agree to fight each other, what then?
you're just jealous of the success of others.
smoke dat biotch!
Dana White's comments in regards to Kimbo I'm surprised he could make and keep a straight face and the fact he keeps referring to a great athlete and more importantly great human being like Herschel Walker as a freak show is what is truly embarrassing.
Once people finally grow tired if his well worn out act Dana White will go back to the hole he crawled out from. His out of control ego and obnoxious personality may have started with the Ultimate Fighter, but it really came out in full bloom after the UFC bought out Pride FC, and open minded MMA fans have suffered listening to his utter non sense ever since.
wow! all this open mindness of mma fans sure sounds pretty closed minded and forgetful to me.
all you dana haters, just want to hurl barbs at the air, as if dana and company has done nothing good for the sport and while i agree with some of your points, i still will respect dana for his accomplishments, and how basically the ufc has made mma relevant to the mainstream.
i agree, i think dana is being stupid when he is bashing herschal, even though i agree that to promote herschal is a joke, too.
and believe me when i tell you, don't get me started on kimbo.....
i can't stand that dana is trying to shovel sh!t down our throats with this one.
kimbo will never be a credible mma fighter, period.
as i have said before i personally know people that he has trained with and they flat out tell me, kimbo has no gumption or desire for learning any sort of ground game.
so yes, if people are stupid enough to buy into that crap, so be it. as john garfield would say "suckers!".
but, there is one last thing all you dana haters seem to forget.....DANA IS A FIGHT PROMOTER.
that is his job, to promote his fights.
he has done fantastic at it.
i'm sure if all of you dana haters were in his shoes, you would never say anything stupid.
Neo,
I like the double standard of saying you don't know if Dana is a scumbag because you never met him personally yet you say that the guys from M-1 are scumbags even though you've obviously never met them either.
As for Kimbo - I like the guy a he'll of a lot more than a lot of other fighters because he is humble and personable. The only thing Dana had against Kiimbo is that he wasn't making money off him before. Same with Fedor - if he was in the UFC Dana would be saying he is one of the best ever.
I'm happy for Rampage because he isn't going to be talked down to or treated like crap anymore. He has so much personality that he can make it in whatever business he sets his mind to.
Dana IS a scumbag and always will be. He is petty, spiteful, vindictive and two faced. I wouldn't be sad if he were never involved in MMA again.
johnny, where ya been.
its kinda more lonely with out you around to make me look at things differently.
the last post you did was kind of a hit-n-run on me, i replied and explained myself and that was like 2 weeks ago.
now back to our present points----
- dana, has never done anything so far as for me to classify him as a scumbag. now thats just me.
i know alot of people hate him, i just don't see the validity of their points for the most part.
i totally detest the whole kimbo thing, but to me, it's all just a sales job.
as you know, for the most part, i am all about credibility and for the most part the ufc seems...i repeat..seems to have the most credibility. and that is why i detest this whole kimbo angle/sales job/whatever, because the fact is, their is no mma credibility there.
as far as kimbo goes it is all entertainment.
and yes, you are right there have been times where dana has come across as petty, vindictive, etc...
but his product overall,has always been credible, even if i didn't like it.
now, if i ever met him personally i might see things up close and real and i could very easily see myself thinking that he is just a phony d@ckhead. but meeting him will probably never happen, so i have to judge on what i see.
i like his honest brashness and not trying to hide his vulgar(language), it comes across as real to me.
i've always liked vince mcmahon and to me dana is a seemingly more approachable emulation of vince.
now, back to m-1....
you know full well why i don't like them or trust them. and everything i've said in the past about them has proven to be totally accurate.
me thinking they are scumbags has nothing to do, with whether i would change my mind if i met them, on that point.
as far as mma goes, they are scumbags.
me meeting them would have nothing to do to change my mind on that.
me potentially meeting dana might shed light on whether he is a scumbag.
i might meet the m-1 guys and think they are the nicest guys in the world, it doesn't mean i would then understand their business practices and accept that as credible.
lastly, as far as rampage goes, the dude is awesome, i've never argued that he doesn't personality. page has the most camera magnatism in mma.
he was my favorite fighter when he was in pride.
not so much now.
back in pride, when he said, "vanderlai kicked my ass!" i thought that was the greatest, especially the way he said it. forrest is the only fighter since then that has been that self depricating and honest.
anyways, it's much more fun with you to bounce against.
did any of this make any sense?
I've been lurking more than anything and really haven't been visting the site as much in the last month or so ... anyway. I can see your point and you are certainly entitled to that point but at the same time I wanted to point out the hypocrisy in the statement.
