Dana White Plays Promoter Even in the Face of Steroids

You can't ever take a promoter at his word. If a promoter's mouth is moving, he's probably lying to you. He's trying to work you like the mark you are, deep inside, and get you to give him your money. It doesn't really matter how it happens, just that it does. They will always try to find a way to work an angle if something is threatening what they do. Case in point, Mr. Dana White. In his first comments after UFC 117 headliner Chael Sonnen failed a drug test for what is reportedly being called a "natural steroid", he had this to say via Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports:

"When one of them fails a test, the government is going to fine them and suspend them and tell them they can’t make a living for a year. So should I come in after they’ve already lost the ability to make a living for a year and been fined all this money and, in the worst economic disaster in the history of the world, fine them another huge amount and take away their ability to make a living even longer?

"These are guys with homes and families and personal lives and bills and debts and obligations, just like me and you," White said. "After they lost all this money already, money that, A, they’ve probably already spent and B, which they owe taxes, do I fine them another huge amount? What else do you do to a human being?"

Well played, sir. Fans and media want the UFC to do something about this problem. Dana wants to convince everyone that the commissions already do a good job. He then tries to get us to feel sympathetic to them, in a roundabout way, by bringing up the horrific economy and how these guys won't be able to make a living for a year. You know, since fighting is the absolute only source of income for these guys. They don't run gyms or training centers or do speaking engagements or anything like that.

Here is the key part of what he said. "Take away their ability to make a living...". Remember, he's a promoter and he's trying to work you. We won't let him though. He doesn't mean take away THEIR ability to make a living; he means take away HIS ability to make a living. That's what the real issue is here, at least for him. Whatever threatens his business, and in turn his money, must be dealt with and spun into something harmless.

There are many in the media that want the UFC to step up testing. There is really only one reason for Dana and company not too; money. He'll spin it all he can that the commissions already do it and they do a good job of it but we know that isn't true. They do drug tests on the same day as the event. From what I can tell, through research, they don't ever do it any other time. That means the testing in place for the UFC is the easiest to beat of any of the major sports. That right there is enough to encourage fighters to use. If they know when they are going to be tested then they know when to cycle. Which means you might as well not test at all.

A simple way to rectify this is to set it up to where the UFC calls a fighter sometime during his training camp and has him come in to do a test. Give them no notice and see who passes and who fails. If this many guys are failing when they know they will be tested, how many will fail when they don't know? And that's what Dana wants to avoid. Because if they fail before the fight, he won't make money. And he can't have that, now can he?