Dana White: "EA Doesn't Give a **** About MMA"

[Steve_OS]

Xbox360achievements has the scoop.

Quote:

"In what started out as an internet rumour, UFC president, Dana White, confirmed after Saturday's UFC 100 that anyone appearing in EA's MMA title would not fight in the UFC. MMAjunkie are reporting that White stated that he was at "war" with EA Sports and insisted that they didn't throw the first punch. "EA Sports told us, 'You're not a real sport,'" White said. "'We wouldn't touch this thing. We want nothing to do with this.'" "We put our asses on the line, THQ and the UFC, to make a video-game deal in the worst economy in the world," White said. "We go out there and do this thing, and it's successful, and now ******* EA Sports wants to do a video game. Really? That's not what you told us a year-and-a-half ago." "You told us you'd never be in business with us. They wouldn't even take a meeting because mixed martial arts disgusted them. This wasn't a real sport. Boy, they got over that real quick, didn't they?"

[WeLLWeLL]

For the first time in a while I actually agree with Dana White. If what he says is true than how could you not support that.

[TreyIM2]

Woooww, so much for the politically correct statement from the UFC, eh? Lol. The way he sounded, I almost completely believe him because to be honest, I don't actually like MMA. It's a bit barbaric "compared to boxing" and I really didn't think much of the sport making it this far so a bit of what EA was thinking, so was I. It's fun to play as a video game but actually watching it is brutal, at times. I loved the UFC 2009 demo but not enough to buy it.

As for how he feels, I don't blame him being angry at EA and now that they see that the UFC is really doing well, these days, they want to NOW get a piece of the pie. I dunno how long THQ has the license for but once it expires, Dana may wanna re-think his position. For now, it's OK and so is his stance but at the end of the day, it's business, so if I were him, I'd let both EA AND THQ split the license, and whoever else wants in because it will definitely pay off lovely.

[Heelfan71]

go Dana ! Doesn't surprise me EA said all that .

[Wet Bandit]

Co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta made similar comments at the UFC Fan Expo over the weekend:

"...when we had the opportunity to go out and build a video game who do you think the first people we called was? EA Sports… We sat in the room with them and I would have cut a worse deal just to be with EA Sports. I wanted them so bad. They looked at them and they told us they didn't think MMA was a sport. This was three years ago. They said the UFC was irrelevant and that we were wasting their time. So we went down the street and did a deal with THQ and they thought MMA was a sport. So we stick with the guys who stick with us. Now the UFC video game has been a massive success with three million copies sold. And guess what EA wants to do? They want to do an MMA game now…"

[TracerBullet]

I don't get why poeple say it's not a port or it won't catch on. Even a few years ago the UFC was growing pretty fast. Sucks EA missed their chance but it's their own fault if these statements are true (which I think they are). They treated the UFC just like ESPN does, talk about how its just chaos and there's no skill to it. Sad. Oh well though maybe EA can still maek a good game and hopefully THQ continues to build their already promising franchise.

[aholbert32]

Quote: Originally Posted by ufgators253

I don't get why poeple say it's not a port or it won't catch on. Even a few years ago the UFC was growing pretty fast. Sucks EA missed their chance but it's their own fault if these statements are true (which I think they are). They treated the UFC just like ESPN does, talk about how its just chaos and there's no skill to it. Sad. Oh well though maybe EA can still maek a good game and hopefully THQ continues to build their already promising franchise.

ESPN showed a lot of love to the UFC this weekend.

[RaychelSnr]

Well, we know that EA won't be getting THAT license anytime soon