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[Sakara=Excitement]

Dana White Gave, and Dana White Hath Taken Away at UFC 124 - Bloody Elbow

Zuffa decided to try out a new interactive gimmick at UFC 124: let the fans choose which fighters are awarded the "Fight of the Night" bonus. Fans became an amalgamated Commodus, offering a virtual thumbs up or thumbs down on the UFC's website. The UFC eschewed giving the idea a test run on a smaller show, allowing fans to collectively control the dispersement of $200,000.

Well, UFC fans, you've been fired. Steve Cofield details Dana White's comments from the post-fight press conference over at Cage Writer:

"The reporters aren't happy with it," Dana White joked at the postfight press conference. "It's one of the hazards. (The fans) are always chirping about how we mess it up and here we are."

White thought the real Fight of the Night was on the preliminary card. Sean Pierson and Matt Riddle beat the living hell out of each for three rounds.

The UFC and White even tried to give the fans a gentle nudge by showing the fight on the pay-per-view.

If you cast a vote at UFCvote.com, hope you enjoyed the chance to be the boss, now you're fired.

"They blew their chance," White said. "That's it. It's over."

This seemed like an inspired idea that wasn't fully thought through by the Zuffa marketing team. Voting tends to become a popularity contest, as any glasses-wearing nerd running for high school class president will tell you. That the main event between uber-popular Georges St-Pierre and hated villain Josh Koscheck won is no surprise - the event was built around that one fight, after all.

But there was bigger flaw in the idea: what happens to the prelim fights that weren't aired? Are they automatically disqualified? Dana White believed that Pierson and Riddle put on the fight of the night - and rewarded them for it, but what would have happened if the two lightweight fights went the distance?

[GL Jeff]

Honestly, GSP and Kos DO NOT need the money. I always found that the main event and in some cases co-main event didnt need the cash from these bonuses. And last night was a perfect example, GSP/Kos was not a fight thats going to stand out in anyones mind for long. While Riddle/Sean put on a slug fest that should of went another two rounds.

[Xanatos]

How about the bonus's are only for preliminary fights, and they can be watched online for free and we vote for them, instead of voting on the main card guys who have tonnes of cash, obviously people are just gonna vote for the big fights.

let us watch the preliminaries. people are still gonna buy the dvd, fuck.

[goodtimes]

Originally Posted by Xanatos

How about the bonus's are only for preliminary fights, and they can be watched online for free and we vote for them, instead of voting on the main card guys who have tonnes of cash, obviously people are just gonna vote for the big fights.

let us watch the preliminaries. people are still gonna buy the dvd, fuck.

Not being able to watch prelims for free is a huge turn off. The UFC on Demand program they have is shit, I tried it for the half year trial and it was really buggy, didn't let me keep fights I downloaded for more then a few days, and it cost 60 bucks.

Not really a big surprise that fans voted for the most popular fighter, but it's nice the UFC is trying different things. Tbh they usually pick pretty good bonuses, and looks like its going back to that.

[Leucoethiops]

The idea of fans getting to pick the FOTN winners, while not being privvy to every fight on the card is lame.

At least in the post fight presser, when Dana said the fans blew it, he also added in regards to Riddle / Pierson, "Don't worry, I'll take care of those guys."

He also said "Georges, Pierson is your good friend... You owe him $100,000"

Found that comical.

[Schlinks]

Was the Pierson/Riddle fight really better than other fights on the card? I don't think so. In fact my main thought throughout the fight was that Riddle looked really bad. His non-stop 1-2s to the air made him look like somone who really had no clue. The only reason it was competitive was that Pierson looked pretty gassed after the first round. To me it wasn't fight of the night it wasn't even close.

[Rise]

Originally Posted by Schlinks

Was the Pierson/Riddle fight really better than other fights on the card? I don't think so. In fact my main thought throughout the fight was that Riddle looked really bad. His non-stop 1-2s to the air made him look like somone who really had no clue. The only reason it was competitive was that Pierson looked pretty gassed after the first round. To me it wasn't fight of the night it wasn't even close.

Agreed that fight was not the greatest very sloppy striking on Riddle's part and Pierson was considerably slower after the first round. Not surprised Dana liked it though with Riddle trying to stand in the pocket and just throw bombs hoping for the best.

[HillbillyDeluxe]

Am I the only person that thought Thiago Alves vs John Howard shoulda been FOTN? Alves looked spectacular in my opinion, he seemed to be back to his old self. He was crisp, never gassed, and very well rounded in that performance. That's just my 2 cents tho...

[Chillzone]

Originally Posted by HillbillyDeluxe

Am I the only person that thought Thiago Alves vs John Howard shoulda been FOTN? Alves looked spectacular in my opinion, he seemed to be back to his old self. He was crisp, never gassed, and very well rounded in that performance. That's just my 2 cents tho...

I too thought that was the best fight on the card as well.

[stpierrecanada]

I thought GSP/Koscheck was the FOTN in my opinion but they don't need the money.

lol Dana, "They blew their chance" I didn't even hear about this voting thing until yesterday and by then it was too late.