Dana says: “No Way Jose”

Dana White has never been one to pass up a good (or profitable) opportunity. He certainly has a knack for giving the rabid MMA fan tons to drool over. TUF Show, classic matchups and the comebacks of Randy Couture and Royce Gracie we’re without a doubt huge successes for his company, and the industry as a whole.

Nope, Nahhh, Negatory

Recent events have forced White to make news for another reason, for saying no. He’s made public rejections on at least 3 occasions in the past 2 weeks, regarding a motley crew of individuals from the fight world: future UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell, boxing legend Roy Jones Jr., and T-shirt mogul (and sometimes promoter / fighter) Tom Atencio.

Chuck was the first subject of Dana’s denial. At the press conference after his TKO loss to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Liddell stated he was unsure about the future of his career, and needed to think about it over some beers…fair enough. The Prez however, thought otherwise, and put a pick in the Iceman’s career, for various reasons. White and Liddell go way back, and he obviously doesn’t want his friend to go too long and get hurt. The benevolent boss caring for the health and safety of his employee — thats more than can be said for most companies out there. The forced retirement caused controversy with Liddell’s trainer John Hackleman, provoking a response that Chuck may still have some fighting left in him. We shall see what the future holds, but are predicting at least one more Iceman appearance, because if it makes enough dollars, it makes enough sense.

There have been rumblings for months between MMA pound-for-pound king Anderson Silva, and serial champ killer Roy Jones Jr. Originally it was Anderson Silva who called out Jones, saying he wanted to pursue boxing after the end of his current UFC contract. Jones seemed to welcome the challenge, but not much more than banter became of the talk, as the earliest date of said event would be well into the future. Then last week on Sports Illustrated, the boxer Roy Jones Jr. said he would be willing to face the Spider in the cage. Great right!?!?! Wrong. Dana nixed the deal stating it wouldn’t be good for MMA. We’re thinking it would be HUGE. Perhaps Dana figures it would be more work than it would be worth at this point, but hopefully he doesn’t stand in the way of these two in the future if they want to pursue the fight. The matchup would definitely be more interesting than Brock Lesnar vs. anybody, and its proving more and more difficult to get Silva motivated to perform.

The most obvious, and ridiculous offer Dana White didn’t entertain happened this week when Affliction owner Tom Atencio formally challenged Dana to a fight…not kidding. Atencio is 1-0 and currently training for his second pro fight later this month. White laughed off the idea, calling his rival a “goof” among other things. There is obviously more to lose for Dana, but that may be nullified if he had rights to the footage. That way he could blast it if he won, or edit it (Contender-style) if he didn’t. We definitely won’t see these two fight in a cage, and is most likely just a failed publicity stunt on behalf of the “T-shirt guy”; but one can dream of a time when rival promoters stop counter-broadcasting one another and settle their beefs with a good old fashioned brawl.”

View KurtBuger's Profile      Subscribe via RSS