Dana White Talks Strikeforce Debacle
"Have you ever seen him do that at one of my shows?" White asked of Nathan Diaz. White said he believes the incident occurred because CBS didn’t align itself with the UFC. He said he had a tentative deal with CBS, but said that Showtime executives talked CBS into buying into the now-defunct Elite XC instead of agreeing to broadcast UFC fights.
The result, White said, was that an inferior product was put on national television. "Of course, everyone thinks I’m anti-competition, but I’m not," White said. "But everyone knows that they didn’t belong on CBS. Even if you’re the biggest UFC hater out there, you know that. Shame on CBS for this. They knew they should have been with us, but they went out and let those Showtime idiots talk them into going with Elite XC."
"Now, they’re stuck with a bush league, C-level promotion that will probably be out of business next month," he added. "And what you saw on Saturday is the kind of thing that happens when you put a product like that on national television."
White also had harsh words for CBS play-by-player announcer Gus Johnson. Johnson said brawls happen in MMA when there is a lot of testosterone in the cage. White was also angered by Johnson’s commentary because he said he’s spent his career building his company to make sure that such incidents do not occur.
"When have you seen anything remotely close to that happen at a UFC event?" White said. "What kind of ridiculous commentary was that? That was an idiotic thing to say. And then he was yelling at them to stop, telling them they are on national television. That was just another example of how bush league they are."
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