« Monday madness: Mark Cuban wants Fedor | Home | Tuesday headlines: The NFL vs. MMA »
Dana White interview with Sportsline
By Zach Arnold | September 3, 2007
CBS Sportsline posted their new interview with Dana White and when it comes to the issue of the whole PRIDE asset purchase, it is one of the most incoherent and peculiar interviews I think I’ve seen in a long time.
First, White explains why he fired Renato Babalu and how Babalu’s incident was worse than BJ Penn’s choke on Jens Pulver in June.
I think that Babalu’s (choke) was very malicious. B.J. held the choke, they don’t like each other, the ref jumped in and stopped it. B.J. didn’t jump up there and say, “He was a punk; he was a motherf—–. He had to pay for it. He had to learn some respect.”
The way I read it, Babalu’s crime apparently was that he admitted the intent behind what he did and Penn didn’t, therefore Babalu’s got to go.
Considering that Babalu was expendable as a 205-pound fighter in UFC, the decision to let him go was relatively painless.
Now, onto the meat of the interview and contradictions – the discussion about the PRIDE asset sale.
Q: I know it’s easy to second guess, but with PRIDE’s demise do you feel that in hindsight Zuffa made some miscalculations when it came to due diligence that led up to the acquisition?
DW: No. No, not at all. I knew I wanted that library bad. It was what I wanted. So no, we didn’t miscalculate anything except the whole deal was a nightmare. Getting that deal done was a nightmare. We didn’t miscalculate anything. We knew we wanted it and we got it.
Q: With it proving to be a nightmare, if you guys knew then what you know now, would you still go through with it?
DW: Yes.
Q: Because you felt with the library that it was worth it?
DW: To me it was. To me, personally, I wanted that library.
Q: When PRIDE was acquired, what was Zuffa’s understanding of how contracts were structured in PRIDE and whether they could be transferred? It seemed like some fighters were willing to sign their contract over while some fighters weren’t.
DW: It was one of a million nightmares. One of a million nightmares. The worst business deal ever done in the history of business. Crazy. It was totally bankrupt. They were out of money (and) had nothing. We wanted the company so we went in and bought it. It didn’t matter how f—– it was, how crazy the deal was — we got what we wanted.
Q: Were you guys under the impression that contracts would automatically transfer over or did you know that you would have to get fighters to sign over?
DW: It was sketchy. Some guys we knew, some guys we didn’t.
Q: With all the problems encountered in the acquisition, was there an adjustment in the buyout price that was reported by the Associated Press?
DW: We never gave out the final price.
Q: But was the price that was put out there by the Associated Press anywhere close?
DW: You know I don’t talk about money, man.
Oh my…
- “I knew I wanted that library bad.” So, he’s claiming that the reasoning behind the deal was to get access to the video tape library. However, later on in the interview he elaborates on the whole contractual situation with fighters.
- “So no, we didn’t miscalculate anything except the whole deal was a nightmare.” Huh? “The worst business deal ever done in the history of business.”
- “If he’s that talented and that great, then great, let Bodog or IFL or EliteProXC or whatever the hell the name of the rest of those companies — let one of them sign him. If he’s that great — they’re always trying to get a leg up on me, sign Josh Barnett you guys! He’ll do wonders for your business.” Wasn’t a point of the PRIDE asset purchase to get the contracts of PRIDE fighters so that you could bring them into the fold? Barnett was one of PRIDE’s top stars.
This is quite the interview that Sam Caplan has with Dana White over at CBS Sportsline and it’s highly-recommended reading.
Topics: Media, MMA, PRIDE, UFC, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The last episode of FO Radio was great. Why not open up the comments now that the Erin hate is over?
I thought it was funny how he singled out the IFL for some nastiness. There is apparently some real bad blood there still.
I understand what he is saying about Babalu and agree that what he did was worse than what BJ did. But Dana seems to say that it wasn’t so much about that, but about other personal issues. The arrest in FLA though seems to have been much ado about nothing. Maybe there is more to the personal life of Renato than we know. Dana even said that Babalu’s manager agreed that Sobral needed to get his personal life together. At least he made it clear that the door is open in the future.
