Dana White keeps pushing forward with events regardless of what everyone else is doing in combat sports. For those unaware of the UFC in the beginning, pushing forward when it seems all is lost is nothing new to White and the UFC. History has shown that going when no one wants him to has always paid off for White.
One boxing promoter, in particular, has been critical of the UFC, MMA, and White holding events during the pandemic. Bob Arum told Boxing Scene, “This kind of cowboy behavior doesn’t do anybody any good.” Although he did wish good luck to White and the UFC.
However, according to White after this past weekend’s event at the UFC Apex moving on with events has been good for the UFC. White said that in the ESPN totem pole of events, the UFC was low when they moved over to the network. “When we first started on ESPN, if you look at the ESPN totem pole, you had NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA, these guys, right?” White said to the media, “And we were down like one notch above Cornhole. Now, we sit in a much better place on the ESPN totem pole than we did when we signed this deal a year and a half ago.”
Coincidentally, White mentioned the recent Top Rank boxing card which he said, “Cornhole almost out-rated Top Rank the other night for their fights. So congratulations to Top Rank. Bob Arum, give him a shout out. Good job, Bob. You’re <expletive> brilliant. You d-ckhead.”
This is not the first time White has said something bad about Arum. Earlier in June, when he did a podcast with Eddie Hearn, who praised White for his efforts in holding events during the pandemic, White said that the difference between Hearn and Arum was that he [Hearn] is “not a douchebag.”
What do you think about White’s take on Arum?
