UFC UFC NEWS: Dana White not fazed by Strikeforce announcement of Fedor vs. Rogers on CBS
By By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Sep 18, 2009 - 1:47:43 PM
Dana White's not worried about Strikeforce on CBS come November 7th. Talking to Steve Cofield in the video below, Dana quietly and calmly expresses his feelings on the subject after finding out. Some key quotes from White:
"Like I said, I've got no beef with Strikeforce. The reality is, they're a small regional f***ing company, you know, they're a small little promotion company; they've been putting on these little fights up in San Jose where they make money. They put on these fights, Scott [Coker] throws some money into his pocket, he's got a good little business going... Strikeforce is not competition for us. They're not our competitor, you know? I don't like Showtime. I don't like 'em. That's the only reason I even f*** around with them and do what I do because I want to kick them in their balls."
Showtime continues to be the brunt of White's verbal assault in the video as well, as White stated, "Showtime has been second-rate at everything they've ever done. When you talk to these guys who are the executives of Showtime, they are the most cocky, arrogant, pompous dicks you've ever met in your life, OK? Now, if they were like that and had something to be cocky and arrogant about, that would be one thing. They're second-rate in television, they've been second-rate in sports, boxing and whatever, and they're going to be second-rate at Mixed Martial Arts, too. We're going to kick Showtime's ass. OK? Period."
He also realizes CBS wants to be in the MMA business, and the UFC has talked with them. White says the right deal hasn't come for them yet, and that's why they haven't gotten to a network yet. He also says Strikeforce isn't getting the right deal from CBS either, and continues the line of "Fedor not fighting the best in the world, so who cares?" Check out the full video below (App users video available at MMATorch.com):
Penick's Analysis: Dana and the UFC don't have anything to worry about until another promotion can hit something out of the park and give them something to worry about. The track record speaks for itself with organizations running down this road of trying to be major players against the UFC, and Strikeforce is going to have to do something dramatically different from those now defunct organizations in order to not only stick around but thrive as well. Will they be able to do it with a product that will look very similar, if not almost identical, to the Elite XC broadcasts? We'll find out on November 7th. They've got a lot of work ahead of them, but if they can do what they need to with this Fedor fight they'll give themselves a lot more ground to stand on. But for now, White and the UFC have no reason to panic, and they aren't doing so. Whether they co-promote the event or not, it's going to be up to Strikeforce to make their event reach it's fullest potential on CBS.
[Dana White photo credit Wade Keller (c) MMATorch]