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About that Dana White/Greg Jackson ‘feud’…
By Zach Arnold | January 10, 2011
This from the most recent edition of the Inside MMA show on HDNet:
KENNY RICE: “Dana White is not, uh… a man who is known for being shy.”
BAS RUTTEN: “No, he’s not.”
KENNY RICE: “Ever. He said a few things that came actually after [Nate Marquardt’s] loss to (Yushin) Okami when he said a few things about the Jackson camp. The camp that seems to win about every award is being… one of the elite camps out there, of course. And here’s what he said about Greg Jackson’s camp. ‘…there’s a pattern there. The game plans they come up with and a lot of the corner work is very weird. You’ll see guys who are traditionally exciting fighters, but when they go to the Greg Jackson camp they become safety first fighters…’ on CSN Washington. Now that was a quote attributed to Dana White and you would say about that, Nate…”
NATE MARQUARDT: “Shoot, I disagree, you know. We have guys like Diego Sanchez who started with Greg. We got guys like Clay Guida, Jon Jones, me and Brendan (Schaub), Shane Carwin, I mean just a ton of guys that are super-exciting who finish fights. Not every single one of your fights is going to be the most exciting fight and it’s bound to happen that you’re going to have a fight here and there that’s lackluster. But, I mean, our guys put on shows.”
BAS RUTTEN: “Greg was talking about that in 22 shows they had 12 bonuses for like a knockout or submission bonus. So he said this whole thing for him was actually a moral boost he said because I started getting the facts together and then I realized I was actually doing really, really good. I would have to loved to see though how many fighters he had in those 22 fights in total, that number there also. But I think that him saying that it was a moral booster, I think it’s very close.”
KENNY RICE: “I don’t think that Dana doesn’t say a whole lot that he doesn’t know in advance how it’s all going to come back around.”
BAS RUTTEN: “What do you mean?”
KENNY RICE: “I don’t think he shoots from the hip that much. I think there was a purpose in what he said.”
With that set-up, I now turn it over to you to watch the video clip for an interesting answer given by a guest on the Inside MMA show…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 5 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
1) I do agree that Dana White is much less clueless then people want to believe. He knows exactly what he is saying. I wouldn’t be shocked if he had a few co-workers he bounced comments off of to see how they might sound in the media. He seems like the sort of guy who would do something like that behind closed doors.
2) I’ve never heard Kogan talk before, but I wasn’t very impressed. Something off about that guy. And I don’t agree with him that White has an different motive. I think White was just sick of Jackson’s camp taking the tentatice approach and wanted to at least implant it in their fighters minds that they need to do more. What he did do was do it with an important fighter like Marquardt, but not a superstar like GSP or Evans.
3) I don’t watch Inside MMA but it comes across like a high level podcast more then a TV show. Far too much talking over each other where you can’t understand what is going on. At least from that clip that is what happened.
In reference to your third point, that probably has more to do with the fact that it is on HDNet.
Though, I will admit, that at times I feel the same “vibe” when I watch MMA Live on ESPN.
Maybe that speaks more to the way that we know and view the sport of MMA as “hardcore” fans.
1) I don’t think anybody would really call him “clueless”, the guy knows his stuff. But he does have a nasty habit to speak before he thinks it through. He’s an emotional guy whose hangers-on and yes-men have lead to believe that making any absurd statement is cute and funny. But it’s really not something someone of his stature needs to be doing. Sure, it has gotten him fame. But like I’ve said a zillion times, when business starts dropping off, his big mouth is going to be an issue when it comes to business dealings.
2) It’s funny, people get criticized for complaining about it online and get told “You just don’t understand grappling! Go watch Tank Abbott fights!” But when Dana says it, he’s right to call people out for boring grappling? If Dana really has a problem with this, getting mad at people for using the rules to their advantage isn’t the right route to go. He has more than enough power in 2011 to move for rule changes and judge re-training to change this.
3) How is this different from a zillion other sports shows? Watch ESPN.
A few odd comments….
http://www.middleeasy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3564:bellator-commentator-jimmy-smith-offered-an-unacceptable-contract-2011-return-isnt-likely&catid=34:organizations&Itemid=27
This is what a company does when they are losing money and are trying to stay afloat. Offer a bad contract and make the employee take it…. Or have them walk away and you can sign the new person for less money.
http://mmajunkie.com/news/22045/strikeforce-challengers-13-ratings-peak-with-amanda-nunes-knockout.mma
223,000 average viewers on a free weekend that had 60 Million potential viewers.
Zach, I just want to let you know that I don’t visit your site much anymore because of this 45 Huddle moron. you seem to find it perfectly acceptable to let this shill/troll ply his bullcrap on every single thread.