Dana White, the Ultimate Fighting Championship's outspoken president, isn't one to turn down a challenge. But White had to stop laughing on Wednesday before admitting that he has no interest in fighting Affliction Entertainment promoter Tom Atencio. Atencio is fighting Randy Hedderick on June 27 in Biloxi, Miss., while at the same time trying to put together a major pay-per-view fight card of his own featuring heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko. In a column on Yahoo! Sports, Atencio said he knew White wasn't serious when he said he would box former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz. "I'd love to fight Dana," Atencio said. "I'm not a former world champion with a huge record like Tito. I'm a guy who is on par with him. I like to fight, and he says he does, so I'd love to fight him." White is in Miami, Fla., on a corporate retreat and couldn't be reached in time to get his reaction to Atencio's challenge. But upon learning that Atencio had called him out, the one-time amateur boxer began to laugh. "If I were him, I'd want to fight me, too," White said. "I'm the guy who is killing all of his hopes and dreams." Although Atencio and Ortiz said White was never serious about fighting Ortiz Ortiz said White arranged a Spike TV special to make him look bad and never had an intention of fighting him White said he agreed to do it and trained for two months. He agreed to fight Ortiz as a part of contract negotiations when he resigned Ortiz to a contract that expired last year. However, White scoffed at Atencio and said the fact that Atencio is training to fight when his company is losing money proves he's a fool. White and his partners, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, were on the verge of shutting the UFC down in 2004 because of heavy financial losses. He said Atencio should be thinking of finding a way to stem the red ink that he said is putting Affliction in danger of going under instead of worrying about being a fighter. "At the end of the day, I stepped up and said I would fight Tito, and he was a fighter who people cared about," White said. "But why would I fight this goof? He's neither a fighter nor a promoter. He's a [expletive] loser. That's all he is." "Let me tell you something: When I was $44 million in the hole, the last thing I was doing was leaving the office and going out to train for a joke of a fight. I was in the office and trying to find a way to make this thing work. Why would I waste one second of my day worrying about this [expletive] guy? He should be worried about the millions and millions of his bosses, or his partners' money, whoever it is, that's he's burning. That's a complete joke." SUPER *****
Tom Attencio runs an event every 6 months.. so maybe he has time to **** around with dumb **** like that. Dana has at least 1 UFC event per month. He really has no time for it. And he's old now.. why bother? It really was a dumb challenge. Affliction should just fold. They're doing nothing.
Rather utopian view of MMA. Ironic no considering the UFC was close to folding in early 2000 and 2004 despite its billionaire benefactors. Was this challenge as dumb as Dana vs Tito in a boxing match? White has ALOT of mouth. Why not rise to the occasion for once? Or is he just a promoter after all.
What does the UFC almost folding have to do with Affliction? Nothing. These are far different times. UFC was creating the market in america. Affliction is trying to break in. (and doing a terrible job) Why not rise to the occasion? You internet fanboys are insane. This is a business. This isnt NWO VS WCW. Dana wins when Affliction folds.. not in some stupid "fight" that would only bring attention to Affiction. Not to mention make the sport look like a complete joke. What next.. Bob Arum vs Don King in a boxing match? Maybe Dana and Tom Attencio can be added to the SUPER HULK Tournament in japan?
Soooo narrow minded. The UFC was in the same place once that Affliction is in now. Wether you think there doing a crap job is immaterial. There was a time once when McCain campaigned succesfully to have the UFC banned. He did so in a number of states. Dana could have given up then right? But he didnt. And of course it is a business but its A SPORT first and foremost. Dont loose sight of that. Because if you do you might not have had a UFC to even compare Affliction to.
Because he helps run a multi million dollar company and simply finds the sh*t ridiculous? This isn't WWE where bosses literally get involved in the action. Atencio is a fu*king moron. Dana White is a business man. Big difference. Why would anyone who runs a multi million dollar business like the UFC waste their time? Dana is gonna make affliction TAPOUT!:yep
Dana actually DOES get in all the action of the UFC, his ugly mug is all over the place. If someone doesn't know any better they'd think HE was the champ or something. Dana is an egomaniac and a *****. Plus Tom is actually a few years older then Dana so the "he's old now" comment doesn't make sense. I'm not saying Dana should fight Tom but I agree with Tom that if you are gonna talk **** like a tough guy then back it up. Dana is a wannbe gangster that wishes he was man enough to actually fight instead of just being a shittalker. The only way MMA gets bigger is if Dana backs up and lets the fighters take centerstage.
It cracks me up how all of these guys who are in these failing promotional companies do things like this... and every time the UFC haters jump on board to bash Dana White at every turn. Ungrateful as hell considering what he has done for MMA. Also, as I have said before... I personally know many people who have dealt with Dana White. I know people who are fighters, worked the corner... sponsers.... ect.... and they all tell me that Dana is cool as hell, and the fighters love him. Of course you are going to have a few fighters who hate their boss, just like everywhere else in the world. However, Dana White is like a great friend to most of these people.