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« | Home | »

Dana White: How can you not rank Frankie Edgar higher than GSP on P4P list?

By Zach Arnold | October 9, 2011

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Click on me to find out why I hate comparisons of UFC to WWE (MMAFighting.com)

ARIEL HELWANI: “So, at the press conference, you said Frankie Edgar is now the #2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. You have Canada up in arms now, they’re very upset because you just dropped GSP down. Why do you think…”

DANA WHITE: “How do you know Canada’s upset?”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Twitter. It’s a beautiful thing.”

DANA WHITE: “They’re going crazy? I can’t wait to get on Twitter.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “They are very upset.”

DANA WHITE: “Listen… all you Canadians, I know you guys love you some GSP and so do I, I love GSP, you know, I say it all the time… I actually get mad when I’m up in Canada, I’m like how is this guy not sponsored by every blue chip company in Canada? He’s a great champion, he’s a great ambassador for our sport, he’s a great ambassador for his country, but if you really look at what the pound-for-pound means, how do you not put Frankie Edgar in the #2 position? The guy weighs 145 pounds, he’s fighting at 155 pounds, he’s beat EVERYBODY and just knocked out Gray Maynard. He is the #2 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. No disrespect to Canada or Georges St. Pierre. It is what it is.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “What do you think you’ll do with Frankie next?”

DANA WHITE: “I don’t know. That’s up to Frankie, that’s not really up to me. If I was running shit over at Frankie’s place, he’d be fighting at 145 pounds.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Even thought he’s been doing so good?”

DANA WHITE: “That’s why it’s so hard to really sit there and say, Frankie, you should really do this. He beat BJ Penn twice, he beat Gray Maynard and knocked him out when everybody thought he had his number, and he’s beat everybody else in the 155 pound division. When you watch this guy fight at 155 pounds, look how much bigger Gray Maynard was than him. He gets hurt, he overcomes almost getting knocked out to knock out Gray Maynard and I don’t know, I’d just love to see the guy fight at 145 pounds.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “In terms of 155, though, who do you thing is next for him?”

DANA WHITE: “No clue. I’m not even thinking about that.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “What are the chances (Gilbert) Melendez is next for him?”

DANA WHITE: “I don’t know. I don’t even want to talk about Strikeforce, I don’t even want to talk about it. That whole thing’s still going on… and it’ll be sorted out soon.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “So, no point asking you about the phone call that you were talking about on Wednesday?”

DANA WHITE: “Yeah, well, we had the phone call and, you know, we’re, we’re, we’re pushed back another week.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Who pushed it back?”

DANA WHITE: “I don’t want to even talk about it any more. I’m done.”

ARIEL HELWANI: “Did you meet with Melendez this weekend?”

DANA WHITE: “I met with him (Saturday).”

ARIEL HELWANI: “How did it go?”

DANA WHITE: “Good! I mean, listen, this kid’s one of those guys that he’s a great kid, he’s a great fighter, he’s either going to come to the UFC or he’s going to fight in Strike force (this) December. We’ll see what happens, though. He’s… he’s a good kid, he knows what’s up, and we’ll get this thing figured out.”

Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 28 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

28 Responses to “Dana White: How can you not rank Frankie Edgar higher than GSP on P4P list?”

  1. 45 Huddle says:

    I wonder what is going on with Strikeforce…. Weird that the talks would be delayed.

    How Silva, Edgar, GSP, and other fighters across the sport are ranked is about as relevant as how you rank the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy….

  2. Nepal says:

    Why does nobody take Dana to task? Personally I couldn’t give a shit about rankings, they are all biased and senseless. However Edgar has won 3 fights in his career. 3 real fights. He beat Sherk, he beat BJ once and he beat Maynard once. No disrespect to the other guys he beat but Veach and Bocek just don’t count in the big scheme. I don’t care what fightfinder says, he as good as tied BJ in the first fight.

    GSP hadn’t lost a round in years until his baffleing display versus Sheilds. How can winning every round against Fitch, BJ, Kos twice, Hardy, Alves and whoever else I’m missing cause him to be rated below Edgar???

    My point isn’t the ranking itself, it’s the inability or chickenshitness of anyone to point out the obvious to Dana.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      What’s there to take White to task for?

      GSP fights at his natural weight class and hasn’t finished a fighter in years.

      Frank Edgar fights at a weight class above and has finished Gray Maynard and beaten BJ Penn, who has won a title at that weight class and the weight class above.

