It's just competition, you paranoid lunatic
Pat Miletich is upset that the UFC scheduled a show featuring Matt Huges and (possibly) Jens Pulver on the same night Miletich is fighting in the IFL:
But, I find it hard to believe that Dana White *just happened* to hold UFC 63 on the same night when Militech is fighting. What makes White's story even harder to believe is his incredible statement that he does not even know the IFL exsists unless someone tells him. Really? Well, if White does not know the IFL exists, I wonder how he managed to file a lawsuit against the IFL - before its first show - that essentially sought to put the IFL out of business.
Nevertheless, as much as White's statements carry little credibility, his business practices are not unheard of for a large company trying to smother an up and coming competitor. Scheduling conflicting shows is not nice, but it is not really out of line either. It is business, albeit very tough business, and is exactly what I would expect from a group like the UFC.
Of course, Miletich is right when he talks about the different ways the two promotions conduct business. The IFL almost has no choice but to play nice. It is the new kid on the block and it can use every bit of good will it can get.
On the other hand, the UFC is the elephant in the room and it seems to have decided to throw away its good will a long time ago. The UFC believes its interests are served by bullying the IFL and trying to reduce the IFL's audience, so that is what it is going to do. It is not too different from what the UFC did when it scheduled two specials to air on SpikeTV on the same night the WFA had its PPV event.
Now, as for calling Miletich a "paranoid lunatic" . . . that was just unnecessary. Militech trains two UFC champions (Hughes and Sylvia), and is aligned with the Monte Cox, the manager of its third champion (Franklin). At some point, those fighters' contracts will be up for renewal. Will White's arrogant attitude (and major surge in revenues) lead to contract disputes or even the UFC champions leaving the organization? My guess is that White is in for some tough negotiations.
(Hat tip: Jeff Smith)
Update 8/4: Master Lynch takes a look at possible UFC PPV dates (from the comments):
del.icio.us tags: pat, miletich, dana, white, ifl, ufc, mma, whaledog
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It was less than a month after the International Fight League announced that Bettendorf mixed martial arts legend Pat Miletich would return to the ring against Renzo Gracie at The Mark of the Quad Cities on Sept. 23 that the Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White created a Team Miletich conflict.I know that picking a PPV schedule can be difficult, since one key is to run a PPV event on a night where there is no heavy PPV competition. That was almost certainly one of White's primary concerns.
White announced July 17 that Miletich’s most powerful welterweight disciple, Matt Hughes, would meet the No. 1 contender for his belt, Georges St. Pierre, the same night, halfway across the country in Anaheim, Calif., in UFC 63. He’s getting ready to announce that another of Miletich’s fighters — 155-pound former UFC champion Jens Pulver — will make his long-awaited return to America’s largest mixed martial arts organization to fight an as-yet-unnamed opponent.
White insists that he has no ulterior motives for choosing the date he did and establishing a tough pay-per-view rival to the IFL’s own pay-per-view show.
“Yeah, like I structure my whole year’s schedule around what the IFL’s doing,” White said with a strong sense of sarcasm and a laugh Thursday. “The IFL’s another one of the small shows in the country that’s helping build the grassroots of this sport. Unless someone tells me the IFL’s doing something, I don’t even know they exist.”
Miletich sees it differently.
“That’s Dana White’s business strategy,” he said Thursday morning. “He’ll keep making enemies and we’ll keep making friends. Eventually, the worm will completely turn. I’m sure he offered Matt a large financial incentive to fight that night. When Matt wins, Jens wins, our team (the IFL entry Silverbacks) wins and I win, everybody’s going to be good.”
White is aware that Miletich interprets the move as a dirty one.
“I’m sure he does think that. Pat’s a paranoid lunatic, and he thinks that the UFC’s always trying to (mess) with him,” White said. “The IFL sells 1,000 tickets. It wasn’t a dig on Pat, but he’ll think it was.”
But, I find it hard to believe that Dana White *just happened* to hold UFC 63 on the same night when Militech is fighting. What makes White's story even harder to believe is his incredible statement that he does not even know the IFL exsists unless someone tells him. Really? Well, if White does not know the IFL exists, I wonder how he managed to file a lawsuit against the IFL - before its first show - that essentially sought to put the IFL out of business.
Nevertheless, as much as White's statements carry little credibility, his business practices are not unheard of for a large company trying to smother an up and coming competitor. Scheduling conflicting shows is not nice, but it is not really out of line either. It is business, albeit very tough business, and is exactly what I would expect from a group like the UFC.
