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Dana White gives Fedor the Playboy Buddy Rose treatment
By Zach Arnold | April 16, 2009
Update (4/17): Dana White channels the spirit of McMahon and Bobby Heenan in this new interview on Fedor. The most striking thing about this interview is how eager White is to hawk the “Liddell’s finished” angle here to generate heat:
Carmichael Dave: Thanks for your time. We’re two days out from UFC 97 in Montreal, and I know you’re slammed. Anything you want to say to the fans about this weekend?
Dana White: Might be the last time you ever see Chuck Liddell fight live or on television. The legend, the iceman, the man who helped build Mixed Martial Arts.
Carmichael Dave: Jesus, you really want to say that?
Dana White: Yes. He’s one of my best friends, but this could be it. He helped build this business, but this might be his last fight ever.
—
Remember that media interview I alluded to earlier today from Toronto featuring Dana White? He lost his mind several times during the interview, but this quote gave me a much-needed laugh during the day:
They show a clip of Georges St. Pierre calling Fedor Emelianenko the best fighter in the world. Landsberg calls GSP the best fighter in the world. White disagrees with GSP and Landsberg and calls Anderson Silva the best in the world at any form of fighting. GSP is number two and the blemish on his record is the loss to Matt Serra. White says it’s a crock to call Fedor the best in the world because he hasn’t been fighting the best fighters in the world like his guys – and “he’s fat and out of shape.”
White went on to say that MMA web sites don’t get credentialed by UFC because they’re not real journalists, but then continues taking potshots at all sorts of MMA web site writers throughout the interview.
Is there a show this weekend?
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 36 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Dana is such a fuckin joke. He’s nothing but a mouthpeice for the Fertittas and the bad cop to their good cop. The only time you see the real Dana is when he screws up like he did on his vlog and reveals his inner turd.
Aside from calling Fedor “fat and out of shape”, I mostly agree with what Dana said about the rankings. I’ve got Silva at #1, GSP at #2, and Fedor at #3. Silva and GSP have cleared out more top fighters in their division, and the MW and WW divisions are much deeper than the threadbare HW division.
GSP actually has the best wins out of the three, but his one loss to Serra keeps him at a very close second. If he takes out Alves in dominating fashion, he may move up to #1.
“White went on to say that MMA web sites don’t get credentialed by UFC because they’re not real journalists.”
On a related note, the first person Dana White calls when he has a story that he wants to spin a certain way is Kevin Iole, who apparently is “a real journalist.”
Then, when he decides to give interviews after his little incident (you know, the one where he said nothing wrong and the media was out to get him), he goes on a radio show that he’s friendly with, and an ESPN Page 2 writer that he’s friendly with, who proceeds to not ask him a single question about his attack against Loretta Hunt.
To Dana White, whether someone is a “real journalist” or not depends on whether they are obedient to Zuffa, and “not being obedient to Zuffa” means daring to actually do things that real journalists would never do… like, you know, occasionally writing news stories that might not please the subjects of those news stories.
And apparently “real journalists” also have editorial content partnerships with the UFC, and the media entity for which they work (Yahoo Sports) makes more money when the UFC sells more online PPVs. That’s what “real journalism” is all about, after all.
Dana hearts Pravdaism
LOL, I agree with everything Dana said except the Fedor part. Fedor is a great fighter, not number 1 P4p but still good.
I love the part about the wannabe journalists on the internet. He hit the nail on the head with that one, I mean you need way more credentials than just having your own website to be considered a journalist.
It’s also a joke to say that Fedor Emelianenko “still isn’t fighting the best fighters in the world” when his last two fights were wins over fighters who were ranked among the top four heavyweights in the world at the time, although Dana White lost any credibility on any Fedor-related comments long ago.
Of course Fedor is fat nd out of shape. That’s where he gets superpowers from.
