Tag: Dana White (Page 6 of 7)

Vancouver Athletic Commission defends judging at UFC 131

June 15, 2011 / Drew Ellis

null Unfortunately, aside from just impressive fights, UFC 131 was known for its bad judging.

Questionable judging is becoming more of a factor in MMA these days and UFC President Dana White wasn’t shy in discussing his displeasure with Saturday’s results in certain bouts.

Darren Elkins’ unanimous-decision victory over Michihiro Omigawa – which came by scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 in the event’s first contest – prompted UFC president Dana White to pay both fighters as if they won the bout.
“Overruled,” he said when asked about the decision.
White added that the judge who gave Elkins a 30-27 score should never be allowed to judge again.

Well, according to MMAJunkie.com, the Vancouver Athletic Commission has stepped out to defend itself.

Events, Fighters, News, UFC

Dana White Darren Elkins Michihiro Omigawa UFC 131

All future UFC main events to be 5 round fights

June 10, 2011 / Drew Ellis

null Lost in the mix of another busy UFC PPV weekend is the fact that UFC President, Dana White, has stated that future UFC main event bouts, even if non-title, will be five round fights.

MMAMania.com has more of the details.

Dana White announced today (via Brett OKamoto of ESPN) that all main event non-title fights will be five rounds instead of three.
There is no word just yet on when exactly the switch will take effect, although it was noted that the upcoming UFC 133 bout pitting Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis will still be a three-round fight because contracts have already been signed.
The first event after that one will be UFC on Versus 5 on Aug. 14, which features a main event of Chris Lytle vs. Dan Hardy. Who wouldn’t mind adding a couple rounds to that scrap?

It is unclear as to when this will begin as White mentioned that any fights that have a contract already signed can’t be changed.

It was also unclear as to whether the co-main events will also be considered five round fights.

Either way, it should make more some more definitive results in the biggest fights of each card.

Events, News, UFC

Chris Lytle Dan Hardy Dana White Phil Davis Rashad Evans

Lesnar pulls out of UFC 131 due to diverticulitis

May 12, 2011 / Drew Ellis

It’s been a bad week for the UFC.

After already having its UFC 130 main event cancelled, the company announced today that Brock Lesnar is pulling out of his UFC 131 main event fight with Junior dos Santos due to a second bout of diverticulitis, the same illness that shelved the former champion a few years ago.

MMAFighting.com’s Michael David Smith had all the info.

In a blockbuster announcement Thursday afternoon, UFC President Dana White revealed that Brock Lesnar is once again suffering from diverticulitis and will not be able to fight at UFC 131. Instead, the main event on that fight card will be Junior dos Santos vs. Shane Carwin.
“I want to thank the UFC, I want to thank Mr. White and I want to apologize to Junior dos Santos and Spike TV,” Lesnar said. “This is an unfortunate situation for me. I dodged a bullet about two years ago with diverticulitis, at that time not knowing what the problem was. … Diverticulitis is something that never goes away. It’s something I’ve dealt with since the first occurrence and I’ve been battling it.”
Lesnar said that he has been feeling sick for three months and has been on antibiotics, and that “It didn’t allow me to train to my full capabilities. I was forced to make a decision to go back to the doctor this week.” Lesnar said he spent 14 hours talking to doctors at the Mayo Clinic this week, and although he insisted that the illness won’t end his career and that he won’t retire from MMA, he said there’s simply no way he can fight as scheduled in June.

The loss of Lesnar will really hurt the PPV draw of UFC 131, as Lesnar’s last two fights brought in over 1 million buys for the company.

While the fight between dos Santos and Carwin is very intriguing, Lesnar is one of the UFC’s biggest stars. More importantly, it appears that this diverticulitis could be a problem all of Lesnar’s life and jeopardize his MMA career.

Well, these types of things like to happen in three’s, so if UFC 132 main eventers Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz are smart, they will start wrapping themselves in bubble wrap now.

Events, Fighters, News, The Ultimate Fighter, UFC

Brock Lesnar Dana White Junior Dos Santos Shane Carwin UFC UFC 131

Zuffa to insure fighters outside of the octagon

May 10, 2011 / Drew Ellis

null Outside of the UFC 130 main event being cancelled, there was some other big news in the MMA world on Monday.

Zuffa LLC announced that it will provide health insurance for their fighters starting on June 1, that will cover injuries that take place in training, not just on fight nights.

Here is a sample of Kevin Iole’s piece from Yahoo! Sports.

Lorenzo Fertitta, the UFC’s chairman and chief executive officer, said the company plans to offer accident insurance that will cover approximately 350 athletes in the event of out-of-competition injury, effective June 1.
MMA fighters and boxers are not employees. They are independent contractors and thus aren’t eligible for things like health-care coverage.
But injuries to fighters, either in the cage or during training, can be disastrous. That’s why Fertitta said he and UFC president Dana White began looking into the potential of offering the fighters accident insurance nearly three years ago.
Zuffa will pay 100 percent of the premiums, Fertitta said, and will have a full-time employee who will coordinate the claims process.
“We looked at this as a necessity for the sport and something that needed to happen,” Fertitta said. “We have talked about this for a long time and we have always had the same position when asked how fighters could have insurance outside of the fights. Like we said, it’s tough enough to get insurance just as a business, in and of itself, with how expensive it is.

This is something that some fighters have been pushing for for a long time and White and the Fertitta’s claim to have been pushing for it for a while as well.

It is a big positive for fighters, who have to shell out thousands of dollars if they are injured when preparing for a fight. It is good to see that Zuffa is trying to take care of their fighters and allow them to truly make a living by just competing in MMA.

Fighters, News, Strikeforce, UFC

Dana White Lorenzo Fertitta Strikeforce UFC Zuffa

Diaz lined up for boxing match unless offered GSP

May 7, 2011 / Drew Ellis

Nick Diaz seems adamant about one thing. He wants to get paid.

The Strikeforce Welterweight Champion is seeking either a high-paying super fight with UFC champion, Georges St. Pierre, or he is going to enter the boxing ring in hopes of earning a big payday.

The good folks at MMAJunkie.com put together a story featuring boxing promoter, Don Chagrin, who has a deal in place to have Diaz face IBF super-middleweight champion, Jeff Lacy in the boxing ring.

Today’s announcement that Diaz and Lacy will box this fall was met by a caveat from Diaz manager Cesar Gracie, who said the fight could be shelved if the UFC offered the Strikeforce welterweight champ a fight with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.
“I don’t want to get into a thing,” Chagrin today told MMAjunkie.com “I’ve got a contract. If the UFC fight comes up, then we can talk.
“But they were the ones that wanted me to go ahead, and I’ve gone and acted in good faith. I’m thinking that they will.”
Gracie said today that he’s waiting to hear from the UFC on the potential Diaz vs. St-Pierre superfight. UFC president Dana White said this past week that he would meet with the Strikeforce champion in his hometown of Stockton, Calif., to discuss the fighter’s future.
“Barring something like (UFC president) Dana White telling us, ‘Hey, we really need you to fight GSP at such-and-such a date and it conflicts with [boxing] – barring that, we’re going to fight Lacy,” said Gracie.

This boxing match would be very risky for Diaz as a loss could not only hurt his future there, but it would certainly hurt his chances to fight St. Pierre.

The choice isn’t to the same extreme as James Toney stepping into the octagon, but Diaz is entering another world. His ability to strike with MMA opponents won’t be the same as fighting a man with the boxing skills that Lacy has.