      Rankings fighters in different weight classes is stupid. But I don’t see a big issue in White’s logic skills on this one.

      • Nepal says:

        Fine you can make an arguement that Edgar is above GSP but no matter how you slice it, it is a bit of a stretch. GSP hasn’t finished a fighter in years but he had won virtually every minute of every fight since his loss 4.5 years ago. Almost every minute of every fight until this last fight with Sheilds.

        In his last 2 fights, Edgar has been on the wrong end of 10-8 rounds in both of them. He beat BJ, which is impressive, KO’d Maynard and UD’d a past his prime Sherk. Otherwise has never even fought a top 10 fighter. How could that put you on any p4p level???

        I think Edgar is a great fighter and he continues to prove it and doing it at a weight class above where he should fight is impressive. It’s just odd that not even one person would argue with Dana. If you took a poll and asked who is higher on the p4p pole, I would (subjectively) think the vast majority of people, or hard cores would pick GSP.

        • edub says:

          -Of course nobody argued with Dana in there. Why would anybody want their press privileges taken from them? I mean he pretty much bullied Helwani like it was middle school when he simply asked a question about it.

          -It’s not that big of a deal. Dana is a promoter he is hyping a recent event, that was very exciting.

          -The logic doesn’t exist for Frankie to be ahead of GSP on a PFP list if one were to realistically argue the point. The same way it doesn’t exist for Brandon Vera being ahead PBF. When Frankie beats a couple more guys in a row then that discussion can be made, but for now it isn’t particularly close.

        • edub says:

          “The same way it doesn’t exist for Brandon Vera being ahead PBF”

          Brandon Rios… serious brain fart.

  3. david m says:

    Dana’s p4p rankings are meant to hype fighters, nothing more, nothing less. He says Anderson is p4p number 1 because Anderson sucks as a ppv draw and dumbass yahoo sports writers and other mma journahacks eat his shit up with a spoon. Frankie, like Silva, sucks as a draw, so Dana is trying to boost Frankie’s cred and thus the bottom line.

    That is not to take away from what Frankie did; he is an amazing fighter and has no business at 155. Against the 2 other best 155ers in the world (BJ and Gray), Frankie has gone 2-2-1 (REAL RECORD), a great record for someone who can’t be any bigger than Urijah Faber.

    • Nepal says:

      David, you are correct. Both Anderson and Edgar can’t draw and they need Dana’s promoting power… which is considerable. Dana knows his job and does a great job of it.

      I only responded because not one person calls him out on his bullshit. I guess reporters need to be on his good side or they risk banishment so that’s the real reason nobody challenges him.

      • david m says:

        you were right to call him out; he constantly lies or says half-truths and nobody ever takes him to task for it or risks being banned.

  4. Lord0ftheRings_fan says:

    …and I thought I was a bit of a dork arguing on my board the other day. Where I spent nine straight hours arguing over whether Frodo could take out Bilbo in a fight to the death. A fight that was of course adjusted a bit, seeing how both guys are different ages. So you had to use a bit of hypotheticals, like ‘assume’ Frodo was the same age as Bilbo, because everyone knows Bilbo was a bit older, that would be unfair to have ‘old Bilbo’ due the fight, as everyone knows a century old hobbit doesn’t beat a younger hobbit straight up. Of course, duh, even taking into consideration Bilbo’s age enhanced wisdom and strength from the ring. I mean, that might give him some +2 on the die rolls, supplement his strength a bit, but the LotR commissioner is a f’ing idiot if he truly thinks it’s fair, not making the hypo age specific.

    Anyways….please keep arguing and falling for Dana’s intentionally placed acidic comments about lb4lb rankings, designed to stir up fan interest. Nice job.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Yeah, but pound for pound…. Who would win…. Aragorn or Frodo….

      That’s no different then Velasquez and Cruz being in the same rankings….

      People love their fantasy….

      • Chuck says:

        I still say The Shadow wins in a Battle Royale amongst Batman, Doc Savage, The Green Lama, The Spirit, Zorro, Fu Manchu, Sherlock Holmes, The Green Hornet, Kato, The Blue Beetle, Superman, Green Lantern (Alan Scott), The Flash (Jay Garrick), Moriarty, etc.

        Golden Age (and older) characters FTW! Man I feel pathetic….

        • nottheface says:

          You’re going to go that far back and not include Judex or Fantómas? You should be ashamed, sir.

          And Hugo Dabner would win the whole thing.

        • edub says:

          C’mon now, Goku beats all of em.