LOL at Dana’s Fedor comments, but then again, what do you expect? Dana likes to say Anderson is number 1 in the world because Silva is the only guy out there who hasn’t lost in the UFC, which Dana likes to pretend = MMA. If you notice when they hype UFC 97, they don’t even show Shogun’s Pride highlights in the commercials, just his awful win over grandpa Coleman because Zuffa wants to erase Pride from the consciousness of mma fans. It is rather disturbing.
I am not sure who the “good” fighters are that Dana has that Fedor couldn’t hang with…Nog? Mir? Couture? Gonzaga? I guess he must mean Brock (yes, he of 4 professional fights) and full-time engineer Shane Carwin, who has the head movement of a paraplegic…What a fucking joke.
MMA rankings are so transitory there is no point in harping on them, and trying to pinpoint the best at any one moment – especially using the mythological P4P method.
Remember not too long ago everyone was freaking out because Dana White would’t let Matt Lindland fight Anderson Silva? Because he was afraid of ‘exposing’ The Spider and having his best guy lose?
I don’t hear many people making that argument anymore. So many were CERTAIN that ‘pound for pound’ Lindland was the superior fighter. Now the thought of that match-up is almost a joke.
But stranger still, it doesn’t even take a loss to affect P4P rankings apparently. A fight where Fedor wins via R1 KO, but does it without the benefit of ripped abs, is enough to proclaim he’s not the best?
““White went on to say that MMA web sites don’t get credentialed by UFC because they’re not real journalists.”
On a related note, the first person Dana White calls when he has a story that he wants to spin a certain way is Kevin Iole, who apparently is “a real journalist.”
Then, when he decides to give interviews after his little incident (you know, the one where he said nothing wrong and the media was out to get him), he goes on a radio show that he’s friendly with, and an ESPN Page 2 writer that he’s friendly with, who proceeds to not ask him a single question about his attack against Loretta Hunt.
To Dana White, whether someone is a “real journalist” or not depends on whether they are obedient to Zuffa, and “not being obedient to Zuffa” means daring to actually do things that real journalists would never do… like, you know, occasionally writing news stories that might not please the subjects of those news stories.
And apparently “real journalists” also have editorial content partnerships with the UFC, and the media entity for which they work (Yahoo Sports) makes more money when the UFC sells more online PPVs. That’s what “real journalism” is all about, after all.”
LOL at this whiny little rant. Ivan, this whole post sounds like you got turned down for not being a real journalist. you must be bitter.
P4P mean basically nothing.
With that said, if I had to pick one person to be the hypothetical best fighter in the world, it would be GSP. He has cleared out his division more then anybody else in the sport.
I think we should all be familiar with White’s MO at this point.
The only reason Fedor is “fat and out of shape” is because he is not signed to a Zuffa contract. The only “real” MMA journalists, are those that that do favorable stories on the UFC.
The fact that he continues take shots at MMA media, shows he really does care about what they write. If it was not importaint to him, then he would not go out of his way at attack them at every turn.
Stay classy Dana!
Ivan…do you still work for MMA Weekly? What did they do to get their credentials back?
There is just simply not enough room available in the press section to credential the online MMA media:
http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii160/thesearenttalls/media.jpg
jj— MMAWeekly does have credentials.
Zack— The answers to your two questions are “yes” and “I don’t know.”
The transcript of Dana White’s latest embarrassing interview about Fedor Emelianenko is up here:
http://www.carmichaeldave.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79:a-carmichael-dave-exclusive-dana-white-on-fedor-emelianenko&catid=36:mma
… and it’s hilarious. Every time this man opens his mouth, more of his credibility flies away.
Do we really need a play-by-play of everything Dana White says? It’s beginning to look like a running bad joke within the MMA blogosphere.
One blog acting like a pseudo PR machine while another criticizes every ‘outlandish’ statement he makes.
When he says ridiculous things that are in many cases flat-out untrue, yes. Would it be better for those kinds of statements to just go unchallenged? Or for them to be posted without any comment on their lack of veracity?
