Virtually Some Tyrant: Dana White Clarifies, Lionizes Reaction to EA Games

This is an unpublished follow-up I wrote to "Virtual Chokehold." Unfortunately, I think it may have been deemed too biased against the UFC.

During the UFC 100 post-fight press conference Dana White was asked to clarify his warning to fighters and managers. To whit, any fighter that sells their likeness for the EA MMA video game would be banned from the UFC.

"Sounds like me. Sounds like something that I would say," admitted White. Referring to his initial negotiations to make a UFC video game, he continued, "I went to EA sports. Know what EA Sports said? 'It's not a sport. This isn't a sport. We would never get involved in something like this.' [Expletive] them." Dana White went on to liken the fighters affected by his resulting policy as "casualties" in a war.

Just so we're all on the same page, Dana White is basically saying that the people at EA Sports said something mean to him, which made the UFC president feel bad. Now fighters around the world are expected to forego a savings account for their family or an extra payment on a home as a show of support for Dana White, the tough guy millionaire with the hurt feelings. To call this childish is an understatement.

In telling his story, Dana White seems to think that he will somehow rally a legion of indignant MMA fans and fighters against EA Games. White's self-aggrandizement has reached the point where he believes this petty, spiteful action of his amounts to a righteous act of war. At stake is the honor of our poor, maligned sport. He is the general. The fighters are so many grunts in a trench war; their financial security and the food in their families' mouths become collateral damage, regrettable but wholly acceptable under the possessive gaze of Dana White.

All fighters, from Fedor Emelianenko to Olaf Alfonso, should be outraged. Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg should be outraged. Monte Cox and Ken Pavia should be outraged. Greg Jackson, Ricardo Liborio, John Hackleman, and Pat Miletich should be outraged. Most importantly, any thinking, feeling fan of MMA worth his or her weight in salt should be outraged. There's a virulent strain of Dana White apologists out there, infatuated with his roughneck aesthetic and televised antics, but they need to wise up. Just because a carpenter builds you a house doesn't mean he can walk in and shit wherever he wants. Dana White worked very hard to help usher in this modern era of MMA. It doesn't give him carte blanche to act like some boardroom thug, playing out his adolescent power fantasies on the world of mixed martial arts.