Dana White's Playboy Interview

sitnspin · 06-14-2006, 03:00 PM

Got this from www.subfighter.com. It's excerpts from the "20 Questions" Dana White answers in the latest issue of Playboy.

ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP PRESIDENT DANA WHITE

IN JULY PLAYBOY’S 20Q The Man Behind the UFC Discusses The Ultimate Fighter Reality Show, Why He Credits Senator John McCain for the Existence of the UFC and Why the UFC Crushes the WWE.

UFC President Dana White is about to add two new pros to his stable of fighters on the June 24th season finale of The Ultimate Fighter 3, the popular Spike TV reality series which features16 fighters who live together as they prepare to compete for UFC contracts. White will then return to television on August 17 as host of The Ultimate Fighter: The Comeback. The success of The Ultimate Fighter has other networks such as Fox Sports, BET and Oxygen scrambling to develop fight-related series of their own. White is proud of the reality show and how it has turned the UFC around: “We got on TV and suddenly people were watching mixed martial arts without realizing they were watching it because they got caught up in the story lines,” said White in Playboy’s July 20Q (on newsstands Friday, June 9th).

Following are selected quotes from White’s 20Q, conducted by Playboy contributor Jason Buhrmester:
On Spike TV’s The Ultimate Fighter: “You also get to learn about the characters and see that these guys aren’t a bunch of f*cking gorillas who just rolled in off a bar stool. You can see how hard they train and that they have real lives and families.”

On Senator John McCain’s opposition to the UFC: “I’ll tell you what about Senator John McCain. He’s a boxing fanatic and he went after the UFC, and thank god he did. I credit Senator McCain with our having this sport today. The bottom line is this sport needs to be regulated…If it weren’t for McCain, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

On how Mike Tyson would do in a UFC fight: “He would get destroyed. I know it. He’s been getting destroyed in boxing lately. I’m not trying to slam Mike Tyson, because I’m still a huge fan. I like real fighters.”

On why he didn’t become a pro boxer: “I found out early in my career that I didn’t have it. I was about 26 or 27 when the window started closing. For a long time it really messed with me that I hadn’t fought a pro fight. But to fight pro is a lot of work, a lot of money and a lot of sacrifice. I didn’t take that step. I always felt I didn’t have the balls to turn pro.”

On why he hates golf: “I happen to f*cking hate golf. Golf is the most useless f*cking sport of all time. It’s a waste of f*cking time. It’s a waste of f*cking land. It’s a waste of everything. Homeless people are sleeping in the streets, and these rich dicks are out there golfing. Give me a f*cking break. They ought to build houses for the homeless on all the golf courses.”

On why the UFC is better than the WWE: “...Because it’s real. I think the WWE is fantastic. It’s amazing when you’re 12 to 15 years old. But when you hit 16 or 17, you realize it’s fake, and you want to see something real. I was a huge WWE fan as a kid. I got to an age when I got tired of the sh*t. It was just acting.”

On why he doesn’t want his kids to be fighters: “I love my kids so much. Do I want them to be fighters? No way. But I don’t want them to be football players, either. And I don’t want them to stub their toes. I don’t want them to get hurt at all. This is how f*cked up I am, that I sit around and think about this, but I dread the day when they get into a fight at school. I have two boys, so it’s inevitable, but I dread that day.”

On the most vicious thing he’s ever seen during a UFC fight: “Nothing really makes me cringe. I love fighting. But when Frank Mir broke Tim Sylvia’s arm with that arm bar, it was pretty crazy. Hell, we have four f*cking DVD’s of Ultimate Knockouts, so there have been some awesome knockouts.”

On what makes a guy want to become a UFC fighter: “It’s the competition. These guys are real athletes and real fighters. It doesn’t matter if they used to be schoolteachers or accountants. They love to compete. It’s great when you’re part of a team and you run out onto the field and the crowd is cheering. But when you walk into a f*cking arena with 17,000 people and your music is playing and everybody is looking at you and going crazy, it’s an amazing feeling. It’s a high you can’t even imagine.”