My two favorite fighters in all of MMA are BJ Penn and Rampage Jackson. So, trust me that I would absolutely love to see Rampage fight Rashad and eventually a rematch with Shogun Rua before he retires. I blame Dana because he treats these guys like they are cattle and as soon as they stand up for themselves he throws them to the butcher. Rampage stepped up and did a lot for Dana and for him to call him out in public like that and embarras him just reinforces my feelings that Dana has become (in his own mind) bigger than the organization, the fighters and the sport itself. I was very critical of Lestard when he acted out after the fights with Herring and Mir so with that said Dana White is the exact opposite of what the sport and the fighters represent. I respect his accomplishments and what he has done for the UFC but as a person I have very little respect for him because he doesn't treat people with respect himself.
As for Kimbo - The guy is late to the MMA game and he seems to be trying his best to prove himself as an MMA fighter. I respect the hell out of that and just by coming on the Ultimate Fighter instead of doing something else that could of made him a lot more money proves that his heart is in the right place. I have nothing against him personally and I think that if he really keeps trying to improve himself and doesn't get a big head and think he is the man like when he was in EXC that he has potential to win some fights. He has some of the best hands in the HW division and the power to knock out anyone but he needs to become competent on the ground otherwise he is one dimensional. So, I think you are being a little unfair to Kimbo. Kimbo is trying to do the right thing and prove himself as an MMA fighter. I'm not comparing him in terms of skill set but look how GSP has transformed from basically a kick boxer to a full fledged wrestler. It doesn't mean that Kimbo will turn into a wrestler but he can become competent with training because he has as much athletic ability as anyone ... he did play college football at the U after all.
johnny,
no real quipe on the page front, i agree with some of those points. although, personally, i think he should have or should still honor his committment to fight rashad. actually, this sort of reminds me of a work by both him and dana.
as i think this is just drama and he will be back in fold soon as the movie is done.
back to kimbo,
you are under the false impression that he is indeed trying to improve himself as an mma fighter.
unfortunately, it is indeed a false impression.
the ufc hype machine is pumping that image out. (god is this a role reversal for us)
but, like i've said before, i personally know people that have trained with kimbo and flat out tell me, "kimbo has no real desire to do ground work", this statement has proven to be factual.
supposedly, he has been working with liborio at att well before tuf......do you see any growth in his ground game?
i've got nothing against kimbo, you're right he comes across as kind of humble, etc...
and i'm not saying that he is not, it's just what the hype machine is selling on his so called new found mma desire doesn't hold water. so that makes me leery to believe, how truly humble and down to earth he is.
after all, one the things you can pick up through fat boy big country's comments are that kimbo is given special privileges. well, if he so humble and nice why is allowing himself to be treated differently, where is the integrity? how come they let his posse come to his work outs and fights.
that would bug me too, if i was a contestant.
i could care less one way or the other on whether kimbo capitalizes and makes as much money as he can.......bottom line and fact is he will never be a credible mma fighter.
the dude is completely lost on the ground.
if and i repeat if, he ever shows any growth in that area, i'll be the first to give him the credit.
last point, followed with a rhetorical question-
remember where the hype machine shows fatty boy country saying how impressed he was with kimbo, that kimbo was asking, "how do i get out of that crucifix you had me in?"
this is all part of the sales job, trying to get kimbo over, to make you think that he is really trying to learn...bullsh#t!
who do you think has more knowledge as far as ground skills go, fatty boy nelson or libirio from att?
Bas Rutten himself has said that Kimbo had a very good work ethic and tried very hard and was willing to learn ... up until his last fight that was supposed to be against Shamrock. You can't just pick wrestling up in a few weeks or months ... it's going to take years which is why you often hear people say that wrestling is one of the better MMA bases to start from. I disagree with that as a martial artist myself and I feel technical striking and be a real traditional martial artist is the best place to start ... like an Anderson Silva or Machida. But I digress ...
The whole thing with Rampage is he was going to honor his MMA commitment but he asked Dana to push the fight back until after the New Year and Dana wouldn't budge. Now reports are coming out that Rampage has been offered additional movie roles so it's possible he will never fight in MMA again which makes me sad because I still believe he is one of the best if not the best LHW's in the world short of maybe Machida, Shogun and Mousasi and those are all toss up fights IMO.
You could be right that the Kimbo thing is part of the UFC hype machine and hustle and it's a great point to make. I see him trying to learn and do his thing and as I said he could of went and done K-1 or entertainment wrestling in Japan and made way way way more money with less risk than going on the ultimate fighter. That alone tells me that the guy has his heart in the right place.
Talent wise no one can argue that Kimbo is one of the top fighters in MMA but one could argue that he may in fact be the most well known athlete in all of MMA and his ratings on EXC & TUF would certainly indicate thats the point.
Only time will tell but much like I feel Lesnar got in MMA for all the right reasons by turning down big money I also feel (maybe wrongly so) that Kimbo wants to become a legitimate MMA fighter.
Good points though and I guess only time will tell.