Dana is Dana. He is damn near bipolar about Fedor at this point, and to be honest, I thought the interviewer did a good job of actually asking legitimate questions–I dont recall ever reading a Dana interview where the champions clause and all that other stuff was bought up. I really wish someone would challenge the Zuffa contract or that all the fighters get behind Rob Maysey’s fighter union so they could pursue action collectively.
Anyways, Dana is never going to admit that Fedor is the man until Fedor signs with the UFC, and why would he ever admit that? You have to admire his ability to say ridiculous things without blinking, though. His response to Fedor beating 3 UFC champs (actually it is 5, Coleman and Randleman too) was that Nog was a long time ago (lol, is Dana implying that Nog is better now???), Sylvia was never great (he was a 3x UFC hw champ, what does that say about your hw division, you dumbass), and that Arlovski was chinless (again, he was the best fighter in your company with no chin, so what does that say?). I remember before the Arlovski-Fedor fight that Dana said AA was the first fighter he lost who he really wanted to keep, but now that he lost to Fedor AA is damaged goods to White.
The more I think about it, the more I hope Thales Leites beats Anderson so we don’t have to hear the pussified mma media sucking on the power teat and repeating over and over that Anderson Silva is the best fighter in mma p4p, that his 4 losses don’t count…
Funny because Dana is simply playing the part of the typical Pride fan, by calling out guys like Sylvia which until they left the UFC were considered lower tier fighters by these same fans.
It’s also becoming increasingly hypocritical of Dana White when he uses his ole’ standby “Who has Fedor ever fought?” line, given the fact that Fedor’s last two fights were against top-four-ranked heavyweights, whereas Anderson Silva’s last three fights will have been against unranked James Irvin, unranked Patrick Cote, and unranked Thales Leites… with unranked Demian Maia also close to the front of the title shot line.
Cote was barely a top ten guy, sure, but Leites definitely is and Maia would be just on the outer fringes of the division’s top ten. They aren’t terrible fighters. The better comparison is Randy Couture: Randy has only one fight in the last 18 months and it was lost to a 2-1 pro fighter. He’s almost 46. Maybe, just maybe…Randy Couture might not be an elite fighter anymore! In fact, come to think of it, his only win in 2 years is some guy who got trounced by Werdum. What exactly is the argument that he’s still a top 10 fighter? That everyone else is really bad?
I’m warning you guys….. this is your very last chance to ever see Chuck Liddell again. Ever. He will never be even allowed in public again. He will be gone from public view forever.
Get this pay per view or you will forever regret that you passed up the chance to see Chuck Liddell ever again.
It would be a real shame for Chuck to end up going out as a result of a loss to Shogun. However, it would be still be AWESOME for the new, focused Chuck Liddell to comeback at UFC 106 or whatever the December show will be this year, so he can fight Brock Lesnar in what could really seriously maybe be the final fight of his great career. At least until the next such fight, when he faces Tito Ortiz at some Strikeforce event 3 years from now or something.
They probably don’t show the Pride Shogun because he is busy giving Rampage a vicious beating.
“I’m going to fuck Chuck.”
– Vanderlei Silva
“Cote was barely a top ten guy, sure, but Leites definitely is and Maia would be just on the outer fringes of the division’s top ten. They aren’t terrible fighters.”
I’m not suggesting for a minute that they’re terrible fighters, but they’re not top ten ranked fighters, either. Cote wasn’t a “barely top ten guy,” he was not a top ten guy. And which web site’s rankings have Leites in the top ten? My point wasn’t that Anderson Silva is fighting terrible fighters, my point was that it’s foolish for Dana White to say, “Fedor doesn’t fight anyone good!” when his last two fights were wins over fighters who were top-four ranked at the time, while Anderson Silva’s last three fights will have been against guys that weren’t top-ten-ranked, much less top-four-ranked.
Leites isn’t top ten ranked? On what basis? Who on earth would go before him? Lawler? Trigg? Jacare? Misaki? C’mon now. You’re talking crazy, Ivan. If he’s only around #5/6 or so, that’s about where Tim Sylvia was when he fought Fedor too.
WordPress wouldn’t let me post this before, so I am trying again.
