MFC President Mark Pavelich on being "the defiant Prince of MMA" and not bowing down to Dana White

by promma on Mar 23, 2011 9:29 AM EDT

As driven as Pavelich is, he realizes White is number one in the MMA game. That doesn’t mean he has to like it.

"Some reporter called me ‘the defiant prince of MMA,’ " Pavelich said. "And I thought he’s so right cause the king is sitting there and I’m the defiant prince because it’s very difficult for me to wake up every day and go, ‘Oh I want to be number two in the world.’ That’s very hard for a person like me. I push because I want to be number one, and everybody knows that. The difference is, that realistically, that’s not realistic right now. Realistic is number two in the world. That’s very realistic."

Pavelich has been quoted as saying he does not like to" bow down to White." "The defiant Prince" explained what he meant by that.

"You know why, and this is the truth Jack, he is so good at what he does," stated Pavelich. "In this business there’s no one for me to look at and go he’s going to be someone I’m going to look to of what to do or what not to do or whatever. But he is so good at what he does."

"Now at the same time, he has a hard time showing admiration for other people in this business, right. There’s no question my work ethic is superior than 99.9% of the people in this industry. So for me, that’s what I’ve always had trouble with. Not that you have to send me a Christmas card, not that you have to get on a microphone and say ‘Mark Pavelich knows what he’s doing.’ You know, I’m not talking that kind of stuff."

"But he’s made innuendos and things in the past. He wants to make sure everybody knows he’s the 5000-pound gorilla and the rest of us are nothing. And I won’t allow that. And that’s where I got the comment of "bowing down to," right. If I’m going to be number two in the world, I got to be careful."

"That’s why I stopped watching his stuff on television. I don’t watch it, because I want to watch the Maximum Fighting Championship and I get in-fixed with that alone. I don’t want to have any of his stuff intrude into my mind. I want to make sure it’s all about the Maximum Fighting Championship."

Pavelich also discusses Zuffa's purchase of Strikeforce, the changing landscape of MMA and his quest to make MFC the number two promotion in the world... READ MORE

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I’ve only heard bad things about pavelich but he comes off likable in this interview

by castleeb on Mar 23, 2011 10:20 AM EDT reply actions

If you really, truly accept that #2 is going to be as good as it gets for now, then shit talk Bellator.

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by Derek Suboticki on Mar 23, 2011 10:29 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

This man is pretty terrible

Pavelich has Dana’s ego without his business acumen and his behaviour on the UG is absolutely horrendous. That being said MFC has some great fighters.

by malkav on Mar 23, 2011 3:25 PM EDT reply actions

It’s Mark Pavelich calling from the Maximum Fighting Championship,

I’ve just received notice that Drew Fickett or you, I don’t care which one of you fuckers did it, has signed a contract to fight in Strikeforce this fucking weekend. I’m going to get on a fucking plane soon and go where you’re at and choke you the fuck out. I’m telling you right now, I’ve had enough of your fucking shit. First of all, I’ve sent you the fucking pictures and secondly, I placed Drew Fickett in a fight fucking months ago and five weeks prior to my main event of my fucking fight card. You’re going to give me a fucking call tomorrow or I swear I’ll get on a fucking plane and go right where you’re at right now. You’re pissing me off, I’ve been nothing but professional to you motherfuckers and you’re doing this kind of bullshit, alright? Call me back, I’m fucking pissed.

by Derek Suboticki on Mar 23, 2011 4:21 PM EDT reply actions

IMO his business sense is lacking as well

He is opening up the market in Ontario in of all places Windsor. Yes the same Windsor that is the motor city of Canada that is in just as dire a situation as Detroit. The city has the highest unemployment rate in all of Canada and is slowly becoming a ghost town. His decision is also based that this is where he grew up and clearly couldn’t of been made without that having to do with the decision making process because if you looked at it just in a business sense you would know that they can’t even sell out concerts in the 5000 seat (just guessing on the capacity) auditorium at Caesars Windsor with some world famous acts like Kiss, Chris Rock and many more. People will say that it’s ok because even though the Windsor market is down it is a border city and can attract a lot of Americans but it is bordering on Detroit, not exactly a ton of expendable cash flowing out of there. IMO there had to of been a minimum of twenty cities in Ontario that would of made more sense to hold your breakout event in the Ontario market.

by Storry on Mar 24, 2011 10:10 AM EDT reply actions