Dana White: Phone call to BJ Penn during 'Primetime Live' was as real as it gets

by MMAmania.com on Jan 24, 2009 11:39 AM EST

Quoteworthy:

"... if you saw the fallout with me and B.J. during ["Primetime Live"] -- a lot of people thought that was contrived, but we don't ******* fake anything here -- it was all real. We could have done a behind the scenes of the behind the scenes on that one. It's a great product. The end result was awesome. I think the cinematography is amazing. I think the storyline is great. It pumps you up when you watch it and gets you ready for what I call, just to let you know how big this fight is, it's Haggler-Hearns, it's Haggler-Leonard, it's any of the big Tyson fights…. [Me and BJ] got into it a little bit. I've had a relationship with this kid for like 11 years. His brother described it best when he said we're like a family. We're a dysfunctional family sometimes, but we're family. Not everybody agrees on everything, but it's all good. I'm fond of B.J.. I'm fond of Georges. They're both great guys and they're both great athletes, and this is going to be a great fight. The whole thing with the phone call was just that all he needed to do was pick up the phone and say, 'Everything's good. I'm training.' It would have avoided a lot of behind the scenes drama."

UFC President Dana White shares his side of the now infamous phone call made to BJ Penn during the first episode of "Primetime Live," which caused the Hawaiian to kick-out the camera crew on the $1.7 million three-part production series. That's just a small snip from the article referenced above. It is actually more about the upcoming video game from THQ entitled "UFC Undisputed 2009." White says that he kicked the shit out of Michael Bisping when the two most recently played ... twice. Better than nothing.

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why is dana getting involved with fighters training, that would upset me if some one was telling me how to train

by neihrick on Jan 24, 2009 11:41 AM EST reply actions

I get it, yet I don’t! I know he wants the best fight imaginable for the UFC and the fans, so in that aspect, I get it! It’s not his business how bj or anyone else trains! Hopefully he’ll be consistent and call shogun before his next fight!
I truly believe Dana is a fan and cares about the fighters! He may cuss and act crazy, but I’d venture to say he’s genuine!

by kevin on Jan 24, 2009 11:51 AM EST up reply actions

Who cares anyways? Its is all a bunch of bullsh*t… None of this will matter come fight time. Just a cool show to get us pumped for the fight and a few more PPV buys. At the end of the day it will all be forgotten and we will just talk about 1 of the best fights ever!

by BNF on Jan 24, 2009 12:35 PM EST up reply actions

I agree BNF! Much to be made about nothing! No doubt that both fighters will be ready to go next saturday and both will be in top shape. May the best man win…with that said, BJ! BJ! BJ!

by john on Jan 24, 2009 12:58 PM EST up reply actions

John on a sat. morning…what up bro?
“hey money”

by kevin on Jan 24, 2009 1:02 PM EST up reply actions

i agree he should not call anyone. the promotor should be silent. maybe say it’s going to be a good fight….

by vonce on Jan 24, 2009 2:10 PM EST up reply actions

Maybe he wants BJ to win? I don’t see why he would but maybe he has more interesting ideas with BJ as the champ. It is funny that BJ keeps saying he isn’t slacking again but still goes on a 5 day vacation 3 weeks before the fight. BJ fans can say what they want but BJ hasn’t changed one bit, he might have ADD or something.

by jay on Jan 24, 2009 11:46 AM EST reply actions

Thats nonsense. He has already said BJ would not be able to go up to fight Anderson whereas GSP could. We all know BJ would be well out of his league but GSP stands a better chance in my opinion.

BJ has a BIT of a reputation for slacking on the training so he wanted to make sure that they will be both at their best possible conditions for this fight. He doesn’t need to ring GSP, the guy just trains solidly and has never got tired or look out of shape for a fight yet so why would he doubt him.

