Dana White Hates TUF 9 USA vs UK Format
According to an article in the UK’s The Sun, UFC president Dana White isn’t too happy with the USA vs UK concept for The Ultimate Fighter season 9.
“It’s dumb, I don’t like it — it’s not USA v the UK, we’re looking for the best fighter in the world.
“We put on a card one time, the USA v Canada, it was fucking retarded.
“I don’t care if you’re from the UK, Croatia or Brazil because at the end of the day, when Michael Bisping comes to America — Americans don’t boo him.
“When GSP comes down and fights in the US more people cheer for him than the guy who’s from America!
“When Tim Sylvia from the United States fought Antonio Nogueira from Brazil, everybody booed Sylvia on the way in and cheered for Nogueira. The reason is because in this sport it’s not country versus country.
“You either like the guy’s fighting style or personality — nationality has nothing to do with it.
“That’s the way it used to be with boxing, with the exception of Ricky Hatton because everybody hates Floyd Mayweather!
“But with the exception of that, you never saw guys from one country cheering a guy from a different country.
“That’s what’s changing in what we’re doing.
“We’re looking for the best fighters in the world — this country versus that country is irrelevant.”
I have to agree with Dana White on this one. Obviously if those are his feelings towards the TUF 9 format, he likely didn’t have much say in the series production. Either Lorenzo Fertitta or SpikeTV over ruled him, but, honestly, it’s not like The Ultimate Fighter can be any worse than it is now so a change, any change, could be for the better.
With the UFC trying to get a stranglehold on the UK MMA market, it makes sense for them to promote the country’s top fighters and attempt to build new stars. The country vs country format is stupid though. I’d rather see the UFC go more globally, if you want to have a truly competitive season of The Ultimate Fighter then get fighters from all over Europe, South America, Africa and Asia and see how the fighters, with so many different cultural backgrounds, are able to co-exist and train together. USA vs UK is a safe bet though because the British fighters all speak English, plus they love to drink and fight, so look for TUF 9 to be another drunken house trashing ridiculous affair. Man that show is so fucking stupid these days…
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