Dana White Thinks a Lot of UFC Main Eventers Are Nobodies

Yes, my headline is hyperbole. I'm trying to match the hyperbolic rhetoric of UFC President Dana White.

White has a fair point when he says that if Fedor Emelianenko wants to prove he's the best fighter in mixed martial arts, the best place to do that is in the UFC. That's a point White frequently makes, and a point White made again in an appearance on Versus' The Daily Line. But he's overstating his point to the level of pure silliness when he says Fedor "hasn't fought anybody since the late '90s."

First of all, as Ariel Helwani pointed out at Versus, Fedor made his MMA debut in 2000. But the logical extension of White's claim that Fedor hasn't fought anybody is that everybody Fedor has fought is a nobody. And that doesn't speak well for a lot of the main events that White has sold through the years.

By my count, the list of guys Fedor has beaten in the last decade includes seven fighters whom White has promoted in the main event of UFC pay-per-views: Andrei Arlovski, Vitor Belfort, Mark Coleman, Matt Lindland, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Babalu Sobral and Tim Sylvia. I don't recall White calling any of those fighters nobodies when he was promoting those fights.



White also reiterated his frequent claim that UFC fighters, unlike Fedor, "consistently fight the best, three times a year." In reality, as I've previously pointed out, UFC heavyweights don't fight any more often than Fedor does.

Fedor's next fight is on June 26 against Fabricio Werdum, and where I agree completely with White is when he lists the UFC fighters who would give Fedor a tougher test than Werdum would: White names Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Frank Mir and Junior dos Santos. I think he's right. I'd rather see Fedor fight any of those four than see him fight Werdum.

But the fact that White has a good point about the guys Fedor should be fighting is why it's so odd that he feels the need to go so far over the top in disparaging Fedor's record. The truth is, Fedor has fought many of the sport's greatest fighters, including several who have been among the best in the UFC.
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