        • Chuck says:

          I’m vaguely familiar with Fantomas, but not with Judex. And I completely forgot about Hugo Danner (not Dabner). Great finds sir.

          Sorry, but The Shadow still wins. Hugo succumbed to a freaking LIGHTNING BOLT. Some precursor to Superman he was…. Yeah, Superman was a rip-off of Hugo Danner (the novel is called “Gladiator”). Batman was a rip-off of Zorro, The Spider, The Shadow, etc. And the Green Lantern Corps. is a rip-off of the Lensmen. Fun facts, eh?

          Edub,

          Goku? I think NOT. Yusuke Urameshi beats him anyway…

  5. nottheface says:

    “[Frankie Edgar] beat everybody else in the 155 pound division.”

    Apparently the 155 pound division consists only of Maynard and BJ Penn.

  6. Rollo the Cat says:

    Many of you are confused. Edgar has lost only one fight and that was his first fight to Maynard. Don’t give me that “real record” crap. Stop crying. If you don’t like him, fine, but stop crying and lying.

    His opponents were almost all considered top fighters at the time he faced them. Each fight all I heard was, “now he is dead…fighter X will kick his ass!” After, all I heard were excuses. Nothing has changed.

    By record he may not be #2 pound for pound, and I don’t think he is #2 by record, but I also don’t think Dana was factoring it by record only. Read his comments.

    • Dave says:

      Wait, people were talking about Frankie Edgar before he won the title? Mind-blowing.

    • david m says:

      Saying Frankie has only 1 loss is like saying Roy Jones lost the gold medal match in the Olympics; technically you are correct, but everyone knows it is bullshit. Nam Phan is 1-1 against Leonard “Big Swing” Garcia, but so what? Everyone knows he beat Big Swing twice.

      I am no Frankie hater by the way; to the contrary I am a huge fan of his and admire his skill and courage. I’m just stating something that I believe. Nobody is crying, or lying. Your reading comprehension is embarrassing btw; in a post lauding Frankie Edgar, you took away that I was crying that he won. You are about as clever as the average mma journalist.

      • Rollo the Cat says:

        My readng comprehension is in question? The post wasn’t directed only at you. The world isn’t revolving around david m. You and others have tried to distort his record and diminish his accomplishments and that is what I am talking about.

        Your judgement is what is in question. Comparing a close decision that Edgar got against the Roy Jones jr fiasco should be considered a sign mental illness.

  7. Jason Harris says:

    P4P rankings basically come down to “I like this champion at this weight class better than that champion at that weight class”

    While I agree that Frankie is awesome, p4p rankings are stupid.

  8. 45 Huddle says:

    UFC Prelim show did 1 Million viewers, which is the lowest on SpikeTV ever.

    Bellator did barely over 100,000 viewers.

    Not a good day for MMA ratings…. That is for sure.

    I think SpikeTV not promoting the UFC anymore has certainly hurt them in the ratings. FX should help fix that somewhat. I also think that the popularity has gone down slightly on the UFC…. Which was to be expected.

    Bellator on the other hand has proven week after week that fans only watch their program if there is nothing else on basic cable to compete with it. 103,000 is just beyond horrible.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      And Bellator didn’t plan ahead too well. The UFC doesn’t have a show for the next 2 weekends. Yet they wait for the Askren/Hieron Title fight…. Which is one of the better fights all season…. To go up against GSP/Condit. It’s beyond stupid.

  9. RST says:

    I have no problem with Edgar finding his way somewhere onto a “p2p” list, but up to #2?

    Ahead of GSP?

    How can I not?

    Maybe because GSP has been holding down his division and the title for 5 years sans one slip up that was quickly and clearly proven as such. 3 years post slip up.
    Edgar has held his title a year and a half, and defended against 2 (great) fighters. One of which GSP already also beat twice which is what sent him down to LW in the first place.

    Meanwhile Dana’s #1 P4P is a guy who should be @ 205 lazily meandering @ 185 to beat up on weaker comp like Kramer in the little kids karate class.

    (^^ My prerequisite daily vent @ schmilvuh.)

    I’m digging how Dana repeatedly and nonchalantly utilizes that flimsiest and most useless measure of MMA accomplishment, the P4P, to support his latest image doctoring.

    (I heard that WWE and Vince McMahan are now #3 on his P4P.)

    Although Dana likes to play everyman by cursing up a blue streak and shaking his booty on twitter with the fanbois, he really is more Don King or PT Barnum these days.

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