In case you have been in a coma this past week, you probably heard the news about UFC President Dana White using one of his famous video blogs to announce his displeasure at a certain female MMA journalist for a recent article she had written.
Due to White’s particular choice of words he used to lash out at the journalist, he has drawn the ire of mainstream media all over the country. ESPN, FOX Sports, Newsday, USA Today, and the LA Times, just to name a few, all reported on the three minute video blog.
Mixed martial arts fans have fallen in love with White’s video blogs over the past few months. Normally, White will start filming one blog a day about five days prior to a UFC event. Viewers traditionally get to see behind the scenes footage of the various meetings and tasks required to keep the most successful MMA promotion in the world running smoothly.
However, White’s video blog for April 2nd was of a different type. Rather than give fans an opportunity to witness some of his daily activities, the entire video was filled with White voicing his criticism and detest of Sherdog.com journalist, Loretta Hunt and an article she had written which brought into question some of the UFC’s credentialing practices.
In particular, the article stated certain fighters’ managers had been denied locker room access at recent UFC events. The article also relied on and quoted some anonymous sources. The tone of the article seemed to suggest the UFC may be trying to bring distance between fighters and their managers for possibly unsavory reasons.
White, in an effort to defend a business he has devoted his life to, lashed out at the perceived attack and in the process, used some words that offended certain people, most notably, the gay and lesbian community.
Most people at one time or another have become overly emotional and said or done something they later realize was foolish. The only difference is most people do not post it on a video blog that tens of thousands of fans look forward to the week of each new UFC event.
The day after this incident occurred and all the negative press was coming out, Dana White spoke off the record with Sports 1140 KHTK-AM radio host, Carmichael Dave.
Dave said he spoke with White off and on for about an hour following the backlash and among other things White told him there would be one more video blog to come out which would contain an apology to the gay and lesbian community and then he was done making the videos.
Dave has been friends with Dana White and covering the UFC for a long time and he does a very good job here describing Dana’s mood and general feeling about the entire incident. Here is the audio:
Carmichael Dave speaking about Dana White:
[podcast]http://promma.info/audio/dana_white_monologue.mp3[/podcast]
After you listen to that, then you can listen to Dana White himself talk with Carmichael Dave this morning and hear what he has to say about the whole thing. Are the video blogs gone for good? Listen to find out…
Dana White speaks about video blog incident:
[podcast]http://www.carmichaeldave.com/images/stories/audio/danawhite040409.mp3[/podcast]
Check out www.carmichaeldave.com and his MMA radio show entitled MMASH at www.sports1140.com.
By: Jack Bratcher