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Fox Sports: "Zach Arnold's Fight Opinion site is one of the best spots on the Web for thought-provoking MMA pieces."

« | Home | »

Friday flame wars: Barnett vs. White

By Zach Arnold | August 31, 2007

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“And he’s like, he’s more part of the UFC than part of Yahoo.”Oliver Copp talking about Kevin Iole, F4W Daily show, 8/31/2007. More information on Oliver here. Copp also said on the radio show that Dana White has heavy influence on the music that fighters use for entrances to the cage.

The Texas DLR is now doing random drug testing at this weekend’s Art of War event in Dallas. However, note the reason given for the TDLR doing the random testing…

Josh Barnett responds to Dana White’s latest comments. He also responded in audio form on Fight Network Radio Thursday.

Pat Miletich talks about Matt Hughes leaving MFS to start his own gym.

Jeff Monson was on Fight Network Radio on Thursday to elaborate further on his comments about steroids in MMA (audio here).

Quinton Jackson talks to the AP.

A new independent movie is coming out called The Cage.

Onto today’s headlines.

  1. Irish Whip Fighting: UFC balance of power regains normalcy
  2. Fox Sports (Dave Meltzer): Henderson, Jackson spoil UFC’s plan
  3. Fightlinker: Who’s next for Randy Couture?
  4. Dave Doyle: Yahoo Sports MMA Top 10: Couture, GSP makes moves
  5. Komikazee: Pictures from Art of War media session
  6. MMA Weekly: Dean Lister joins Xtreme Couture gym
  7. Xtreme Couture: Tim Sylvia visits the gym in Las Vegas
  8. The City Journal: It’s Dark and Hell is Hot – ultimate fighting may be on its way to New York
  9. Yahoo Sports (Kevin Iole): Pedro Rizzo wants to show there’s gas left in the tank
  10. Sports 911: Interview with Kelly Kobold
  11. Crave Online: Pound for pound – Renato Babalu
  12. The Richmond Times-Dispatch (VA): Always ready for a fight – Rick McCoy getting a kick, and a punch, out of competition
  13. Sportsnet (Canada): Michael Bisping headlining at home
  14. UFC Junkie: An interview with Terry Martin
  15. The Port Arthur News (TX): Patrick Head – Jiu-Jitsu teaches art of the fight
  16. The Rochester Post-Bulletin (MN): Travis Wiuff to fight in Las Vegas this weekend
  17. The Associated Press: North Carolina Governor Mike Easley signs MMA legislation bill
  18. KETV (Omaha, NE): Houston Alexander heads to England
  19. MSNBC: International intrigue at MMA’s “Art of War 3”
  20. MMA Analyst: Babalu’s meltdown – harsh punishment or what he deserved?
  21. The Lafayette Daily Advertiser (LA): Acadiana fans contribute to sport’s soaring appeal (read the comments by Scott Dawson, claiming there were no rules in MMA)

Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

30 Responses to “Friday flame wars: Barnett vs. White”

  1. Fluyid says:

    Random testing in Texas due to something that happened in Connecticut?

    I wonder if Jeff Monson will be “randomly” tested?

  2. mmaguru says:

    zach, i have loved this site for years and normally after a days work this is the first site i visit but man this anti- dana, zuffa thing you have going on here is out of control dude and just plain sickening. every article every paragraph is dana, dana, dana. its really hurting the site bigtime.

    i cant figure out whats your aim, what are you trying to prove?

    are you jelous of the guy? this is just plain childish and very unprofessional

    please dude i really love the site dont make me stop coming here

  3. Jeff says:

    I’m afraid I’m going to have to come down on the side of “too much Dana-bashing”. Whatever you think of the guy, Dana White has created an extremely successful enterprise. Surely it isn’t all luck. I can understand a lucky show or two, but his string of success has been going for years. That has to be either intelligence or savvy or both. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Dana White fan, but give the devil his due.

  4. Sam Scaff says:

    This site has no responsibility to give Dana White credit for being president of the UFC.

    It covers his comments on a regular basis, and is critical of the, as it is critical of all aspects of the fight game.

    Just because some people happen to like Dana White (or appreciate what he’s done), that doesnt mean this site should stop critically reporting about his statements to the press. It is not this site’s fault that he repeatedly puts his foot in his mouth.

