
The long-awaited ESPN E:60 profile of UFC President Dana White will air tonight at 7 PM ET, and this afternoon I got an advance look at the full 12-minute profile. It is, as E:60 correspondent Tom Farrey said it would be, a portrait that shows both sides of White's personality: The intense worker who has turned the UFC into a huge success, and the man who has infuriated his competitors and drawn criticism for his temperament.
The first couple minutes of the segment are positive, with celebrities endorsing the UFC, and Shaquille O'Neal comparing White to Oprah Winfrey and Donald Trump. But the focus of the profile then turns to White's infamous rant against Loretta Hunt. Although White acknowledges -- as he has before -- that he was wrong to use an anti-gay slur, he won't say he's sorry for anything he said about Hunt.
"Loretta Hunt ought to apologize to me," White said.
Hunt is featured in the piece saying that White wants to scare the press, while Tito Ortiz shows up to complain that White refused to pay for his back surgery. Pat MIletich acknowledges that White has "done a lot of great things for the sport, without a doubt," before adding that White wants to crush anyone who competes with him. And New York State Assemblyman Bob Reilly, who's leading the effort to keep MMA illegal in his state, is trotted out to call MMA "an unacceptable activity" and White "an unacceptable person."
The profile, which prominently plays the Dropkick Murphys' "I'm Shipping Up to Boston," also gets into White's personal life. White was raised mostly by his mother but says now, "Me and my mom haven't talked in a few years. I have no hard feelings toward my mom at all. I love my mom. The problem is we're so much alike, we butt heads."
The profile has plenty of critical material about White, but ultimately, it portrays him as a man who has done his job well enough to please his bosses, with UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta saying the UFC would have gone out of business if it had chosen a Harvard MBA, rather than White, to run the company. More importantly, the profile shows White as someone who has made the UFC an organization that gives its fans what they want. That's why his approach to running the UFC has worked, no matter who doesn't like it.
















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-12-2009 @ 6:17PM
mike said...
Dana has been great for the sport, and any time Dana is on ESPN it's good for the sport, too.
Reply
5-12-2009 @ 8:07PM
Kenny Powers Fastball (PSN johnnynumber5) said...
I've said it before and I'll say it again after watching the piece on ESPN - Dana White is more of a liability to the UFC at this point. No one will argue that he didn't help make the organization and the sport what it is but he is single handedly holding the sport back from becoming truly mainstream and successful. Under Dana White the company will never become bigger than the other major sports in our country. The organization doesn't need someone who is bigger than itself anymore. He is a bully and he is a vile human being. I have no respect for him as a person because he doesn't deserve respect. I respect his savvy business sense but as a person he is one of the lowest forms out there.
I don't trust him and I don't think he will be around in 5 years. Eventually the Fertittas will get rid of him. Afterall, his 10% ownership can be swept out from under him just as quick as a submission from BJ Penn.
Reply
5-13-2009 @ 1:02PM
kwilbur10 said...
i don't know how you can argue that dana is not good for the ufc. cause he and the fertita's have built this organization from the ground up. literally, from being banned in all 50 states to now being sanctioned in well more than half and having some states lift bans on the sport. maybe if you said that he will eventually hit a ceiling i can understand but he isn't bad for the ufc, he pretty much created it with the help of the fertita's.
5-13-2009 @ 8:02AM
Frederick said...
MMA Fighters need to read about Marvin Miller and Curt Flood.
Take example from other sports and how the got to were the are
How many Baseball team have went bankcrupt since the reserve clause was challenged?
NBA NF MLB NHL dont have competition but yet there athletes get a much higher percentage of the revenues.
Lets stop shooting the messenger(Tito Ortiz) and actually listen and debate what he is saying.
Tito saying that fighters dont get there fair share should not turn into Tito blew it he left more money on the table then anyone else
Those are 2 entirely different conversation. Dana White is a master at changing subjects. Look at the Loretta Hunt story
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5-13-2009 @ 10:29AM
Eric said...
It's not Dana's fault that fighters "don't get their fair share". There must be competition for fighters to demand higher paydays.
I own an A/C business. If I was the only business in town, I could charge alot for my product and pay my employees very little ... and I would if I could, because that makes good business sense! Why would any business pay there employees more than necessary?
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5-13-2009 @ 12:07PM
Frederick said...
NBA NFL MLB NHL dont have competition but yet there athletes get a much higher percentage of the revenues.
I guess it also comes down to beliefs. I dont know enough about american laws but I am pretty sure there are Anti-Trust laws preventing such things like you described
5-13-2009 @ 1:03PM
kwilbur10 said...
those organizations have player unions. thats why they get paid so much. pretty much the ufc will have a fighter union soon.