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Video: Dana White explains the Elite XC scandal to the average person
By Zach Arnold | October 11, 2008
In this two-minute video clip, Dana White lays out what the Elite XC scandal is all about to the average human being (from his point of view). The part of this interview that should resonate the most with the MMA media is the situation regarding betting on fights at the Vegas casinos involving Elite XC matches. White explains, in simple terms, why the Elite XC “stand-up” scandal matters and has teeth to it.
Note how direct Dana White is in terms of his accusatorial tone against Elite XC. He flat out goes after them in this video. This is such a strong statement that Elite XC either needs to release an official statement responding to White’s comment or they should sue him. The more pressure Dana White applies publicly on the story, the further this scandal will escalate and the more critical the response will be for Elite XC to answer these charges effectively.
Update: On the scrolling news ticker at the bottom of ESPN’s TV broadcast, the network has been reporting (under the ‘MMA’ tab) about the Florida DBPR opening up an investigation into the Kimbo Slice/Seth Petruzelli fight.
Also, Eddie Goldman conducted an interview with matchmaker John Perretti about the Kimbo/Petruzelli controversy (audio here).
Previous articles:
- Jeremy Lappen says both ESPN & SI ‘misquoted’ him
- Reports: Kimbo/Petruzelli fight being ‘investigated’
- The Elite XC PR disaster continues, even with the wrong focus on the scandal
- Bad news for Elite XC — big media outlets focus on the Kimbo/Petruzelli stand-up scandal
- How about that good PR for Elite XC?
- We want real answers, not fanboy interviewing questions
- Report: Ken Shamrock was going to be ‘paid to stand with him as well’
- The PR spin on the Seth Petruzelli/Kimbo Slice situation
- Can Elite XC management be prosecuted for this?
Topics: MMA, Media, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | | Permalink | Trackback | Share This
The people who says Dana White is an idiot for talking about this are fucking PRIDE marks.
wow. this whole elite xc scandal makes me want to go and hug dana white. it`s amazing how easy the ufc makes putting on mma look. i hope this scandal breaks elite xc for good.
I’m trying to understand here: what pressure can the UFC realistically apply? Maybe getting some interview pieces on MMA blogs and the Las Vegas Review-Journal? As potentially damaging as you may imagine this all to be, the problem is that unless the Florida Boxing Commission finds something, this story is probably just about dead in mainstream media right now, and as it is, Dana’s not exactly getting the largest amount of traction with them.
Is it wrong to love Dana White? If so, colour me evil. It’s like having your hard-drinking, nail spitting, knuckle-popping uncle in charge of your favourite sport.
No more UFC fights in FL. That is the pressure they could apply.
Don’t forget the pressure they could apply on Nevada and California
The more negative publicity this story gets (which the UFC can help perpetuate) the more sponsors may look elsewhere.
I find it disturbing how some sites are basically ignoring this. mmajunkie for one is a site I am done with now.
If there’s any good to come out of this whole thing, it’s seeing Zach so fired up about something.
He hasn’t posted this much in a while.
Gentleman, let me give you a hint as to what you do when the media smells poo — get a call together between yourselves and come up with a simple media plan to squash the whole thing in one sentence. Do not have each member of your company release their own quotes — as we have seen that will only add fuel to the fire. As for Dana White — it would probably help him to ignore this altogether.
This is why people love Dana White, this is why people hate Dana White.
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT!
The more I watch this, the more I think of it as an open letter to CBS. Notice that he doesn’t say anything about CBS or Showtime here, he’s specifically calling out the promoters and their management as scumbags.
He’s working an angle.
Good ol’ Dana. You may not like his foul language, blunt statements and aggressive attitude, but it’s hard not to respect him and the job he does, especially now.
Interesting, Dana is hated by Eddie Goldman, Bob Carson, etc., but seems to have the same type opinion that they would have about this situation.
Kimbo’s fame came from striking, punching and, that’s what his fights should have been promoted as, stand up brawls with MMA gloves. Boxing folks would have compolained, as would some MMA people, but at least it would have been honest, unlike what happened.
Eddie G. also seems to think that the UFC wants it’s fighters to stand up, but they have a more subtle and, indirect way of getting the fighters to do that. What they do is emphasize that standing up is what the fans want to see and, if you do that, you’ll please the fans, make us money and, have a good paying job with the UFC.
I don’t see much evidence that the UFC encourages stand up vs any other style of fighting. They do encourage action.
Dana White is an idiot for this, because on what fucking planet would you bet on Seth (smaller, weaker, and less submission wins than Kimbo) because he would “take it to the ground.” Aside from him being white I don’t see why that assumption would be made. He should have done exactly what he did, exploited Kimbo’s slow, sloppy striking and untested chin.
Dana White is hilarious. Especially the “that’s fucking illegal”, “that’s cos Kimbo Slice sucks” and the bit where he makes fun of Jared. And it must say a lot about how morally revolting the Shaws and Lappen are when I feel like cheering Dana White, a man that I’m very critical of, after this.
Zack, I disagree with you on this one.
Yes, Dana is a rival promoter, but does that mean he can’t voice his opinion? Absolutely not.
The fact that he’s explaining the illegality of fight fixing to the everyman is good, and while it might be better if someone else did it, he’s a face that more people are going to listen to.
Leslie, I thought it would be an easy win for Petruzelli if he took it to the ground. Petruzelli’s not known for his ground game, but he’s at least competent. Kimbo is not.
