Dana White gives it to Jones and Jackson with both barrels
Posted on September 14, 2012, 12:28 PM by Mike Searson
In front of a group of reporters gathered at UFC headquarters in Las Vegas, UFC President Dana White unloaded on UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones and his coach, Greg Jackson. Dan Henderson was forced to pull out of UFC 151 because of a knee injury and Jones refused a bout against substitute opponent Chael Sonnen.
White had no kind words for Jones: "The Jon Jones piece of meat f&#*ing thing. When I see him in f&#*ing Toronto, that's the first f&#*ing thing we're going to talk about. Piece of meat? Give me a f&#*ing break," White told a small group of reporters gathered at the UFC headquarters, about an upcoming conversation he would have with Jones before his UFC 152 fight next weekend against Vitor Belfort in Canada. That sounds like something a male supermodel would say: I feel like a piece of meat out here (White said in a mocking voice). That pisses me off worse than f&#*ing canceling the event. I just heard that one today, Jim Rome told me that."
White recalled how he notified Jones immediately after learning of Henderson's injury and seemed to have a fight against Sonnen in place: "I was driving off the freeway, I had just landed and called him and told him what Sonnen said and he f&#*ing laughed. It wasn't like: Whoa, this might be the biggest mistake of my f&#*ing career. I thought we had a f&#*ing fight. He was laughing and was like 'Alright I'm going to call my team and call you back in a little while.' And then they call back and it was a completely different f&#*ing story. It was the genius Greg Jackson that talked him out of the fight. Talked him out of fighting Chael Sonnen on eight days f&#*ing notice, yet fighting Vitor Belfort off a full f&#*ing camp. Ok, we were gonna fight Dan Henderson, guy's got f&#*ing knockout power, great wrestling, a good chin, tough f&#*ing guy. Now here's Chael Sonnen on eight days notice and he's a f&#*ing 185 pounder, coming in with no camp whatsoever. And you heard what they said: he's a southpaw. Vitor Belfort's a f&#*ing southpaw. And hits f&#*ing harder, and is faster and more explosive. So you're gonna f&#*ing say no to him on eight days notice but fight Vitor? It's so stupid that it gets me angry."
White continued: "Every time somebody asks me if I take responsibility for canceling UFC 151 on f&#*ing Twitter, it's like ' Yeah, how's it my fault?' If somebody can even try to give me an idea of how that's my fault that 151 got canceled, I would love to hear it. Dan Henderson should have told me three weeks before that his f&#*ing knee was hurt, and maybe I could have saved it. And Jon Jones should have fought f&#*ing Chael Sonnen. And his f&#*ing goofy trainer should have kept his face shut."
Three weeks ago, White went off on Coach Greg Jackson, on a media call immediately after the event's cancellation. He continued his tirade yesterday: "The thing that drives me crazy about Greg Jackson is Greg Jackson has this whole little thing where he's the nicest guy in the world, the nicest guy you've ever met. Real quiet and humble. He's a f&#*ing hardcore businessman. That's what that guy is. He plays the whole thing with Jon and Rashad (Evans) and f&#*ing Jardine and all these guys 'We're all family, we're all brothers. We're a big family here and that's what we are. We won't fight each other because we're family.' Bull@%*% You're not family. You train together. Yes they like each other. There's a lot of nice guys in MMA. Keith Jardine is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. Rashad is cool too. This sport is full of nice guys, so he plays this card with these guys."
The UFC boss said: "The only reason we even know who Greg Jackson is cause of f&#*ing Diego Sanchez. Diego Sanchez came out of his camp because of GSP. GSP wanted to come train at Jackson's camp and Diego was like f&#* that! 'This is my house, man. I'm going to have to fight this guy one day.' What did Greg Jackson do? Brought GSP down there. You know why? Because he believed GSP would f&#*ing beat Diego Sanchez. He made a business decision. I will take him over him. What happened to f&#*ing family? Who could be more family to you than f&#*ing Diego Sanchez, the kid's been with you since he was f&#*ing 14 years old. What happened to family, Greg, you f&#*ing family-guy you."
