Josh Gross Would Like To See Some Proof From Dana White
by David St. Martin on Jun 1, 2010 5:42 PM EDT
in Rankings
Email
Print
Josh Gross seems upset about statements made last week on Bill Simmons' podcast when the topic turned towards fighter rankings. After being reminded of Fedor Emelianenko's No. 3 P4P ranking on both Yahoo! Sports and Sherdog, White has this to say:
"He's not even the best heavyweight in the world. To put him on the pound-for-pound list. I think some of these guys don't even know what pound-for-pound means. It's just so disrespectful to all the other fighters it's crazy."
"Most of these goofy MMA sites, what you have to understand is, these guys are in it for the money. They get paid from all the smaller promotions. They get paid a lot of money from the smaller promotions. So they feel like they have to put some of their guys. That's the way it works. It's sick and drives me crazy."
Dana seemed to have the biggest problem with Jake Shields and Fedor being in the top 10 list, the only two non-UFC fighters to appear on it..
"It's not a real pound-for-pound list. Either they don't know pound-for-pound is or the obvious is they're being paid."
What do you guys think?
Update from Zak Woods:
Steve Cofield rightly called White's comments a Molotov cocktail:
That seems like a pretty big grenade to lob. Who knows, maybe there is some wrangling behind the scenes but most of the MMA media folks I know cover the sport for almost no monetary gain.
As someone who likes to think of themselves as a "MMA writer" I'd love to be on that ranking take. Seriously, call 867-5309 and I'll hook you up with Jenny for a good ranking.
15 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Well in 30 days Jake Shields will deserve to be on that list
So I’m just gonna hold my breath til then.
Follow me on twitter @thisredengine
Also please check out SBnation's Red Bulls blog @ www.onceametro.com
Shields obviously deserves to be on there, he just beat the #5-ranked guy in the weight class above his natural one.
What I don’t agree with is that Sherdog went ahead and put Shogun at #8 (ahead of Shields who’s at #9)… the guy hasn’t even defended his title yet. The P4P list should be for guys who have either shown that they can compete with the top dogs in more than one weight class, and/or have proven themselves to be utterly dominant in their own weight class. That applies to guys like Anderson Silva, GSP, Penn, Shields, and yes Fedor too (because he’s not a “real” heavyweight), but not guys like Shogun, Machida, or even Aldo… YET.
Shogun I can see an argument for he has beaten plenty of the top LHW and a HW or two
And Aldo will be on there some day
Ride the Tiger!
Josh Gross needs to STFU
The quote is obvious that Dana said the sites MAKE a lot fo money from the smaller promotions and thus feel obligated to put their guys on the list. He never says they are taking pay offs for rankings. You’d think a journalist could understand a statement for what the statement is saying.
Smaller promotions advertise big time in these sites, plus the sites get media credentials when they cant for the UFC. They make money because of the smaller sites and thus feel obligated to add their guys on the rankings so that money keeps coming. Seems like a correlation of sorts, which could never be proved.
Even a broken clock is right two times a day.
It’s true. When you talk about the best football players, no one ranks guys in arena football. It’s NFL only. Why shouldn’t MMA be the same? If you don’t fight for Zuffa, you ain’t shit in MMA so you don’t deserve to be ranked. It’s amazing! You don’t hear football commentators crying about how some CFL guy ain’t ranked #1. But yet, in MMA, a fighter not just can, but actually has to fight for some piss ant organization to be ranked #1. It’s disgusting and puts black eye on the entire sport.
by Steve W on Jun 1, 2010 7:02 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
please tell me
there is some /sarcasm in here
by blueballlefty on Jun 2, 2010 1:48 AM EDT up reply actions
None whatsoever. Why would there be?
by Steve W on Jun 2, 2010 6:38 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Hopefully Gross and many others realize that Dana White just makes statements. He usually doesn’t have prove nor does he care to provide proof about this or that.
He just recently said he doesn’t like Josh Koscheck too much and said that he’s a not a team player. This is the same guy that was ready and faced Thiago Alves on short notice. Sooner or later he may say that Jason Brilz or Ben Saunders doesn’t care about fighting or their careers. Two fighters who took huge fights on short notice.
He’s just talking.
"There's nothing cool about taking punishment" - Floyd Mayweather Jr.
- - - -
"I'm not afraid to say it: I'm not a brawler, and I'm not a coward. I'm not going to trade punch one-for-one with a guy. I'm going to hit the guy and not get hit. That's a smart way to fight." - GSP
Dana has been talking about disliking Koscheck for years.
by Jonathan Snowden on Jun 2, 2010 8:58 AM EDT up reply actions
Yeah, BUT he’s definitely the epitome of a team player.
"There's nothing cool about taking punishment" - Floyd Mayweather Jr.
- - - -
"I'm not afraid to say it: I'm not a brawler, and I'm not a coward. I'm not going to trade punch one-for-one with a guy. I'm going to hit the guy and not get hit. That's a smart way to fight." - GSP
by VeeisAnimated on Jun 2, 2010 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions
Most of these goofy MMA sites, what you have to understand is, these guys are in it for the money. They get paid from all the smaller promotions. They get paid a lot of money from the smaller promotions. So they feel like they have to put some of their guys. That’s the way it works.
I think it is just the opposite – UFC pay money to Dana to tell the pro-UFC news and stories, so he does, that’s the way it works.
Watch all 35 fights of Fedor Emelianenko
