Dana White's Claim That UFC Acts Morally First And Business Second Isn't True
or Don't Try And Tell Us Money Doesn't Come First
It's funny what one can discover while researching a story. While I was working on "Dana White Isn't Afraid To Victim Shame/Blame When It Comes To Violence Against Women," I ran across a quote from White from 2014.
This was around the time when the video of Ray Rice hitting his wife in an elevator was made public. It was also the time when the UFC had suspended Anthony Johnson after the fighter faced allegations of domestic abuse. White was speaking to International Business Times when the subject of domestic violence came up.
Obviously the video, and what happened was horrifying but I think a lot of positives are happening now. It's brought a lot of attention and awareness and I think from here on out it should all be positive. We always were proactive. Since we started 'The Ultimate Fighter' we've done full background checks on all the guys coming in. If they ever had anything, any violence against women, they didn't get on.
We've been all over that and when you move as fast as we move, and the things we've been doing, it's hard to police thousands of guys and know what exactly is going on but as soon as we've found information on guys, we've acted. Of course, the way we always react is morally first then the business second.
I haven't gone through researching White's claims about "TUF" competitors. That might be true. It might not be true. But to be honest, it matters little when Greg Hardy is fighting for the UFC and Anthony Johnson could be brought back into the fold.
When White said the UFC reacts morally first and business second it could apply to "TUF," but it 100 percent does not apply to someone with a name. White welcomed Hardy to the UFC with open arms and gave him an obscene amount of money. Hardy earned $150,000 for his second fight in the UFC and fifth fight as a pro.
White went as far as to promote Hardy as some kind of redemption story despite the fact that the disgraced former NFL player has never shown any remorse for the actions that got him convicted of assaulting a female and communicating threats. That conviction was later overturned when Hardy's victim stopped cooperating with prosecutors. White also flat out lied to the media when he claimed that Hardy "was never charged with anything, he was never sentenced."
While working on this story, Joe Seatter tweeted that maybe White didn't do as thorough a job on the "TUF" background checks as he believed. Lloyd Irvin, who has coached and continues to coach some UFC fighters, appeared as a coach for Dominick Cruz's team during the 2012 season of "TUF."
Irvin was accused of rape in 1989. Irvin's defense was that he wanted to participate in what was a gang rape, but could not because he was unable to get an erection. Irvin said he believed the sex was consensual. A total of eight men were charged in gang-raping the 17-year-old girl. Four men went to prison in the case, one received a suspended sentence, two cases were dropped and Irvin was acquitted.
"I feel the girl was raped," one juror told the Press. (I would encourage you to click that link and read Jake Rossen’s full story on Irvin) "But the room where this happened was dark, and with all that was going on, it was unclear who was doing what."
As you can see, White's claims of acting morally are laughable and easily disproved.
The UFC was asked for a comment on this matter, the promotion did not respond.
Music Time: Black Flag “No Values”
Seems to fit the theme
