bahahahahahahaha!!! thats my counter argument

In the interview, they acknowledge how essential White has been in getting MMA to the current level of acceptance. The issue is, with his tactics and persona, will it ever reach the next level of acceptance with regular mainstream media coverage and major sponsorship deals?

White is the one who wants the UFC to be as big as the NFL but his behavior does not suggest that would ever happen and if it did, he would probably be fired for some insensitive comments made in or towards the media.

They referred to NASCAR, another niche sport, as having achieved mainstream acceptance. Do you the head of NASCAR goes around cursing and calling people names in the media? I assure you, he does not. If he did, the sport would still be where it was 20 or 30 years ago.

I think that is the point of the interview. Has MMA hit its “glass ceiling” with Dana at the helm? I would say, unless he dramatically curtails his behavior, yes it has.

but this isn’t the NFL or MLB and frankly I don’t know if the UFC and MMA would be as big as it is today without white

Right, yet White WANTS it to be the biggest sport in the world. And it will never capture the imagination and respect of the entire sports loving community when he behaves in the way he does. White is one of the biggest players in making the sport what it is now. No one is denying that.

But the truth is all other sports carry a certain level of cultural currency that allows the media to accept the T.O.‘s of the world and the gambling scandals…etc. It’s like how NASCAR being a niche sport as MyFistYourFace pointed out…grew because people liked it and they didn’t play into the stereotypes of “dumb racist rednecks wanting to see cars crash” like how White often plays into the stereotype of “angry testosterone junkies who love violence”

I just don’t see how the entire success of this sport can be attributed to just one man. I just don’t understand statements like, “If they got rid of Dana White tomorrow and went to someone else, mainstream ascendancy would slow dramatically.” Who’s mainstream ascendancy? Are you talking MMA or UFC? Yes, Dana White has done a lot for the sport as the face of the UFC. The point is that MMA wants to be included into mainstream media or at least a good portion of the fans do. Can Dana White with all his cursing and strong arm tactics take MMA to the NEXT level? It sounds like a lot of people are questioning if he has the ability to do that as the face of the UFC (and in some respect MMA itself). Relieving Dana of his duties as the public face of the UFC doesn’t mean that everything he has done so far will be undone. I’m just not sure I would jump to some of the conclusions you came to Michael. I have faith in the sport and its fans and its growing appeal and I don’t believe just one man is responsible for it.

Without the Fertittas money? Doubt it. People don’t mention them nearly enough when talking about “The Story of Dana.”

An easy argument," Imagine how big the sport would grow, if the UFC didn’t have a CEO that cussed, and stole limelight."

Or maybe the Brand matters more.

Have you ever considered that Zuffa took an organization that was ALREADY synonymous with the sport in the eyes of most Americans, and made it palatable to the masses? To suggest that Dana White himself is solely responsible, and that the initials “U-F-C” aren’t the crucial difference between his organization and that of the other startups that crash and burn is to miscomprehend what Dana & Co have been doing all of these years.

In the late 90s, WCW was better funded, had more talent, and a television partner that was more responsive to its product, but what it didn’t have was the brand WWF, which was, in the minds of casual fans, synonymous with professional wrestling. The fact that fans were more responsive to WWF-branded product meant that marketing came easier, and the goodwill that came from over a generation of entertainment meant that the consequences of bad decision-making were muted. THAT is the position that the UFC enjoys, and as the Industry Leader, it will need to Crash & Burn in order to lose its place, Dana or no Dana.

THAT said, you can’t possibly think that the PPV Model is the long-term future of the sport. Getting 650,000 loyal fans to pay for $40 a month for fights pales in comparison to Premier League rights fees or DirecTV Sunday Ticket rights fees of $1 billion (with a “B”) annually which comes from having hundreds of millions tuning in worldwide. And don’t get it twisted — without a network partner in Spike TV, the UFC loses an outlet to promote its product on (somewhat) free TV, and a platform to give its viewers the free content that makes paying for premium content so palatable. Eventually, to get to the next stage, UFC will need a network platform.

Why? Because as strong as the UFC brand is, there are stronger brands. Showtime and CBS, which are working with Strikeforce? Bigger brands. HBO? Bigger brand. ESPN? HUGE brand. To compete effectively with MMA branded under these networks (an generate the revenue that these entities do), they’ll need to attract more than the 18-34 demographic. They’ll need the housewives, the upper-middle class professionals, the working class people of color, with each demographic sliver attracting a different sponsor. And UFC’s figurehead needs to be able to function in all of these worlds, or risk alienating a source of revenue.

The lifetime of a sport is measured in decades, not years, and while Dana White is an important figure with grand vision, to suggest that he and he alone can guide the sport’s ascent is to misunderstand the ambition, and underestimate the sport’s ceiling. But I suspect that Zuffa knows this, which is why Lorenzo Fertitta, the “good cop,” was brought to the forefront. I predict more “good cops” stepping into prominent roles as UFC continues to grow and evolve.

But you, my friend, are provincial and short-sighted. If you believe that corruption and bullshit are the exlusive domain of the larger sports entities, then you are also misinformed.

I don’t know anything about you, but there must be some reason why traditional sports have turned you off so much. However, for the vast majority of us, people who want the sport to grow want the athletes to be respected and compensated as professionals, rather than near-barbarian proxies for our bloodlust. I get that it might not fit neatly within the fabric of the mainstream, but to suggest that it can’t be as mainstream and culturally significant as boxing used to be is to again, underestimate the sport and its fans. Furthermore, to equate the sport with brashness, boorish behavior, and downright igorance is to do a disservice to the fighters who do not embody this aesthetic; it’s as pernicious as suggesting that the NBA is populated by thugs, and its fans are fans of thuggery, so its commissioner should be Suge Knight, or some other such thug figurehead. Just as MMA attracts fans of all stripes, it is comprised of fighters of all stripes, and it doesn’t belong to you, Dana White, or the ignorant, sexist, homophobic Dana apologists any more than it belongs to the traditional martial arts purists who want everyone to be bowing and ultra-disciplined before and after every fight. A figurehead that sees the universality of the sport has to work harder to bridge those gaps, or risk marginalizing the sport, its fighters, or its fans.

If the UFC is going to grow, we’re going to have to grow up a little too. That teenaged “my band has gone and sold out because they went platinum” mentality won’t take us very far at all, if we are to watch this sport bloom into a Big Boy Sport. It’s time to learn how to tie a necktie, just in case you have to go somewhere respectable.

If that’s the case, the UFC has a problem. Dana’s important, he’s done a lot of great things for both the brand and the sport, but he really shouldn’t be the biggest star in the organization.

The UFC is Dana White? Is that why you pay $50? To watch Dana White? The UFC is it’s fighters and their teams. Their were plenty of other people putting their time and money into MMA while DW was teaching aerobics. Funny, Dana White himself doesn’t recognize any of the founders of the original UFC. He’s a vulture.

He needs to be careful not to use words that offend large swaths of the public whether they are considered dirty words or not.

I just saw it on The Daily Show.

Thanks, Dana.