Dana v. Cro Cop: Who 'screwed' whom?

Written by Jim Murphy   |   Tuesday, June 16 2009

Dana White claimed that Mirko Cro Cop 'screwed' him in a post UFC 99 tirade.  The facts of the situation suggest that's simply not the case. (Photo: Susumu Nagao)

If the MMA world learned nothing else from UFC 99, we learned that we should really be thankful that Dana White got involved in the fight game and has no apparent plans to become a totalitarian dictator or religious cult leader. With the way that the mainstream sports media—and even the MMA media—laps up everything he says without question he’d be downright dangerous were he to use his powers of persuasion for nefarious means. Nowhere was Dana’s almost hypnotic grasp over the MMA media more evident than in the wake of his post event rant against Mirko Cro Cop. According to Dana, he had benevolently booked Cro Cop on the show after the Croatian striking machine came groveling at his feet. After the event, he learned that Mirko had signed a three fight deal with DREAM. First of all, let’s review his comments:

"Isn't that a dirty (f-bomb-ing) thing to do? He (f-bombed) me.  The first time in the history of the company I do one over the phone.  He promised me a three-fight deal and he (f-bombed) me. He didn't keep his word.  He talked about honor and all this other (excrement) and he (f-bombed) me.  He fed me this (excrement from a male cow) about wanting to take a run for the title, and what I think he did was, he went out and did this.  He turned down every other (f-bombing) fighter I offered him, because I needed him to fight Cain.  He didn't just poke Al-Turk, he poked me, too."

Not long after, the MMA media began tripping over themselves in a mad rush to condemn Cro Cop and offer Dana huzzuahs and high fives. It got so much traction even in the mainstream media that my mom forwarded me a story from AOL entitled “UFC 99: Mirko Cro Cop wins, leaves UFC for DREAM.” Perhaps the low point in the Dana inspired Cro Cop backlash came via this quote from a MMA journalist who shall remain nameless, as they typically do a decent job:

"I'm still in shock. Cro Cop was punking all of us. I hope Cro Cop goes on a three fight losing streak and gets the hell out of MMA. He's a disgrace."

The problem with all of this is that Dana’s version of events doesn’t really pass muster in light of the facts. The first thing in his anti-Cro Cop invective that makes no sense is his assertion that ‘Cro Cop promised him a three fight deal’. That is in diametric conflict with a widely reported story circulated before the event that Cro Cop was the “first person in the history” of the UFC to come in with a one fight deal.

And why was Cro Cop on this event at all? The primary reason was that the UFC wanted him to sell tickets and get media coverage in Germany and particularly Croatia which is a short flight away. Dana’s assertion that he wanted Cro Cop to fight wrestling monster Cain Velasquez is patently absurd. It was Cro Cop’s first fight back from knee injury, and he has no reason to jump in against an up and coming monster like Velasquez who is stylistically the worst possible matchup for him. In retrospect, Dana should be thankful that he didn’t take a fight with Velasquez—if the striking of Cheick Kongo caused him so much trouble it would have been an even worse scenario for the UFC had Cro Cop knocked out one of their few legitimate heavyweight prospects.

So who was doing a favor for whom? Cro Cop might have benefitted from a ‘tune up’ fight before he returns to competition in DREAM, but he certainly didn’t need it from a negotiating standpoint. What the US MMA media too often neglects is that Cro Cop is already a huge superstar in Japan. Dana’s suggestions that he was all but groveling for an opportunity to prove himself as a fighter is comical—with the possible exception of Fedor Emelianenko, Cro Cop is the most popular gaijin fighter in Japan and can basically name his price with either major promotion there.

The next part of Dana’s tirade that doesn’t pass the ‘smell test’ is his incredulity that Cro Cop would choose DREAM over the UFC. Cro Cop has basically had an agreement in principal for a three fight extension with DREAM parents FEG since March. This was widely reported in the Croatian media, and translated by our Eastern European correspondent Edo Balic on his blog:

Cro Cop set to sign three fight extenion with DREAM

Edo also provides us the following from one of Cro Cop’s friends and the webmaster of his website:

"Dana knew that Cro Cop was going to Dream already, However Mirko would be strong link for a better ticket sales in Europe. Doesn’t the one fight deal tell you enough about the nature of the agreement? Further, Mirko said that he will rise to the top, or die in the attempt. To top it should not necessarily mean the UFC. He has the right to determine its path. You don’t know what the UFC offered Mirko. Mirko would perhaps only receive a title shot in a couple of years by then he would be 37.  "

The UFC had offered Cro Cop a three fight deal, but based on the comments from the same source as above the DREAM deal clearly was preferable. And with more top heavyweights fighting outside the UFC than in it, there’s obviously more competition elsewhere including the best heavyweight in the world, Fedor Emelianenko:

"The first three fight deal was within 14 months without the possibility of a title shot, if successful a second three fight deal with a title shot. All in all it would take almost two years to get to a title shot assuming he keeps winning. Mirko would be 37. Also talks about Dana pulling some smoke and mirrors for the public and how having a Croatian UFC champion isn't as business appealing as having Lesnar as champ."