And Barnett has really dug his own grave. I like him as a fighter, but he has no sense of propriety. With the garbage he spews out, he should should realize he has nothing coming from the UFC.
“The way I read it, Babalu’s crime apparently was that he admitted the intent behind what he did and Penn didn’t, therefore Babalu’s got to go.”
Why are you insinuating that it doesn’t make a difference? Its a HUGE difference.
The radio posts are basically static posts so that they don’t become spam targets for older posts (if you subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this site, you’ll see what I’m referring to). In other words, it’s less work for me and people can post comments about the radio show in the daily news threads anyways.
Zach you are my favorite MMA writer of all time, just in front of my boy Rossen, he is an amazing writer but I love the way you bring the facts. I wish you would hold like monthly MMA meetings, almost like AA but for MMA addicts! Word to the motha.
PS – Does G-Dubya, I mean… echem, D-Dubya, Dana Suge White whatever the fuck you call that dyke, hes a crook. He doesn’t talk numbers. He is pissing me off, I am convinced he is paying these guys to say “Ultimate Fighting” to steal brand recognition, that is a very fucked up business move that he is doing out of desperation, it is worse than selling out, its very wrong.
What yall think? I would discuss this on Sherdog but those crackheads drive me crazy.
FO Radio continues to be my favourite (and therefore best!) MMA radio show on the ‘net. You, Jeff, and Erin are a great team with some serious dynamic. Keep it up!
(my 2 cents – guest interviews come off much better than writer roundtables… it was hard keeping track of everyone in the last show)
David, what the hell are you talking about? Paying what guys?
The biggest difference is that Penn & Pulver were buddy buddy after that fight. How can you suspend or get rid of BJ when Pulver and him were basically having a love fest after their fight?
“First of all, the IFL isn’t building any superstars right now. The IFL’s model is stupid; the whole thing is going away. It doesn’t concern me at all if the IFL goes away. They’re not building any superstars — that thing is just eating up air space on MyNetworkTV right now. I would have told you that it (IFL) was going to go away the first day it came out. I did, I told people if you want to lose your money, buy the IFL stock. I’ve always felt that way about the IFL.”
Yes… Dana White hates the IFL guys. But he is spot on with these comments. The IFL won’t make it through 2008. And they really haven’t made one star.
As for UFC 78…. The rumor is Ortiz/Evans 2. And possibly a Lightweight Title fight, but that wouldn’t be promoted until the last minute. Who knows.
Dana seems confused as the rest of us about the PRIDE acquisition
if it was for the video library; well he got that; so then why is it the “worst deal in the history of business”?
sounds like Dana got screwed by DSE
Excellent interview by Caplan. I love the no-bullshit, direct questioning. No filler whatsoever.
PS: It was interesting to see Caplan frame the Zuffa-Pride issue in exactly the manner propounded by Zach Arnold, as a matter of Zuffa performing due diligence before the purchase. (Who else consistently framed it that way?) Arnold’s live interpretation of the deal as it unfolded (not to mention the Pride collapse story) is now part of the historical narrative.
“As for UFC 78…. The rumor is Ortiz/Evans 2. And possibly a Lightweight Title fight, but that wouldn’t be promoted until the last minute. Who knows.”
That would suck beyond belief and Dana should be ashamed of himself if he does that, and maybe he will get run the hell off the east coast for it too. He needs to show some appreciation to the people here.
It isn’t complete their fault. Sherk messed it up mostly. It was supposed to be Penn vs. Sherk for the Lightweight Title, which is a huge main event. But then Sherk got busted for roids and completely threw a wrench into the matter. However, by then, the wheels were already in motion and that event was going down in NJ. Heck, Ortiz/Rashad 2 was supposed to be in October in OH…..
“PS: It was interesting to see Caplan frame the Zuffa-Pride issue in exactly the manner propounded by Zach Arnold, as a matter of Zuffa performing due diligence before the purchase. (Who else consistently framed it that way?)”