  5. Where’s the bashing in this post? Literally the only mention of Dana in this post is “Josh Barnett responds to Dana White’s latest comments.”

    Jeez, I really enjoyed all that time right after Pride folded where all the Pride-loving Zach haters had to suck it up and admit he was right. Now it looks like the other shoe has dropped and a new crowd of UFC fanboys are here roasting Zach for *reporting* what Dana is doing.

    If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ll notice that Zach is a critical person, that’s the whole point of his site. How much would you all enjoy it if every day the post was just “hey, everything is just great! lets all say thanks to our lord and savior Dana White”?

    Zach’s apparently here to give his ‘opinion’ on ‘fighting’ … or at least I think that’s the point of this site. Because that’s just maybe kinda the name of the web address. He picks up on angles and he stirs the pot because that’s what a good blogger does. He also links you back to all the information you need to know about a story so YOU can make your own ‘fight opinion’. But notice he doesn’t ever tell anyone in the comments to ‘shut up, stop hating, or I’ll stop reading your comments’?

    If you want to criticize a point that Zach makes, please for the love of baby Jesus stick to the specific incident and don’t use blanket statements like “Dana White has done a lot for MMA so he must be right this time.” Because that’s a cop-out argument that avoids the real point.

    Josh Barnett is one of the top 5 if not top 3 heavyweights in the world. He’s also got perhaps the best chance of anyone to beat Fedor. Dana constantly says he wants to have the best fighters in the octagon, but once again he’s not even willing to sit down at the table and at least *try* to negotiate a contract with him.

  6. Jeff says:

    Fightlinker, I guess I was fresh from reading the “Five things I learned from the UFC 75 conference call” post, where Zach actually resorts to name-calling. I’m not arguing Zach’s incorrect, mind you…

    Don’t get me wrong, I think Dana White is crude and, at times, an embarrassment. However, many people also believe his frank talk is refreshingly forthright. I guess my problem with Mr. White is I believe he is not worthy of the success he is now undergoing because of how he treats people.

    Whatever the case, in dealing with an obviously biased press, he is navigating tricky waters fairly well. He’s doing it by obfuscating, whitewashing, and outright lying, but its working.

    An example of White’s acumen: the Pride purchase. UFC purchased their biggest competitor. If Pride had continued to hold fights, fine. If it went under, that’s fine too, because the UFC wouldn’t have to worry about their biggest competition. That’s a win-win.

    I just find it wearying to hear about how Dana White can’t even tie his shoes right. Sure, he screws up (a lot), but not everything out of his mouth is garbage. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Unless its digital. Oh wait!

  7. Zach Arnold says:

    I didn’t really name-call White at all, I just said his stupidity on the whole PRIDE matter is getting ridiculous to hear and read about.

    The PRIDE deal was dead-to-rights whether Zuffa bought the assets or not. If they had waited for the deal to croak, they still would have likely had the net result.

    Instead, they went head-first into an abyss of non-assignable contracts, questionable records and documentation, and an entirely different landscape of how to do business.

    I often use the comparison of Zuffa buying out the PRIDE assets to what McMahon did when he bought the WCW assets. The difference was that McMahon was virtually guaranteed to make money on the deal because he got everything for cheap. PRIDE, on the other hand, was a booby trap and a financial sinkhole to begin with if you wanted to prop it up.

  8. Jeff says:

    Now that’s critique without criticism! That’s what I enjoy!

    My point is that it gets old to have Dana White’s words dissected every time he opens his mouth. On this site, I can always count on the principals (Luke, Zach, Erin, etc.) having nothing good to say about him. And since the principals are usually the only ones who know how to write, they are the only ones I care to read.

  9. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.” Emerson.

    “Yer wi’ us, or yer agin’ us.” George W. Bush.

    I think it’s hilarious that the Mohegan-Pequot would be the force that pushed Texas to do random testing. I never would have expected that any of the tribes would be at the forefront of MMA regulation at any point. I’m glad that it’s happening though, because the guy from Art of War was pretty clear in one of his recent interviews (must have been on Eddie Goldman’s show again at some point before I stopped listening) that he had not been informed that it was the promotions responsibility to test in Texas, and that it was up to the commission.

    It’s good that SOMEONE is doing it, and better that it’s not the guy that’s writing the fighters’ checks.

