FanPost

Why Does Dana White Seem so Excited for UFC 129?


I think it's safe to say, Dana White is an MMA fan. Just watch his speech as he opened the UFC 129 pre-fight press conference.

There was an extra sense of excitement coming from the president of the UFC. This is an excitement we have seen glimpses of in the past. What is it about these special events? Is it the event? Or is it the market? What makes Dana White more excited for this event than the one last month, or the month before?

Can you say stadium? How about 55,000?

When news first broke that MMA had been legalized in Toronto, Canada the buzz was all about where the UFC would hold their first event in the Province. In the beginning, the decision was between the Air Canada Centre and the Rogers Centre. But even before this, Dana White had made comments about his fear for doing an event in a stadium.

You can thank the Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey fight held in Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas for at least partly changing Mr. White's mind. He attended that event; and afterwards had only good things to say about being a spectator at an event such as that one. Prior to this event he had feared the "UFC atmosphere" would get lost in translation in such a big stadium. And he's partly correct. Without the proper measures taken, even the Pac-Man/Clottey fight wouldn't have been as successful as it was. But what he found is that you can bring it right back to an intimate style show that the UFC fans have come to love, with the right production.

For this event on Saturday, the UFC has gone all out on production. Dana White, Tom Wright, and all their crew have been working for months to make sure there's not a bad seat in the house. They're bringing in 8 jumbo screens to post at various points of view around the stadium; their usual is about 4. The biggest of the UFC's production steps have to be in the form of the giant 4-screen cube that the UFC built and is installing in the Rogers Centre for this event.

But it's not only the fancy screens or the production. What's a good fight card without a good, well, fight card?

The UFC knew that, so they made sure that all 55,000 people get their money's worth. From top-to-bottom UFC 129 is stacked with compelling fight, after compelling fight. The under card is filled with local talent that is sure to please the Canadian fans in attendance, but the UFC is also offering ALL of the under card fights for free on Facebook. This is a first and seems to be something the UFC is interested in continuing for future events. Spike TV is also offering two interesting fights in Sean Pierson vs Jake Ellenberger, and Nate Diaz vs Rory MacDonald.

That combined with a stacked pay-per-view line-up is what makes this event so special. It'll be interesting to see the numbers for the Facebook stream as well as the Spike TV broadcast. With all this MMA on a Saturday night, this could be a perfect test for the "over-saturation" theory.

With all that said, a real fan just can't help but be excited for this event on Saturday. History will be made, in more ways than one. If it were any real passionate MMA fan speaking at that pre-fight press conference I’m sure they'd all share the same sentiments as Dana White. That's why this company is so successful.

Enjoy it, everyone!


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