Cagewriter - UFC

Dana White, the Ultimate Fighting Championship's outspoken president, isn't one to turn down a challenge.

But White had to stop laughing on Wednesday before admitting that he has no interest in fighting Affliction Entertainment promoter Tom Atencio.

Atencio is fighting Randy Hedderick on June 27 in Biloxi, Miss., while at the same time trying to put together a major pay-per-view fight card of his own featuring heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko.

In a column on Yahoo! Sports, Atencio said he knew White wasn't serious when he said he would box former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz.

"I'd love to fight Dana," Atencio said. "I'm not a former world champion with a huge record like Tito. I'm a guy who is on par with him. I like to fight and he says he does, so I'd love to fight him."

White is in Miami, Fla., on a corporate retreat and couldn't be reached in time to get his reaction to Atencio's challenge. But upon learning that Atencio had called him out, the one-time amateur boxer began to laugh.

"If I were him, I'd want to fight me, too," White said. "I'm the guy who is killing all of his hopes and dreams."

Though Atencio and Ortiz said White was never serious about fighting Ortiz — Ortiz said White arranged a Spike TV special to make him look bad and never had an intention of fighting him — White said he agreed to do it and trained for two months.

He agreed to fight Ortiz as a part of contract negotiations when he resigned Ortiz to a contract that expired last year.

However, White scoffed at Atencio and said the fact that Atencio is training to fight when his company is losing money proves he's a fool. White and his partners, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, were on the verge of shutting the UFC down in 2004 because of heavy financial losses.

He said Atencio should be thinking of finding a way to stem the red ink that he said is putting Affliction in danger of going under instead of worrying about being a fighter.

"At the end of the day, I stepped up and said I would fight Tito and he was a fighter who people cared about," White said. "But why would I fight this goof? He's neither a fighter nor a promoter. He's a [expletive] loser. That's all he is."

"Let me tell you something: When I was $44 million in the hole, the last thing I was doing was leaving the office and going out to train for a joke of a fight. I was in the office and trying to find a way to make this thing work. Why would I waste one second of my second of my day worrying about this [expletive] guy? He should be worried about the millions and millions of his bosses, or his partners' money, whoever it is, that's he's burning. That's a complete joke."

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504 Comments

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  1. EDDIE B
    1. Posted by EDDIE B Thu May 14, 2009 12:50 am EDT

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    Go Dana, F the T Shirt Guy.. Eddie B.. TX
  2. Robert J
    2. Posted by Robert J Thu May 14, 2009 1:12 am EDT

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    So I'm gonna put you down for a 'NO' then Dana. Talks like he is Hercules, but when it's a challenge....well, not so much.
  3. hrspwrx4
    3. Posted by hrspwrx4 Thu May 14, 2009 1:21 am EDT

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    Dana talks about growing the sport of MMA, but he badmouths any rival promotion and tries to destroy it. Talk about a hypocrite!
  4. SJ
    4. Posted by SJ Thu May 14, 2009 1:23 am EDT

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    Dana White is a beasty
  5. Richard N
    5. Posted by Richard N Thu May 14, 2009 1:31 am EDT

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    Dana is afraid! coward!
  6. Steven W
    6. Posted by Steven W Thu May 14, 2009 1:34 am EDT

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    your mom is beasty
    dana is just a chump who can't fight
  7. pipelayer531
    7. Posted by pipelayer531 Thu May 14, 2009 1:36 am EDT

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    First!!!!
  8. Steven W
    8. Posted by Steven W Thu May 14, 2009 2:31 am EDT

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    rodney....atencio would most def whoop your ass too
  9. Bobby D
    9. Posted by Bobby D Thu May 14, 2009 2:36 am EDT

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    LOL @ afflictions gay ass
  10. hanzoroxx
    10. Posted by hanzoroxx Thu May 14, 2009 3:15 am EDT

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    ufc is focusing way too much on their tv show fighters. affliction put on a much better show the last time out. dana needs to remember those who made the sport great, instead of turning his back to them in order to promote his showboys.
  11. THE PRODIGY
    11. Posted by THE PRODIGY Thu May 14, 2009 3:16 am EDT

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    At the end of the day, Dana said "NO". What a [profane] big-a$$ millionaire.
  12. patrick c
    12. Posted by patrick c Thu May 14, 2009 5:17 am EDT

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    Dana will flip flop on this too. He puts down fighters and then when the chance comes to pick them up, he jumps on it.
  13. a@#hole
    13. Posted by a@#hole Thu May 14, 2009 6:34 am EDT

