Donnie Come Lately: King to Take a Swing at MMA Promotion
(Only in America...would this man be allowed to handle a rocket launcher.)
Chilling news from MMA Junkie: Apparently, wild-ass boxing promoter/double-murderer Don King has been brought on as a senior advisor for RHM Productions, a new entity headed up by former Sky Capital Holdings CEO Ross Mandell that is planning to put on MMA events. Dig:
It seems that King was brought into the picture via his longtime news media advisor Robert Weneck, who heard about the new promotion and pounced:
Unfortunately, King knows dick about MMA, and has been openly critical of the sport in the past. While promoting the Roy Jones Jr./Felix Trinidad boxing match last January, King praised MMA for its originality, but then condemned it as "barbarism" in the same breath. ("This is what the Marquess of Queensberry came to uplift by making rules and regulations.") Shortly after, he gave this eerily prescient quote to the Sun-Sentinel:
Well thank God our savior has finally arrived. Too bad King will go down like all of Dana White's other rivals...
DIGG THIS
Comments
Brandon Says:
Sign of the apocalypse #5982.
shit comments Says:
did you hear about the dyslexic who went to a toga party dressed as a goat? cnuts
mayhem420 Says:
Guess you gotta go to where to $$$ is at since right now I cant think of 1 good fight left in pro-boxing that anyone wants to see, well anyone that he promotes.
Clark Kent Jab Says:
Jesus Christ. This is the last thing MMA needs.
I hope White strangles King and sends him back to the land of boxing.
No hair > ridiculous hair any day.
Fat Irish Pirate Says:
Screw that, he's gonna turn some tiny MMA facilitator into a thuggish, ear-biting, fight in front of the news media circus with his Tom-Thuggery....er...foolishness.
Besides, I think we have enough wierd hair with ol' Seth P, dont you?
Nanotyranus Says:
This does not bode well for the sport. His production will become the side show to the UFC media circus! Shit the bed martha, I pray he does not succeed.
Batman Says:
Just the thought of Don King having anything to do with MMA makes me a little queasy. He's known for being a sleazeball and that's the last thing that this sport needs. The first thing anyone thinks when they think of Don King isn't exactly a positive thought. Keep him out.
B Says:
"King was convicted of second degree murder for the second killing in 1966 after he was found guilty of stomping to death an employee, Sam Garrett, who owed him $600. In an ex parte meeting with King's attorney, the judge reduced King's conviction to non negligent manslaughter for which King served just under four years in prison."
Seriously? WTF!
LoneWolf Says:
You summed it up correctly:
"Unfortunately, King knows dick about MMA..."
I love it when people think that just because they have some knowledge/involvement in another sport, that they can automatically do a way better job then the UFC. Go ahead, try it....and then proceed to get crushed by the UFC.....As Dana would probably say: "Stupid Effers...."
WarpedAcorn Says:
When I think of Don King I think of treasure trolls. Treasure trolls aren't bad...are they?
LoneWolf Says:
@ B:
I totally agree. Unfortunately, if you can pay for it you can pretty much do whatever you want with zero to minor consequences....Total bs but that's the US judicial system for you.....
drummer Says:
Dana and the UFC will crush them just like they crushed everyone else.
Armbreaker Says:
@ shit comments
No, but I did hear of the agnostic, dyslexic insomniac. He used to lie awake at night wondering if there is a Dog.
Douchey McDoucherton Says:
Donnie Cum Lately: The Donnie & Marie Osmund Story.
Listen Up Dana Says:
Dana, here's what you need to do to clean up the image of MMA.
- Make sure nobody refers to MMA as Ultimate Fighting or Cage Fighting.
- Put a stop to any Hollywood attempt of making an MMA movie.
- Refrain from saying the word "fuck" more than once a sentence.
- Put out a line of respectable looking MMA clothes for the fans who want to show support without wearing anything without skulls or tribal markings.
- Ban the TapOut Crew from showing up at events or have them remove their makeup. (Not a good look)
- Only allow mentally stable fighters on the TUF series. Do not applaud or reward Junie-like antics.
- Replace the dumb rock music on the TUF series. "You're gonna get knocked out!"
(Not very classy)
- Encourage all fighters to wear suits at press conferences. If they're at the press conference they should be financially comfortable enough to have a suit. If not, buy them one.
Other Improvements -
- Always have Penn-GSP caliber posters.
- Remove all the ads on the canvas. Plug them some other way.
- Have a white canvas.
- Put someone else in the Hall of Fame already. There are many who are well deserving.
- Encourage better entrances. DREAM's killing you guys.
