Really Dana and company arent even that competent business men. Paying many millions for Pride which was about to go under and almost a shadow company, then not even being able to get Pride back on jap tv would have gotten most exec's fired. The only thing they got were overpriced fighter contracts which they could have got for less when they went under. Their success is largly due to the pent up demand for mma that was created by the Gracies, not their business accumen. Proof is before the blackout the Shamrock ufc's were drawing ppv #'s over a million. Getting it legalized by the athletic commissions was their only big accomplishment and their boxing links and hireing Mark Ratner plus seeding the right people made it easy. Don't you see mma sells itself, their main goal is not to screw it up.
dabigchet - the crux of the issue is that you don't understand that salvation and success are two different things.
Except in this case, the answer to both is ultimately one and the same - TUF. TUF was BOTH their singular "salvation" - AND the one thing that directly brought them to the previously untapped mainstream and its unprecedented "success."
So Dana was responsible for neither the "salvation" nor the ultimate reason for "success."
dabigchet - your new questions are retarded.
The questions aren't new. I actually previously asked them of you (after I answered yours, btw) - you just never answered. More of your usual "dick tucking," as you put it.
dabigchet - a decision that dana made prior to 2004 that resulted in sustained success?
...(so, "none" is the answer to prevent you from harping)
Thank you for FINALLY answering. I can feel how grudging and painful it was for your devoted-noob heart to admit, at long last, that no decision Dana ever made prior to TUF (although this is beyond your own realm of firsthand experience) resulted in ANY kind of sustained success for the company. (And btw, it took my "harping" to finally get you to stop "dick tucking.")
dabigchet - if people buy a failing business expecting to lose money and don't turn it around in 3 years... that brands them as failures eternally?
3 years was certainly enough time for Dana to have already run the company to the point of going under - which it would have, according to Zuffa themselves, if not singularly for TUF.
And if the UFC HAD gone under - if the Fertittas and SpikeTV had not completely bailed Dana out by forcing the idea of TUF onto him - then yes, Dana would have been branded as a "failure eternally."
And ultimately, the ONLY reason why Dana was not branded as a "failure eternally" - why the UFC did NOT collapse under his tenure, after just 3-4 years - is because of the one decision which he had actually opposed ever happening.
dabigchet - they can never be recognized for success afterwards, no matter how dramatic the turnaround?
I do give credit to Dana for some of the "success afterwards," just exactly like JimmzGlove said (and which I have also posted many times on other threads), for making some good promotional moves like the Ken-Tito rematches and Hughes-Royce, which were largely irrelevant matchups from an elite sport perspective - but which the noobs like you ate up in droves (and paid for) as Superfights.
But someone certainly shouldn't be "recognized" for being the single biggest (or "greatest") reason for that "success afterwards" and the "dramatic turnaround" - when the single biggest reason for that "success afterwards" and the "dramatic turnaround" (which you specifically acknowledge is TUF) only happened actually despite their decisions, not because of them.
Where NONE of that "dramatic turnaround" and "success afterwards" would have even happened at all, had it been up to Dana - where the UFC would have even gone under, had it been up to Dana. Because, had it not been singularly for TUF - again, according to Dana and Lorenzo themselves - the UFC wouldn't even be here now.
dabigchet - "So then who do you think was ultimately a "greater" factor or played the more critical role in the salvation and success of the UFC - Lorenzo or Dana"
You STILL haven't answered this question. (And I have already asked previously. What happened to all of your previous principle about not "dick tucking"?)
Liyon - MMA has always been the sport of the future. People conveniently forget the early UFCs were doing PPV buys in the hundreds of thousands with practically zero mainstream advertising.
SEG was slowly on its way back (with unified rules, etc....) until the Fertittas/Dana stopped them with their influence of the NSAC. Then they took over when it was obvious SEG was going to be undermined.
I'm curious if the option of bringing in the Fertittas as partners was even an option for SEG.
Spreading the mma gospel
He is a good promoter but so is Don King, and no one calls Don King the greatest man in boxing.
dabigchet - "So then who do you think was ultimately a "greater" factor or played the more critical role in the salvation and success of the UFC - Lorenzo or Dana"
the crux of the issue is that you don't understand that salvation and success are two different things. your new questions are retarded. a decision that dana made prior to 2004 that resulted in sustained success? what a stupid fucking question. seriously, what is your level of education? if people buy a failing business expecting to lose money and don't turn it around in 3 years (so, "none" is the answer to prevent you from harping), that brands them as failures eternally? they can never be recognized for success afterwards, no matter how dramatic the turnaround?
lol. something tells me that success, personally, is not something you are familiar with. am i right?
if i grow my business from $100K to $280K, is it a done deal that it will reach $1M or $1.6M over the next few years, or not? or, do you think that (in the case of an MMA promotion), the way i promote, who i sign, the matches i make, the tv and advertising deals i make, the orgs i acquire, what i pass on, what markets i expand to, the media coverage i get, how many shows i do, balancing free tv vs ppv, increasing sanctioning and acceptance, merchandising, etc. might have just a teeny eensy weensy little bit to do with the 500% increase in PPV buys from the post TUF I record to current record?
or, as you are suggesting, once you have a little bit of success, it is normal for a business to coast on that one decision and expect a 5 fold increase?
Check Mate
sparkuri -Liyon - MMA has always been the sport of the future. People conveniently forget the early UFCs were doing PPV buys in the hundreds of thousands with practically zero mainstream advertising.
