Dana's Challenge To The Contender

Go Dana....GO!

January 6, 2005 -- THE rabble-rousing pres ident of the Ultimate Fighting Championship is slapping boxing aficionado Sylvester Stallone across the face with a $5 million challenge.
Dana White, who oversees the mixed martial arts fighting league and its new Spike TV reality show, "The Ultimate Fighter," wants the winner of his series to fight the winner of Stallone's boxing show, "The Contender."

"Boxing is in shambles," White told The Post yesterday. "Back in the day, whoever the heavyweight champ was, was considered the baddest man on the planet, and that's just not the case anymore — not by a long shot — and we're willing to put our money where our mouth is."

The proposed match would be televised on cable or pay-per-view or held privately. "However they want it," White said.

NBC officials, Stallone and "Contender" creator Mark Burnett declined to comment yesterday.

On "Ultimate Fighter," debuting Jan. 17, 16 contestants will be split into teams. They will live and train together, and ultimately fight in a Las Vegas bout live on Spike.

Fighters will be ejected until only two fighters in separate weight classes remain — and they'll be offered six-figure contracts with the UFC.

On "The Contender" — a new NBC series from reality show guru Burnett, "Rocky" star Stallone, Jeffrey Katzenberg and boxer Sugar Ray Leonard — 16 boxers square off each week in the ring. Losers face elimination.

The two finalists square off in the finale for a $1 million prize.

The show is slated to debut Feb. 21.

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/37858.htm

Blue namer please!

Good publicity for Zuffa.

so what is this 5 million bet?

and why the fuck cant he pay bj then?

They can pay BJ....IMO BJ screwed The UFC...

ttt

bleh

Smart move, that is unless he loses.

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/37858.htm

Dana knows that they will decline or not respond. The purpose of this is to put the Ultimate Fighter in headlines right before it launches. Very Smart.

I think anytime the NYPOST mentions MMA, especially MMA on TV, it's a good thing. The only way it can be negative if is they trash the sport, calling it human cock fighting etc. I think its a great move by Dana. I'm sure after reading this article, many people will discover for the first time that Ultimate Fighter will be on Jan. 17th.

WTF is Dana trying to prove? That boxers would lose to MMA fighters in the sport of MMA? This is just like trying to put the winner of the MMA show against the winner of the boxing show in a BOXING match. This is just stupid.

ya we know that, but the general public does not know that and i think that is who he is trying to convince

So Dana wants the winner of his Ultimate Fighter show to fight the winner of The Contender in an MMA match? Well, under MMA rules of course the MMA guys would win but why doesn't Dana put his winner against The Contender's winner in a boxing match?

He wants a boxer to compete under MMA rules but isn't willing to return the favor and let an MMA fighter fight under boxing rules. He's stacking the deck in favor of his fighter. They need to make it an equal match so both fighters are, as best they can be, equal.

This is a bet that Dana WILL win, problem being if the winner
of the contender is Fedor

The general public is going to think the same thing they always do when Dana sends one of his 185 pounders to "grapple" a 147 pound boxer. "Who cares, grappling is boring." That is what I hear already.

But the tihing is, if boxers are supposed to be the toughest guys in the world then it wouldn't matter if the rules were MMA rules, because boxers can use 100% of there fighting abilities under MMA rules.

It's more fair to fight under MMA rules than to fight under more constricted rules. The fewer the rules, the fairer the fight.

Bryanand is 100% correct

Anything to educate the public is a good thing in this case.

If you spend the rest of your life trying to convince clueless people of the obvious - especially when what you have to say isn't really all that earthshattering or significant in the greater scheme of things in the first place - you will waste an awful lot of life.

The UG has taught OW23 this, lol.

Dana is a promoter doing what promoters do. Yo Dana....it worked! Boxing is in shambles....but a good boxing match still rakes it in. Why would boxing hand you their rake?

BAM is correct.

Boxing people know this. I can tell you that boxing insiders also know that in ten years the sport will be smaller than MMA. MMA doesn't have to give away tickets and has survived with virtually ZERO mainstream coverage and the crowds at the Mandalay and MGM are way bigger and younger and loyal to the sport than boxing fans are. There are people who go to every UFC consistently.

You can't say that for boxing nearly as much.

" I can tell you that boxing insiders also know that in ten years the sport will be smaller than MMA."

I hope that happens, but I also hope you're not one of those suckahs that thinks "boxing is dead". (I know you're not, 'cause you write for the sport). Boxing has been on its way out, is dying, isn't what it used to be, etc etc. We've been hearing that since the formation of the planet. The sport has been to its millionth death bed, but somehow always gets a shot in the arm via the arrival of a new superstar, like Tyson, De La Hoya, etc. Now, I still like MMA better, and I hope it does eclipse boxing in terms of popularity, but IMO there is no such thing as the steady decline in boxing. It comes and goes, like an erratic heart beat, but the patient never really dies.