Dana White Considering Leaving Vegas after Hendricks v GSP Result
By: Philip Gephardt - Factum Mixed Martial Arts - Salt Lake City, Utah
Dana scored the fight 4 rounds to 1 on his unofficial scorecard, while most casual fans had the 3rd and 5th rounds for GSP, while Hendricks seemed to comfortably win the 1st, 2nd and 4th. The judges however, must have been watching a different fight entirely, and scored a close split decision for St. Pierre, a score that even St. Pierre’s corner may have been surprised with, “I was in the octagon, they [St. Pierre’s corner] knew they lost, they knew it" spouted a vituperative Dana White.
“Nevada is a scary place… this is the worst commission on the planet”. And he’s right. The corruption that has taken place in Las Vegas through the history of boxing has left a stain on the sports illustrious history, and now Dana has to do what’s best for the sport of MMA before history repeats itself.
A wise Dana White, choleric with the state commission did a great job distancing himself from any potential backlash that may be in the wake if any potential wrong-doing surfaces. When asked if he would bring fights to Vegas in 2014 White responded, “I don’t know, it’s something we need to look at… This city [Las Vegas] is scary… look around the octagon and look at who’s judging these fights… It makes me sick, the Nevada Athletic Commission has a lot of work to do, they better figure out how to not destroy the sport of boxing and this sport too… Johny Hendricks won that fight, and he’s walking away without the belt”.
Whether or not White lives up to his words said during the tirade is still, of course unknown. A multitude of factors have to play into this decision. Obviously millions of dollars are changing hands, and Vegas will pay good money to keep the fights in their city, where they know millions more dollars will be bet on the fights if the city plays host to them. But Dana has a point, Dana and Zuffa have a brand to protect, and if fans become inured to questionable decisions they will be left angered, or worse, completely apathetic to decisions altogether. This is a huge decision for the UFC one way or the other, but you can put a large Vegas bet that the Governor’s office will consider strongly an overhaul to the Nevada Athletic Commission before potentially losing such high-grossing financial events.
