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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
With all of the talk about what happened Saturday night for Strikeforce on CBS, with the event going 45 minutes past their allotted timeslot, ratings being way down and an embarrassing melee after the fights capping the night off, it was only a matter of time before UFC President Dana White chimed in on the mess.
Talking to Kevin Iole at Yahoo! Sports, White said that the brawl that happened on Saturday when Jason Miller interrupted Jake Shields' post fight interview was a result of CBS deciding to forego a deal with the UFC and instead take on the now no longer in business EliteXC promotion a few years ago.
"Of course, everyone thinks I’m anti-competition, but I’m not,” said White. “But everyone knows that [Strikeforce] didn’t belong on CBS. Even if you’re the biggest UFC hater out there, you know that. Shame on CBS for this. They knew they should have been with us, but they went out and let those Showtime idiots talk them into going with Elite XC.
White continued, "Now, they’re stuck with a bush league, C-level promotion that will probably be out of business next month. And what you saw on Saturday is the kind of thing that happens when you put a product like that on national television."
White also ripped into CBS announcer Gus Johnson for his comments during the melee that broke out. Johnson regrettably said that "sometimes these things happen in MMA" when there's that much testosterone in the cage. That statement is potentially more damaging than the brawl itself to the image of the sport, and White used it as another example of his take on the promotion.
"When have you seen anything remotely close to that happen at a UFC event?” he said. “What kind of ridiculous commentary was that? That was an idiotic thing to say. And then he was yelling at them to stop, telling them they are on national television. That was just another example of how bush league they are."
White then took aim at Strikeforce's matchmaking and what he says was them "gambling" on the outcomes of fights to either bury fighters or elevate others, only to have that backfire.
"They bet on [Melvin] Manhoef, [that he would beat Robbie] Lawler. Lawler was very unhappy and they wanted to get rid of him, but it backfired because he knocked Manhoef out. Then they treated Shields like [expletive], let his contract expire and they put all their money on Dan Henderson. Now, Shields destroys Henderson and look where they’re at. That’s not how you do business."
Penick's Analysis: I'm 100% with White on the Gus Johnson commentary, because that was one of the worst possible sentences he could have gone to in that spot, and the commentary as a whole on Saturday was terrible. Also, Strikeforce did completely gamble on Henderson winning. Strike that, they depended on Henderson winning, it was the only reason they would have signed him to a contract above everyone but Fedor.
As for making comments about things happening at a UFC event, White is right that you're not going to see the in-cage brawls at a live event, at least they've done well to avoid that, but we've seen plenty of detrimental acts, comments, pranks, arguments, door-breaking and more during The Ultimate Fighter on Spike that can certainly cast a negative light on the character of some fighters.
The reality show has done much to showcase the good personalities of the hard-working fighters as well, don't get me wrong, but there have been plenty of degenerates that have made their way through the TUF house and into the UFC as well.
Still, what happened on Saturday was not something that is going to help Strikeforce or the sport grow in any way, shape or form; and with Scott Coker and Showtime executives keeping mum while White spouts off, it's going to be his word that the majority of the public reads and listens to, and that won't do anything to help them salvage their image.
RELATED STORY: STRIKEFORCE NEWS: Tennessee Athletic Commission investigating Strikeforce on CBS post event brawl, disciplinary action could result: [CLICK TO READ FULL ARTICLE]
[Dana White photo by Wade Keller (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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