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    You guys really show how dumb you can be with comments like "Dana's a [profane]quot; or Dana is a chump". Why would the president of the greatest organization waste his time and breathe life into a sorry organization like Affliction. Instead of having the owners and president fight, Atencio should offer up Fedor to fight the winner of the Lesnar/Mir fight. But then again why would Atencio want his cash cow exposed as an average fighter who can't compete with todays top heavyweights.
  14. Raul R
    14. Posted by Raul R Thu May 14, 2009 6:49 am EDT

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    First off Dana is completly right when he says ...t-shirt guy get your ass back in the office and try to make your product better. and he had Tito under contract he could do whatever he wanted
  15. Bryce
    15. Posted by Bryce Thu May 14, 2009 6:51 am EDT

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    comment number 16, are you serious? average fighter? wow how does that kool-aid taste?
    man it would be nice to see comments of people on here who actually watch more than UFC and at least have a crumbs worth of knowledge of the sport
  16. Jeremy P
    16. Posted by Jeremy P Thu May 14, 2009 7:29 am EDT

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    to respond to a couple of things... why would dana give legitimacy to affliction or it's president, that'd be retarded... affliction's last show was better, but still not a very good production at all... and i'd be surprised if they ever had a 3rd show... fedor is the top heavyweight in the world, i mean seriously he finished 2 top 10 heavyweights in his last 2 fights, both former ufc champs. just wish his handlers would get it figured out and get him in the ufc, so we can see him more than once a year...
  17. Jason P
    17. Posted by Jason P Thu May 14, 2009 7:30 am EDT

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    in response to #18.
    Bryce, I think we'd all love to see more than just the UFC. Any time I see MMA on TV I stop what I'm doing and watch it. The problem is that unless you have 4000 channels of cable tv, UFC is about all you get. I don't even get "VS." on my satelite package, let alone HD net, or FoxSports or wherever else the fights might be. And I'm sorry but I'm NOT paying $50 a pop for PPV fights unless I know I'm going to get my money's worth. I also have a wife and kids so I don't have time to scour clips on YouTube to watch every MMA fight ever captured on digital video.
    If you know of someplace on tv where we can see new fights for free, brother, I am all ears. (or eyes, as it were)
  18. BOSS
    18. Posted by BOSS Thu May 14, 2009 8:36 am EDT

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    dana white has millions and millions of dollars and the most popular mma organization in the game. why would he waste his time to help this joker out. please! call him spineless call him a liar call him a pu$$y, but in the end he's the one thats running things in mma. guess what, he doesnt need to fight. wow what a chump he wont fight some dild0 that owns another company. he's not a fighter. big fukn deal
  19. adrift69
    19. Posted by adrift69 Thu May 14, 2009 9:04 am EDT

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    It's interesting how most people ridicule the talent in affliction. If Dana White was serious about wanting the best for MMA he'd let Brock Lesnar face a real opponent, Fedor. You can't crown your people real champions of the world until they've beaten the best, not just those within your stable. He'll never do it though because he doesn't have the best fighters in the world.
  20. John
    20. Posted by John Thu May 14, 2009 9:19 am EDT

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    Personally I like Dana White but I think he should have had a little more class and accpeted the fight and put on an exhibition with Atencio. The outcome wouldn't have mattered but maybe there was an "opportunity" here for Dana to do some business and maybe acquire Affliction in the future or acquiring some of their stars. Unfortuantely, Dana comes out the loser here with his arrogance........too bad could have been fun and interesting.
  21. Chris L
    21. Posted by Chris L Thu May 14, 2009 9:45 am EDT

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    Jason P, I understand your plight. Bryce was responding pretty appropriately to an exteremely ignorant and inaccurate comment by #16. Thanks for the tip Sean M. And for the record, Dana W. works hard, stands on the shoulders of others, needs to learn when to shut up and also needs to put down the pipe so that his mood swings might subside slightly. There is some great MMA out there to be appreciated and in this 'Age of Information' where everything is accessable, it's there to be found if you want to find it.
  22. knuckle sandwich
    22. Posted by knuckle sandwich Thu May 14, 2009 9:54 am EDT

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    FatWhiteGuySlob=Steve Cofield lmao.
  23. Martin W
    23. Posted by Martin W Thu May 14, 2009 9:55 am EDT

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    White makes some fair points...though he does it in his usually gruff style. Also, Dana would probably lose. I certainly agree with him, if Affliction is deep in the red...this guy has no business training for fights.
  24. michael m
    24. Posted by michael m Thu May 14, 2009 9:55 am EDT

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    ufc is general filled with premadonnas there is no real fighting fake as wwe. at least there entertainmaint in wwe , fedor will kill anybody in ufc without question.
  25. HAHA
    25. Posted by HAHA Thu May 14, 2009 9:56 am EDT

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    more importantly who would win?

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