Dann Stupp interviews Dana White and gets the story:
Soon after confirming Liddell’s retirement after UFC 97, Dana White, president of the UFC, confirmed the fighter will remain with the organization in an official employee capacity. And don’t expect it to be a mere ceremonial gig.
“He’s not just going to get a paycheck,” White told the Dayton Daily News. “I want him to play a role in this [company] and actually come in and work and do something. I’m going to give him a real job.”
The Mohawk-wearing, head-tattooed professional butt-kicker doesn’t exactly instill visions of Corporate America, but with his international popularity and notoriety, Liddell could do some real good in helping White and UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner stump for legislation in markets such as New York and Massachusetts, which currently don’t regulate the sport.
White hinted at some international projects, as well.
“I think he’d be great to go out there to talk to legislators and go into these other countries and help us get these [shows] open,” White said.
Fightlinker points out the obvious:
Wow. No. Just no. It has always amazed me that Chuck Liddell has managed to get so popular when he’s known across the board as one of the most wooden and dull interviews on the face of the earth. Thank god he looks like a stereotype out of a Japanese video game and he banged like a maniac back in the day. But that shit doesn’t translate well to the boardroom or the freaking halls of government where legislative talk is made. He’s not going to score any points with guys like Bob Reilly because he’s ‘a total bad ass.’
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I would be shocked - literally shocked - if Chuck Liddell’s job ended up involving anything other than showing up at the occassional fight night and pimping whatever company the UFC convinced to pay him a few hundred thousand dollars.
Fightlinker also makes a meta-media point about the UFC's treatment of online media:
You’d think Dann Stupp was Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hyde for how Dana White treats him. When Dann is repping MMA Junkie (the 2nd biggest MMA site on the net), he’s ‘the enemy’ But when he’s doing work for some newspaper out of Dayton (the 6th biggest city in Ohio! Akron, watch your back!), he gets the UFC president’s ear. It’s funny how that works.