I did! But I don’t know if that counts. 🙂
I really think Jeff Thaler & Greg Savage are the two best MMA radio hosts in the business. It’s a bummer that Savage is paired up with Sherwood who doesn’t even seem like he wants to be there most the time.
Jeff has the perfect support cast and I look forward to the show every week. Zach has done a great job of making the show more frequent, and I’ve really enjoyed how its consistently come out every Sat for the last few weeks.
“The radio posts are basically static posts so that they don’t become spam targets for older posts (if you subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this site, you’ll see what I’m referring to). In other words, it’s less work for me and people can post comments about the radio show in the daily news threads anyways.”
Gotcha.
Jeff,
You’re absolutely correct. My apologies. And props to you and Zach, both.
The constant foot-in-mouth quotes about the Pride buy-out are starting to sound like a blooper reel at this point.
Klown:
Due-diligence is a common term used to describe research that’s done before a company acquires another. However, a lot of the PRIDE-related questions were indeed inspired by Zach’s reporting on the PRIDE acquisition.
What did Zuffa buy? Seems like they went through so much mess for a tape library or they got screwed.
Interesting how Dana reacts to tough questions. I think he’s too used to being asked shit like “So how awesome is the UFC, really?” by so-called journalists over at the big MMA sites.
Mike Sloan makes an excellent point about the whole Babalu situation in his new article:
If what Babalu did was so terrible/horrible/deplorable that he needed to be let go – WHY are they selling the fight on their website for $1.99 and hyping up the bad blood etc. from the weigh-ins spilling into the fight?
Talk about hypocritical…
It mystifies me how DW can continue to dazzle mainstream media and further the success of the UFC, despite his double-talk. In terms of being pro- or anti- Dana White, my view of him is that it’s a wash. He has been undeniably very good for the sport, but I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. He says so many contradictory things, that it has to get back to him as some time. I mean, doesn’t it…?
But then you look at Don King. Here is a convicted murderer who is well known for creating sham boxing matches and mistreating his fighters. Yet, he is still a celebrity. Between King’s and White’s success, King’s is a bigger mystery to me. At least White treats his fighters better. He only treats them poorly while King treats them horribly.
I guess the culture of the US figures that if you are a promoter in a fight sport, you are not reputable anyway. Boxing has always been the red-light district of pro sports, so why should MMA be any different?
“If what Babalu did was so terrible/horrible/deplorable that he needed to be let go – WHY are they selling the fight on their website for $1.99 and hyping up the bad blood etc. from the weigh-ins spilling into the fight?”
Maybe for the same reason that they say they can’t stand it when fights break out in the TUF house, yet they continue to put large amounts of beer and hard liquor in the house with the contestants every season and then use the footage of the ensuing chaos as the foundation for the marketing of the upcoming season and for statements like, “This season is so crazy!”
RE: the ‘Babalu’ incident,
This may be nothing but on last weeks TAGG radio, Frank Trigg spoke on a couple of different occasions about morality clauses in the UFC. He tied in the Matt Hughes/Team Miletich breakup stating that there was some real shocking behind the scenes info that led to the split. He later spoke about Babalu’s release as a tip of the iceberg to what could be coming in the next few months; no doubt due directly to the impending ESPN and HBO deals that will probably (however unbelievable it may sound) get finalized later this year.
This indeed explicitly implies that Zuffa is cleaning house in preparations for the impending deeper investigated stories that the mainstream could bring. My question is, what could all of this incriminating evidence be that could get several fighters released from contracts based on morality clauses?
Some people may disregard Trigg’s words as hearsay but he’s been correct many times concerning situations like this. It’s the main reason I regularly listen to TAGG, you never know what kind of info he’s goning to throw out there.
Trigg was indeed correct when he said Pride wasn’t for sale.
