Former PRIDE FC USA Vice President and current M-1 Global USA Vice President, Jerry Millen spoke with PRO MMA at the Affliction: Day of Reckoning press conference. Millen may be best known to MMA fans for his ongoing public war of words with UFC President, Dana White.

Never a loss for words, Millen had a few choice comments about White and the UFC’s business practices of counter programming Affliction events. The V.P. talked about the future of Affliction, the failures of Elite XC and the IFL, the UFC and Dana White.

PRO MMA: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us here at PRO MMA, Jerry.

MILLEN: Oh, no problem

PRO MMA: In the last few years we have seen a few promotions (EliteXC and the IFL) start up and fail. In your opinion, what happens to these promotions?

MILLEN: Well, there are a lot of reasons. Obviously, the UFC is a juggernaut and they want to shut down any competition there is. They will try to buy them if they can, they will try to counter program with you…basically…how do I say it? Dana White, he wants to be king of the world. That’s a problem in this business. To me, mixed martial arts, I love the sport and been doing it for a long time now, it needs more than one promotion. Otherwise, it is going to be a fad. It will be controlled by one company, the salaries, the match ups, the fights…and that’s how Dana wants it. Sure, in a perfect world, if you live in a fantasy, its great but it’s not a fantasy. There are a lot of guys here that are great fighters, that don’t fight in the UFC. Now, they are going to get a chance with Affliction. It’s a tough business. With the economy, there is only so much money to go around. The UFC tries to eat up anybody that comes at them. Which I think is ridic..they’re afraid of competition! Dana is stupid, he does not understand that competition is good for the sport. It is good for your own promotion. When they bought PRIDE and shut it down, it was a stupid move. Competition is good.

PRO MMA: With the counter-programming, as you alluded to, that the UFC did back in July with Anderson Silva, they are going to (counter-program) again. Being the top dogs, why do they need to counter-program?

MILLEN: Because Dana White is a chicken sh*t. Point blank. He’s afraid, he’s too busy looking over his shoulder at who’s coming at him, instead of looking forward. He’s like “Oh, we’re moving forward! Oh, but wait! These guys want to try and compete with us or try and put on a show? Screw them. They can’t put on a show.’ He’s too busy. He is worried about other promotions. Do your thing man, do your thing and let these other guys do their thing. If you’re that good…you shouldn’t be afraid of competition. So, maybe, Dana White and the UFC aren’t that good.

PRO MMA: Where is M-1 and Affliction going to succeed where EliteXC and the WFA failed?

MILLEN: There is a great roster of fighters. World wide we do fights all over with M-1 Global. We have a lot of money. That’s obviously not the answer…a lot of money. That’s what we saw with EliteXC. We’ve got some good people on board. The EliteXC thing, from the beginning, I knew what was going to happen with them. I saw it. I spoke to the C.E.O and I told him flat out, ‘You guys will be out of business in a year, year and a half at the most. Or your whole team will change.’ Now, they are out of business. They had some great guys that worked at Elite XC and some guys that were jokers. M-1 Global, we are slowly building it up. We do shows in Spain, Korea, Japan and Russia. We do big shows with Affliction, but we are not out there to be the top dog right now. You can’t do that, its just impossible. You can not fight with the UFC right now because they are at the top…but if you slowly grow it and gnaw away at it, eventually the fans will, hopefully, get what they deserve. That’s great fights. Hopefully we will see Fedor fight, one of these so-called ‘top guys’ in the UFC. Like a Brock Lesnar. Your heavyweight champion is three and one? What does that say about your heavyweight division? I think we will be fine.

PRO MMA: Any truth to the rumors about poor ticket sales for this event?

MILLEN: Ticket sales are fine. If there are any remaining, I am going to buy the remaining tickets. Do you need a free ticket? (laughs) No, the show is going to be fine. It’s just a bunch bullsh*t. It’s some one with a keyboard and his name is Dana White!

PRO MMA: Jerry, thank you for joining us

MILLEN: No problem man, thank you.

By: Matt De La Rosa

3 thoughts on “Jerry Millen: “Dana White, he wants to be king of the world””
  1. I mean seriously, why would anyone hire this guy? He brings nothing to the table besides the occasional insulting comment about Dana White. Hey Dana White you suck! Can I have a high paying position in Affliction now?

  2. “Ticket sales are fine’…..
    Section 107
    Row 16
    Seats 1 – 20
    Description Price Level 2FL OOR LEVEL CHAIR
    Type 20 FULL PRICE ADULT Ticket PriceUS $450.00 x 20 Convenience ChargeUS $21.00 x 20 Building Facility ChargeUS $3.00 x 20

    two days out ….hmmm?

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