On whether someone will inevitably get seriously injured or killed in the UFC: “I fear it. I really do. To be honest, I don’t know how I would deal with something seriously happening to one of these guys I f*cking love and care about.”

subgenius · 06-14-2006, 03:53 PM

“...Because it’s real. I think the WWE is fantastic. It’s amazing when you’re 12 to 15 years old. But when you hit 16 or 17, you realize it’s fake, and you want to see something real. I was a huge WWE fan as a kid. I got to an age when I got tired of the sh*t. It was just acting.”

OH MY GOD!!! LOL!!! I always knew he was a moron, but that was just too damn funny. Here is a guy that thought pro-wrestling was real when he was 16 or 17!!! That is just priceless. But, he did say that he thought that "the WWE is fantastic." The use of the verb "to be" (or "is") has important meaning here. He did not use the past tense "was" as one might have thought, but used the present tense "is" instead. Classic.

Bomber · 06-14-2006, 04:29 PM

White should clean up his language if he's going to continue as the spokesperson for the UFC. Swearing the way he does on TV and in interviews sounds crass and low class. Sure most people talk that way sometimes, but he seems to do it all the time.

imdahman · 06-14-2006, 04:37 PM

How old is Dana nowadays? mid 30s? Well, lets say he was 12-15 about 20 years ago, putting the date at about 1985. Back then, the WWE(F) was maintaining that it was still 'real,' it wasn't until the early 90s that they came right out and said 'we have scripted matches.' Everything else about the WWE is real; real athletes, injuries, physicality and amazing feats of athleticism - they just don't compete to win. It may be a performance, but there are plenty of performance artists who are still athletes and train hard.

I found his comment about Golf kinda funny and that they use up all this space and should build homeless shelters on the land. He's got a point though, gold does tend to have a stigma of being for white and rich peeps.

marnold · 06-14-2006, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by imdahman

How old is Dana nowadays? mid 30s? Well, lets say he was 12-15 about 20 years ago, putting the date at about 1985. Back then, the WWE(F) was maintaining that it was still 'real,' it wasn't until the early 90s that they came right out and said 'we have scripted matches.' Everything else about the WWE is real; real athletes, injuries, physicality and amazing feats of athleticism - they just don't compete to win. It may be a performance, but there are plenty of performance artists who are still athletes and train hard.

I found his comment about Golf kinda funny and that they use up all this space and should build homeless shelters on the land. He's got a point though, gold does tend to have a stigma of being for white and rich peeps.

Maybe Dana should forget about golf for philanthropy--they have donated 1 billion dollars to charity--and donate the money he saves by paying his fighters s**t to the homeless.

angryjonny · 06-14-2006, 06:28 PM

Let's stay away from the stereotypical comments.

Bomber · 06-15-2006, 07:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by angryjonny

Let's stay away from the stereotypical comments.

I'm not sure what you mean. What comments were stereotypical?

angryjonny · 06-15-2006, 10:04 AM

I'm not talking about you Bomber.

Jras0001 · 06-15-2006, 12:09 PM

I understand an interview with playboy is supposed to be candid but come on, if Dana White is going to put himself out there in the lime light and be the face of the UFC then he needs to act like a professional. You cant just continue to drop the F-bombs left and right like he does. It makes him sound immature and ignorant. I'm sure he's an intelligent person to be doing the things he's doing with the UFC but he just comes across as being a foul mouthed employee when he uses language like that.

gmack · 06-15-2006, 12:24 PM

Yeah i am kind of dissapointed in him really. I don't golf and reallly don't like to watch it, but we are in a misunderstood sport and it is kind of hypocritical of him to go and start knocking on other sports.

Bomber · 06-15-2006, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jras0001

You cant just continue to drop the F-bombs left and right like he does.