  10. D.Capitated says:

    People are surprised the Mohegans are hardasses? Uhh, guys? How long you actually been following the sport? ‘Cause its showing.

  11. JThue says:

    Perhaps the Mohegan Tribe are avid FO listeners, heard the Comu interview (which was pretty worrying on the testing in TX issue), and here we are. Whatever happened, this is great news for all, although it’s weird an entire show had to be stopped in CT before TX reacted, whereas all the positives in CA apparently made no diffo.

    I just made up a word. Because it’s Friday and summer is over.

  12. K. Fabe says:

    Yup … this site is going down the tubes. I’ll read Zach’s rants for a chuckle, but now I’m basically just here for the links.

  13. Jeremy (not that Jeremy) says:

    D.,

    I’m surprised that any of the tribes are at the forefront of regulation, not that the Mohegans are hardasses (it’s not just MMA and boxing, “hardassery” is pretty much a hallmark of the Mohegan-Pequot way of doing business in all respects). Mainly because the indian casinos have the (justified) reputation of being these “lawless” zones where anything goes in terms of MMA. There are entire promotions (*cough*King of the Cage*cough*) that were built expressly around the idea of holding events only at indian casinos.

    It is therefore funny and ironic that it would be an indian casino that’s forcing the legislated but less involved state commissions to become more closely involved in actually regulating the sport.

    It’s good though, very good.

  14. 45 Huddle says:

    Put me down as another person who is getting to my wits end with the constant Dana White bashing (surprise!). Anybody who talks in the media will contradict themselves. Even politicians who have tried to perfect that craft for generations. Therefore, it is more important to look at the overall message then nit pick every single sentence. I’m sure if we went back in time and dissected all of Arnold’s posts…. He would quickly look like a bumbling idiot… The is just the nature of talking enough over an extended period of time.

    The Mohegan Sun Arena has turned into a mini Vegas of New England. They have hosted 3 IFL, 3 UFC events, & 1 WEC Event. (I’m sure a I missed a few). Not too shabby for a casino in the middle of a state that actually still outlaws MMA. And in fact, I don’t think there has ever been a push to legalize MMA in CT, mostly because the Mohegan Sun has run enough good shows, and there isn’t a big enough market beyond that to really want to see fights regulated. And Foxwoods typically does a good job running smaller boxing shows, some of them which appear on ESPN or even HBO.

    And i don’t know about Indian Casino’s in other regions of the country, but both the Mohegan Sun & Foxwood’s don’t have bad reputations in the area.

  15. I know for a fact that for the majority of fighters in the UFC your entrance music gets chosen for you.

  16. Preach says:

    Wow, that’s weird, reading about Oliver Copp here on FO. But good to see he’s still around, he seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth when Premiere stopped broadcasting the UFC.

  17. The Gaijin says:

    There’s a difference b/w contradicting yourself once in a blue moon and EVERY TIME you open your mouth. Funny how he cuts loose Babalu, yet his personal close buddy gets busted for steroids in a title fight, fucks up the title picture at 155 and he is a victim of bad testing, which of course is the same great “government testing” that Dana hides behind.

    As another poster said, nobody owes Dana White a sweet fuck just b/c he’s the President of the UFC, like that means he gets carte blanche to act and say whatever/however he wants on the sole basis that the UFC is successful. Apparently Zach should just parrot everything Dana says and not call him out on his ridiculousness.

    If I wanted that I’d ask 45 Huddle to start up his own UFC propaganda site, where all PRIDE fighters are on steroids, Josh Barnett’s a cheating loser and Sean Sherk obviously accidentally took steroids in his vitamins.

  18. 45 Huddle says:

    Why would Dana White fire a fighter for getting busted with steroids? He has never done that in the past. NEVER.

    The Babalu incident is completely new territory. Babalu admitted to trying to inflict pain on a fighter after the fight was over. White has shown how is actions are to fighters who admit to trying to hurt other fighters after the bell is over.

    As for Barnett…. His appeal process is over. We know all the facts. He is a cheater. Plain and simple. The Sherk incident is not over. I am waiting (as you should be), to find out how the Athletic Commission fines him. I am also waiting for his evidence to see if by chance he does have a case. If he comes through with BS reasons and is suspended… Then he is in the same boat as Barnett. Unlike the media crucifying athletes before the store is over…. A rational person would wait for all the facts are over before he makes up his mind.