If BJ hadn’t gone took a break and go to the beach etc this wouldn’t have happened so he has got noone to blame but himself.

by Ca$z on Jan 24, 2009 12:40 PM EST up reply actions

Ahem…….bullsh!t.

by introvert on Jan 24, 2009 11:50 AM EST reply actions

introvert, I respect your opinions (even though we disagree a lot), and have a question for you. these Gary Millen blogs that only focus on Fedor. I hate to put Kimbo in the same universe as fedor, never mind the same sentence, but do you find it odd that affliction is putting all there eggs into this basket? It’s obviously a great basket to have, and I don’t see him losing, but what if? what if AA stuns Fedor Fujita style, but pounces and finishes? Affliction didn’t advertise anyone else on their card! Just curious of your thoughts since you always keep it real!

by kevin on Jan 24, 2009 12:08 PM EST up reply actions

Allow me to throw my 2 cents in Kev…If Fedor does lose, and we have seen some upsets lately, I believe it will eventually lead to the destruction of Affliction MMA. Fedor won’t be considered worth much money anymore, and will probably take a huge paycut or go away altogether. EliteXC basically tried to fool MMA fans into thinking Kimbo was a god, and they did a good job of it with alot of the casual fans. Affliction, however is putting together good cards with good fighters, so they do stand a much better chance that EliteXC did.

Affliction might also be hoping for a fight that transcends the sport, similar to what Griffin/Bonnar did for the UFC. The difference is, the UFC was basically only competing against a sleeping world, that was in large part unaware of the excitement of the sport. Affliction is competing against the UFC, which has built a MEGA empire over MMA in the last several years. If Affliction plays their cards right though, and continues to pay their fighters well, they will still draw fighters in. That is until the price wars escalate and the UFC starts paying fighters more just to keep them away from Affliction or whoever else is trying to make it big out there.

What the UFC did that was key, was pander to the dumbed down masses, by creating a reality show. That was a stroke of pure genius. I was already a big fan, but I’ll admit that I ate up TUF season 1 sideways. Affliction needs some genius idea too, to really propell themselves into the big picture. I’m not saying they should do a reality show, but somkething that will grab everyones attention and make them want more.

Again, just my 2 cents. You didn’t ask me for it, but I figured what the hell. Anyway…BJ

by --utaptout--..."The Prodigy's" 4th Biggest Hugger on Jan 24, 2009 12:50 PM EST up reply actions

good assessment! I just don’t see what they can do! If Fedor kills AA, what then? Tito? Barnett? Tito is the match that would bring in fans because he’s a “household” name, Barnett is known less than Fedor…which is basically hardcore fans still! The funniest thing I saw this week was Hooters advertising a UFC fight between fedor/AA this sat…thats right a UFC event!

by kevin on Jan 24, 2009 1:00 PM EST up reply actions

kevin. i dont think it matters either way. even if fedor demolishes aa in under a minute,like you say, fedor is not that big a draw in the states. Fedor is on this card and the projection for it is not so good. Affliction has done a very poor job advertising and hyping this event. they might have i more event out of ego’s sake (and believe me, there is alot of EGO involved here). i agree with utapt that Affliction does need some sort of gimmick, even if it means copying tuf completly, but they should have already done it a long time ago. i said the exact same thing about elitexc last year, that they needed a reality show of some sort, but they chose to ride the kimbo express and that backfired bigtime. and jerry(gary) millen is actually a bigger sleaze than the shaws in my mind. well, maybe not $kala, but there close.

by b.w. on Jan 24, 2009 1:28 PM EST up reply actions

LMFAO!! I wish I could see a picture of that advertisement. I can just see the Hooters bimbos looking through the channel guide going, "WHERE"S THE UFC!?!?!" “THESE PEOPLE CAME TO SEE THE UFC!!!”

by --utaptout--..."The Prodigy's" 4th Biggest Hugger on Jan 24, 2009 1:31 PM EST up reply actions

it’s on another website, I’ll try to post link!