So from a professional standpoint alone, Cro Cop has a lot more upside in DREAM. Not to mention the fact that he’s all but certainly going to get more money in Japan—where he’s a huge deal—as opposed to the UFC.

There’s still little to suggest that Cro Cop has signed a deal with DREAM, despite Dana’s assertions to the contrary. Several Japanese sports media outlets including Nikkan Sports reported that he had signed a new deal the day before UFC 99 (which would also refute Dana’s claims that he didn’t know about it until Cro Cop told him), but Cro Cop himself told the Croatian media upon his return to Zagreb that nothing had been finalized relative to his future plans—Edo again provides the following translation:

Mirko Filipovic arrived in Zagreb, and journalists were greeted with a dance. A happy but tried Cro Cop did not have enough time to sleep. As for the fight, well, he was pleased with his performance.  'I tried to protect my knee,' said Cro Cop, referring to the knock-out after only three minutes of fighting. His knee was never an issue for the fight. However he was unhappy that his opponent tried to target it, it was unsportsmanlike he thought.  As for the continuation of his career, and recent stories about his departure from the UFC and the Japanese Dream, Cro Cop had no comment. He could stay with the UFC, or switch to a Japanese Dream, and other associations are not impossible. However, Filipovic had no intention to talk with reporters until they are finalized. 'This is a business secret, I do not want to talk about it,' he explained.

In light of these pesky little things called ‘the facts’ that most MMA media outlets didn’t bother looking into before they piled on to Cro Cop, the more salient questions are as follows:

--Why did Dana White confirm that Cro Cop was brought in on a one fight deal before the event, only to contradict himself afterwards when he spoke about a three fight deal?

--With the likelihood of Cro Cop’s return to DREAM a widely known reality—if not a fait accompli—why did Dana White go ballistic on him after the event?

There are a number of possible rationalizations for Dana’s tirade, but the most plausible theory is that it was simply a face saving move. Simply stated, Cro Cop spurning the UFC for DREAM doesn’t fit into the hokum that the US media swallows hook, line and sinker that they’re the only viable MMA promotion in the world. They’re certainly the most successful in North America, and have made strong inroads into the UK but in the world’s #2 MMA market—Japan—they’re an afterthought at best, irrelevant at worst. UFC events don’t receive high profile coverage in the Japanese sports media unless there’s some sort of ‘hook’—Brock Lesnar’s heavyweight title win got coverage more because of his run as IWGP pro wrestling champion than anything else. UFC 92 got a ton of coverage simply because of judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii’s trip to Las Vegas to attend the event. With those exceptions, however, the UFC is well below K-1, DREAM, Sengoku and the smaller native MMA promotions, as well as below boxing and pro wrestling (not to mention sumo) on the Japanese fight sport pantheon.

The reason that Dana White is the best in the world at what he does is his willingness to protect his company. And while the reality is that Mirko Cro Cop either has or will end up fighting for DREAM because they can pay him more money and offer him better competition, that doesn’t fit within the UFC’s mythology that they are the worldwide ‘major leagues’ of mixed martial arts. Rather than admit that, in this instance at least, Cro Cop is able to get a better deal elsewhere and acknowledge their status in the Japanese fight sport world Dana may have wanted to protect his company by casting Cro Cop as the ‘villain’ and himself as the ‘victim’. With a compliant media willing to parrot whatever he says that’s probably not a bad strategy. Dana White has a right to his opinion about Mirko Cro Cop or any other fighter, and he certainly has a right to express it. The US sports media—and particularly the MMA media—has a responsibility to not accept what he says without question. Whether or not it meshes with UFC corporate policy, the sport of MMA in the US—and certainly worldwide—is much larger than their organization. The journalists who cover MMA owe it to the fighters and the fans to get it right and not become a publicity organ for a single promotion.

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