    As for Dana White…. I still don’t see where the hate is coming from. He has turned the UFC from a rinky dink organization, to a legit sport. Look at the Top 10 sports in America… They are: Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, NASCAR, Golf, Tennis, Boxing, Soccer, & MMA. And I would say in terms of popularity, the sport of MMA isn’t even i the bottom 3. Ain’t too shabby…..

    Perhaps I have a different perspective then most other fans. I was at UFC 30, when I saw Zuffa run it’s first UFC show. I remember being on The Underground, and just getting one line descriptions of fights 3 hours after they happened. This sport has come so far since then. The UFC alone now harbors over 120 fighters, the majority of them being pretty darn good. So for every BS “scandal”… I could care less. Having 6 Zuffa run events in 2 months is more important the what Dana White says on a conference call. At the end of the day, his actions have given us a unified World Champion at Light Heavyweight. We don’t have to guess who will win between Liddell & Silva. We will soon find out. I guess the glass is 100% full for me…. and 98% empty for most of these hardcore fans.

    I see the bashing of Kevin Iole on here a lot. It is obvious why. He doesn’t bash the UFC as much as you want him too. Is his writing perfect? Absolutely not. But the guy is making a serious effort to become accustomed to the sport. And I would take his less educated positive writing style over a negative Josh Gross, Zack Arnold, or Jeff Sherwood any day of the week.

  19. 45 Huddle says:

    One last quick point….

    The Josh Barnett/Zuffa issue is far beyond a Dana White thing….. Look at Tito Ortiz. Him and Dana White hate each other. Yet, Ortiz is still in the UFC because he does his contract dealing directly with Lorenzo Fertitta. Very simple. Now look at Josh Barnett. Dana White can’t stand him. Neither can The Fertitta’s. He literally tried to F*CK OVER their company. Are you telling me that if Frank Fertitta really wanted to see Barnett in the UFC, that it wouldn’t happen because of mean ole’ Dana White? I think you underestimate Frank’s power in the company. He pulls more strings then people want to admit… Instead they want to blame it on Dana. And unlike a Vince McMahon, who you people love to compared to a Dana White…. The Fertitta’s & Dana White haven’t forgotten that.

    Does this mean that Barnett won’t be in the UFC? Who knows. But it does mean that if they get Fedor… Then Barnett is going to have to pay for his past sins and sign for “the cheap” in order to fight against the one guy he was wishing to compete against. To me, that sounds fair.

    I am a fan of another head of a sports franchise that gets ripped apart in the media. His name is George Steinbrennar. If anything, Dana White should be compared more to him. Both are ruthless when it comes to business. But at the end of the day, they have big hearts. George has showed this with his various donations and his backing of guys like Dwight Gooden who can’t keep off of drugs. White is very similar. He does things that get ripped apart in the media. But the guy shows heart. He stands by his fighters loyally. And to me, that makes him much less of a villain then your hardcore fans want to make him out to be.

  20. People hate Kevin Iole because he’s got the access to really find out important shit but he’s basically nothing but a UFC lackey. The guy’s another boxing buff who comes out of nowhere with no knowledge of the UFC whatsoever. And right off the bat he trades the tiny amount of credibility he has for screentime on the UFC Countdown shows. And then he trashes his cred even more by regurgitating Dana White’s bury job on Wanderlei Silva, sticking to it even after it was shown to be completely false.

    I don’t care that the ufc has infiltrated the ‘major’ sports web and tv ranks and you’ll only ever hear positive info on the UFC. But that doesn’t mean I have to respect the ‘journalists’ that barely have a brain let alone a spine to ask the tough questions once in a blue moon.

  21. The Gaijin says:

    Then go read Kevin Iole’s blog and stop reading those writer’s opinion pieces and then complain about it.

    As for Sherk’s appeal – I’m still interested in hearing how he “accidentally”/unknowingly had 12x the normal human level of testosterone in his system. Call me cynical but I just don’t see it, but if he somehow gets them to pull one of those James Toney shady reduced suspensions we’ll have an idea of how much pull Zuffa has with the commission.

    As for Babalu, he admitted it which was not the smartest thing but it’s NOT AT ALL different then when BJ Penn did it.

