Dana White to Fighters: You Dont Turn Down Joe Silva
Dana White has always favored fighters who step up and take fights when they are called upon. He has always shown love for a guy who comes out and says, ‘I want to fight this guy! Please make it happen.’ On the other hand, when a fighter does the opposite and says, ‘I DONT want to fight that guy,’ not only does it look bad in the eyes of the UFC President, it enrages UFC VP for Talent Relations Joe Silva, as proclaimed by Dana White at the UFC on Fuel 7 Media Scrum:
“I can tell you this man, you f@$%ing call Joe Silva and turn down a fight, you might as well say f@$%ng rip up my contract,” He also said, “He’s a mean little f@$%er. You don’t call Joe Silva and tell him you don’t want to f@$%ing fight anybody man. You might as well take the fight because it’s going be worse if you don’t. You might as well do it, f@$% it, I’ll fight him.”
Dana was adamant about fighters taking fights when they are asked, or else suffer the wrath of Joe Silva. Some may see this as a threat to fighters that don’t do what they’re asked, as a sort of ultimatum. Should fighters be scared to take a fight in which they may not be prepared? Or should they step up when called upon to fight no matter the opponent nor the risk?
Joe Silva has not been the kind of Matchmaker to mismatch opponents a great deal, so to him, and to UFC President Dana White, there is little reason for most fighters not to step up to the plate when the UFC Matchmaker comes calling.
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If you’re a professional fighter..you fight who they put in front of you…if you cherry pick fights to protect your record, you’re a hack.
The guy up above said it best
I understand what you guys are saying, but just to play devil’s advocate, what if they don’t have a full training camp, only three-four weeks to train? Also, don’t forget the UFC will cut you if you lose three in a row. Taking this approach and being a “yes man” can create or add to a losing streak, which can jeopardize the longetivity of a fighter in the UFC.
Not really. If you argue with the UFC that you took short-notice fights that were bad for your streak, they will forget them and give you another try.
Take short-notice fights are win-win unless it’s a title match.
Well, look at it this way. If you have an office job, and your supervisor wants you to finish a report, which he just handed you, by tomorrow, what would you do? You would hunker down in your cubicle and finish it no matter what it took because it’s expected from you as a part of your responsibility. If you say that can’t do it, it not only makes you look bad in front of your superiors but it also gets you fired. Same goes with fighters. If they’re asked to fight 3-4 weeks out, then they have to make compromises to make it work. It’s their responsibility and it’s in their contract.
I’m cool with this thinking cept Joe Silva in an interview after he cut a guy who lost his second in a row on a short notice fight justified it by saying if he didn’t want the fight he could have said no and Joe woulda moved on to the next guy on the list. kind of a messed up mixed message. If you want guys to take short notice fights I think if they lose you should treat them like it didn’t happen.
Those guyz are athlete and are suppose to train alot to always be ready for a fight. If you are a fighter your job is to fight and be ready for it. Its the same for every job in this world you cannot say no when you are asked to do your job.
A fighter’s record and last performance makes the biggest impression, the UFC ****s over fighters that lose short notice fights. It’s in a fighter’s best interest to have a full training camp and win rather than take a short notice fight and lose mistakenly thinking the UFC really appreciate them. The UFC cares about selling power and record, not favors.
“chardt” is an idiot that should shut the hell up and stop acting hard for Internet kudos. It’s a business, hence “professional.”
Great point, Musa. Dana White is a blowhard. Fighters need to look after themselves, not kiss Dana White’s ass. Look at Nick Diaz, gets a title shot why? Because they think the GSP Diaz fued will sell. But he doesn’t care about pleasing Dana White and treats him with disrespect.
I see no mention of short-notice fights here. I think they mean just a standard fight with full time to prepare and guys turning it down. Turning down a short-notice fight is a whole different matter, you might be turning it down simply because you know you can’t make the weight.
Turning down a fight with adequate time to prepare without a legitimate medical or severe personal problem though should be punished. They’re there to fight, they chose it as a career. If they don’t want to fight someone in their class because they’re scared of losing then they should just quit the sport.
Agreed 100%.