White accused Jackson of disloyalty to his fighters: "Then you got Rashad Evans, Rashad Evans was with him the second-longest other than Diego Sanchez. 'That's his brother, we're brothers. He's my family. He's this, that and everything else.' Jon Jones wanted to come train there and comes in and everything is cool. Who the f&#* did Greg Jackson pick? He picked the guy who he thought would beat Rashad Evans, no matter how f&#*ing long Rashad Evans had been with him. He made a f&#*ing business decision. He's a businessman, he's a f&#*ing con artist.
"Let me be fair. It's good to have a trainer whom you respect. To keep you in f&#*ing line, that you don't run the f&#*ing show. To keep you in order, and you respect him enough to run a camp. And have his s%*% together to keep your life organized and focused and ready for a f&#*ing fight and do all this other stuff. But Greg Jackson is a f&#*ing businessman who cons all these guys into this family (expletive). Because it would be the perfect f&#*ing world if I can have Diego, GSP, Rashad, Jon Jones and a list of other f&#*ing characters who don't have to fight each other because they're all the best in the world. And if they don't ever have to f&#*ing fight each other, he makes money from all of these guys. Big money, because these are all big-money fighters. He's full of s%&% is what he is."
When asked how he thought the crowd would respond to Jones, White said: "I don't think it will be that much different. It's not like he was getting Wanderlei Silva-type receptions anyway. It will be interesting to see if fans boo him more than before, or they will cheer for him. But you can't deny no matter what they do, people are interested in Jon Jones."
Comments
you think if jon jones wasnt so selfish he wouldve fought chael and saved the day, and then fight again in a month or two if he came out unscathed
Oh yeah....boxers do that all the time too....
These are PROFESSIONAL FIGHTERS, not your typical street brawlers...
Dana will tear you into pieces of meat and spit you out--if you say NO to his decisions or desires...But he's a bipolar who will be change his mind in a heart beat...Comes fight time, he will be singing Jones' praises and making every effort to draw attention to the big money-making event...............
It's funny how he said 151's cancelation was everyone's fault, but his, I didn't think Dana could stoop any lower, but then he goes on to say Chael would of had pretty much absolutely no chance to defeat Bones while saying Vitor is greater in every aspect and accepting a fight with him was a stupid decision.... isn't the point of fighting to fight the best?
I've heard comments over the years about Dana being a jackass, but I always gave him the benefit of the doubt, but this just made me realize that he really doesn't care about anyone, but himself.
With that being said, I do agree with what he said about Greg Jackson :)
Adree, don't like him or Jackson. But i still feel a fight with Chael was a freakshow and unthinkable at each of their respective stages in their careers. Dana wants us to think that because a guy used his options fairly on a day that didn't suit everyone else that that guy is the problem. The problem is unrealistic prospects for a man who has done more for the UFC than they have done for him. It s not like the UFC could have built him into a champ even if he wasn't one. Jones was a Champ and Dana wanted him badly for his business and in exchange Jones can have 10% of what he brings to the UFC. Wether Jones knew it or not the right decision was made for the legitimacy of the belt and what it takes to contend for it. Unfortunately for the sake of all the crybabies there will be another illegitimate fight to replace it because people are inpatient enough to void legitimacy for the sake of a freakshow.
All the f&#*ing words blind me and all the f&#*ing story is useless because it had past. For f&#*ing sake get over this. Dana is a f&#*ing tyrant thats it and jones/jackson are f&#*ing business man/fighters. f&#*
Moment of hypocrisy from Dana: He bitches about Greg Jackson being all "We're family" and in the end making decisions purely for business reasons. Meanwhile, Dana has his head bobbing in the lap of all his big name fighters, until they make a decision that costs him money, then he pisses and moans endlessly, because in the end, it's all purely for his own business reasons.
