Dana White: GSP needs to 'be a man', stop 'ridiculous' allegations
It didn't take very long for UFC president Dana White to hear the comments from his former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre when he said that one of the reasons he stepped away from the sport was because of the promotion's lack of support for additional drug testing of athletes.
St-Pierre stated during an interview on Tuesday in Montreal that he 'tried to change things' and for whatever reason the UFC didn't step up to support his desire to clean up the sport. Needless to say, White heard about the comments and it didn't take very long into Wednesday night's post-fight press conference for him to respond. White addressed GSP's remarks separately on FOX Sports Live's post-fight coverage with Karyn Bryant and Brian Stann.
White took aim at St-Pierre's statement by first pointing out that the entire reason he asked for increased drug testing was to prove his own innocence in the face of accusations being slung at him for years that he was on some kind of performance enhancing drug.
"First of all, I don't know if anybody remembers this, but Georges St-Pierre is the one that said he wanted to do the extra drug testing because he wanted to prove he wasn't on drugs. It wasn't that he thought Johny Hendricks was on steroids or performance-enhancing drugs of any kind, he wanted to do this," White said. "Just like you see in boxing when I said I thought that it was ridiculous for these guys to be doing it. First of all, you see it in boxing all the time -- one guy comes out and says 'I want to do extra drug testing because I'm worried about this guy, I want to see what's going on'. They never come to an agreement.
"I've talked about the Nevada state athletic commission as far as the refs and the judges, they drug test. Not only did they test Josh Barnett for his last fight, because Josh Barnett was a guy who had been busted for performance-enhancing drugs before, they also made Travis Browne do it at the same time and the UFC paid for that. We paid for that drug testing."
White's rant continued when blasting back at St-Pierre's comments that the UFC is somehow soft on drug testing and the offenders that do get busted. He specifically pointed toward the recent drug testing scandal that landed on Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva's doorstep after he put on a fight of the year performance against Mark Hunt only to have the final result marred after he tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone.
"For him to say that we're very lenient on drug testing, when we go out of the country and we regulate ourselves, we test everybody on the card, not just the main event, not just the co-main event. You want to talk about being lenient? The fight that I was screaming about, the greatest fight I'd ever seen, Mark Hunt and (Antonio) Bigfoot Silva, we tested the guys for that fight, we caught Bigfoot Silva and he got destroyed. Literally got destroyed," White stated.
"He got destroyed. Lost the win money that we gave him. Lost the bonus money that we gave him. Obviously he's not getting the extra money we were giving him. He got smashed and he's suspended for a year. So if that's lenient on drugs, I guess we're lenient."
In addition to the comments about drug testing, St-Pierre also alluded to the fact that rarely will any athletes speak out poorly regarding the UFC because in the MMA market space they are the kings holding court. He even used the world "monopoly" when discussing the UFC's industry dominance.
White didn't take too kindly to that either.
"As far as the other thing that he said that we're a monopoly, Viacom is our competitor. They have a $40 billion dollar market cap. $40 billion dollars. I'm never going to see $40 billion dollars as long as I live. Neither will the UFC. So we're not a monopoly either," White said.
"Everything Georges St-Pierre said is a little kooky."
So what was the real reason behind St-Pierre's jabs at the UFC and their policy making? Was there some underlying cause that pushed him into make these statements outside of his genuine desire to clean up the sport?
White believes it boils down to the night of UFC 167 when he tore into St-Pierre at the post-fight press conference for saying that he was going to take a break from the sport without ever using the word retire or defining what this time off meant for the title. He also shouted loudly that in his mind, Johny Hendricks should have gotten the decision over St-Pierre and maybe that just didn't sit well with the champion.
"What I heard is Georges St-Pierre is upset about some of the things that I said at the press conference and he's upset that I said that he didn't win the fight that I thought Johny Hendricks won the fight. But if that's the case, call me man to man, let's talk on the phone, let's sit down face to face. I talked to him after the fight face to face, he didn't say any of that to me. So the whole thing is a little weird," White said.
Following St-Pierre's comments in the media, White says UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta reached out to him by phone but has yet to hear back from him. White says he has no problem discussing these issues with his former champion, but he's not sure why this subject was broached in such a public manner while never being discussed in his presence.
"Georges St-Pierre said he needed some time off because he had all these personal issues going on in his life and he needed some time off. We left the guy alone, we haven't asked him to do anything, letting him do his thing. The guy's out doing more interviews now than when he was fighting. Said he wanted to disappear for a while and go away, but here we are talking about Georges St-Pierre," White said.
"Lorenzo reached out to him, Lorenzo still hasn't heard from him. If Georges St-Pierre wants to talk like a man he can pick up the phone and call us or come see us face to face but everything that he said is ridiculous. If Georges felt that way he should have said it to our faces, or to my face. I'm not very sensitive, you're not going to hurt my feelings."