I am sorry but the best should fight the best. There should be no such thing as not fighting your friend. If they where both wrestlers would they not wrestle eachother. If the played basketball would they not play basketball against eachother. Man they are making money and endorsements. We pay for those endorsements. So we should be able to see them fight.
yeah, don't act like i hated on dana cause i'm a hater. i used to be
ALL about dana, how he's the best president of any sport and would've
have defended almost anything he did.
until ufc 94
then things started to change
don't act like i'm being unreasonable with my views. and
unrealistic. i've been subscribing to the ufc since ufc 1. i've
paid for plenty ppv's over the years. i know what i'm talking about.
i told all my freinds that ufc was the future and how great dana was.
and you agree on everything i'm saying, just leave it at that. it
took hitler some time to develop into a pyscho with a huge army
behind him. dana's headed there. i can say what i want. this is
dispicable behavior from someone i truly idolized. he's not the same
person who i looked up to for awarding griffin and bonnar a contract.
he's the scum now who changes all the rules for one person. i knew
kimbo wouldn't win the show and would still get the contract. but i
honestly didn't think it would happen so fast. he's beaten all my
worst expectations of how low he's willing to go.
i will always give dana the credit he deserves. but it goes both
ways. he did not invent the sport. it's not his sport to try so
hard to put a patent on. he chose to become this villain. now he
has to face it.
eh heh the hitler comment is a stretch. but he's headed straight for wwf showbiz crap. he gets no more credit buddy. he brought it up, and fouled it up pretty good. if you're still gonna give him the credit, and excuse his actions, then you're being a little too forgiving my friend.
i tell it for real.
not dana's so called 'i tell it how it is'
he's a liar. that's what he's become. he is what he is. he took the power and has become the new dana white. a scumbag. another year or two and you'll understand a little better i think. it's completely unacceptable.
dude, you totally took me by surprise with your reply.....it was well thought out and pretty accurately revealing.
seriously, awesome come back.
look, my guard is definately up in regards to what dana says and what he is trying to sell.
like i said earlier, i hate the whole kimbo sales job.
but, again, that is dana's job......to try to make money and capitalize on given circumstances.
i personally, can't put dana in the scumbag catagory....maybe he is, i don't know him personally.
but, i do agree with him on alot of other issues.
i agree with him on rampage and especially on m-1 being unreasonable.
if you've read any of my previous posts regarding m-1 you'll know that i truly detest m-1.
and i think they are the scum of mma.
remember, it's m-1 i detest, not strikeforce.
however, they've got to watch themselves cause you know the old saying...you lie with dogs...blah blah.
they have proven to be the ones that are true liars.
anyways, as a poster named "plato" once said to me...i will paraphrase the same to you....
rock on, pipster.
neo, ask john fitch what the defination of scumbag is.
rich,
if fitch thinks dana is such scum,
i don't see him running out the door and down the street to sf.
i mean, wasn't his contract up?
didn't he decide to stay with the ufc?
isn't that how all this came to light?
seriously, correct me if i'm wrong here..
i may just be mis-informed.
neo, i dont see him at all, and he was just fighting for thr title
neo,
alright, first i just wanna say that before when kimbo was in elite xc, i was totally defending the move cause he has a chance to ko anyone with one good combination and that's entertaining and especially on network, i was all about it.
now the thing i have against the whole ufc/kimbo thing is only the trash dana talked and how quick he was to change his mind. we've been talkin about it for weeks, everyone knows blah blah blah. bottom line... that is not credible behavior my friend. i just wanna comment on that. i'm not tryin to fight, just debate. there's nothing credible anymore about the ufc. nothing credible about setting up fights that aren't the right fights just so they can set up more fights and more fights, each one to bring in another $45. that's not credible.
example: exactly rampage losing his belt to griffin, then having to go thru tuf to fight rashad just to get another title shot. there's nothing credible there. rampage has much much more credible fights to his name than rashad or griffin. rashad has a ko against chuck?? so what?? he threw an overhand right with his eyes closed and who hasn't ko'd chuck lately??
griffin never did much to impress me, period.
there's a ton more scripted well thought out unneccessary fights that have taken place for the sole purpose of setting up more ppv shows. that's not credible at all. each one cashing in at a whopping $45. it's getting to be a way too expensive hobby keeping up with dana's soapbox mma show that usually turns out a night of sucky fights.
paying to see tito fight now is ridiculous. that sh*t should be free. he wasn't ever that fun to watch. frank shamrock submitted him ages ago while being outweighed by almost 20 pounds. he just holds people against the cage, it's not artistic, griffin isn't artistic, nor is a too old mark coleman. it's bs.
this is gonna continue for as long as people are willing to pony up the dough to keep his show rolling. and most of the new 'mainstream' fans think they're getting the best. this isn't the best. i watch the best fights in mma and they're in all different org's, in rings, cages. fights are fights. i'd rather see hungry fighter's, then ufc fighter's who fight nervous and scared to lose.
neo, pips right. the ufc has great hype for good fights; what we need are more great fights. the ufc always puts on fights for money, not fans.