MMAWeekly middleweight rankings:
1. Anderson Silva
2. Robbie Lawler
3. Yushin Okami
4. Nathan Marquardt
5. Jorge Santiago
6. Dan Henderson
7. Gegard Mousasi
8. Vitor Belfort
9. Kazuo Misaki
10. Yoshihiro Akiyama
USA Today aggregate rankings:
1. Silva
2. Okami
3. Lawler
4. Mousasi
5. Marquardt
6. Henderson
7. Santiago
8. Maia
9. Franklin
10. Leites
Tim Sylvia’s rank before he fought Fedor— #4
Andrei Arlovski’s rank before he fought Fedor— #3
Again, my point was that people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Dana White and his sycophants say frequently that Fedor isn’t fighting top competition, all while Silva has fought in his last three fights a nowhere-near-ranked fighter, another nowhere-near-ranked fighter, and a fighter who is either unranked or #10. Not only that, but both of those nowhere-near-ranked fighters (Irvin and Cote) went into their Silva fights with significant training injuries (Irvin’s ankle, Cote’s knee). And yet Silva is the guy that they’re going to be billing as “totally the best fighter of all time and you’re an idiot if even try to debate that!” after he presumably beats Leites.
In response to post #28, the MMAWeekly middleweight top ten is Silva, Lawler, Okami, Marquardt, Santiago, Henderson, Mousasi, Belfort, Misaki, and Akiyama. The USA Today aggregate top ten is Silva, Okami, Lawler, Mousasi, Marquardt, Henderson, Santiago, Maia, Franklin, and Leites (at #10).
Tim Sylvia’s rank before he fought Fedor was #4
Andrei Arlovski’s rank before he fought Fedor was #3
Again, my point was that people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Dana White and his sycophants say frequently that Fedor isn’t fighting top competition, all while Silva has fought in his last three fights a nowhere-near-ranked fighter, another nowhere-near-ranked fighter, and a fighter who is either unranked or #10. Not only that, but both of those nowhere-near-ranked fighters (Irvin and Cote) went into their Silva fights with significant training injuries (Irvin’s ankle, Cote’s knee). And yet Silva is the guy that they’re going to be billing as “totally the best fighter of all time and you’re an idiot if even try to debate that!” after he presumably beats Leites.
This info will not make Danas day, but Fedor is the actual linear UFC hw champion.
Couture the then unbeaten ufc hw champ got beat by Enson who got beat by Kerr who got beat by Fujita and a nc to Igor who both got beat by Coleman who got beat by Noguiera who got beat by Fedor who since then has beaten all ufc champs fighting outside the ufc.
Do you really believe that Marqhardt should be ranked above Leites, Ivan? Really? Don’t cherry pick websites for me and their rankings to go making your point. Sorry, I like Belfort a lot, but one win over an inactive aging wrestler does not a career like Leites’ make. This is not to claim that Leites is the best option or even one I particularly like, but fuck, dude is definitely a top 10 middleweight.
I wasn’t cherry-picking rankings, I posted the rankings from the site whose staff that I’m on and the rankings that combine a bunch of different rankings from a bunch of different web sites. It seems that you and I agree that Leites is a very good fighter; we just disagree about whether he deserves to be top-ten-ranked at this time.
You’re avoiding the question. Should Marqhardt be ranked above Leites or not? If he should be, then what does that say about the value of actual results, the very rules the sport is governed by, etc? We both agree that Nate is one, so what does that make Leites?
I have Marquardt ranked higher than Leites only because of what they’ve done since that fight: Leites has only beaten Drew McFedries, while Marquardt has had impressive TKO wins over both Martin Kampmann and Wilson Gouveia. Yes, Leites did beat Marquardt, but Fighter A beating Fighter B doesn’t mean that Fighter A has to be ranked higher forever.
And I agree. Thing is, Leites hasn’t lost and that fight was less than a year ago. Leites probably would have fought since the McFedries fight if, you know, he wasn’t being given a WORLD TITLE SHOT.