Newsflash to Dana White: How exactly are MMA gyms like Greg Jackson's rated? By win loss ratio. What happens when you have a winning record for your gym and two of your fighters fight? No matter who wins, the record fo your gym as a whole declines. Greg Jackson makes a living off of having the winningest gym in MMA. Even the "We're family" thing from Jackson is a business decision, which makes him much more consistent than you.
Dana is really reeallyy Bitter about ths wow
this isnt boxing either. this sport has had alot more legitimacy than boxing over the recent years years. if you didnt want to see that fight happen then how are you a fan of fighting. i will only justify jones reasoning if he was offered far less money to fight chael. lets face it jones knew he could win that fight regardless of 8 days notice
Boxing has pleny of leginitmacy.
Plenty of fans had no interest at all in seeing Jones fight Chael.
this is not a 1 dimensional sport, jones has many tools that can outclass chael including wrestling, as if he didnt know what chael would do. it would not have been a bad business decision because the ufc and fans would of appreciated it.
IT could have been if he lost. This is MMA. No matter how much Jones would have been a favorite in the fight there is a still a possibility he could have lost. Weighing that with the "good will" he would have gotten from a fan base that already sees him as fake is more than a hard question to answer.
Besides, I wasn't saying that. I was simply saying many fans had no care at all to see Jones fight Sonnen.
u should become jones' business/life advisor and team up with greg jackson. honestly i want to see two men enter the cage and one leave the better man,
im about as concerned about jon jones career and legacy about as much as i care about chaels
Ah, the argument about me understanding his situation turns in to me becoming his manager. Classic.
*legitimacy
im not saying boxings not legitimate. i am saying mma has had more definitive fights. much more finishes. when it comes to decisions both sports can be sketchy. sure if u didnt want to pay for that fight dont. either way its not like u werent going to see what happened anyway.
Then I would completely disagree with you. There's been one fight in boxing that hasn't been made (PBF-Manny). Besides that we've gotten multiple legitimate championship fights like Dawson-Ward last week or Martinez-JCC jr. this week. Wladimir Klitschko fought David Haye as the #1 contender to the HW title just last year (thought the fight was god awful). Froch-Bute, PBF-Cotto, Manny-Bradley, Khan-Garcia, Haye-Chisora, Mares-Agbeko, and Lopez-Salido were all relevant fights between highly ranked guys that were in 2012 alone.
The UFC might do a better job of packaging the product of MMA at the moment, but there is absolutely no advantage when it comes to legitimacy.
still those are just the most noticable names and 2012 has probably been one of the better years for boxing recently. im not just talking about championship fights though in boxing. ALOT of boxing is 12 rounds of boring. atleast in mma most undercards absolutely deliver. to be honest though it seems like boxing has been getting a little more exciting recently and i cant wait for martinez chavez fight
It should be a great fight, I'm siked!
fo sho
*Psyched ;-)
So funny you had to press it yourself?
It's an improper forum. No need for spelling/grammatical corrections.
I'm always not the biggest Dana fan but he gets Jackson. He's right about just how phony this guy is. The whole "I'm calm and collected, everyone else is 'emotional'" BS is so transparent. Jones fell right into it and lapped it up. Either he grows up and out of that condescending, arrogant mindset or that really is JBJ. It certainly is Jackson and he'll always be that prick, but JBJ can still crawl out of that hole.
I wonder how Dana feels about it all...
Dana is total ESTP personality type in one of the worst ways, so ofcourse he looks like a complete hypocrite calling jackson out. It's funny when dana is angry at a champ to me, because there's really **** all he can do.
"Every time somebody asks me if I take responsibility for canceling UFC 151 on f&#*ing Twitter, it's like ' Yeah, how's it my fault?' If somebody can even try to give me an idea of how that's my fault that 151 got canceled, I would love to hear it."
Seriously? Go headbutt a mirror.