by kevin on Jan 24, 2009 1:36 PM EST up reply actions

lol@ the hooters poster. if true, it probably wasn’t a mistake. :)

by b.w. on Jan 24, 2009 1:41 PM EST up reply actions

here’s an example…tonight is UFC fight night!
http://www.hooters.com/EventDetails.aspx?event_id=13562&store_id=570&service_key=670

by kevin on Jan 24, 2009 1:48 PM EST up reply actions

I don’t think Fedor losing to AA would hurt Affliction. IMHO AA is more marketable than Fedor anyway (more people Stateside know him already), and a win over Fedor would propel AA to #1 HW status. No harm done. It’s not like Seth (who anyone out of MMA circles didn’t even know) beating the hyped up Kimbo. AA woould be a true, viable, marketable, #1 guy.

by introvert on Jan 24, 2009 2:29 PM EST up reply actions

very good point introvert!

by kevin on Jan 24, 2009 2:38 PM EST up reply actions

Dana just needs that 4th vertebra removed so he can suck his own c o ck? Smart arse pansy with rich friends

by Fightbuddha on Jan 24, 2009 11:51 AM EST reply actions

White just exposed BJ s laziness to the world and BJ couldn’t handle the truth BJ hasn’t changed just more cocky. GSP is gonna whip that cock out of his ass GSP GSP GSP

by maddog on Jan 24, 2009 11:57 AM EST reply actions

How would you feel if according to yourself, a lazy non training BJ beats GSP. I would bust my gut with laughter. The more you guys keep believing or saying that, will make GSP’s loss 10 times worse.

by Ade on Jan 24, 2009 12:17 PM EST up reply actions

But don’t you want BJ to be at his best and train like an animal. I think for once he really should cos its gonna look terrible if it goes into the later rounds and he cant keep up. I cant see the pace of this fight being good for BJ if it goes into round 4 or 5.

I love both these guys and just wanna see the best out of both of them so there are no excuses afterwards.

by Ca$z on Jan 24, 2009 12:46 PM EST up reply actions

According to the laws of reality anybody not training 5 hours a day going up against GSP is not gonna make it a full round against the explosiveness of ST.Pierre

by maddog on Jan 24, 2009 12:28 PM EST reply actions

Yeah because GSP’s explosiveness sure whipped the crap out of BJ in the first fight, when he was still pudgy and out of shape. If those are your laws of reality…pass that sh*t. BJ

by --utaptout--..."The Prodigy's" 4th Biggest Hugger on Jan 24, 2009 12:32 PM EST up reply actions

You know I’m so boxing ignorant, that Dana hyping the fight as another Haggler-Hearns is as exciting to me as…well, nothing. I have no point of comparison.

by Victory is Ours on Jan 24, 2009 12:34 PM EST reply actions

do youself a favor. look up the hagle/hearns fight on youtube or google it. you won’t be dissapointed and you will see what dana is referring to. it’s less than 3 rnds so you don’t have to put alot of time into it. this fight was from the 80’s so there was no mma back then, boxing was all anybody had.

by b.w. on Jan 24, 2009 1:39 PM EST up reply actions

You can have a real incidence and it still frame it a a steaming pile of BS, and that, Dana, is what you did.

by Clayton on Jan 24, 2009 12:40 PM EST reply actions

hey kevin what event were u guys planning to go to?

by The Philicutioner on Jan 24, 2009 4:25 PM EST reply actions

although im as I said dying for GSP to shut BJ up its hard not to like BJ all the same hes not a great ambassador for the sport with his lackluster training regime and trash talk but he can surely hype a fight and hes a funny guy with a lot of charisma!

i suggest u guys type in “bj penn high” into youtube – i dont think hes high…just a little tipsy but its pretty funny!

by Randy for Couture on Jan 24, 2009 7:57 PM EST reply actions

if bj had representation, such as a manager/agent/negotiator, then the m/a/n would take the shit if bj wasn’t training and/or put on a shitty performance at the fight. but these cats have no reps, dana is, in a sense, their m/a/n, so he gets to make the deal with them, check up on them, and suffer the consequences if they’re not ready. it’s a strange dynamic, just as strange as making these opponents hang out in the same van (all day) the week of the fight. i don’t like that part of it but i love the fights.

by fkngns on Jan 25, 2009 4:49 AM EST reply actions