Ariel Helwani has an interview with White that clarifies what got under his skin about Jake Rossen and the rest of "the Internet":

The reason? It's because the "real media" that Dana cares so much about actually takes their lead from us, the dorks on the Internet who actually know the sport.

Here's the article that set Dana off, from the LA Times:

Last summer, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship prepared for its 100th event, its owners were poised to celebrate that the combat sport of choice was no longer boxing but mixed martial arts.

Things have changed a bit.

Today, fight fans are whetting their appetites for the most anticipated bout in years. And it's boxing that has the buzz because of the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. mega-fight scheduled for March.

And the UFC? It's been hit with a slew of injuries to key fighters and other negatives that have watered down its recent events.

...

Typically, UFC's New Year's Day and Super Bowl weekend cards are big events, but both cards for 2010 look weaker than usual.

It's nice to see that Dana is belatedly realizing that in the 21st Century any outlet with an audience should be taken seriously. If the President of the United States has time to sit down with bloggers, maybe Dana White should rethink his no access policy.

In the Helwani interview, Dana White disputes the contention that the UFC is losing momentum but it's indisputable that it has lost momentum. He says "we're not losing momentum, we had a freak string of injuries." This is a "the dog ate my homework" line of argument and in the real world, just like in the 6th grade no one cares. You either deliver or you don't. Right now the UFC isn't delivering on the two biggest cards of the year, New Year's and the Superbowl weekend.

When "Internet writers" say that the UFC is losing momentum, it's because they have. They were on a relentless upward curve that peaked with UFC 100 and 101. But since the failure to sign Fedor Emelianenko in early August, the UFC has been holding steady, but not growing at a meteoric rate. That's what it means to lose momentum.

The UFC should be able to regain momentum in 2010, but there's no arguing that the second half of the year didn't continue to growth at the same frenzied rate of the first half.

See also:

• Dana White: Promote Me or Get Out of My Way -- Michael Rome

• The Phantom Menace: The Alleged 'Anti-UFC' Bias of Sherdog.com -- Luke Thomas

HT Fight Opinion