UFC’s Dana White to Sports Illustrated: Do your homework on MMA

BAD MMA News — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 22:20:00 +0000

After blasting Sports Illustrated on ESPN2, UFC President Dana White today made an appearance on “SI Now,” where he angrily denounced the storied news outlet’s coverage of UFC 162. “I honestly thought you guys were calling to apologize because you were embarrassed at how ridiculous your show was,” White told SI Now’s Maggie Gray, who this past week moderated a panel of writers who discussed the possibility of fight-fixing at the July 6 pay-per-view event. “Now as I sit here and talk to you, you’re even more ridiculous, and I’ll bet you this whole interview doesn’t see the light of day. If your producer’s smart, he’ll take this tape out and throw it right in the garbage so the world can’t hear what I’m saying to you right now.” SI, of course, did release the interview as part of the show, which covers a variety of current topics in the sports world. On Wednesday, an SI PR rep declined to comment when contacted by MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) on White’s interview with ESPN2′s “Highly Questionable,” where he interrupted an interview to blast the SI panel . Gray defended the segment by saying the topic of fight-fixing had also been broached by reporters covering the event.

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UFC’s Dana White to Sports Illustrated: Do your homework on MMA – MMA Junkie

Dana White again blasts conspiracy theories, Sports Illustrated on UFC 162 claim

BAD MMA News — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Responding again today to questions of whether the main event of UFC 162 was fixed, UFC President Dana White ranted at conspiracy theorists and then targeted one of the most respected institutions in sports reporting. “Who’s going to throw a fight by getting viciously knocked out?” the UFC executive ranted during an appearance on ESPN2′s “Highly Questionable.” “You know how stupid you’d have to be to even think that?” “Speaking of morons, Sports Illustrated had this group of people together, and they actually – Sports Illustrated! – had this panel saying, ‘Yeah, so I heard over the weekend, this fight might have been fixed.’ First of all, these people looked like they covered tennis – not fighting – and you could tell none of them even watched the fight.” White was referring to a panel of reporters that mused on whether Anderson Silva took a dive against the newly minted UFC middleweight champ Chris Weidman during a segment on the web series SI Now, which covers hot topics in sports. “For somebody like Sports Illustrated – people are supposed to be credible journalists – to go out and say something that stupid when they never even watched the fight, it’s just a testament to how bad reporting is getting these days,” White continued. “It’s more about the shock factor than the fact factor.” It’s not the first time White has let expletives fly on the topic. Immediately after the pay-per-view event, which took place July 6 at MGM Grand Garden Arena, he said people who thought that Weidman’s knockout was predetermined were “f—ing idiots.” Yet for several days, the topic hung in the air, which likely prompted the SI panel to address the situation. None of the journalists, however, were MMA reporters for the storied news outlet. Reps for SI.com could not be reached for comment. As White pointed out on ESPN2, if the fight was fixed, it would have been far smarter to have Silva tap to Weidman’s submission attempts prior to his fight-ending KO, and under better odds.

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Dana White again blasts conspiracy theories, Sports Illustrated on UFC 162 claim – MMA Junkie

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UFC’s Dana White to Sports Illustrated: Do your homework on MMA

Dana White again blasts conspiracy theories, Sports Illustrated on UFC 162 claim