Good point Zack. I failed to issue my disclaimer that I disregard anything that anyone says, when they’re forced to tow the company line. During Trigg’s tenure in Pride, 90% of what he said was meaningless babble, including that Pride was not for sale; I assume at that point everyone knew he was backing up his paycheck there. (Note: I don’t fault him for it, it was his JOB)
On the same subject, I also disregard everything that Sakakibara has ever been quoted as saying and the same goes for any official within any organization in Japan; its just a accepted fact that buiness in Land of the Rising Sun consists mostly of smoke and mirrors.
This goes doubly for Mr. Dana White. I don’t understand why we get worked up about any of his interviews. Being mostly company rhetoric, and Dana-rage is pointless and non-newsworthy – except to point out his unending contradictions and inaccuracies, which is quite funny.
Linda McMahon as of late has been far worse then Dana White in public speaking. When asked if the UFC PPV’s are hurting the WWE’s buyrates…. Her response was basically:
“No, not at all. If anything, it conditions people to buy more PPV’s.”
Being a president of a company means you have to be full of sh!t…..
“He’s just a punk. You know what? The thing is I don’t want to even talk about Josh Barnett. Nobody even cares about Josh Barnett.”
I think most MMA fans would be interested in seeing a Couture vs Barnett rematch, I know I was certainly looking forwad to its possibility. I certainly care more about Josh Barnett fights than I do about Dana White’s comments that he sees fit to include on every shoddy UFC video promo package for ppv.
Perhaps, because I’ve never taught a Boxercise class, I lack the requisite MMA and business knowledge to understand how keeping out one of the top ranked heavyweights in the world is good for business or good for MMA—-Doesn’t the UFC (and White) purport to put on the best fights with the best competitors? I mean why would I want to see the Barnett versus Nog rubber match (It’s not like they put on a FOTYC…oh wait) when I could see Tim Sylvia in all of his slow moving, uncoordinated, goofy glory..
I suppose they should add the caveat—“Unless a fighter upsets Dana White and threatens to bring tumult to his personal fiefdom” to their contentions about putting on the best fights with the best fighters.
I think most MMA fans would be interested in seeing a Couture vs Barnett rematch, I know I was certainly looking forwad to its possibility.
Most MMA fans in this country have no idea who Josh Barnett is. As things stood, Josh was never tremendously popular the first time he was in the UFC either. But hey, its easier to imagine that he’s a massive American draw, right?
In the meantime, do a Rizzo/Barnett rematch in Art Of War. Rizzo beat two legit guys in the last couple of contests, and Barnett’s coming off of losses to Nogs and Cro Cop.
Who said anything about his drawing power? I said most MMA fans would be interested in seeing a Couture Barnett rematch. What sort of people call themselves fans of MMA and would not want to see that match or the rubber match between him and Big Nog? Not a very bright one.
How many of the CASUAL (fair weather, bandwagon jumpers, TUF newbs) MMA fans that you refer to not knowing who Josh Barnett is, actually know who Fedor is? Should Dana save the Ferrita’s money and not bother with pursuing him and completely give up on trying to create an elite division with the best talent that puts on the best fights?
And the morons that attend UFC events didn’t even know who Rampage was and booed him in both of his fights. What a horrible mistake that turned out to be. And Big Nog, how many TUF newbs had any clue as to he was? And now they’re bringing Shogun into the fold? What is the UFC thinking hiring talented fighters that are relatively unknown in the US—when you’ve so eloquently argued that the standard ought to be popularity not talent.
If a popularity contest is what you’re, perhaps the Miss America contest would be more up your alley. MMA is a sport—and the goal of any sport is to put on competitions between the best competitors in that sport. Legitimate fans of the sport of MMA want to see the best fighters compete with one another.
I don’t care if Josh Barnett is the least popular human being on the planet, he’s still one of the top 10 Heavyweight fighters in the world (He also beat Nog—a guy some thought only Fedor could beat.) and because I’m a fan of the sport I want to see the best fighters fight each other.
Not exactly an Earth-shattering concept.
I’m not interested in seeing Barnett.
I also have no interest in ever seeing Ortiz fight again.
What do people thing about the UFC compensation (not fight salary) talk that went on in today’s Komikazee smackdown? The numbers they’re tossing are a little more than I would have expected, but not by much.