Dana White bites the hand that feeds him
Dana White was recently given the Armed Forces Humanitarian Award, and seeing all that the UFC does for the troops, he is quite deserving. The Fight for the Troops raised $2 million for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. Beyond that, UFC fighters are constantly visiting troops, both at installations in the U.S. and abroad.
In receiving the award, though, White still insists on going after people who aren't even his enemies. Dana starts to talk around two minutes in, and though most of what he says is typical Dana blustering, some of his statements are downright hypocritical. Consider:
"These [expletives] in Hollywood make me sick."
Ah, yes. That is a line that will make the crowd happy, but let's examine it, shall we? During UFC 97, the major sponsor was the movie, "Fighting." They spent so much cash on sponsorship that even before we could hear results of a decision, ring announcer Bruce Buffer had to tell us about the movie, and that Terrence Howard and Channing Tatum were the stars of it. Not only that, but there was an interview with Tatum and Cung Le, a star of the movie and a fighter for Strikeforce. Are there many other circumstances where White would allow a fighter from a non-Zuffa promotion to be interviewed?
Not only that, the UFC has never shied away from spotlighting their connections to Hollywood. If a movie actor or actress is in the crowd, they will get television time. Mandy Moore, Laura Prepon, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Spade, Paris Hilton, Fifty Cent and Ashton Kutcher have all been to UFC events. Does White let them sit in anonymity? Of course not. They use the image of these stars to bolster the image of the UFC.
It's not wrong for the UFC to take money from Hollywood movie studios, or show off their connections with movie and television stars. However, for White to take money with one hand and give the finger to Hollywood with the other is insanely hypocritical.