- Production for Primetime was amazing. Let's try to do at least 2 of those a year.
- Main events should always be 5 rounds. (Jackson-Jardine, Sanchez-Stevenson could've been better if there was a finish)
- Bring in that Russian guy named Fedor.
Spinning L-Bow Says:
Dana needs to listen to Listen Up Dana
Anonymous Says:
This could be interesting. If nothing else, Don King knows how to make money off a fight card. He also knows how to do it while paying his big name fighters a lot of money.
It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with.
The biggest problem of course is that the UFC has such a strong brand and so many of the best fighters / big name fighters already locked up under longer term UFC contracts.
Anonymous Says:
First anything Don has to do with MMA is not good for the sport,the fighters,or the fans this has bad news written all over it. I'm not one for UFC monopolizing MMA but PLEASE Dana crush this but QUICK!
Second, Listen up Dana; I liked and agreed with quite a few of your suggestions they all sounded thought out and good. Up until your last one that Fedor guy, I'm so sick of hearing about this guy So to reiterate this again, He has beaten up on all the guys that UFC has ditched i.e. Arlovski,Tim,BabyFace or guys that have come to UFC and had epic failures, Nog,CropCop,Herring I really don't see why Dana is the one who has to crumble to the Ruskies demands If Dana's got pay him a boat load of money, Why can he not ask him to give up Sambo for a brief period of time? I am definetly in the mind frame that Fedor needs the UFC a hell of alot more then they need him especially with the emergence of some the new HWs coming around now
menace Says:
damn that ken shamrock isnt in his prime...King would have made him the tyson of MMA
d0zer Says:
The only way this is going to work out is- wait. no. this won't work out. The only fighters left to fight in this BS league is women and Kimbo Slice. Don King doesn't have enough MMA rep to convince anyone else to fight for him.
Ample Says:
fuck a Don King
d0zer Says:
@ Listen Up Dana, although this would clean up the image of the UFC, it will likely lose Dana a SHITLOAD of money. These are things that only hardcore fans of MMA want. Not the casual viewer, which is where Dana is making his money from. Yes, people who watch TUF for the fighting HATE the Junie's out there, but 98% of the people who are watching it watch it as a "reality show," meaning they want drama, and the Junie's provide that.
Also, people don't necessarily want fighters to look respectable...at least not the casual fans. They like the idea of trailer-trash/ghetto hoodlums fighting each other, while they throw down money. It gives them a sense of empowerment. And again, these are the fans that make up the majority of the viewing audience.
Mantooth Says:
Bob Arum...you're on the clock.
Anonymous Says:
The man Ruined boxing forever. He will take all the money he can get and destroy the integrity of the sport. I would rather the Shaw family back than to see Don King anywhere near MMA.
The Irish Wolfhound Says:
I really don't think we need someone who plead guilty to stomping an employee to death in our sport. We get enough of the "too brutal" bullshit as is.
Dynamite!! Says:
Don King will never adjust to MMA because he's known for kicking a downed opponent.
Dynamite!! Says:
Don King will never adjust to MMA because he's known for kicking a downed opponent. To death.
MMA Wannabe Says:
Both Dozer and Listen Up, make great points, but I disagree with Dozer on one of them.
Making the fighters dress and appear more professional may very well bring in a different group of casual sports fans; the ones who love and respect professional sports, but don't view UFC athletes as Martial Artists, as much as they see them as "dudes in a cage, throwin' hands!"
Sorry for the run-on, but does anyone else see it this way?
Anonymous Says:
@ Listen Up Dana:
I always thought the TapouT crew looked like a bunch of clowns until I saw them at UFC 88. They were great to the the fans. They'd sign as many autographs and pose for as many pics as they could. These guys may look eccentric, but IMHO they are good representation for the for the sport. Check out the article in Fight! on them from a mont or so ago.
Wyatt Says:
How about people on MMA message boards stop making racist comments about Rashad and Rampage? That would be a really REALLY good start.
d0zer Says:
@ Wyatt
While I don't condone racist comments, I do believe it was Rampage who said, no, yelled, "ALL I HAVE TO SAY, IS THERE GON' BE SOME BLACK ON BLACK CRIME!"
Anonymous Says:
Maybe...with any luck at all....he'll finally cross the wrong person who has enough balls to beat him the frig to death!
Wyatt Says:
Oh no, the black on black crime thing was an instant classic back when he said it about knocking out Marvin Eastman! I'm actually glad he brought that one back.
I'm talking about all of the N-bombs being dropped by a bunch of repressed suburban white guys that roll their windows up and lock the doors near a bus stop in the wrong part of town.