SEG was slowly on its way back (with unified rules, etc....) until the Fertittas/Dana stopped them with their influence of the NSAC. Then they took over when it was obvious SEG was going to be undermined.
I'm curious if the option of bringing in the Fertittas as partners was even an option for SEG.
Spreading the mma gospel
Nope.
http://www.mmafighting.com/2008/01/17/zuffa-seeks-retraction-of-statements-by-former-ufc-owner/
Cindy
Dana is just a public figure that can make big decisions. The real boss is Lorenzo. Zuffa is a team and in no way should Dana get all the credit or even near how much he gets. Hes a big figure for the sport and works his ass off at what he does, but its Lorenzo that's doing the real work.
RaepChoke -Mark Dorsey - DFW for the win. no question haters
+ fucking 1
Fuck the haters Dana is the fucking man 
Lol @ all the experts with the inside info as to how the UFC really runs. "Lorenzo's" really the boss blah blah shut the fuck up! People think they are the authorities on shit they have no clue about. Dana is the face of the UFC and he is responsible for where the UFC is today. I love that guy
Milford CubicleĀ -Ā Ā BLAF has his dick so far down some UGers thorats it's laughable.
You should check Sherdog.
JimmersonzGlove - Dana is an amazing promoter and the best of any sport in the last handful of years. The fact that he has a minion of fake media who laugh on call whenever he cracks a joke proves this.
The thing is, if people would start crediting him for the great things he did and not the things he didn't do, he'd still get tons of props. For instance, he did tank the UFC into millions of debt and didn't come up with TUF....but he did run with it when it turned successful.
He ran the Royce vs Hughes PPV with shady promotion of the facts to make it seem like Royce was still undefeated...and that took PPV buys to the next level, making Hughes a legit PPV draw in the process finally....and he ran with Tito vs Shamrock, years after it was relevant, which brought even more fans and PPV buyers into the sport. Tito vs Shamrock 3 which "no one wanted to see" popped huge numbers on cable, their largest rating up to that point...and Tito's popularity coming off that did their biggest PPV of all time up to that point with Tito vs Chuck 2.
He brought in Brock...one fight after calling him a freakshow, and a couple fights later people are saying Fedor is a fraud and Brock is the #1 HW. And he came up with an angle to bring in Kimbo and somehow not get completely lambasted...and it did the biggest numbers ever on TUF.
Each step was a huge jump for the UFC and brought more eyes to the sport. Each step would've been called a freakshow if done by anyone else, but BLAF is the best promoter in the world and fans/"media" are down with it because at the end of the day it brings in eyes and dollars, which is what it's all about.
That's it. Essentially. EVERYTHING people love about the sport is because of him. WHY? because he listens and interacts with fans!
Year after mother fucking year! He takes punts trys things even if they don't always work. But he just keeps TRYING!
anyone who denies his legacy as a promoter is full of shit! 
" He brought in Brock...one fight after calling him a freakshow, and a couple fights later people are saying Fedor is a fraud and Brock is the #1 HW."
Possibly the most digraceful occurence in the sport's history.
Clueless goofballs with mouths open parroting "yeah, the best guy of the last ten years secretly sucked and this pro wrestler is the best ever!"
But thats a testament to the pull Dana has grown to exert.
I barfed in my mouth a little bit when Kirik recently claimed in a cringe-worthy moment: "Well............right after Dana called him a fraud he DID drop a couple fights in a row.........."
Shows how easily most people's opinions can be bought and sold.
"Dabigchet, you're too noob to even realize the irony of that statement coming from Musashi. Talk about "a legend in his own mind." (Or can the singular pronoun "his" even be applied to such a "conglomeration of individuals"? Ha-ha. The UG's all-time biggest poseur.)"
LOL ol' "several different groups of people using the same handle as a social experiment"
"i want to be remembered as the greatest dad EVERRRRRRRRR and nobody in mma has a say in that :)."
Thats an awesome sentiment.
"what people will remember are the fights and the greatest fighters over the next 20 years."
Im sure nobody will ever forget Rogerio/Shogun. Nor Fedor.
"I know i'm just a newb and all but i'm pretty sure whistleblower just shit all over you guys."
Its a regular occurence. But it unfortunately doesnt change much when people just ignore it and play "choose your own adventure" with revisionist history.
The best imo is when they concede not being able to counter his facts and instead call him "obsessive".
As if its unreasonable to be passionate about a niche sport that we've followed since childhood and watched go from an awesome private community to packed with clueless fair-weather assclowns.
Half the people logging into this site have NO IDEA what theyre even watching and are more interested in men's physiques and hoping to see someone get injured.
The SEG UFC was sanctioned in NJ and holding shows in AC under the modern rules, that were indistinguishable from the shows Zuffa held immediately following the buyout.
Shows loaded with diverse, world class talent, far more experienced than guys from the later versions of TUF, btw.
Mark Dorsey - DFW for the win. no question haters
10000000000000
What about now
We wouldnāt have had all the awesome fights over the last decade without Dana.
He dedicated his life to the sport and made it what it is today.
He got very rich in the process but the hate against him is only tall poppy syndrome and will be replaced with respect when he is gone
Heās a promoter. MMA is only big because of the UFC. He promoted for the UFCā¦
Ultimately there might be 100 anti establishment anti ufc faggots on the UG that hate Dana but he has 6.6M Instagram followers and many millions more worldwide that love the guy.
What heās done is undeniable. Any opinion against is just an opinion