Of course, Miletich is right when he talks about the different ways the two promotions conduct business. The IFL almost has no choice but to play nice. It is the new kid on the block and it can use every bit of good will it can get.
On the other hand, the UFC is the elephant in the room and it seems to have decided to throw away its good will a long time ago. The UFC believes its interests are served by bullying the IFL and trying to reduce the IFL's audience, so that is what it is going to do. It is not too different from what the UFC did when it scheduled two specials to air on SpikeTV on the same night the WFA had its PPV event.
Now, as for calling Miletich a "paranoid lunatic" . . . that was just unnecessary. Militech trains two UFC champions (Hughes and Sylvia), and is aligned with the Monte Cox, the manager of its third champion (Franklin). At some point, those fighters' contracts will be up for renewal. Will White's arrogant attitude (and major surge in revenues) lead to contract disputes or even the UFC champions leaving the organization? My guess is that White is in for some tough negotiations.
(Hat tip: Jeff Smith)
Update 8/4: Master Lynch takes a look at possible UFC PPV dates (from the comments):
Let me toss this out there:Update 8/4: I just noticed a mistake in the article that I had glanced over when I first read it. The IFL show is not a ppv event. I believe that, instead, it will taped for later broadcast on Fox Sports. If it was a ppv event, Miletich would have had a much stronger argument.
I looked at the month of September and came up with this:
Sept 2nd: That would a week after UFC 62. That does not work.
Sept 9th: That would be two weeks after UFC 63 AND would conflict with another IFL date.
Sept 16th: In Vegas, there is boxing ppv for the WBO Welterweight title. Would not be smart to book that and the ppv cable companies would likely fight that.
Sept 23rd: Pat fights on an IFL show.
Sept 30th: That would be two weeks before UFC 64.
So which date makes the most sense? Which date is pretty much in the middle of UFC 62 and UFC 64?
Anyone else think Pat is coming across as a tad bit whiney? He has a lot of fighters and has a lot of oars in the water. I am sure this will not be the only time there is a scheduling conflict.
Dana can be an ass, everyone knows this. Dana can be a huge ass, but I just don't see the UFC building their schedule around Pat and the IFL. Hell, looking at September, I don't see what other date would make sense. Pat's ego sounds like it might be as big as Dana's.
del.icio.us tags: pat, miletich, dana, white, ifl, ufc, mma, whaledog
Anything positive about the UFC EVER, you faggot.
Posted by Anonymous | 8/04/2006 5:10 PM
Does this post count?
http://www.whaledog.com/2006/08/coleman-back-to-ufc.php
-whaledog
Posted by Jeff | 8/04/2006 5:14 PM
Let me toss this out there:
I looked at the month of September and came up with this:
Sept 2nd: That would a week after UFC 62. That does not work.
Sept 9th: That would be two weeks after UFC 63 AND would conflict with another IFL date.
Sept 16th: In Vegas, there is boxing ppv for the WBO Welterweight title. Would not be smart to book that and the ppv cable companies would likely fight that.
Sept 23rd: Pat fights on an IFL show.
Sept 30th: That would be two weeks before UFC 64.
So which date makes the most sense? Which date is pretty much in the middle of UFC 62 and UFC 64?
Anyone else think Pat is coming across as a tad bit whiney? He has a lot of fighters and has a lot of oars in the water. I am sure this will not be the only time there is a scheduling conflict.
Dana can be an ass, everyone knows this. Dana can be a huge ass, but I just don't see the UFC building their schedule around Pat and the IFL. Hell, looking at September, I don't see what other date would make sense. Pat's ego sounds like it might be as big as Dana's.
Posted by MysterLynch | 8/04/2006 5:15 PM
"Anything positive about the UFC EVER, you faggot."
It's good to know that Zuffa cultivates bigoted fans. I'll stick with sports and leave such "sports entertainment" to these types.
Posted by Eddie Goldman | 8/04/2006 6:58 PM
Hear Hear, Eddie
Posted by Royal Burnell III | 8/04/2006 11:30 PM
Eddie, if you can find a sport without a racist, bigot, whatever, please post about it here. I don't know of any. Nor am I thick enough to pretend that the existence of an ignorant fan has any effect on my opinion of a sport or their fans in general.
Posted by sirshannon | 8/05/2006 12:50 PM