One of the first questions Dana White was asked at last night’s UFC 139 post fight press conference — outside of an opportunity to gush over the simply amazing main event between Dan Henderson and Mauricio Rua — was whether a war like Shogun vs Hendo is the sort of fight he’d like to see on Fox considering how short Cain Velasquez vs Junior Dos Santos was and how people were wanting more than what the UFC delivered. Dana White maintains if he could go back in time he wouldn’t have changed a thing and that the hardcore fans need to shut up about it. Transcription by me:
Reporter: Obviously a war, I mean those guys were bloodied and hurt in battle … is that the type of fight you’d like to see on Fox? I mean people were complaining last week, ‘we didn’t get enough’, is this too much for Fox?
Dana White: Let me tell you guys what … I said it before and I’ll say it again, if I could go back in a time machine and do the Fox fight over again, it would have been done the same exact way. Exactly the same way. The hardcores can b—- about that fight, I could care less what they think about that fight. I don’t care, y’know? And people are like “Oh, you don’t care what your fans think!?” – No! I do not care what you think. That fight had to go the way that it went because none of you guys understand what goes on behind the scenes. If that fight that happened tonight went on Fox for the first time ever … let me tell you what, I would not be having a good time these last 5 or 6 days. Believe me. We got to ease our way (in), we live in this bubble, gang, we live in this bubble that the rest of the world doesn’t live in or understand and we’re still in an education process and educating the masses about what this sport is and what it’s all about.
Those of us who are in this room, and people who have been watching this for a long time are blown away and just incredibly appreciate what those two did tonight in there, and you can understand what they went through and what was going on and, y’know, the rest of the world will go “Oh my god, what was that!?” … you just don’t understand. You guys might, I’m not talking to you; those of you that think we didn’t do the right thing on the first Fox fight do not understand what it takes to build this sport and to be on national television. So ‘shut up again’.
Later on in the post fight press conference media scrum, Dana White re-iterates the potential hurdles he believes UFC have to avoid:
Dana White: If you could have like a Shogun type fight, you know a Shogun / Henderson type fight on TV – I mean imagine what that (viewing) number would get to … but that’s not the fight you want for your first time on network television. It (the Fox Show) couldn’t have gone any better, it worked out perfect for us, so yeah I’m pretty happy. The big thing is to go on network television and not have Fox getting flooded the next day with “Get this s**t off the television“, you know what I mean? And I mean really if you watch that show, I don’t care if you’re the biggest freak – I mean these do, these freaks they come out of nowhere, right? I call them the ‘nothing better to do with their lives‘ people – get a job, have some kids – do something! These people come out of nowhere and start attacking this sport, literally saying that it should go away; that we should shut down the UFC and this thing should go away – yeah OK, that’s ‘realistic’. But those are the kind of people that come after you, y’know? And it’s just crazy.
So there was none of that. To have the event on and have none of that is incredible.
The UFC under the Zuffa umbrella have for a number of years been extremely image conscious and have an almost irrational fear of being perceived the wrong way publicly, which is perhaps why they are so particular about the media they’re willing to credential to cover their events live and in person and why Dana White gets super defensive and often labels MMA writers with a critical opinion of the UFC as ‘Internet idiots‘.
There was a point in time where perhaps this was the right attitude to have, when the UFC was truly fighting for its own survival and with it the hopes of a sport that was otherwise an underground spectacle with a cult following.
I myself believe the UFC has achieved so much in both commercial success and its state regulation lobbying efforts that this fear of the sky falling over the slightest misstep has been completely unwarranted for several years. I also believe trying to micromanage its image to the point of delivering a more sports-like but ultimately sanitary product as a way of ‘easing’ its way into broader demographics is missing the whole point of going into business with a network like Fox.
As TV networks go, Fox is known for being the ones at the cutting edge of television and willing to push the envelope, and the UFC trying to ‘blunt its edge‘ to make themselves more palatable for the masses just seems at odds with Fox’s ability to blaze trails.
Fox has thrived on television products that have sparked controversy for years. Just look at Big Fox’s schedule – Family Guy, American Dad and one of the most successful shows of all time, The Simpsons. The Simpsons has been protested against and criticized even by a US President about having a bad effect on children and for sending a bad message to the people of America. But it’s still here, and it’s still on network television some 20 years after its inception.
If these shows were merely controversial or in some cases shocking and offensive without some kind of inherent quality to back themselves up with, they wouldn’t be on TV anymore. Even with Family Guy which has been canceled a number of times, DVD sales prompted Fox to pick the show back up and stick with it. Fox should already know that the UFC’s PPV numbers and sponsor attraction from the likes of Bud Lite and Harley Davidson, as well as its general presentation and ability to showcase exceptional fights speaks volumes about its quality.
Even a fear of certain fights possibly being too graphic to watch pales when compared with the simulated gore that can often be seen in a medical show like ‘House‘ where some episodes have shown eyeballs bursting, orifices bleeding and eviscerations. All of these shows can be dismissed as fictional while the UFC’s product is real, but hysterical outrage isn’t going to be so discerning and for the other shows this public attention has actually been of benefit.
What’s so interesting about Dana White’s concerns and describing the ‘freaks‘ he believes would bombard Fox with complaints, is it’s almost a perfect match to the type of character Marge Simpson is and even the stance the character took in the Mixed Martial Arts themed episode “The Great Wife Hope” (Season 21, Episode 3).
The episode satirizes the outrage these sorts of people have with an entity like MMA while spoofing the stereotypes associated with the sport, and gives Marge Simpson such gems of dialogue as “Call me a killjoy, but I think that because this is not to my taste – no one else should be able to enjoy it“, and then a little later when addressing the episode’s MMA promoter “Chet, I’m here to ask you one simple thing – please go out of business and donate all your profits to charity“.
The Simpsons’ writers were able to succinctly display the flawed mentality of the types of people Dana White is wanting to avoid, but by trying his utmost to deliver a product that will fly under their radar just to prevent a few early headaches, the UFC might not actually be putting its best foot forward in showcasing the best the sport has to offer.
Featuring fighters that are known to be loose cannons in and out of the cage understandably should be avoided, but the contrast of the visceral nature of the sport coupled with the often great sporting prowess and conduct by the fighters involved is something the UFC should not shy away from when it comes to their presence on national television. The benefit of this dual layer to MMA is of capturing the interest and imagination of the public which can lead to growth, and it far outweighs the drawback of having to contend with the Marge Simpsons of the world.