Dana White Responds To Spot On GQ’s ‘Sleazebags List’: It’s Unfair To The UFC As A Brand
Earlier today (Thurs., August 28, 2014) UFC President Dana White was named to GQ magazine’s list of the Biggest Sleazebags In Sports, alongside such noted heel as Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver and former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling.
True to the form, White was quick to responds on the UFC’s “Download,” noting that the report was he takes no offense to the report:
“You’re never going to be able to stop what people say about you, and everybody isn’t going to love you,” White said. “But I don’t take offense to anything. When you’re in a public position like this you’re always going to have people say things about you. Believe me, if I worried about everything that was said about me, I would have been a mess a long time ago. That kind of stuff doesn’t bother me at all, not even a little bit.”
White continued on about the article, which focused on his often-discussed fighter pay. The president believes that the report from GQ is absurd and obviously written by someone who does not follow MMA closely:
“It was definitely written by someone who is uneducated about the sport. I’m sandwiched between War Machine and Lance Armstrong,” White said while cracking a smile at the obvious absurdity of the article. “The thing that’s unfortunate is that it’s unfair for the UFC as a brand. UFC pays its fighters very well.”
That’s a topic that has been argued time and again, and one that will continue to be debated, likely for years to come. At the heart of the matter, White is a promoter who rescued his sport from certain doom and made it into the global multimedia organization that it is today.
Many will argue that they don’t like his business practices or brash attitude, but the bottom line is that MMA would not be even close to where it is without White at the forefront.
Did he deserve to be ranked among the sleazebags, or has he been given a bad rap?