I suppose he could have blamed Joe Silva for every other fight on the card. UFC 151 was banking ENTIRELY on the star power of Jones and Henderson to sell it. The rest of that card was fail. Without the main event, people would have looked at that lineup and immediately thought it was a free UFC event.
Just look at the poster being used to hype UFC 151. "World Lightheavyweight Championship: Bones vs. Hendo". Not even a meantion of a Co-Main Event. UFC put all their eggs in one basket with the marketing and lost big time. Simple as that.
Somehow I got goosebumps from this article.
BEST. INTERVIEW. EVER!
Man that's good stuff!!!!! Lmfao
Way to go Dana! He's not backing down on this one and he's right.
He can be a d**k a lot of the time but he has nailed it about Jackson. The guy is a complete phony and it's rubbed off on Jones.
You guys ard all full of crap...
Its not in the contract to fight whoever ufc throws in on 8days notice.
The rest of 151card was weak and ufc knew it. Bad freakin promotion.
Dana had the nerve to start bathmouthing Jones and his camp about "Not Stepping Up", but Jones cant say that he felt like a "Piece of Meat" grow the hell up Dana and be freakin professional.
Thats one important thing about the UFC and its professionalism and the lack of it....starting with Dana and his mouth....
Damn Dana got it bad for Jones and Jackson.
I actually miss the days off Jon being viewed as the golden boy
"Its not in the contract to fight whoever ufc throws in on 8days notice.
The rest of 151card was weak and ufc knew it. Bad freakin promotion. "
Shure, it's not in their contract. That's why it is called "champinship spirit" or "pride", to fight anybody they put in front of you despite the time, despite the weight class etc.. Look at UFC 153: Those brasillian mofos, like little Nog or AS, have balls of steel IMO. JBJ didn't had any problem to fight Shogun for the title on a short notice, right? And who did he had to fight this time? An out of shape Chael Sonnen, who hasn't even been to prep camp.
But, who am I arguing with? You probably think "oldschool" is some sort of after shave.
I telll you how it is your falt that 151 was canceled.....there was no card except for the main event, you were trying to push an entire card based on one fight only...so yes...that is 100% your falt, that was a risky move, you paid the price and now you are blaming on others......
I forgot something: **** Greg Jackson!!!!!!
I usually can deal with Dana's PR because it's entertaining to listen to someone who doesn't say the same old BS, even if he goes off the rails some time.
So you're going to lay into Jones for saying you treated him like a piece of meat...and prove his point?
Piss of Jones enough and he may just decide to take a few years off. One of your top PPV draws.
What do you think? Dana having a mid-life crisis? On TRT therapy?
Jones may decide to take a few years off? That is never gonna happen and is a pretty pointless tthing to say.
Jones has just signed a deal with Nike. I'm pretty sure his contract is gonna stipulate he has to fight at least sometime in a year!
Also, he is a "businessman", you think he's gonna do his image any good by being a baby and taking time off?!?
Face it, Dana is his BOSS. The company goes on with or without him. Dana won't bow to fighter pressure cos they are fu***d without the UFC.
Where would he go? Bellator?!? There will always be young talented fighters who will run through walls to get into the UFC and Dana knows it.
Ever hear a guy named BJ Penn? The Prodigy? Got into it with Dana when he was a ****y 25 year old champ and then went and fought in Japan for two years?
Dana runs a company, and it's the biggest. But in the end, he's just a dude in a suit.
LOL! There is no viable option in Japan anymore dude. Wake up
I just you an example of something exactly like it that did happen. You think it did BJ's career any good when he went to Japan?
But keep calling a valid opinion "pointless" and telling them to "wake up", it makes you sound really clever.
Sorry you got you're feelings hurt but this is a forum where people express opinion. And my opinion is that suggesting jones will take time off is ludicrous.
The UFC is ****ed much more without the fighters (top draws) than the fighters are ****ed without the UFC. Jones, GSP, Anderson, and a few others are big enough names now that they could headline independent promotions for big money with no help from the UFC at all. The UFC is starting to understand this as their numbers have been decreasing since 2010.
