Dan Henderson
LSelvon - These guys deserve credit for helping MMA and MMA fighters way more than Dana White, imo.
1. Frank Shamrock
2. Josh Barnett
3. Nick Diaz
4. Tito Ortiz
5. Fedor
The list probably goes on...Ken Shamrock deserves an honourable mention for having the balls to try and sue.
How have any of those guys helped other fighters other than Fedor without getting anything in return? Do those guys pay other fighters to fight? I havent seen any one of those other 4 trying to get fighters other than themselves a payday. Fedor is the only one listed that has tried to get work for other red devil fighters worked into his contract(s).
Note, not one of these people in the list are relevant or top 10. Fuck with the MAN you get the HORNS.
Bumbaclot -There it is! The fucking shill word.......god I fucking hate all you hipster douchebags.suess -Fuck you shill.Bumbaclot - Fuck Dana.
Fuck you, welcher.
HELWIG great post. Really interesting analysis. U think during that whole time frame, when UFC was just starting to get more popular, maybe Dana didnt command as much respect? Probably why randy didnt give a crap, almost seemed like he had dana by the balls at one point. U could argue the same for Tito, but at least randy was able to stay relevant as a fighter.....
Discuss 
ArthurKnoqOut - I give Heath mad props, he's a very game fighter who was brought in to lose to Brock and didn't look stellar but didn't even get another fight with the Zuffa Hype Machine to this day...
Funny enough at the time he was the guy that everyone believed would beat Brock.. Two sides to every coin I guess.
AKA over the THQ video game?
HELWIG - While Fedor and the others have been perhaps more prominent, Randy Couture really stands alone in this area when you analyze it.
Forget his image, this is a man who isnt putting up with shit from ANY promoter or organization.
Randy straight up left the old UFC owners as their champion because he wanted more money. He took the ORIGINAL UFC title and went and lost it to the fighters in Japan. It never to this day has come back home.
He then came back and won the 3rd version of the UFC HW title. Then the sport starting growing. But Randy, and Randy alone had REFUSED TO EVER SIGN AWAY HIS RIGHTS TO HIS IMAGE AND LIKENESS. They wound up having to airbrush him out of promotional shit after he wouldnt cave!
He then becomes a huge star in the Zuffa UFC, retires, comes back again and wins the 5th version of the belt, and then decides he didnt care for how much they offered Fedor so he was "RESIGNING" as the champ.
Then gets more money and comes back. To this day he doesnt appear in ANY video game except the EA sports worlwide MMA game!
This is a guy who was ruthless and played hardball when it came to looking out for #1.
You said it best.. 100% Randy.
However, for people to believe that Dana has not done anything for fighters or the sport is just crazy. Dana has done more for the sport than anyone. Where would MMA be in the US if the UFC never showed up? Put the petty stuff and dislike aside and really picture there never having been the UFC or Dana. Not a pretty picture for MMA.
How did Randy stand up to Dana? Filed a suit that he later dropped when he realized that he wouldn't be able to fight until he was 67 if he didn't?
How did Barnett stand up to Dana? Talk some smack on the MMA hour? After he got fired and Dana berated him in interviews.
How did Nick Diaz stand up to Dana? Left the UFC to go fighting in other orgs where he complains about driving a crappy car and not getting payed enough?
Shamrock? He even went to Dana to mend the fences and that didn't really work out...
Tito? STILL under UFC-contract despite visiting EVERY fucking show on the earth to get a better contract.. that didn't work out.
Fedor? Not really. It was his management who stood up against Dana, and the results are yet to be told (could still be very good)
Joachim hanson
" How did Randy stand up to Dana?"
DId you read my post?
Randy played hardball with both versions of the UFC, and never compromised until he got paid what he felt was fair. He did what Tito tried to do with more effectiveness and less public drama/bullshit.
He screwed himself with all the divorces but he never let the company he worked for make him take fights for money below what he felt he was worth.
Randy coulda been shit out of luck when he went to Japan and was mediocre under the ring rules format. Yet he got the UFC to bring him back to fight for the belt.
Then he jumped weightclasses and was great at 205. Then he talked his way into a totally undeserved title shot at HW again in the perfect opportunity.
While the HW champ for a legit 3rd time(none of this 9 time defending champ bulllshit, he won the UFC title 3 separate times) he decides its bullshit that Fedor was worth so much more to the UFC than he was so he goes rogue and publically reveals money details of the contract.
And he's still back with the UFC to this day. Its not because they think he's such a swell guy.
Heath Herring came into the UFC with a bunch of talk, lost a few times, and then quit fighting altogether. How is that standing up to anybody, and how is it doing anything for "the fighters"?
Josh Barnett failed a drug test and to this day is still not cleared to fight in a majority of the major fighting states in the US. What does that say?
Mdot50 -suess -Bumbaclot - Fuck Dana.
Fuck you, welcher.
Randy and Tito did fight for what they believe is right. Neither one would sign their lifetime likeness away. I believe that was the main issue , besides pay and ppv %.
At the time of their hiatus they were both big draws , Tito maybe the biggest. Hasn't done anything since , but still had huge numbers before MMA was mainstream.
RyannVonREEMED -DeanoBirko - Anderson silva <img alt="Phone Post" border="0" style="vertical-align:middle;" src="/images/phone/post_tag.png" />
When?
He does whatever the fuck he wants. As Loretta Hunt said, when all's said and done Silva reigned "his way".
RyannVonREEMED - Heath Herring has gone against Dana.. I'd like to see him vs Dana in a boxing or MMA fight.
BLAF would be far too heavy for Heath
title of thread sounds kind of sexy!
BEEP!
EPGScott -LSelvon - These guys deserve credit for helping MMA and MMA fighters way more than Dana White, imo.
1. Frank Shamrock
2. Josh Barnett
3. Nick Diaz
4. Tito Ortiz
5. Fedor
The list probably goes on...Ken Shamrock deserves an honourable mention for having the balls to try and sue.
Wow, where to start?
Do you honestly think any of those 5, hell for that matter those 5 COMBINED, did more for MMA then Dana White?
If you answer yes to that question, then you have more issues then I think anyone can help you with.
Exactly.
Not only that but they probably cost themselves a bunch of money. Chuck is the prime example of the counter argument. He stayed loyal and profited, i would wager, far in excess of any of the fighters listed.
Digitalmorphine - Joachim hanson
Hehe I remember when Joachim was yapping about how he would never bow down to the UFC. Easy to make that claim when you arent UFC material. These guys in lower orgs, ranting about screw the UFC crack me up. You ask any up and coming fighter where they want to be in the future and you hear the big leagues: UFC. You dont hear fighters saying I want to end up in Dream or Strikeforce.
While Randy remains my top pick, you gotta hand it to Anderson.
Imagine the sheer F'ing AUDACITY to know youre gonna get chewed out by your employer, not the mention the inherant physical risks of ANY fight, and STILL go out and intentionally stink the place up because youre not happy with the pay or your opponent.