“Interesting, Dana is hated by Eddie Goldman, Bob Carson, etc., but seems to have the same type opinion that they would have about this situation.”
It’s natural that there is going to be common ground for stuff like this.
I wonder……………
Wonder if any punters dropped a dime or 2 on BISPING Vs HAMMIL?
While Dana is on here playing MMA Jesus, the last thing I saw from his ” fucking crew” on TV was the latest episode of TUF. While it didn’t have the reach that the CBS show had, I personally find his promotion of Junie BROWNING quite disturbing.
While the jury is out on what is actually the problem this poor kid has. UFC are happy to exploit his illness, while compromising the safety of those around him. All to make a dollar or draw ratings. Junie is not in that house for the bbettterment of the sport or & nor is Kimbo In EliteXC for us the fan. They are promoted by the promoter with the goal of the company making profit.
I’ve watched MMA since it crawled from under a pro wrestling ring in Japan in the late 80’s & I have worked in the industry for a long time. I must say I never sat back and envisioned the future as it is unfolding today.
Whether its EliteXC, UFC, blah blah blah……… MMA is a business. Coca Cola don’t make Coke to improve peoples quality of life or health, they do it to make $$$. Whether it’s Kimbo on CBS, Junie on Spike or Michael BISPING running around with the union jack hanging out of his ass Singing “UFC UFC UFC” in the booming UK market……. Oh dear did I forget Rampage….
These guys ALL promote MMA & just want to sell their product and make money.
In a perfect world none of these things would happen. So please Mr WHITE put the rock down & and step back inside that big glass house.
Just my 2c & long live MMA in a non monopolized marketplace.
Justin
Well put Mr. Lawrence.
Junie can fight, unlike Kimbo.
Dana hasn’t fixed fights, Shaw has.
Fixing fights is against the law. It isn’t a matter of bad taste.
Bringing up Bisping v Hamill as some sort of sign of UFC fight fixing is usually a sign of somebody who doesn’t have any idea what they’re talking about.
Not only did Dana publicly state that he thought Hamill won, Fightmetric’s analysis was that Bisping won. There is simply no way that fight was fixed. It was simply a fight where the judging system was incapable of accurately judging the winner of the overall fight.
I dont care whether Junie can fight, he is being exploited.
Anyone who thinks Zuffas hands are clean on BISPING is “retarded”.
On the “retard” is WHITE after heat (worked for Tiger woods) or is that just Dana?
long live MMA
justin
Dude, do you letter comic books in your free time, or do you just really like capital letters?
The Cap’s on sirnames is an occupational thing.
Justin
I like capital letters! And exclamation points!!
President Bush still has a 24% approval rating. No matter how much something is a pure failure, there will be those who support it.
EliteXC is a 100% failure from an organizational standpoint. CBS & Showtime would be better off signing on the UFC and having legit fights on both of their channels.
Was actually just thinking about the presidential thing.
liken politicians to promoters, Probably hard to find a straight one. It just amuses me when I see the finger pointed.
Justin
This is a great video, and it lays out the reasons for why the news is such a scandal.
I’m sure White’s glad he didn’t sign Kimbo before EliteXC did. You know he wanted to, because he could’ve made a little money off of him. Granted, Kimbo would probably have had the exact same results as Sean Gannon (fight someone mediocre and lose), except he would have been more marketable and maybe would have been given a second chance.
I do agree with Justin LAWRENCE that the UFC’s promotion of Junie’s issues is rather deplorable. I might be somewhat biased, though, as I purposely skip “Ultimate Fighter” because I think the whole concept of reality TV is to encourage people to act stupid for fame and/or money.
And I don’t think the Hammill/Bisping fight was fixed; I think it was poorly judged.
did anyone ever think that SPIKE TV might have something to do with why junie is still on their show. they produce tuf, so im sure they have alot of pull as to who does or who doesnt get kicked off of the show. they know he is a ratings bonanza. plus he IS on a reality show, not actually a ufc fighter yet. comparing his situation to kimb-gate is desperate.
“Leslie, I thought it would be an easy win for Petruzelli if he took it to the ground. Petruzelli’s not known for his ground game, but he’s at least competent. Kimbo is not.”
3 of his 4 losses were to submissions. The only reason I can think of people assuming he has a ground game is because he’s a weak looking white guy. He’s a striker first, and more skilled (obviously) at striking than Kimbo. If EXC wanted to fix this fight the first mistake was putting Seth in it at all. Giving him a KO bonus (or for the tinhats a “bribe” to stand up) would be even more idiotic looking at his record and background.
Speaking of Bush though, if people were half as concerned or skeptical about him as they were a guy who WON a 14 second fight, that lying, torturing, murdering SOB would never have gotten a second term. You might say it has nothing to do with sports, but a lot of these mainstream journalists lionized Pat Tillman when he died but failed to do the follow up report on how the military covered up the facts of his death and mistreated his family because they were atheists. Glad they got on THIS important issue of some clown with pink hair misspeaking about a fight he should have easily one regardless.
I think Justin is “retarded.”
He just massacred the English written language.
I know this is a little late, but I did listen to the EG podcast. It’s always fun listening to him chat with someone who is even more batshit insane than he is.
If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do, because John Perretti’s name has just popped up at the top of the page in the context of telling Chuck Liddell that he should keep fights standing if he intended to keep his job.
There’s no question why this guy no longer has a job at UFC.
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