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Getbig Misc Discussion Boards => Mixed Martial Arts (MMA/UFC) => Topic started by: SinCitysmallGUY on May 10, 2009, 07:07:28 AM
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ESPN's Tom Farrey gets to the heart of the matter:
"I don't know of any sports leader who's more polarizing than Dana White," Farrey said. "But so far he's survived and thrived. You've got to give him a lot of credit. He knows how to put together the fights the fans want to see, and he makes great use of promotional techniques to build up his fighters."
Farrey, who previously did an E:60 profile on Brock Lesnar, said he's attracted to reporting on MMA because "It's a cultural phenomenon. I got into this business not because I want to tell you who's going to win the World Series or who's going to be the MVP. There's nothing wrong with all that, but I got into this business because I want to cover the biggest trends in sports, the trends that say something about the society we're living in. MMA and UFC are great topics. ... Whether you like it or not, it's here and it's here to stay."
The question Farrey said he wanted to explore in his profile is whether White, as the man who got the UFC to the point where it's here to stay, is also the man to take the sport to new heights.
"He's clearly lifted the sport, he's done a number of brilliant things to lift the sport to where it is," Farrey said. "But one of the things we ask in the piece is, Is he too volatile to get the sport to the next level?"
This is perhaps one of the most relevant yet improperly explored question today in mixed martial arts. The issue is admittedly difficult to unpack and I hear many haven't even attempted it or recognized the need to do so.
But the other real question is if not White, then who? And that's where reality smacks one in the face. White certainly brings liabilities with him as a sport's chief representative. With his boorish character, loyalty-driven management style and temperamental bullying he is clearly either unprepared or unconcerned with some requirements of mainstream integration.
However, if there is an individual clearly positioned to take over for White and improve upon what the UFC President has and can accomplish, I fail to recognize him or her. Some have suggested Lorenzo Fertitta is the true Wizard of the UFC Oz, but I'm not sure even Lorenzo is capable of providing enough of a spirited public push to give the sport a name by which others can hang their hat on. As for White, where he falls short with soft diplomacy he excels in delivering a MMA product that is sustainable, profitable and meaningful (a few production quibbles I have notwithstanding). There are plenty of executives who can play the levels and network in the mainstream, but are utterly incapable of producing and safeguarding high level professional MMA. White, mercifully, does not have that problem.
White already knows this and it's probably why he's as determined to be untethered by best practices of the mainstream as he is. One can only hope without an heir or rival, the freedom to do as he pleases doesn't produce the corrosive effect of doing what one pleases no matter the consequences. Now we wait.