The rivalry between mixed martial arts and boxing has been a heated topic of conversation ever since the UFC became a prominent, legitimate presence in American sports.
Public feuds between MMA companies and boxing promoters regarding skill-sets are just some examples in which the two combat sports have bumped heads in the past. We can now a new wrinkle to this developing saga, as UFC president Dana White recently called Floyd Mayweather Jr. a “racist”.
Ripping the reigning WBC welterweight champion for his remarks regarding New York Knicks overnight star, Jeremy Lin, White went off in true Dana White style. Airing last night on FUEL TV’s “UFC Tonight” show in a segment titled “Presidential Address”, White rips Mayweather for his Twitter comments on Lin, among other things.
“First of all, what he said I think was racist. He’s made a couple of racist comments and, yes, Floyd, you’re racist with the stuff that you’ve said,” he said. “First of all, Jeremy Lin gets all of this credit because he’s an Asian player in the NBA that African Americans never get? Yeah. He’s getting all this praise because he’s an Asian guy playing in the NBA.
“You say that African Americans don’t get it? Really, Kobe Bryant doesn’t get any praise? Michael Jordan never got any praise? The list goes on and on of the guys who completely get praised for being great NBA basketball players. Not only can he compete and make it in the NBA, the guy is tearing it up and is breaking records, you knucklehead. OK?”
But the UFC boss didn’t stop there in stating his case for Mayweather being a racist. Referring back to the chauvinistic, homophobic comments Pretty Boy Floyd made about Manny Pacquiao in late 2010, White sounded off again.
“You said Manny Pacquiao should go make some sushi somewhere… sushi is from Japan… he’s from the Philippines, dummy! Don’t worry about what all these other guys are doing and shooting your big mouth off on Twitter,” White continued. “What you should worry about is getting in there and making the fight that all the boxing fans want to see.
“Get in there and fight Manny Pacquiao. You don’t deserve more of the purse. If ever there were a fight in history that should be split 50/50, it’s the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight. Shut up! Both of you split the money up and put on the fight that everybody, including me, wants to see.
“Yes, I run the UFC and all this stuff. I’m a boxing fan and I want to see this fight, too. I know that I speak for millions and millions of other people. Shut up and make the fight, Floyd.”
But as we all know, Mayweather and his people aren’t really the ones to take the high road when it comes to these types of confrontations. And as we also all know, news travel very fast in this industry. What White’s comments have done is set off a back-and-forth between the two sides worthy of national attention… or perhaps Jerry Springer:
“He needs to shut the [expletive] up and mind his own business, stay in his own lane and keep on taking advantage of the UFC fighters, while underpaying them,” said Mayweather’s manager, Leonard Ellerbe in response. “If he keeps on running his mouth, we may decide to give a free seminar to all of the UFC fighters on how the pay-per-view revenue should be distributed. This is typical Dana, who is always prone to ignorant outbursts. He should be the last person to try to judge someone else.”
Didn’t I say this was a back-and-fourth? Well, here’s Dana’s reply to Ellerbe’s rebuttal!
“Just for the record, shut the [expletive] up! I wasn’t talking to you,” said the former boxing manager via text. “I was talking to Floyd. We’re doing something amazing. We’re building a sport while you guys are destroying one.”
Follow @MMAIntel on Twitter and Like MMA Intel on Facebook!
No comments yet... Be the first to leave a reply!