Dana White Talks TUF

GOMT · 07-02-2008, 01:41 PM

Mailbag: White talks TUF - MMA - Yahoo! Sports

Jesse Taylor’s drunken behavior during Season 7 of The Ultimate Fighter cost him a spot in the finale against Amir Sadollah. But, it turns out, the ramifications were much greater. UFC president Dana White, who said Tuesday that Taylor will return from his exile to fight C.B. Dollaway on the July 19 card at the Palms in Las Vegas that is airing on Spike, plans to get tough with any fighters in the future who damage the TUF house.

It has become something of a tradition during the filming of the reality series for the fighters to trash the house. Though several fighters said they were indirectly encouraged to do so, White vehemently denied the fighters were ever told how to act in any way. He said repairs to the staircase that was damaged during Season 7 cost nearly $70,000. He said fighters of Season 8 – which completed filming last week and will begin airing in September – were told they’d have to pay for any damage they did.

“Whoever told you we encouraged them to tear up the house is (an expletive) liar,” White said. “Nobody ever told them what to do on the show. A lot of guys, they get off the show and they’re embarrassed by what they’ve done. And think about this: I’ve faced a lot of challenges since we’ve had the UFC, but I have a kid (Taylor) who pissed his pants on television and now I have to turn him into a star.”

White said he used to drink and act rowdy when he was in his early 20s and doesn’t want to imagine what he might have done had he been on a television show. But he called the destruction of the house “retarded” and said “there was no sense or purpose to what they did.”

White said Taylor enrolled in Alcoholics Anonymous and worked hard to rebuild his reputation.

“Without a doubt, the kid deserves another chance,” White said. “He made himself look like a fool, and he’s aware of that, but everyone deserves another opportunity and we’re going to give it to him. He acted like a moron. He’s embarrassed by it, which he should be, but what he did doesn’t amount to enough to ban him forever. Come on. He was just young and stupid, but at least he seems to have learned from what he did.”

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Among White’s other tidbits of interest on Tuesday:

He said he’s found “the next Anderson Silva,” a lightweight who is competing in Season 8 of TUF at 155 pounds, though he declined to release the fighter’s name because it might spoil the season. “I was going off when I saw this guy,” White said. “He’s 24 and he’s destroying people. It’s sick how bad ass he is. I’m getting goose bumps talking to you about him.”
He’s planning a special of some sort that will air on July 26, the same night as Elite XC’s return date on CBS, though he wouldn’t give details.
UFC chairman Lorenzo Fertitta is in Australia, working on company business.
He’s thinking of leaving a welterweight division in the WEC and moving the WEC’s 185-pound and 205-pound fighters to the UFC

El Duderino · 07-02-2008, 01:47 PM

Taylor should return from his exile to fight the TUF winner, not C.B. Dollaway.

Relentless · 07-02-2008, 01:57 PM

i think he should have to fight his way up to that fight, after losing the contract, he's gotta work his way up IMO

SteveBoogie · 07-02-2008, 02:10 PM

^agree with that... and just in regards to that lorenzo-in-australia shit, i really think his expansion into these seemingly infinite number of countries is going to result in headliners making more than the ridiculous sums enjoyed by boxers like PBF and Oscar, etc.... like to the tune of exceeding 20+ mil a fight. they're exactly right about it being as big as they think it's going to be because really, the one thing people do everywhere in the fucking world is fight. not everybody plays baseball, nor even soccer (as evidenced by here in the states cus we suck so many cocks at it). personally, i seldom know anything at all on boxing undercards. the UFC isn't something you tune into at midnight EST because 'that's when the fight's on". people will have a vested interest in entire cards eventually, and they're right when they say they really haven't even scratched the surface (and chuck still makes millions every fight). espn, last on the bandwagon, covers the shit on a WEB TV SHOW. and it's already big. i really think people have too narrow of vision regarding this stuff... if the UFC was really raping guys and they were hurting that bad i think we'd hear a lot more complaints from the guys who aren't bound to them anymore. that of course combined with the fact that they're trying to get back.

Relentless · 07-02-2008, 02:14 PM

people make such a big deal about UFC paydays, but the fact is, on the De La Hoya-Mayweather card, one guy on the undercard got only 2,000 dollars, and his hospital bills cost 4,000, you don't want those huge fucking paydays for the headliners, the other guys will hardly make shit

SteveBoogie · 07-02-2008, 02:30 PM

nah i wasn't trying to imply that's where all the money should go, i think they have a much better vision of the shit than stupid boxing promoters. for all of the haters who refuse to even try to see it from the other person's perspective, it's kind of hard to argue against the fact that they do treat their organization as though their organization was a family. randy couture was being a bitch about his own pay (which is gargantuan and in the same sentence and liddell and tito), which makes it extremely hard to sympathize. they do take care of their people. look at mark coleman. they could've told him to go die because they didn't want the roid poster boy of the 90's back talking about pioneering what it's become today. they kept ken shamrock around WAY too long and he continued to get truckloads of cash. they let ivan salaverry have a swan song, even though it was destined for irrelevance from the beginning.

what i'm saying is that they have a more familial approach to operating than the fly-by-night-dead-after-2-cards mma shows and boxing in particular. i don't think it's going to be like Anderson Silva making 20 million and Matt Brown making 8k to show 16 to win. the disparity between the greats and the relatively-not-greats will still be evident by salary though i think the proportion will remain pretty much the same. so matt brown for example might get 50k to show if they got hit today the 2nd, by this non-existent lightning bolt of money.

Relentless · 07-02-2008, 02:51 PM

it'll get fixed eventually, the sport is still very very young

Gina's_Tampon · 07-03-2008, 11:17 AM

blah blah blah. its pretty much fixed already. if you're good, you get good money. if you put on a hell of a show, you get better money. if you're a mid level fighter that no one really cares about, you dont get shit. seems to work for me.

SteveBoogie · 07-03-2008, 11:20 AM

works for me too i'm not seeing any of that money what the fuck do i care how much these guys make.

GOMT · 07-03-2008, 11:45 AM

Originally Posted by Relentless

people make such a big deal about UFC paydays, but the fact is, on the De La Hoya-Mayweather card, one guy on the undercard got only 2,000 dollars, and his hospital bills cost 4,000, you don't want those huge fucking paydays for the headliners, the other guys will hardly make shit

and japan doesnt pay that much better anyway, theres a local chicago mma show called combat wire and they had an interview with wec's miguel torres and they asked about him and he said before the wec called shooto called him and wanted him for like 500 dollars to show 500 to win.....and he said fuck it, since he made more at local chicago mma cards and shit......the shows fucking awesome, torres showed how he beat chase beebe step by step with kurt pellegrino as his sparring partner (in town for seminar) torres is a wizard on the ground

kotc cage pays 200 to show 200 to win

Relentless · 07-03-2008, 01:48 PM

the UFC is the highest paying one out there, no matter what anyone says

GOMT · 07-03-2008, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by Relentless

the UFC is the highest paying one out there, no matter what anyone says

exactly my thoughts

Keelar Squeed · 07-03-2008, 05:06 PM

^^ Plus if you are a UFC fighter, you can command MUCH higher sponsorship money due to the exposure they provide.

RapeChoke · 07-03-2008, 07:31 PM

Taylor should suck a cock and die, just my two cents.

Relentless · 07-03-2008, 10:01 PM

sponserships will get you crazy amounts of money, especially if you end up on the main card, even more when the DVD comes out, and depending on how many UFC on demand buys their are for your fight