(Ladies go crazy for a sharp-dressed man, courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)
One thing I’m going to miss with Gary Shaw backing into the shadows at Pro Elite is the name-calling and childish back-and-forth between he and Dana White. It was just so entertaining, what a shame to see it go. But the Dana White-Tom Atencio rivalry could be the next best thing. Sure, Atencio doesn’t wear a track suit, but he does have a wardrobe that appears to consist entirely of Affliction t-shirts, which is almost as good. Plus now he’s taking pages out of the Dana White playbook:
For the money-conscious cable-ready consumer, the difference between watching a free UFC show and paying $39.95 to watch Affliction might be a no-contest.
Affliction appeared to land one last counterpunch, however, making a deal to broadcast its card on closed-circuit television at Gold Coast casino, which is directly across from the Palms on Flamingo Road.
“It’s just another opportunity to watch our fight,” Atencio said.
Granted, it’s more of a symbolic gesture and not quite on par with scheduling an event on the same night as your competitor, but you have to love how Atencio — like White — plays dumb about it. The L.A. Times article actually has quite a few fun nuggets, most notably quotes from White where he plays the role of grizzled veteran MMA promoter:
“Nobody knows this sport or business of mixed martial arts better than I do,” White said. “I can sit right back and watch everything that everybody does and tell you exactly what’s going to happen.”
“The guy who owns this company sells T-shirts for a living,” White said. “They’ve never even put on a show.”
“You want to learn how to do this business,” he said. “Spend 44 [expletive] million dollars to figure it out like I did . . . maybe you’ll make it, maybe you won’t. Good luck.”
Good luck, indeed. Atencio got the last word in the article, however, encouraging fans to buy his event and tape the UFC’s, adding: “I’m going to. I’d be a fool not to.”
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It’s funny that Dana is slagging Tom for selling shirts. I guess he forgets that he was a FUCKING JAZZERCISE INSTRUCTOR before his friends helped him out with THEIR millions. Yes he has done well with that which he was given. But I’d take selling T-shirts over Jazzercise any day. But I wouldn’t make Assfliction shirts even if I knew douchebags would buy ‘em like hotcakes.