Article from UFC on Tuesday
The smiling face of Chuck Liddell, holding his son, Cade, beams from the cover of the upcoming ESPN The Magazine. The UFC coverboy is being profiled by writer Allison Glock in the May 21 issue.
Back in Vegas, Dana White is smiling too.
“I went to the fight that night,” said White, the UFC president, referring to last Saturday night’s Oscar de la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather match, “and I tell you this: Inside the arena, there was no energy whatsoever.
“On my way out of the arena, people were screaming at me, ‘The UFC rules!’”
The so-called “Fight to save boxing” has come and gone and it definitely scored big at the box office and in pay-per-view sales. People attended it and viewed it because of De la Hoya, Mayweather and the HBO 24/7 show that promoted their matchup so compellingly.
But White’s point all along boils down to this: Now what? With no other super fight on the horizon and the immensely popular De la Hoya having lost for the third time in his last five fights, it may be a while before momentum for the sport can build again.
“I’m not bashing boxing, I love it,” White said. “But all these people have destroyed this sport, I’m just being honest. A lot of guys want to act like it’s not. They got something like 2 million (pay-per-view) buys, they did a $20 million gate. Imagine what they could have done with an undercard and if they had done it the right way. That was their biggest mistake.”
White, a former boxer and South Boston gym owner, has long bemoaned the sport’s reluctance to think of the future. Last week he told the Herald that De la Hoya, who promoted the fight, missed the boat by not stocking the card with boxers represented by his Golden Boy Promotions.
“Saturday night is what pisses everyone off,” said White. “It’s crazy. It just drives people further from boxing. You get one fight for 55 bucks. One fight for a $2,500 ticket. You get people all excited for the buildup and then the fight ends up sucking. Both guys try to outpoint the other and win a decision.
“In the UFC, we give you eight or nine fights, they’re all good, and the guys are fighting their asses off trying to finish it. There’s tons of energy.”
In the world of combat sports, the next big thing is UFC 71 on May 26, with Liddell defending his light heavyweight title against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the main event. It’s just one of nine fights lined up for the evening.
Liddell, who is trying to avenge a 2003 loss to Jackson, the only defeat he’s yet to pay back, is pounding his way into the mainstream media. His Men’s Fitness cover was the magazine’s best-selling issue, according to White, and the Iceman just starred in a recent episode of “Entourage.”
Now he’s gracing one of the entire sport’s world’s leading magazines. It may not be coincidence that the coverboy he’s supplanting from last issue is none other than Floyd Mayweather.
The smiling face of Chuck Liddell, holding his son, Cade, beams from the cover of the upcoming ESPN The Magazine. The UFC coverboy is being profiled by writer Allison Glock in the May 21 issue.
Back in Vegas, Dana White is smiling too.
“I went to the fight that night,” said White, the UFC president, referring to last Saturday night’s Oscar de la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather match, “and I tell you this: Inside the arena, there was no energy whatsoever.
“On my way out of the arena, people were screaming at me, ‘The UFC rules!’”
The so-called “Fight to save boxing” has come and gone and it definitely scored big at the box office and in pay-per-view sales. People attended it and viewed it because of De la Hoya, Mayweather and the HBO 24/7 show that promoted their matchup so compellingly.
But White’s point all along boils down to this: Now what? With no other super fight on the horizon and the immensely popular De la Hoya having lost for the third time in his last five fights, it may be a while before momentum for the sport can build again.
“I’m not bashing boxing, I love it,” White said. “But all these people have destroyed this sport, I’m just being honest. A lot of guys want to act like it’s not. They got something like 2 million (pay-per-view) buys, they did a $20 million gate. Imagine what they could have done with an undercard and if they had done it the right way. That was their biggest mistake.”
White, a former boxer and South Boston gym owner, has long bemoaned the sport’s reluctance to think of the future. Last week he told the Herald that De la Hoya, who promoted the fight, missed the boat by not stocking the card with boxers represented by his Golden Boy Promotions.
“Saturday night is what pisses everyone off,” said White. “It’s crazy. It just drives people further from boxing. You get one fight for 55 bucks. One fight for a $2,500 ticket. You get people all excited for the buildup and then the fight ends up sucking. Both guys try to outpoint the other and win a decision.
“In the UFC, we give you eight or nine fights, they’re all good, and the guys are fighting their asses off trying to finish it. There’s tons of energy.”
In the world of combat sports, the next big thing is UFC 71 on May 26, with Liddell defending his light heavyweight title against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the main event. It’s just one of nine fights lined up for the evening.
Liddell, who is trying to avenge a 2003 loss to Jackson, the only defeat he’s yet to pay back, is pounding his way into the mainstream media. His Men’s Fitness cover was the magazine’s best-selling issue, according to White, and the Iceman just starred in a recent episode of “Entourage.”
Now he’s gracing one of the entire sport’s world’s leading magazines. It may not be coincidence that the coverboy he’s supplanting from last issue is none other than Floyd Mayweather.
