"The other thing is that goes with Fedor thing is all these people get out there and start talking. It's like every (expletive) five minutes I'm answering questions about the new guy that's going to take the UFC down. A year and a half ago it was the IFL. The IFL has a better model. They are going to take care of these fighters. They're really going to take care of them. They are going to give them stock options. They are going to get medical benefits. They are going to give them a retirement plan. Here we are, the stock is at 8 cents now and they are going out of business. OK.
"The next guy was (Calvin Ayre and) Bodog. This guy is a billionaire and he's doing this and that. Oh my God, look at the contract he gave Matt Lindland. Matt Lindland never got paid his (expletive) money. The money Matt Lindland was supposed to get paid from Bodog, he never (expletive) paid him. He's like, `(Expletive) you. I live in Costa Rica. What are you going to do about it? The government can't even touch me.' OK.
"The next guy is (HDNet Fights') Mark Cuban. He's a billionaire, this, that and everything else. Then the CBS deal pops up and Mark Cuban isn't as scary anymore. Look at CBS now. Every (expletive) day it's somebody new.
"Let me tell you what, whether it's the fans, the fighters or whoever, the fighters get taken care of in the UFC. I've made more (expletive) millionaires in mixed martial arts than anybody. Even that moron, Tito Ortiz. He's an (expletive) liar. He was on Howard Stern and blatantly flat out lied about what he made. The guy has made millions. Remember the interview with him, `Booh hooh, I crashed my car into a tree. My life is over.' I brought him back and made him a coach on Season 3 of The Ultimate Fighter. The guy has made millions of dollars, millions, OK. This is where it's at. This is where the fighters are going to make the money.
"You got all these guys trying to put together companies. M-1 and this and that and all these different (expletive) things. They've never even put on a fight, yet. They've never even put on a fight and they are going to be the company to beat the UFC.
"You think of this. You come over to my house this weekend and we kick back and watch TV. We put on (expletive) NASCAR. We're like, `Holy (expletive). Look at all the (expletive) people at this race. All those fans and this and that. These guys got television deals and merchandise deals and all this crazy (expletive). You know what? Let's steal two of their drivers, and let's start our own (expletive) company. We'll call it (expletive), you know, GASCAR instead of (expletive) NASCAR.' That's how (expletive) stupid it is. It's the exact same thing, you know. NASCAR is huge. Nobody is going to jump out and start competing with NASCAR. But small races go on every weekend all over the country. All these guys eventually want to make it to NASCAR and become professional drivers.
"It's the same (expletive) thing with the mixed martial arts market. The UFC is here. We're pulling all the numbers. We're doing all this (expletive). We're the real deal. But every weekend, all over the country, all over the world, fights happen. That's the way the business works. We need those smaller shows as a feeder system to get to the UFC. The whole (expletive) psycho internet thing where everybody wants to jump on and everybody is going to kick our (expletive), it's all insane."
-- Dana White, UFC President, making the case for why the UFC is already too far ahead of it's North American competition for their competitors' business tactics and strategies to matter over the long run.
On a personal note, I'm very tired of his anti-Internet tirades. Dana, you want to talk about free entertainment, let's talk about things that are "free": you shit on us in the blogosphere and Internet space at every opportunity and all we do is provide you, your organization and your fighters publicity...for free. A "thank you" instead of the "fuck you" we get ad nauseum might be in (expletive) order, don't you (expletive) think, mother (expletive)?
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