Dana White: UFC President Pulls No Punches On Disappointment With Arlovski/Schaub Bout In UFC 174
Dana White, UFC President, has never been afraid to express his feelings, be them high praise of Rhonda Rousey, disdain for Tito Ortiz, or anything else that relates to his UFC, one of the most successful and fastest growing sports organizations in the world.
So, when the main card of this past Saturday night’s UFC 174 – former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski vs. Brendan Schaub – didn’t live up to its billing, Dana White didn’t hold back his apparent displeasure with the affair. But it wasn’t just the fight that had Dana White steamed, Schaub saying he’d been “robbed”, after the decision had been given to Arlovski, was also a sore point, reports MMA Weekly:
“Was it controversial?” responded White on Fox Sports 1 after UFC 174. “I think everybody would agree that fight sucked. That fight was horrible. You know who lost that fight? The fans. The fans lost in that fight.”
Going into UFC 174, Dana White sounded optimistic and excited, tweeting:
Here we go!!!!!!!! Johnson vs Bagautinov, MacDonald vs Woodley, Bader vs Cavalcante, Arlovski vs Schaub and Saint Preux vs Jimmo!!!
— danawhite (@danawhite) June 15, 2014
Even reports, like that from The Provence, which said ticket sales for UFC 174 were “sluggish”, couldn’t damper Dana White’s pre-fight spirits: “The gate is over a million dollars,” he said at a Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon. “If doing over a million bucks sucks, I’ll take that all day in any city, anywhere.”
But after UFC 174, Dana White didn’t have a lot of positive feedback for his main card martial artisits, Schaub or Arlovski:
“I made a big mistake by putting (them) on the main card. That should have been on the prelims. (But) for Schaub to walk around thinking he got robbed is hysterical.”
White was referring to comments made by the defeated fighter, after the match but before he headed off to the hospital to ascertain his injuries:
“There has to be some sort of major change with these judges. I have no idea what they’re doing, but clearly they weren’t paying attention,” said Schaub. “I know Andrei’s a big star and maybe they were swayed by the fans reaction. Look at the punch stats and statistics then tell me that he won… Maybe you can give Andrei the first round, but that’s it. The most significant strikes he landed on me were the two headbutts. I don’t know what else to say.”
And while some fans reportedly agreed with Schaub’s take, Dana White was having none of it: “For anybody to think he got robbed…” White pondered. “The first two rounds could have gone either way… and the third, Schaub won the third round,” finished White, moving on to discuss Arlovski:
“Arlovski looked slow. Arlvoski looked soft. Arlovski looked like he couldn’t get off tonight. Neither one of them threw any punches in the first two rounds and Schaub’s face still looked like it got hit with a baseball bat,” said Dana White. “For him to think he got robbed tonight is absolute comedy. We got robbed tonight.”
While Dana White’s comments turned some heads, and were likely a wake-up for both Schaub and Arlovski, they were not made at the official post-fight press conference. White didn’t attend the event for unknown reasons, but Arlovski seemed to have a pretty good idea:
“Honestly, I still feel really horrible. Dana White is not here because he’s probably so pissed at me. He gave me a great opportunity. I didn’t like my fight tonight… I (was) just nervous, even more than first time when I first fought more than 14 years ago,” said Arlovski, despite his victory. “My plan was knock him out and don’t leave it up to the judges. I wasn’t happy about my performance tonight.”
And neither was Dana White.
[Image via Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports]
