Dana White: UFC not trying to divide fighters & managers
UFC President Dana White got his start in MMA managing Liddell and Tito Ortiz. Last week Shogun Rua split with long time…
UFC President Dana White got his start in MMA managing Liddell and Tito Ortiz. Last week Shogun Rua split with long time manager Eduardo Alonso saying in part “the UFC has made it clear to us that we don’t need managers.”
White says that just ain’t so, noting that since he co-founded UFC parent company Zuffa in 2001, he has negotiated directly with just two fighters, Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell, adding “and I don’t think Forrest or Chuck have done too bad.”
White said he “didn’t know where ‘Shogun’ is coming from on that” and “couldn’t care less” about whom fighters chose to act as their representative.
“These guys are all grown men,” White said. “They can do whatever they want. There have been cases where there’s managers I can’t stand. I don’t tell people to change their managers. They can do whatever they want to do.”
“It doesn’t matter if (fighter reps) have a bad relationship with me. It’s about how they act and how they represent you publicly. There have been tons of managers who have f—— made sponsors have a huge hard-on to get a guy, and then once they deal with their manager, they want nothing to f—— do with that guy.”
“When me and Lorenzo were just in Brazil, we met with Eduardo. We had dinner with him. He’s a great guy. We like him a lot. I don’t give a s— what guys do. If they want managers, don’t want managers – that’s up to them.”
“Does a fighter need a manager? What a fighter needs is a real good attorney. The fighter needs a great attorney to go through their contract, and an attorney can negotiate your contract for $250 an hour. Or you can have a manager because some guys, it depends on what you want. Some guys have these managers who do everything for them. They get sponsorship for them. They get all their bills. They do all their s—.”
“The two things I always say to guys? No. 1, get a guy you can f—— trust and make sure that all your taxes are being paid. This is something we tell them at the fighter summit. The other thing is, be careful who you get to represent you. Because that’s exactly what they do. They represent you.”