How Dana White Blew It in 2007

[rivethead]

This article sucks. Dana can be said to suck, but this article is worse than him at his suckiest.


Dana is not Zuffa, and he's not the UFC. The three terms can't be used interchangeably with any degree of credibility, particularly when the author is liberally attempting to apply blame.

I hate it when people who actually have a good point then ruin the very credibility of it by overemphasizing [or, in some cases, making stuff up] issues, or by leaving inherent contradictions within the text of their effort--contradictions like somehow blaming Dana/Zuffa for title turnover [???!], and then in the next breath complaining that Henderson should have gotten more time to acclimatize him to the octagon...if Hendo had been more comfortable, he may well have beaten Jackson, and thus there would be more title turnover to somehow [seriously, wtf?] blame on Dana.

I also flat-out disagree with him about the premium cable deal. I think with declining profit margin, the best interest for the UFC is to keep the UFC as the recognizable "face" of MMA [pause for me to gag a little bit] in the general forebrain of mainstream quasi-fans. If the UFC ditches Spike, I can almost guarantee that EXC or M1 or some other org will be on the air in their spot before you can say "the WWE sucks."

I also disagree that expansion into England is an--inherently--bad idea. True, the card for 72 was poor for a PPV, and would have been pedestrian stateside even in a traditional timeslot, and this is Dana's fault as Joe Silva's boss, and as someone with the decision-making authority to air it free of charge. But England is an untapped market and the jury is still out as to whether it can bring MMA more than Michael Bisping. I'd say the card was bad, but the idea to bring the UFC overseas was not, again, focusing on the idea that other companies are going to expand into any available market the UFC leaves open.

In addition, I don't speak Portuguese [in fact, I can barely spell it] but I feel Anderson Silva is every bit as charismatic and marketable as Rich Franklin. I'm waiting for a smart commercial advertiser the exploit the language barrier for humor, I think it's very possible. Selling stuff via interpreter...breaking new ground in advertising.


The author has a point the the PRIDE aquisition currently looks disasterous, but again, that's not Dana per se, that's Zuffa.

He makes the excellent point that the reality show sucks and needs less drama and more fights, but I fear that is overshadowed by the other flaws in the article. His attempt to be so dominant in his condemnation loses rational readership.

In closing, I don't see that operating under a tighter budget should necessarily effect a strong business. When you've expanded exponentially for a couple years, you need a period of stabilization, to curb gratuitous spending and cut overhead. I do hope this isn't reflected in fighter salary and benefit packages, but for now, I trust Dana and the Fertittas to at least make sound business decisions. I don't necessarily like Dana as an individual, but he's effective, and passionate about the sport. And as many people have pointed out, his successes currently outweigh his failures.

rh

[Mirko45]

After just reading his rant on title turnovers I feel like my IQ has dropped a good 50 points. Garbage article

[foundstarr]

The original poster "kid nate" or whatever is a tool, he provided zero comparison and ranted about shit that is out of anyones control.

Just to address one of his ridiculous points, the purchase of Pride was stupid huh? So our next huge event (Wandy vs liddell) and three of the most popular PPV's this year were useless because we had Pride guys?

Once again what a biased tool.

[Severn]

I agree on one front and that's promoting new stars. Dana and the UFC did a terrible job promoting Quinton Jackson. You have a guy who (at the time) already beat Chuck, has tons of personality but wasn't marketed correctly. And it's not like his personality was an unknown equation. Everyone knew what Rampage had to offer and if only the UFC machine was behind Rampage like they were behind Chuck (which they love to slurp constantly) he could be the biggest name in the sport.

But no, it was sold as a redemption fight (the last part of the Chuck redemption tour) but nothing was redeemed at all. Rampage won again in an even more impressive fashion than the first time. A week after that Chuck was on the Jimmy Kimmel show while Rampage (the champ) was on some online interview by a local CBS affiliate.

They aren't taking advantage of what Rampage brings to the table. He defeated PRIDE champ Dan Henderson in a historic unification fight. Still they aren't doing what they should be doing. They are blowing it.

However -

Title turnovers? That's crap. Dana has no control over that. This isn't wrestling.

He's signed great, great fighters to the UFC. Again I don't see a problem in this area.

I think if PRIDE weren't so badly managed before the sale I think PRIDE would still be up and running. I do believe that ZUFFA intended to run an Asian MMA product but PRIDE with all of it's problems (this is the same company that lost it's TV deal due to Yakuza connections) it just didn't seem feasible after a while. It's hard to put the blame on just one guy.

[ArMnHC]

i couldnt read more then 5 words into this before i had to stop. im guessing this "Kid Nate" was one the Pride Nutt Cling-Ons, and can't focus on the fact that a lot of good things that have happened in the UFC this year. stupid article. Over-expansion into England? how the f*ck do you figure that, cuz they had two shows there this year? gimme a break.

[ocscottie]

There was a pretty good interview on CNBC last night w/ Dana, the show "Conversations With Michael Eisner". Flipping through the channels i jsut happened to see his bald mug on the screen, he talked about how he got his start in boxing and how he sucked and ended up getting into MMA and the UFC and its future potential etc etc, Here is a snipet from it:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=600840179&play=1

*edit- forgot to add, you need to open that link in IE to view the clip.....POS

I think the entire show will be replayed over the weekend (Dec 1st or 2nd, check your local listings)

[BigBanda]

So the articles writer is Kid Nate. His email address is kidnate@gmail.com if yall want to know lol. I wrote him inviting him to view this thread lol.

[piglyncher]

TUF will get old just like any other TV show gets old. When it comes down to it, its about the fighting...and the fighting has been really good lately. lots of upsets, lots of unexpected outcomes. i still love all ufc programming. its all still really good...who gives a crap if they arent on premium cable. i dont even really care all that much about the demise of pride...it was a good promotion but its not like we'll never see those fighters again, matter of fact..as we seen with guys like shogun, rampage, and wanderlei, they'll prolly end up in the UFC anyways. UFC shows are the best mma programming out there IMO. you can't expect everything to go right all the time.

[foutch550]

Originally Posted by Clint

Especially when many of things are not Dana's fault:
He says immprove the TUF ratings - buit don't hold up the division for it

Promote fighters - but make sure you pick the ones that you magically know are going to win (everyone expected Crocop to dominate)

Title turnover - what the fuck does this have to do with Dana at all, he would be bitching if he gave all the champs easy competition.

EXACTLY!! What happend to CC could've just as easily happened to Rampage, or any other Pride guy that most of the educated mma world was happy to get into the UFC. And the title turnover? It just says that the level of competition is (mostly) very competitive and even. You cant (re)build a fighter to US fans by putting them in 2-3 fights vs. cans just so that fans realize what an epic match they are in. Maybe have a "spotlight" hour special on Henderson or Shogun or Soko or whoever. You waste time educating the newer mma fans on established fighters and you risk them being "Crocopped".
And not building new fighters? You mean by giving them cans to fight in their hometown and give them decisions that they didnt earn? Arent they already doing that with Bisping? Fighters build themselves for the most part by being exciting, finishing fights, etc.

[franco727]

wow it baffles me that some can be dumb enough to write that stupid fucking article but smart enough to use on a computer?