Can you imagine the boxing, football or baseball commissioners letting fly like that in a public forum? I can't.

subgenius · 06-15-2006, 02:51 PM

I think that Dana White is an F-bomber because no one esle seems to be doing it -- as if it is an attempt to set himself apart from other promoters of other sports (or psuedo-sports) entertainment. And, maybe he thinks that it will resonate with younger viewers that like street talk and potty mouth (to put it lightly). And, Playboy is essentially a venue where people can talk that way without it being out of the norm. As far as what he does on TUF, that is the 13-35 year old market.

jetmechG550 · 06-15-2006, 09:34 PM

I don't see everyone's point about f-bombs. Don't be so naive people, big high profile and very wealthy businessmen drop the f-bomb more than you think. Stop being so pretentious and deal with it, it's just a word that is so versatile it can be used anywhere in a sentence and can even make a complete sentence using it alone. Obviously those that think it is unprofessional and classless to use live in some sort of dream world where it's taboo.

angryjonny · 06-15-2006, 09:51 PM

There is nothing wrong with people dropping the f bomb. If their vocabulary is limited to swearing every other word, whatever I don't care. It does make someone sound immature though. I don't think it is taboo but it is unprofessional especially when you are representing your company and trying to make a good name for it. Even if it is in Playboy. Sure the demo that they are reaching that "reads" the magazine is probably not going to mind. But you don't even have to read the magazine to read the article.

j87gtmd · 06-17-2006, 03:09 PM

Dana obviously knows whats hes doing, and Im sure he had a reason for everything he said in that interview, cursewords and all. As far as bashing other sports, I think thats a little more off-color than the cursing.

Thrash13 · 06-17-2006, 10:23 PM

Well, I'll just throw in a couple random comments.

I love golf and actually do a lot of work for a golf website online. So I obviously disagree with him about that. Golf is much more of a sport than the normal guy would think, but it's not very fun until you get involved in it yourself. And by the way, I'm definitely not rich or even close to it. That's a stereotype that's far in the past.

As for the WWE, I actually thought it was real until I went to college my first year. I never had internet and never believed people who told me it was fake.

I had to get that out in the open.

Finally, as for the use of the f-bomb, I think it's classless really. I have a few friends that use it from time to time, and I use to use it quite often in high school and some in college. But really, it's not necessary, and it's not that great to say when representing a growing organization. But to each his own.

Dana White has done a lot of great things for the UFC though, and that's why I like the guy. Other than our love for UFC, however, I couldn't see myself sitting down with Dana White without him getting on my nerves really quick.

j87gtmd · 06-18-2006, 03:27 PM

Man, for a bunch of fight fans there seems to be a lot of uppity people on here. Im so surprised that this many people even commented on the cursing. Not trying to down anyone, just surprised at the type of reaction this interview got.

angryjonny · 06-18-2006, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j87gtmd

Man, for a bunch of fight fans there seems to be a lot of uppity people on here. Im so surprised that this many people even commented on the cursing. Not trying to down anyone, just surprised at the type of reaction this interview got.

Fight fans have to curse and be okay with it? I think cursing and especially dropping the f bomb every sentence makes someone sound unintelligent. Like I said it's not that big of a deal but when you are representing the company as the president it just doesn't sound professional.

j87gtmd · 06-18-2006, 04:43 PM

What if the octagon girls started showing a little more t&a, would a bunch of people on here get offended?

angryjonny · 06-18-2006, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j87gtmd

What if the octagon girls started showing a little more t&a, would a bunch of people on here get offended?

Maybe. Depends what you mean by "a little" that is kind of vague. You have to remember that if UFC wants to go mainstream they are going to want to be family friendly. They aren't (or shouldn't) just be catering to fight fans. If they are going to start showing t&a then I will have to be more careful about watching when my son is around and I don't want to have to worry about that. Same goes with swearing.