Lions Den Clothing - Ken Shamrock's Official Clothing Line - Hats, Tee Shirts, Sweat Shirts, Tank Tops, and more! Now On Sale (>>)
WrestlingDotCom.com - FULL Pro Wrestling Coverage!
JewelryGuy.com - Find the PERFECT Gift! Over 2000 items ONSALE - FREE Shipping!!!
Ken Shamrock on BoxingInsider.com:
Ken Shamrock Post UFC 49 Comments
Ken Shamrock Post UFC 49 Comments Part 2
Ken Shamrock's Talks About Beating Kimo
Ken Shamrock Responds To Eddie Bravo's Preview
Ken Shamrock: Post Liddell - Ortiz
Ken Shamrock Comments On Kimo
Ken Shamrock's UFC 47 Preview
Ken Shamrock's UFC 46 Preview
Ken Shamrock Calls Out Future Opponents
Ken Shamrock's Exclusive Hall Of Fame Column
Interview: Calls Royce Gracie a Chicken
Eddie Bravo on BoxingInsider.com:
Eddie Bravo's Post UFC 49 Comments
Eddie Bravo Preview's Shamrock vs Kimo
Eddie Bravo's Post UFC 47 Comments
Credit Card Offers:
Bad Credit
Low APR
Airline Credit Cards
Rewards Cards
Business Cards
Student Credit Cards
LightForce - Randy Couture's - Fountain Of Youth!
KenShamrock.com - Official Website!
TheTwister.tv - Eddie Bravo's Official Website!
|
|
Interview w/ UFC President Dana White (part 2)
Reported By: Boxing Insider - 03.05.2004 02:13 PM
BoxingInsider.com Interview with Dana White
By Chris Colderley©
In part 2 of this interview with Chris Colderley, Dana White reflects on UFC 45, the tenth anniversary show, talks about the vacant championships, and gives his views on marketing the sport and its fighters against professional boxing.
Boxinginsider.com: You have a lot of problems with the championship after the Belfort-Couture match. There are rumors that Belfort doesn't want to fight Couture for a third time. I don't know if that's true -- or if you can confirm it or deny it, but how do you combat a situation where champions just won't fight?
Dana White: There's no option. You can't ask guys if they want to fight somebody. There's a mandatory guy who you have to fight.
This sport is not at the level that boxing is at -- where a guy can say, "I'm going to sit out. I'm not going to fight this guy or fight that guy." Boxing has been around for a hundred years here. This sport can not afford that. There are fights that people want to see -- right now.
No athlete in this sport right now is bigger than the sport -- none of them. So if someone says "I'm not taking this" or, "I'm not taking a rematch with Randy Couture" -- what options do you have? I'm not asking. I'm not asking Vitor if he'll take a fight. I'm telling Vitor who he's got to fight. That's what the fans want to see and that's what the people want to see.
If Vitor Belfort is professional -- he's a professional fighter and Vitor's not afraid to fight anybody, and I'm one million per cent confident that he will fight Randy Couture.
Boxinginsider.com: Before the UFC 45 I asked you about the middleweight championship and the lightweight championship and you said we were going to hear some announcements. When can we expect to hear about those titles being defended or fought for?
Dana White: Well, right now what we've done is obviously bringing Lee Murray into the UFC to spice things up and get a little more excitement into the 185 lb division. We've got to get him fighting. We’ve got to get Lindland back in the mix. We've got to get Baroni off suspension -- the 185 lb division is in shambles right now. So we're working on that, trying to build that back up.
The lightweight division is very interesting right now. Josh Thomson and Hermes Franca just fought a fight that was controversial. There's BJ Penn moving up to 170, fighting Hughes and winning. I have a meeting with his people tomorrow and the question is: is he going to stay at 170 or is he going to come back to 155 or what is he going to do? Is he going to rematch Hughes? Is he going to fight somebody else?
We're still working on all that, but right now I think we're closer to a lightweight title and the 185 lb division is getting a little more exciting. It's just going to be a little messed up for a while.
Boxinginsider.com: In a recent interview, I spoke with Jens Pulver. He said he would fight in the UFC for free. Is there any interest in bringing Jens back into the 155 division?
Dana White: Absolutely. I've said this a million times. Jens needs to get a couple of key wins. If he gets a couple of key wins, he's right back in the mix. Jens lost to Duane Ludwig and he lost to Jason Maxwell. He needs to get a big win and then I'd be interested.
Boxinginsider.com: I haven't talked to you since UFC 45. I talked to you at the show, but I haven't talked to you since. It was a very interesting night. The first thing I want to ask you about was Phil Baroni hitting the referee. How did you feel about that and what have you said to Phil since?
Dana White: I wasn't happy about it. As soon as I saw the first punch, I jumped up out of my seat and tried to get inside the Octagon as fast as I could. I knew, immediately, that he was in big trouble -- big, big trouble. I wasn't happy about it at all.
Boxinginsider.com: What have you said to him since?
Dana White: You know, Phil made a mistake and he's paying for it now… But I think Phil has taken it on the chin like a man, and he's doing other things. I know Phil's going to school right now, and I think Phil's doing really positive things right now while he's on suspension. I am happy with the decisions he made after he did that. Let's put it that way.
Boxinginsider.com: At the same event Frank Trigg was fined for wearing a vincevouyer.com hat into the ring, I believe.
Dana White: He was never fined.
Boxinginsider.com: OK. It was reported that he was fined.
Dana White: It wasn't true. When I saw the Vince Vouyer hat I said I was going to fine him, but he was never fined. I never followed up with it.