Fighters are the ones who drive this sport, not Dana White.
Yea...
Dana likes to think he can control anyone he wants to, but if he really did then why is he so mad again? This move by jones wasn't about money or "business"it was about dignity, and alot of you seem completely lost as to what that is or why someone would want to defend it.
Cranestyle and EH: I completely agree with both of you. At the end of the day, Dictator Mini me is not the reason why the fans watch the UFC, the fighters are. Dana is good and bad for MMA, however I have a feeling he will be bought out by the Fertittas sometimes in the future.
with you 100% there...
Dana is the man.
Relentless. Way to go Dana.
Man, I'm almost always on Dana's side with everything, but I think he needs to take it easy with this already. In-fighting is not a good look for any organization. It makes them look childish. Dana is the boss, 100%, but bosses don't ridicule their employees in front of clients/media - do it behind closed doors, and then move on.
he is the boss of company who's business is to be out in the public eye. not like he's running some private company. everything they do is in the public eye.
Personally, I think it just means Dana makes a lot fewer decisions than people are led to believe. He is the media figurehead, and I think Lorenzo Fertitta, who has been in the public eye a bit more in the past few years, probably feeds a lot of the decisions to Dana.
Everything Businessmen hate other Businessmen who interfere with their business. Dana is right about Jackson to a point but ultimately he's pissed because he doesn't have Ultimate control over Jones.
Dana's just mad because he knows that not only did he lose an entire event, Chael would have made him more money that Vitor's going to.
However, Jones' "piece of meat" statement is ridiculous. You don't pay pieces of meat millions of dollars. It reminds me of NFL players comparing their situation to slavery. It's just stupid.
You dont pay a piece of meat millions of dollars......
You didn't see the comparison he made with models?
I agree with everything he said but I do think he deserves some blame altho he did tried to have a good card having Kosh in there....the only reason I think he blames Jones soo hard is because he didn't step up....and Dana has ALWAYS said he loves guys who step up and fight...he blames Dan for not letting the UFC know with enough time...and think that Dana feels he did everything he could and the one person that was ready and coulda fought was jones and the one person that didn't want to fight was jone....
That's just my speculation of how Dana is thinking about this...
Also all this business talk rememinds me of...
I'm not a businessman..
I'm THE business man!!!
Jay Z...
"
The UFC boss said: "The only reason we even know who Greg Jackson is cause of f&#*ing Diego Sanchez. Diego Sanchez came out of his camp because of GSP. GSP wanted to come train at Jackson's camp and Diego was like f&#* that! 'This is my house, man. I'm going to have to fight this guy one day.' What did Greg Jackson do? Brought GSP down there. You know why? Because he believed GSP would f&#*ing beat Diego Sanchez. He made a business decision. I will take him over him. What happened to f&#*ing family? Who could be more family to you than f&#*ing Diego Sanchez, the kid's been with you since he was f&#*ing 14 years old. What happened to family, Greg, you f&#*ing family-guy you.' "
Damn that is crazy i didnt know greg was so fked up to his fighters, esp diego... what an ass
Over/Under on when Fox calls Lorenzo and requests the removal of Dana White and the addition of some Jewish guy as the new president of the UFC!
How about 16 months?
Dana was on point when he mentioned the family thing, and Diego and GSP.
On the flip side isnt Dana trying to make as much money as he can?
Dana sounds like a whining teenager.
I wonder if Jones felt like a piece of meat back when Dana needed him to fight Shogun on short notice? F*** Bones! Cant wait till the day he get KTFO!!!
Oh man how I hate Dana White, the only reason and I mean ONLY reason Dana hates Greg Jackson is that he holds power that the UFC has no control over. Dana White wants nothing more then for him and the UFC to have all the power and make all the decisions for the fighters no matter how bad they are for that fighter.
