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UFC’s Clintonian Presidential triangulation on stopping the Ali Act for MMA

By Zach Arnold | July 13, 2016

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Last February, we discussed America’s 2016 yuge nightmare between Hillary Clinton & Donald Trump. Part of that equation would be the proxy war in Nevada involving the casino magnates on Trump’s side versus the labor unions who have been a thorn in the side of Station Casinos and UFC.

Dana White would publicly back Donald Trump. It was a no-brainer. The reason was simple. Trump is one of the biggest fight fans in the world and has been for decades. UFC does not want the Ali Act amended to cover Mixed Martial Arts because it would change how they do business and give fighters a private right to sue in Federal court to break out of an overly adhesive contract.

The proxy war would be a big risk for alienating UFC fans given that the majority of UFC’s business demographic are males 18-to-34 years old who are very active online. The online audience is overwhelmingly liberal on social media. It was also a heavy pro-Bernie Sanders demographic, which is not exactly the most enthralled with Hillary Clinton.

This is the excuse that will allow Dana White to support Donald Trump publicly and speak at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Trump and White yugely respect each other. They are two peas in a pod. And Dana White was an integral part in selling the UFC for $4 billion USD. Trump loves an American billionaire. He needs all the support he can get from younger voters. He currently is trailing significantly in this demographic.

Dana will scratch Trump’s back and Trump will, theoretically, scratch Dana’s back if he gets into office and has the Ali Act amendment on his desk to sign or veto.

Surely this would be a hugely risky public relations and political move to make… until you consider that the new owner of UFC is Ari Emanuel, the brother of senior Clintonista Rahm Emanuel (mayor of Chicago). The Emanuels carry great political sway in the world of the Clintons and that sway could very well kill an amendment to the Ali Act either in Congress or on the desk of a President Clinton. Ari Emanuel didn’t just spend $4 billion dollars in buying the UFC only to watch the financial business model rapidly change overnight with fighters obtaining basic legal rights.

Forget the putrid lobbying efforts currently underway on Capitol Hill to try to dissuade conservatives from voting on amending the Ali Act. The UFC is playing both ends against the middle with both Trump & Hillary. This strategy works if they can get the Ali Act amendment stalled through the lame duck session.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

19 Responses to “UFC’s Clintonian Presidential triangulation on stopping the Ali Act for MMA”

  1. rst says:

    “…until you consider that the new owner of UFC is Ari Emanuel, the brother of senior Clintonista Rahm Emanuel (mayor of Chicago).”

    Dana seems more apolitical to me then anything. He has his requisite new york liberal cultural tendancies, and that includes being a standard issue greedy new yorker. Which is where we get into just what is a democrat or a republican. In new york, who have been able to unilaterally define these terms themselves for decades, a liberal is a greedy new yorker who blames everything on everyone else. And a new york republican is a liberal who plays republican to shift the blame away from liberals for things that they dont want to publicly take responsibility for like corporate/wall street greed and wars in the middle east.

    The good news is that these two dishonest peas in a pod “both” hate Donald Trump.
    Dana doesn’t care who’s in office, he’s good buddies with anybody who helps him make a profit.

    • rst says:

      “This strategy works if they can get the Ali Act amendment stalled through the lame duck session.”

      It depends whether the liberals actually want it or not, they may not. Becasue once again the liberals in fact control both parties at this time. Thats why a large faction of “republicans” are against Donald Trump and the will of the republican voter. If the liberals want the Ali Act, their republicans will conveniently give them the votes they need to have it. Just like they have for everything else the liberals wanted for the last 8 years. And if they dont, then their republicans will vote against it and they can blame it on republicans.

      I’m not sure that they want it. I’m sure they would love more opportunities for more lawsuits, they love those. But they also love a cruel inescapable contract. And as you pointed out, a clintonista currently owns MMA.

  2. jim allcorn says:

    Wow.
    Obviously Dana & the Fertittas are complicit as hell in this latest scandal. They absolutely knew that Lesner was juiced up & sold his fight, the feature attraction of UFC 200 as a legit contest.
    Then, less than 24 hours later they rush through the sale & drop a big scandal in the new owner’s lap.
    They perpetrated a fraud in my opinion.

    On the plus side, now Dana gets to take center stage at the RNC with the stink of this following him. Just another example of the filth & insanity that is the Trump campaign. I love it.

  3. jim allcorn says:

    It will be very interesting to see William Morris Endeavor-International Marketing Group’s reaction to this.
    They’ve got to be pissed about this shit being dropped in their laps just days after spending 4 billion dollars.
    I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some serious repercussions as a result.
    Hell, if it’s within their contractual rights to fire Dana White, THAT would make a hell of a statement about this being a new era with zero tolerance for drug cheats & fighters that get involved in other shady business.
    I think they should do some serious house cleaning.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Spending $4 Billion for the UFC was stupid to begin with.

      Star Wars sold for $4 Billion. The UFC is worth as much as Star Wars? Nope!

      $4 Billion the same value of the Dallas Cowboys, and is higher then…. NY Yankees, Real Madrid, & Manchester United.

      It makes no sense.

      • The Gaijin says:

        Actually wasn’t it Star Wars AND Indiana Jones (among other properties)? I thought Disney bought LucasFilms…so even crazier UFC got $4bn.

        • Chuck says:

          I forget the exact details, but the Indy buyout came after the Star Wars buyout because there was some legal issue with Universal over Indy. So there may have been some more money thrown at Universal.

  4. 45 Huddle says:

    Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar both popped for the biggest show of the year. Just horrible.

