It’s no secret that Dana White’s disdain for veteran referee Steve Mazzagatti has been anything but hush-hush within the media, but now the brash UFC President has been able to vent his frustrations elsewhere-via the infamous social network, Twitter.
Over the past few months, White has focused most of his attention come fight time inside the cage, rightfully so, but not just on his athletes.
In his most recent escapades, Dana was able to attend the UFC’s sister promotion, the WEC, this past Saturday night. The event was held in White’s backyard of Las Vegas, Nev., at The Palms Hotel Resort and Casino, and featured the promotion’s 45th installment, with “Cowboy” Donald Cerrone headlining opposite the flashy Ed “9mm” Ratcliff.
It was during one of the eventing’s preliminary bouts, which was eventually tacked on to the live broadcast of the main card on the Versus network, that became the focus of White’s tweet lashing.
WEC newcomers, Courtney Buck and Brandon Visher’s bout was overseen by the aforementioned Steve Mazzagatti in a lightweight showdown. During the course of the fight, Visher was able to control the pace of the action early on, dropping Buck in the opening moments of the fight and would not let up.
After successfully taking Courtney to the mat, Brandon was able to lay on a steady dose of ground and pound that would eventually warrant Mazzagatti to halt the bout.
Apparently, someone didn’t agree with the timing of Mazzagatti’s stoppage.
“moron mazzagatti strikes again,” began the outspoken UFC head-honcho via TwitterBerry. “Did you see the visher vs buck fight on WEC? I guess they will let this clueless f*ck ref till he hurts sum1”
White went on to mention that “(Zuffa brass) have no say what so ever with the judges and (referees)” and that the chairman of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) “(Keith) Kizer from the NSAC picks them all. He is the one you have to complain to”.
Though Dana claims to hold no personal qualms with referee Mazzagatti, who has become somewhat of a mainstay with the UFC, and WEC in particular, (has gone as far as saying “you will never meet a nicer guy” than Mazzagatti) it appears clear that Dana has made up his mind.
He is out of the Steve Mazzagatti business and he thinks you should be too.
By: Brian Lopez-Benchimol