I really don't give a shit what the situation is we should NEVER have a title fight on 8 days notice, it is bad, really bad for the sport. The only way Jones takes the fight with Sonnen on 8 days notice is if he takes Sonnen incredibly lightly and shows an incredible amount of arrogance.
Also this is by no means the first ****ing main event to be cancelled 8 days before the event, yet none of those events were cancelled... why is that Dana? Is it maybe because the UFC is looking more and more like pro boxing?
I don't get the "pro boxing" comments at all, can someone explain??...
If its because the main even is what everyone wants to see just like boxing then I don't get the "pro boxing" comments...because that's what the main events are for lol I mean I bet real boxing fans watch every fight and are really intoo it just like real mma fights watch every mma fight on the card and outside the ppv such as the fuel fights and the fx fights and love every minute wether it's a main even or not...atleast that's the case with me, like for UFC 153 I can't wait to watch the Nog fight and specially Erik Silva vs Jon Fitch fight...also Im more exited about Stann vs Bisping than Jones vs Vitor...but everyone is different but comparing it to boxing is not even a close comparison in my book...
jones better hold onto that belt.
dana is starting to make the likes of d trump and v mcmahon look like nice guys :p
Dana White just owned Greg Jackson...WOW.
Dana's gotta put the fvcks that work for the company in line.
Yes--Dana White has made a huge contribution to the sport of MMA. His marketing acumen and the Fertitas money turned around a failing org and and made it into a huge sport.
That said, he sounds like a whiny bitch these days, and I don't think it is good for the sport.
Dana talks real nice about fighters when they say Yes Sir! How High! Sir!
But if he does not get his way, and he cannot punish a fighter by cutting them--he throws a hissy fit tantrum.
Dana White might be understandably very pissed with Jon Jones, Hendo and the UFC 151 debacle--however, to publicly denigrate the UFC's LHW champion is bad business long term and it makes him sound like a raving lunatic. His fixation on Greg Jackson is the classic 'Whipping Boy' transference of blame to someone he can hurt with impunity. Jon Jones is a grown man, and he is the final arbitor of his own career decisions--not Greg 'Easy Target' Jackson.
In the Olden Days, when the UFC was just starting up--his Bi-Polar management style could succeed--and few questioned his judgement. Often fans would just shrug and say 'that's just Dana being Dana'.
Now that the sport has grown, Dana needs to acquire at least a teenage level of maturity and a 6th grader's control of his emotions.
In effect, Dana has been slamming the fighters and trainers in his own organization for his own faults. He did not have a decent co-main event for UFC 151, nor another fight in the same weight class which could have provided a reasonable substitution.
Ever notice when someone feels guilty, they scream the loudest about their innocence?
The wicked flee when none pursue. That's right.
This post >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.....
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translation to Dana's comments= f bombs galore!!! bleep,bleep,bleep! ;D
Time to put this to bed Dana. Fans would have been disappointed with the cancellation regardless of who's fault it was. Dana should be the guy spearheading the campaign to make things right again (both with bones and the fans). It's your job to take the high road big guy!
Yeah **** you John Jones...Felt like a piece of meat. Well guess what! Its your ****ing job to fight asshole!!
Jones' piece of meat trash is 100% accurate. DW's response proves Jones was right to say that. DW has never respected a single fighter in the history of the UFC despite the pretence when some are in his favour. To him they are pieces of meat which he hires and fires at will to make him and his bosses the most income.
Don't get me wrong he has put a life's work into the UFC and deserves credit for that but as far as fighters go he is a complete ******* ******* IMO and always has been. He is prepared to trash one of his best fighters in his desperate attempt to deflect blame away from himself and other senior UFC officials who were the real reason the event got cancelled. For those nuthuggers so tightly embedded into his groin who can't see sense through the bumfluff they only need engage the brain a tiny bit to see what DW is all about. This episode is the same way DW has behaved throught his life. He needs to take a long hard look in the mirror and realise the fighters are the onezs putting their asses on the line come fight night and as such deserve respect. Something he seems incapable of, but something he badly needs to learn none the less.