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Notebook: Dana White’s new stance on (cleaning up) drug usage; Texas commission job opening (now confirmed)

By Zach Arnold | April 24, 2014

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Lots of little odds & ends but no real in-depth news item, so here we go:

I noticed that the new public relations line from the UFC is that they don’t have a massive drug problem because there are now less drug test failures than in the past. In other words, less fighters are failing the IQ test. When in doubt on fighters failing that IQ test, predicting dumb over smart is the safe bet.

The doomsday (to compel arbitration) hearing between Darin Harvey and Ronda Rousey happens next Wednesday (4/30) in Los Angeles Superior Court. The fight portion of the talent agreement has already been severed thanks to the recent California State Athletic Commission arbitration decision.

I know Dana White likes to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but there is a certain gleam in his eye when he talks about Ronda Rousey that you don’t see when he talks about other fighters currently on the UFC roster. I can only imagine he’ll feel the same way once Marina Shafir gives him a reason to sign her for the 145 pound women’s division.

Speaking of Marina, here’s hoping you listened to our interview with her on the latest edition of Fight Opinion Radio. On that same show, we had a discussion about whether or not Georges St. Pierre was underpaid at an alleged $5 million USD per fight (thanks Joe Rogan). When you compare what GSP made on top versus what Manny Pacquiao got paid for the Tim Bradley re-match ($20 million dollars), they’re not even in the same stratosphere. Does the UFC’s argument that the money they spend on undercard fighters (more money than boxing cards) hold up?

Keep your eyes open on what is happening with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Is Austin about to send out an invite to a current state athletic commission boss?

Interesting that an 8 AM conference call for today Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting would have well over 20 callers on the line. The Mayweather effect. Interesting how Francisco Aguilar, who is the Chairman and not the Executive Director, is the dominant voice at the meetings. Eric Gomez of Golden Boy & Leonard Ellerbe were on the phone to approve NSAC’s selection of officials. Tony Weeks will be the referee for the Mayweather/Maidana fight. He will get paid $8,150. The three judges for the main event will get paid $5,150 each. Kenny Bayless & Jay Nady passed over. Dr. Vicki Mazzorana got booked for the PPV show.

What event would draw better ratings for a non-PPV TV network spending $100 million on one sporting event: one NFL playoff game on ESPN or a Mayweather/Pacquiao fight on CBS?

Mike Mersch from UFC stated will be producing three new series of The Ultimate Fighter in Las Vegas. He was at the Nevada commission meeting Thursday morning for a limited waiver of regulations.

Update (4/25): Yesterday we noted that Austin was considering posting job openings at the Texas DLR (athletic commission). This morning, a new job listing for a top director position has been posted. $40,000 a year, bilingual, and a lot of travel.

Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

8 Responses to “Notebook: Dana White’s new stance on (cleaning up) drug usage; Texas commission job opening (now confirmed)”

  1. 45 Huddle says:

    Dana White has been nasty to his fighters this year. And he has been trying sell way too much B.S. to the public. I wanted to see Jones fight this weekend but that undergrad is so bad I probably won’t.

  2. Diaz's cashed bowl says:

    Umm, sorry but the prez begs to differ, his words…

    “the most stacked card we’ve ever done.”

  3. Diaz's cashed bowl says:

    I just looked at the card, and its crummy as can be.

    The bellator 120 PPV looks better than ufc 172 or 173 no doubt. Alvarez vs Chandler III ’nuff said! Rampage vs King mo, Tito vs shlemenko? two great fights right there.
    not to mention Friere vs Held and Blagoi vs Volkov are 2 great final tournament battles any mma fan should be salivating over right now!

    I’m not purchasing any ppvs in may, but if I had a choice between those 3 shows I would buy Bellator 120.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      I’m am probably not buying any of the PPV’s you mentioned, but I wouldn’t go as far to say that the Bellator one is the best of the bunch.

      Held/Pitbull & Blagoi/Volkov are not on the PPV.

      That PPV has Page/Rainey & Brooks/Jolly. Both are not acceptable PPV Fights. Ortiz/Shlemenko is a joke of a fight between a washed up Light Heavyweight and a bloated Middleweight. And Rampage/Lawal isn’t much better. That PPV has exactly one quality fight on it.

      • Diaz's cashed bowl says:

        Yeah i’m not sure why the Held and Blagoi fights aren’t on the ppv, I don’t think either will go the distance.

        ufc 172 has one quality title fight 2 kinda cool but predictable decisiony fights I could care less about underneath.
        ufc 173 has a title fight I could care less about and 2 kinda cool but predictable decisiony fights to watch underneath it. The pride 2 belt champion and strikeforce mw champion vs ex strikeforce hw champion, both olympic wrestlers, who is the best?
        And the ex strikforce ww champion vs the guy who is just good enough to beat some ex strikforce ww champions, will he do it again?
        Bellator has one great title fight and 2 cool “freakshow” matches with two great previous ufc lhw champions underneath. Hard to see these fights going the distance.

        So not much to distinguish these cards, but for $35 the bellator show is novel and looks more entertaining overall, in my, die hard been watching since ufc II, opinion.

  4. 45 Huddle says:

    A couple “the sky is falling” comments:

    1) TUF got 320,000 viewers. That is really bad.

    2) Dana White said Cyborg looked like Wanderlei Silva in a dress. What was worse is that it is being reported that a few of the reporters “chuckled” after he made the comment. Sickening all around.

    3) WSOF randomly drops Arlovski and then the UFC signs him. People gave Zach a lot of grief for connecting the dots between the UFC and WSOF. And since he has, he has been proven right time and time again. They are straight up working with each other at this point.

    4) So far this year the UFC has not broken 350,000 PPV Buys. I personally thought Jones/Glover had a good chance of getting to 400k. So far the hype for this show has been almost nothing. Not a good sign for the UFC when one of their top 3 draws is creating no interest. I’m thinking this show will do right around 350k tops right now.

    This certainly feels like the demise of the sport in America lately. I know they still have the FOX money coming in, but things just feel like they are going in a really bad direction with no end in sight.

  5. Chris says:

    WSOF is the AAA farm system to the UFC. Smarten up fighters!

  6. Fluyid says:

    Google tells me that Dickie made a good bit more than 40K.

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