Lawsuits, Mismanagement and Doping in the UFC

Everyone knows that last weekend’s main event was supposed to be Joseph Duffy vs. Dustin Poirier. Then, Duffy suffered a concussion during a sparring session in training and, after medical tests, the UFC chose not to allow him to fight. Perhaps not everyone knows that it isn’t the reason why Dustin Poirier was removed from the Dublin card. He didn’t fight because he chose not to. In fact, the UFC had found him a new opponent in Norman Parke to save the card, but ‘The Diamond’, after consulting with his management and coaches, declined the offer.

When I heard the news, the first thing that came to my mind was Jon Jones; the second, a frame apart, Dana White.

At the end of August 2012, a week before UFC 151, Dan Henderson withdrew from his bout against Jon Jones due to an injury. The UFC offered Chael Sonnen the chance to replace him and he accepted, but Jon Jones, after consulting with is management and coaches, didn’t.

Two almost identical scenarios with two completely different consequences. We barely heard a word from the UFC about Poirier’s refusal to switch opponent on short notice, and fairly so: he has the right to do it. About the Jon Jones’ refusal at the time on the other hand, Dana White made it an unprecedented scandal.

“UFC 151 will be remembered as the event Jon Jones and Greg Jackson murdered,” White boomed. He had just decided to cancel the event, for the first and only time ever in the history of the organization.

Unfortunately, he was right; the UFC managed to persuade the MMA community that the former light heavyweight champion was the one to blame. From then on, the already fragile bond between Jones and the UFC’s fans snapped and the applauses changed into boos. With the eyes of the public pointed on the Albuquerque product, Dana White and the UFC fled the scene unscathed.

A questionable behavior, and there’s no valid argument to explain what can the UFC possibly gain by throwing under the bus one of the best, if not the best, champion in its roster. There is, though, a quite simple reason for such reaction: a fuming Dana White let his emotion speak for himself.

It was not the first time, nor the last one. He is impulsive by his own admission, although he prefers to call it “straightforwardness” and he doesn’t always seem able to take responsibility for his actions. Not exactly the kind of skills you expect from the president of a global company, but we still have to give him credit: he learns quickly and tends not to make the same mistake twice. As in this situation, even without main event and co-main event, they kept the show on and restrained themselves from firing against Dustin Poirier, albeit he refused to accept a new opponent and ultimately made a fair, but selfish decision. In other words, Dana White is improving himself and the UFC (the two are often undistinguishable).

This was not a unique case. Between doping, lawsuits and mismanagement, the UFC has a history of steps and missteps.

For example, the recent scandal that came about with the Deadspin article few weeks ago. The facts date once again back to that infamous September 2012. Vitor Belfort tested positive for PED on the road to his fight against Jon Jones that was scheduled three weeks later; the UFC was aware, hid the information and authorized the Brazilian to fight nonetheless, without informing his opponent. Shame on the UFC, as it should be.

Still, if future instances are prevented, the credit will be due to the UFC’s policies. They relinquished their control on TRT exemption and decided to involve USADA in the creation of the new, harsher anti-doping policy currently in place. They didn’t have to, but they realized they couldn’t manage the issue by themselves and found a solution.

Another adjustment Dana recently made is that he stopped doing press conference scrums. Until a year ago, he used to sit for about half an hour with the journalists after the post-fight press conference and answer to any kind of questions and topics. Then, around November last year, he suddenly put an end to it without explanations. Why?

Damage control. What happened is that less than a month later, Nate Quarry, Cung Le and Jon Fitch—three former UFC’s fighters—filed an antitrust lawsuit against the UFC for monopolizing the MMA market. The trial started last month and among the plaintiffs’ evidences are quotes of Dana White’s statements to the press and other media. It may have been too late, but meanwhile he decided to tone down both the volume and the output.

I’m no businessman and I am not able to judge how important it is in that world to be able to learn from oneself mistakes, nor whether you can afford the luxury of making a mistake even once (both the Belfort drug test accident and the antitrust lawsuit are still on and might cost dearly to the UFC). Nevertheless, the UFC has managed to survive so far despite a few serious missteps and in the process it has grown and become wiser and more solid.

Today the UFC is an organization that does not belittle its champions anymore; they do not cover doping anymore and actively fight it; they do not stumble easily upon naive and impulsive statements anymore.

They will make mistakes again and they will make improvements again. Which one will speak louder will ultimately decide the future of the UFC.