Dana White blasts ESPN, releases "uncut" version of "Outside the Lines" interview
Posted on January 16, 2012, 12:11 PM by Joey SantosusThis past Sunday, ESPN aired an episode of "Outside the Lines" that focused on the pay structure used by The Ultimate Fighting Championships when compensating their athletes. The segment, which featured the promotion's CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, as well as former employees Ken Shamrock and Ricco Rodriguez, appeared to focus on the inequality of revenue distribution between the UFC and other major sports leagues in the United States.
In anticipation of the show, UFC President Dana White offered fans a forewarning of sorts, insisting that the network had done a "hackjob," removing several key points from the interview with Fertitta, as well as additional fighters, such as Chuck Liddell and others. As promised, below is what White has assured is the "uncut" version, which the UFC recorded for it's own use.
Further Reading: ESPN examines UFC fighter pay with Lorenzo Fertitta
Comments
between the OTL report, Skip Bayless, and the non stop coverage, and praise of Tim Tebow, ESPN makes me want to shoot myself.
haha chucks hair looks awesome
agreed., especially on the tebow aspect haha ESPN is ridiculous and everything they do they do for ratings. ESPN has had a grudge with dana and the UFC for a very long time and ESPECIALLY after they signed the deal with FOX. CBS is the parent company of ESPN and FOX and CBS are rivals. so basically ESPN hates the UFC because they signed a deal with their rival instead of with them., and now they are on a smearing campaign before fox and the UFC start making MMA mainstream.. WOW.
what is crazy is that the insurance paid out is crazy and it really good doctors
UFC paid for Fitch to get great surgeon and flew him there same with GSP
Nog and plenty of others JDS.........is crazy they are the only combat
sport organization that does
I hope ESPN suffers from this crap. Lorenzo was spot on...you guys are doing the wrong story, you need to focus on the 1/4 billion we've paid our fighters. The smartest thing Dana ever did was become friends with the Ferititas, they have great business sense and remain calm in tough situations. (Dana is learning when its best for him to stand back)
Dana's diplomatic skills and soft touch come to the fore again...
Sorry, but there is indeed something rotten in the UFC. Of course they will not embrace the idea of paying fighters higher salaries and not enslaving them with such contracts (they would rather enjoy their billions, even if they have a hard time spending them), but it is only fair. Fighters put their lives on the line and ruin their health while Lorenzo and Dana get fat on the money the fighters make for them. And when someone comes along and says it out loud, he is suddenly a dirty liar. In the video Shamrock says things as they are, and Dana's answer was 'F*ck him!' Is that it? How about not accrediting journalists when they write negatively about you? Is that the freedom of expression Lorenzo is referring to?
when shamrock or any other fighter promotes their own fight, books their own venues, lays out money for all the production costs, establishes a brand, seals ppv deals with the networks, employs hundreds of people to run their event and security officers to keep it safe, they can moan about not getting their money.
What does this have to do with anything? Do baseball players, basketball players "promote their own games, book their own venues, pay production costs", etc.? UFC fighters do not have a union, do not have the right to fight anywhere else, fight only when the UFC decides, fight whoever the UFC puts in front of them (there are no clear rankings), get cut after one loss, etc. Sorry, but if you do not see a problem here, your logic does not work.
What about the hundreds of young athletes who play in youth leagues for major teams and get dropped without making any money.
Watch ESPN's version of the interview, then the uncut version and it's blatantly obvious what ESPN wanted to do with the story.
Dammit I wish it was Dana who was being interviewed. He would've tore that guy a new one.
Just goes to show, in this day and age, you can never believe anything that you see and hear. I will always remain a skeptic on absolutely everything until I get cold hard facts.
Lorenzo can keep his cool, I'll tell you that. Those guys didn't even know how to behave towards the end of the 45 minutes...
Yeah, that was entertaining stuff. Every time they attempted to spin things negatively, Lorenzo shut them down.
He didn't mention that they pay the costs for all the fighters/team travel and gives all the fighters Medical Insurance.
the argument for the ufc being to dominant and aggressive is beyond stupid. the dominance of the ufc is what propelled mma into a mainstream sport. imagine if pride, strike force and wec were all still around with some top level fighters, all competing against eachother, mma would be nothing like it is today, there for creating much less oppertunities for fighters. The ufc isnt the only mma company that competes for talant and ratings, there just the only ones that succeed at it.
wow @ how this interview was conducted
I think the UFC is completely fair to it's fighters and takes good care of them even providing medical insurance. The UFC also supports fighters in matters separate to competing such as Chael and the trouble he had last year.