Boxinginsider.com: Were you planning to?
Dana White: YeS
Boxinginsider.com: And can I ask why, given what UFC has gone through with censorship?
Dana White: He was told at the time that he was not allowed to wear that, and they know they can't. He can't have pornography sponsors. He can't have hard liquor sponsors. I can't remember what the other ones are per our contract with Pay per View.
Boxinginsider.com: OK.
Dana White: Matt Hughes fined him. I didn't have to fine him -- man he was dead!
Boxinginsider.com: Oh, yes, an interesting match! On the bright side, Randy Couture was voted the most popular fighter.
Dana White: Yes.
Boxinginsider.com: I believe he is the only one on the list who has been active in the past year of those ten fighters.
Dana White: Well, you weren't allowed to nominate him. It was just supposed to be the old school guys.
Boxinginsider.com: Right. Why was Randy Couture number one then?
Dana White: Because everybody voted for him. Everybody put him on there.
Boxinginsider.com: OK, having said that, Randy Couture being the one guy who was nominated overwhelmingly, why is it, do you think, he is so popular with the fans? Why is he such an enduring…?
Dana White: It's amazing. It's just amazing how many people -- not just the fans -- just absolutely love Randy Couture. How well respected he is by other athletes, the fans, us. The guy is amazing. He really is an amazing human being. He's a great guy. He's a great athlete. He's everything that you can ever expect from a champion. He is a great champion. He’s a great athlete. He is a great human being. He's the man.
Boxinginsider.com: Dana, why are you having problems -- maybe you are not having problems and you will disagree with me on this one. But why are you having problems building up new fighters?
Dana White: What do you mean?
Boxinginsider.com: Well, when I saw that Randy Couture was nominated -- and I didn't quite understand the rules, so forgive me -- well my first response was "Why is Randy Couture on there and guys like Chuck and Tito and Phil Baroni aren't? Now you have partly explained that question, but why is it that the guys like Shamrock, the guys like Gracie -- well, Tank, who actually has been active in the past year, Marco Ruas -- still have such an enduring legacy that the new fighters don't seem to have?
Dana White: I wouldn't really agree with that. What you have to understand is when the UFC first came on, they were doing amazing pay-per-view spots. They were doing 300,000 buys at a time when the cable universe was much, much smaller. So if you take the 300,000 buyers plus all the people that were stealing it, plus it was in all the Blockbuster stores back then and all the negative press it had, those guys fought in front of a lot of people.
The best example I can give you is for the hard-core fans the big fight -- back in the day when this thing was dying -- was Tito Ortiz and Frank Shamrock. Twenty-five hundred people saw that fight on direct TV. That's the difference. Now these fighters these days I would disagree that we haven't built any stars. We are selling out arenas. You don't sell out arenas of 12-14,000 people with guys that aren't stars. I'll tell you what: walk around anywhere with Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, and even Randy Couture now, and a lot of these guys -- you would be surprised. Walk around with them.
Boxinginsider.com: I have seen them out.
Dana White: I'm not even talking Event Week. One of my buddies is good friends with Tito, and they went to Disneyland together with their kids and they said it was the worst time they ever had. You can't walk ten feet through Disneyland without stopping for taking pictures and for autographs.
Boxinginsider.com: How important are the personalities to the UFC in marketing the product in your opinion?
Dana White: Very important. I think it is about the fight. People want to see good fights.
Boxinginsider.com: Is there a danger in marketing personalities? Do you run into the same situation with Tito saying, "Well, I've got a movie deal, I don't want to fight?"
Dana White: Hopefully really soon the fighter is going to learn. It's crazy. The UFC is as fair as we can be. We are running a business and there is nobody who would like to see these guys make a ton of money more than I would. It means I am making a ton of money. The reality is these guys are all overpaid right now for what this market will bear. We do that because we want to take care of our fighters. I will tell you what. You ask 90 per cent of the guys who fight in the UFC, it is a professional organization. They are treated like real athletes. They do real PR, and they are paid very well for what they do. Are they making boxing kind of money? Yes they are. They are making actually more money than most of the boxers out there make.
There are a handful of guys you hear about -- you hear De La Hoya is going to make three million. I will tell you what's going to happen. When De La Hoya is done and Tyson is done, boxing is done. Boxing is in big, big trouble right now. Two of the top promoters in that sport are in trouble. Don King just got sued by Terry Norris for $7 million. Now Tyson's in line next for $120 million. Bob Arum has his own problems right now. Those are the two top dogs in that sport. Think about when those two promoters go away, who is left? Tyson and De La Hoya are the only two guys out there who can sell tickets or pay per view. Roy Jones can't, even. So that sport is going to be in for big trouble. If you look at the sport as a whole, and look at what those guys get paid -- find out what a guy who is fighting in the main event on Fox Sports is making or ESPN for that matter. They are not making as much money as our guys are. I guarantee it.
Stay clicked with boxinginsider.com for part 3 of our interview with UFC President Dana White.
Advertisement:
BoxingInsider.com/MMA - The ONLY Site Featuring Ken Shamrock - Exclusive Interviews - Breaking News - RingSide Photos - More! (>>)
BoxingInsider.com - Breaking Boxing News - Celebrity Columnists & More!
WrestlingDotCom.com - Pro Wrestling News & More!
Boxing & Mixed Martial Arts Gear + UFC & Pride Videos On Sale!
Boxing Insider's Boxing & MMA Forums - Talk Live w/ 1000s of Fans!
|
|