  22. He actually had 60 times the normal level. Hey, you’d know that if the MMA media did a good job of educating people rather than just spitting up what Dana White says. Anyways, that was the cherry on the shit sundae that was this day. I’m gonna go masturbate to battlecade 3 and cry now.

  23. ukiro says:

    @ The Gaijin: It’s not 12x the normal level – An olympic athlete apparantly isn’t likely to go beyond 0,2ng/ml, so Sherk’s 12ng/ml would be 60x the normal level. And the substance is nandrolone, not testosterone.

  24. Jonny Mudd says:

    I can say from personal first hand experience that Kevin Iole as a ‘serious’ MMA journalist is a Dana White wet-dream come true. Iole is the Larry King of UFC reporting. He may as well be on Zuffa payroll. His past few months of reporting on some of the major issues currently facing MMA has been nothing short of embarassing. At a time when a journalist with some integrity is needed to really question Zuffa and Dana White on issues that will have long-term consquences for the future of MMA across the world, what we get with Iole is a hack given special access due to the fact that he is a pro-Zuffa pro-Dana White keyboard ‘warrior’ who does not have the background or credentials needed to really challange the myth-making machine that is the current UFC management. A few untrue/confused statements from Dana and this man becomes a believer instantly. If you’re Dana White you hope Yahoo employ Iole for a long long time to come.

  25. The Gaijin says:

    Right, right – sorry about that…I always screw up the math when talking about that. And you’re correct on the other one as well, laziness on my part to just say testosterone in a broad/generalized way.

    As for Babalu – I can’t really argue with them firing him, the guy was going to be a PR disaster for all the dog-fighting/bloodsport decriers. Just saying that there’s more of that double standard with BJ Penn getting absolutely no reprimand whatsoever.

  26. Rollo the Cat says:

    Kevin Iole is what mainstream sports journalism is all about. I have known a few reporters. They get friendly with a player, coach or owner and they get inside info in return for favorable treatment. It happens everywhere with so called respectable journalists.

    Bismarck used to have money set aside that he called the “Lizard Fund”. It was for bribing journalists.

  27. 45 Huddle says:

    Once again…. Here is some real news concerning steroids….

    http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2999994

    Where is the upheaval of this only being a 4 game suspension?

  28. Luke says:

    Jeff – I thought when I was on the show that I tried to be fair to UFC and to Dana White. Maybe I have a bad memory, but thats what I remember. And, to be honest, I haven’t been on an episode in…oh…four months, so how often do you really listen?

  29. Ivan Trembow says:

    “People are surprised the Mohegans are hardasses? Uhh, guys? How long you actually been following the sport? ‘Cause its showing.”

    Yeah, they’re very strict, all right. They proved that when they reduced Phil Baroni’s suspension for repeatedly swinging at a referee from twelve months to three months.

  30. Ivan Trembow says:

    “It is therefore funny and ironic that it would be an indian casino that’s forcing the legislated but less involved state commissions to become more closely involved in actually regulating the sport.”

    I couldn’t agree with you more. Both the Mohegan Tribe’s athletic council and Texas’ quasi-athletic-commission have, in the past, treated big organizations (as in UFC-sized organizations) with kid gloves.

    Now all of a sudden we’ve got the Mohegan Tribe shutting down entire shows because of fighters failing their medicals… and good for them… better late than never on doing a thorough job with suspensions and enforcement, but the real test is whether they will do the same thing with the biggest promotions. They don’t have the best record in that regard, having reduced Phil Baroni’s suspension for repeatedly swinging at a referee from twelve months to three months.

    As for the Texas commission, they absolutely shirked their responsibilities when they failed to drug-test anyone at UFC 69, just as the UFC did when they didn’t respond by drug-testing anyone themselves. It wasn’t until it came out publicly that there was no drug testing of any kind at UFC 69 (or at UFC 70 in unregulated England) that the UFC publicly pledged again to conduct its own drug testing at events where an athletic commission won’t do it, or where there is no athletic commission.

    It is both remarkable and (as far as I’m aware) unprecedented for one athletic commission (the Mohegan’s) to call another athletic commission (Texas’) and basically say, “You really, really need to do drug testing on this particular show because of some ‘red flags’,” especially when there was only one fighter that the two shows in question have in common.

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