UFC QUOTABLES: Dana White - "The one-night tournament thing never worked"

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"My philosophy on that was, this many people want to see a crazy freak show, that many people want to see a real sport. We believe that's why the thing has grown as fast as it has and become as big as it has, because people want to see a real sport. So, no. Plus, we couldn't do that anymore; you could never do a one-night tournament. And to be honest with you, the one-night tournament thing never worked; it didn't make sense... Imagine going three rounds, two tough guys, and then you gotta get back in the tournament and fight again another thirty minutes. It's not fair. It doesn't really determine who the best guy is."

-UFC President Dana White talks about his thoughts on one-night tournaments in MMA during a Q&A session with troops last week ahead of UFC Fight for the Troops 2 (quotes transcribed by Ariel Helwani at MMAFighting.com).

Penick's Analysis: I'm with White on this as far as today's MMA is concerned. Though the one-night tournament was the basis for the beginning of this sport, in practice there are a lot of things that can go wrong, and like White said, it's not always the best guy at the end of the night. Some fighters get easier draws and blast through the early stages, while other fighters get a more even fight early on that drags out and has him in the cage longer than someone he could face in the finals. It's a nice nostalgic thing to look back upon, but with the evolution of the sport and the fighters, it's just not a a concept that really works in 2011.

[Dana White art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_8262.shtml

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