    This sport is so pathetic. Cheaters all around.

    Makes me not even want to watch this garbage anymore.

  5. jim allcorn says:

    It’s just ridiculous, isn’t it?
    This questions the legitimacy of entire sport IMO.
    Hopefully, WME-IMG responds to this matter in a very strong manner right away to make a statement.
    I think the stink of the UFC 200 debacle could very well kill the chances of the NFL allowing the Fertittas to purchase a team. They’re just too damned shady.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      You basically have to take the first 20+ years of the sport and throw out all of the statistics and records. Basically, anything before the USADA has to make the assumption that the fighter was cheating.

      It is all meaningless. They were all cheaters. Even the ones who were never caught, we have to assume they were dirty.

      Fedor Emelianenko, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, & BJ Penn….. Those are the top guys in each weight class for the first 2 decades of the sport. 3 of them have been popped by the USADA. The other two (Fedor & GSP) we have to assume the worst.

      Its a sham…

      • The Gaijin says:

        Wasn’t BJ just the IV issue? He doesn’t strike me as a roids guy…way too fkin’ lazy.

        • DIAZ'S PACKED BOWL says:

          Yep, Penn’s body is too lazy to re-hydrate hence the special IV. His brain must have been suffering from dehydration,because he was too stupid to remember the IV ban he was so happy about.

  6. jim allcorn says:

    I actually used to like Dana White & got a kick out of all of watching all his Pre & post fights scrums. I also thought that he was most often trying to do what was best for the sport.
    Now? I can’t even stand to look at the guy.
    The fact that he’s all in on supporting Trump’s run for POTUS clearly displays just what an out of touch, elitist, one percenter prick he is.
    Never mind that anyone of any reasonable intelligence can see that Trump has absolutely no clue what the hell he’s doing & is just making it up as he goes along. Which, I suppose, is good for a laugh to watch as he campaigns for votes, but it’s absolutely terrifying to imagine how & what he’d do if he actually got into the Oval Office. Especially in this era of unrest & insanity in so much of the world.
    The fact that Dana White is backing a candidate whose party just produced a draconian agenda that would basically try to forcibly drag our nation back to their idealized pre-civil rights 1950s speaks volumes about his lack of character & greedy nature.
    As long as him & his family can sit safely in their mansion, behind their security gates counting their hundreds of millions of dollars as the rest of the country/world burns, he’s cool with it.
    I have nothing but contempt for him now & I hope like HELL he gives a disastrous speech this week.

  7. DIAZ'S PACKED BOWL says:

    Do you think Bellators Coker is partially responsible for cyborgs crushed skull? Cyborg took a brutal, extended beating to the head just 2 months ago at 154. It looks like he never even had x-rays or an mri afterwards.

    Is coker partially to blame for Kimbos death? He signed him to fight again just 3 months after Kimbo was busted for roids. Steroids are well known to cause heart problems such as “heart attacks”. Coker’s disregard for fighters health and safety are quite obvious.
    Now Justino has set up a fundme page to pay for cyborgs surgery. While Coker goes on air and talks about how successful the show was, ratings, etc… never brought up cyborgs terrible injury.
    I hope cyborg recovers well, that was his last fight in a 19 year fight career.
    I would like to see some reporting on these issues, but it seems like ufc and its billions and blunders are all anyone cares about.
    Coker you are a pos.
    Hope you get fired and they bring back rebney and the tournaments. Im not watching your crummy vision anymore.
    The only fighter I really cared to watch anyway is MVP.
    I hope mvp jumps ship to ufc. Its pathetic that coker has been keeping him down. Coker says they’ll give him a few more fights then see what happens. MVP is 7-0, under Rebneys Bellator MVP would have already had at least one title fight, and if he lost it the title fight he would again fight for the title next fight.

  8. DIAZ'S PACKED BOWL says:

    Id like to see the x-ray or mri of cyborgs head right after Awad delivered 50-60 blows to the head from 2 months ago. Im willing to bet it shows a fracture. But of course they never did take any x-rays after that brutal beating he took, just threw him into another dangerous fight just 2 months later.
    Now cyborg claims a 6 month turnaround?!?!?! dude with all due respect, you had a 20 year career in fighting, hang it up, you’re lucky to be alive!
    Bellator under coker is really horrifying. He is partly responsible for Kimbos death by trying to put Kimbo in the cage 90 days after getting busted for steroids(which can be bad for the heart).
    Id like to see the media take them to task. Hint, Hint

  9. jim allcorn says:

    I love it.
    On the very day of Dana White’s big speech supporting Trump USADA releases the results of Lesner’s in competition PEDs test, which proves that Lesner was juiced. Which, imo, further proves that Dana & the Fertitta boys were complicit in allowing Lesner to headline UFC 200 ( yeah, technically it was Tate-Nunes, but in name & bout order only ).
    Illustrating that, like all the corporations that the GOP adores so much, they were ALL about the profits. To hell with the integrity of the sport or fighter safety. I hope like hell the media really jumps on this outside of just the sports pages. And, I hope that the new owners are disgusted enough by this scandal breaking immediately following their 4 billion dollar purchase to can White. He’s GOT to go.

  10. Megatherium says:

    I can’t wait to see the PR magic Ari Emmanuel works with Dana’s image with his Hollywood muscle. It wouldn’t surprise me if there already was a sitcom in the works starring Dana White. Maybe something about a Las Vegas aerobics instructor and his tribulations with the ladies. Make him a single dad. I’d watch something like that.

  11. […] was the year that UFC triangulated and gambled big time on saving their business model by publicly supporting Donald […]

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