White Battles Criticism Over Business Practices

[Wet Bandit]

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/...9152&zoneid=13

[jmood88]

Re: White Battles Criticism Over Business Practices

“All these people that want to cry and bitch, EA Sports didn't give a (expletive) about you and wouldn't even touch this thing with a 10-foot pole,” he said. “We went out and made this whole thing happen. THQ basically put their entire business on the line. If this game didn't work, they were in big trouble.”

Makes sense.

[Keith121212]

Re: White Battles Criticism Over Business Practices

“I went to EA Sports,” he said. “Know what EA Sports said? 'It's not a sport. This isn't a sport. We would never get involved in something like this.' We come out with a video game and now they want to come out with a video game? (Expletive) you.”

Figures. I really don't like EA Sports. I think I might not even look at their MMA game just off of principle.

[Wet Bandit]

Re: White Battles Criticism Over Business Practices

And Dana's not exaggerating when he talks about how much THQ put on the line with Undisputed. The game cost a reported $20 million to develop, and they put up almost that much to market it. That's a remarkable amount of money for any company, but for THQ? They haven't had a decent hit in a while. They essentially went all-in with Undisputed.

For better or worse, Dana can be a very loyal guy. Granted, it's still unreasonable to tell people outside the UFC that if they do one of the few things they can to make some decent money, there's no room for them in the UFC. But at least you see where he's coming from.

The sponsorship thing is more reasonable, but it's hard to tell exactly what's going on considering the conflicting amounts of money. Regardless, it didn't seem to prevent any of the fighters at UFC 100, even prelim fighters, from getting plenty of sponsorships:

http://media.ufc.tv/i.cfc?method=get&w=550&cs=1&s=6DC4832F-1422-0E8C-9A13DC4DE9B20001.jpg

http://media.ufc.tv/i.cfc?method=get&w=550&cs=1&s=6DC5DD60-1422-0E8C-9A92B360BC58C314.jpg

http://media.ufc.tv/i.cfc?method=get...C79F76E7E2.jpg
http://media.ufc.tv/i.cfc?method=get...47F94C1E5B.jpg

[jmood88]

Re: White Battles Criticism Over Business Practices

Everybody seems to be sponsored by some company and he made a really good point when comparing the sponsorship fee to the NFL and the other major leagues.

[Scoop_Brady]

Re: White Battles Criticism Over Business Practices

White gets criticized because he's pretty much a @#$%. The things he's doing are things that are done by the big boys and if he wants the UFC to be considered one of the top sports why shouldn't he do the things necessary to grow it? The NFL comes down hard on churches for hosting Super Bowl parties and nobody bats an eye. White could definitely do himself a favor and comes across better but either way he's growing the sport, and in particular the UFC.

[Dean3790]

Re: White Battles Criticism Over Business Practices

UFC is growing despite all of this. The casual fans that are helping the sport grow don't know/care about Dana White and his antics. As long as he doesn't REALLY **** something up, everything will be fine.