Dana White IS the Face of MMA

For good or for bad, Dana White, more than anyone in history, has become the face of MMA.

Now, when the same was said about Gina Carano being the "Face of WMMA," there was a ton of controversy, most of all from very vocal women and often practitioners of that very same faction of the sport.

But after reading the second issue of the new MMA magazine whose cover sported none other than the president of the UFC and the most vocal voice in the sport of MMA, I doubt that anyone will argue with me about the statement my title makes.

To support this, I read that very phrase used to describe Dana White in an article in that very same magazine, which I have been glued to ever since the mail was brought in today.

Within the pages I have read so far, there exists not one unfavorable word directed at Mr. White. Suffice it to say, Grandma Dee will most probably NOT be invited to write for this particular publication anytime soon, having been so critical of said Mr. White in the past.

It is not my intention to say anything disparaging about Dana in this article either, which is not to say I am trying to make amends for previous opinions I have stated about the most famous man in my favorite sport's history.

Giving credit where credit is due is an important aspect of being a sportswriter. Most people would agree with that statement.

Indeed, most of the criticism I receive in the comments on B/R come in response to unfavorable opinions I have voiced about Dana in past articles.

I will never retract my opinion that better language would help more average American sports fans to accept the fairly new sport that has made White the rich and influential man he has become.

Along with promoting the sport, Dana has promoted himself as well.

Thus, he has been guilty of the capital offence (in Grandma's opinion) of interrupting the concentration of his best and most popular fighters by often ingratiating himself to various personalities in the world of sports and movies, by bringing them into the locker rooms to meet the fighters just minutes before they are to enter the ring.

Now few fighters will publicly complain about being introduced to movie stars and famous sports heroes, but who is really served by doing something like this on the night of a very important fight?

Not the fighter, but the very accommodating Dana White himself, who later is the person seen accompanying the likes of David Spade and Mandy Moore at non-fighting events, or just "kicking it" with those personalities.

The fighters belong to White's organization and are tightly bound to him by 19-page contracts which limit the fighters' own use of their names and images, which belong due to the contracts they signed to Mr. White himself, who holds tightly to these reins of ownership.

Which brings me to the point most frequently raised in Dana's defence in any situation in which I have been critical of him: Dana White is the prime example of a complete businessman.

White's business model has been studied in top universities and is much admired.

From rising to his level after starting out as a promoter and aerobics trainer is quite a feat of business acumen. I admire that.

In fact, I owe my very college education and even the very clothes I wore to college to such a man.

He was a self-made millionaire who helped many people other than me to make something of them selves during his life.

His interest in me was due to having been my grandmother Dorothy's second husband, and he is the finest man I have ever known.

It would be hard for anyone to compete with him for my esteem. He never cursed. Although he was a self-proclaimed atheist, he knew the Bible from the first page to the last.

Most surprisingly, few knew his name, other than the men who served with him on the board of several banks, or chidingly told me that my grandfather "owned his hometown as well as the bank named for it" when I expressed surprise that they even were aware of who he was.

Not everyone who is wealthy publicises it or is as well known as Dana White.

I do not resent that he has risen from obscurity to fame. More power to him.

Undoubtedly, I will criticize him again in the future, but right now I am proclaiming that of all the people involved in the sport of MMA around the entire world, Dana White IS the "Face of MMA."


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