Want to see Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White's face turn red? All you have to do is mention two magic words:
Bob Arum.
It's no secret that there is no love lost between White and the famous boxing promoter. Recently, the fire received more fuel when Arum commented to ESPN about the UFC's new broadcasting deal with the FOX network:
"We were always planning a tremendous, quality event. It's going to be an unbelievable undercard, with pizzazz and great fights -- the same type of shows we've been putting on for Pacquiao fights. ... There is no competition. If Fox was to put on a top movie that night, it might be more competition. If Fox put on Manchester United that night, it would be more competition."
SiriusXM Radio's Opie and Anthony brought up the topic with Dana on their show this morning (Tues., Aug. 23, 2011). Unsurprisingly, White wasn't happy.
Read his tirade after the jump:
"You wanna talk about arrogance? This guy is the 'King of Arrogance.' This guy is just a pompous, arrogant...I'm just tired of this guy. I'm tired of listening to his s---. First of all, he's one of these elitists, ya know, if you've ever been around this guy or the circle he's in -- these are the people who think they're better than everybody else. To explain to you how bad I can't stand this guy and how tired I am (of him): Basically, he comes out, when we first bought the company (UFC) and starts talking all this s--- about the Fertitta brothers and how stupid they were to buy this thing. 'This thing's losing tons of money. It's never gonna work!' Then, as it starts to take off, he says, 'Oh this thing, ah, duh duh duh...' He's always got something to say. When we did this FOX deal, he's got a million reasons why FOX got into this business and it's got nothing to do with the UFC being popular. The first FOX show is in November and it goes up against the Pacquiao fight that night. He's like, 'Yeah, they could put a movie on and it'd be more competition.' Yet, his son, when we announced the date we were going on, flipped out and starts calling everybody in the business from DirecTV to INDemand to...you-name-it, pissed off that we're going on this night. Just, everything that comes out of this guy (Arum) is pompous and arrogant. He's a complete douchebag. I'm sick of hearing him."
White went on to attack the sport of boxing itself and its inability to evolve"
"Look, boxing hasn't changed. They haven't changed anything in thirty years. It's exactly the same. If you watch an HBO boxing match, the only thing different between thirty years ago and today is HD (high definition television). Even the f---ing announcers are exactly the same! These guys are 140 years old! It (boxing) is such a cocky, arrogant sport, all the way from the bottom to the top."
Ultimately, White believes that it comes down to jealousy. He continues to claim that he is a boxing fan himself, and he laments the road that the sport of boxing has traveled:
"The bottom line is: Bob, you weren't smart enough to do what we (Zuffa) did. The other thing about Bob and all these boxing guys is they're greedy, fat pigs that take everything that they can get out of the sport of boxing and don't invest a dime back into it. Nobody did anything to secure the future of boxing. All these pigs, like Arum, do is take money. Take, take, take, take! It's some big, fat pig, who helped destroy the sport of boxing, saying, 'Give me more money!'"
White even went so far as to say that he believes Arum and his company (Top Ranked Promotions) have gone to great lengths to copy the UFC and its promotional strategies:
"The thing that really sucks is, for instance, Manny Pacquiao. I'm a huge Manny Pacquiao fan. I'm a fan of boxing! I'm just not a Bob Arum fan. I'm not a fan of these guys who beat this sport down, over the last however many years, and just continue to rape the sport of boxing and not give back to it, not invest in it...nothing. Look at the fights they're (Arum's company, Top Ranked) putting on. They're copying everything we do. Now they got these vignettes that they're running in house. They got DJ's playing music. They're trying to copy us. But he wants to come out and talk s---. I'm just tired of this guy. I'm tired of him. The guy comes out and says what we're doing is ridiculous. Well, if it's ridiculous, what the F--- are you doing copying us?"
Will the feud between boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA) ever be put to rest? Can there ever be peace between Arum and White? Whose to blame in all of this?
Sound off, Maniacs.
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