UFC
UFC NEWS: Dana fires the first verbal shots to new opponent "StrikeFarce"
Aug 6, 2009 - 4:25:40 PM UFC NEWS: Dana fires the first verbal shots to new opponent "StrikeFarce"

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Dana White [photo by Wade Keller (c) MMATorch]

"They have no money, no fighters. They're a small-town show. Cung Le hasn't defended the title since like 1997. Josh Thomson hasn't defended the belt in like two years. Who's their other champion? Alistair Overeem? He hasn't defended the belt in like two years. It's StrikeFarce. It's a little regional show with no one in it." - Dana White, UFC 101 pre-fight press conference.

And Scott Coker thought there'd be no reason that his Strikeforce promotion and the UFC couldn't continue to get along after the signing of Fedor Emelianenko.

Dana White lambasted both Strikeforce and Fedor today at the UFC 101 pre-fight press conference, just shortly before Fedor, along with M-1 President Vadim Finkelchtein, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker and Showtime Exec. Ken Hirshman, began a conference call of their own in which much talking was done while nothing was said.

Dana White, as per usual, held nothing back in his feelings on the subject, stating that Fedor would put Strikeforce out of business. He said, "They have no money and no distribution. You know how many people watch their fights? Their last fight [on Showtime], 245,000 people watched that fight. That's nothing."

And after he swallowed the disappointment that came with Fedor signing elsewhere, it didn't take long for him to turn around on the subject. "[F]*** him. There was no way in hell that deal was going to happen. I offered him a great deal. I guarantee you the Strikeforce deal wasn't in the same universe with ours. it wasn't close. They probably didn't even pay him as much as Affliction was... It was completely obvious they didn't want to do a deal. He just didn't want to be in the UFC."

Link to MMA FanHouse Article

Penick's Analysis: If Scott Coker honestly didn't think there'd be a backlash from the UFC on their signing of Fedor the naiveté meter is off the charts right now. And Dana's completely correct when it comes to the Fedor situation. It's become increasingly clear looking back on the last couple of weeks that there was never any true intention on the part of Fedor or M-1 to get a deal done with the UFC. Their ridiculous desire for co-promotion when it came to dealing with the UFC didn't help matters, but they had to have known there was no getting their hands into Zuffa's pockets and they were going to stonewall this no matter what happened. And the fans are pissed. Over 50% of those who have voted thus far on our latest Torch Poll stated that they don't care about Fedor in Strikeforce because he doesn't want to fight the biggest names on the biggest stage. Whether Strikeforce falls in Fedor's wake like others have done in the past remains to be seen, but Dana White and the UFC are looking ready to snuff them out the first chance they get.