Bully Ray explains why he called out Dana White for 'pro wrestling is fake' comments

Remember earlier this month when UFC President Dana White caused a minor uproar in the pro wrestling community after calling it "fake" on Twitter? One of the wrestlers who spoke out against him was Bully Ray, who was quick to call out the fact that White signed and promoted Brock Lesnar, who, not coincidentally, became the biggest pay-per-view draw in the history of the promotion.

Now, Ray further explains why he went after White in an interview with Chad Dukes (transcript via ChadDukesWrestlingShow.com):

"Fake is such a horrible word to describe pro wrestling. When it comes to the in ring action and physicality of what goes on in there, there is nothing fake about it. I put up a tweet the other day comparing pro wrestling to Cirque de Soleil. Cirque de Soleil is a choreographed athletic performance, so is wrestling. Does that make Cirque de Soleil any less real? All of the things that they're doing, all the physicality, the gymnastics, the trapeze, the flips, the falls, everything, it's all real, just like it is in the middle of a wrestling ring.

"The term that I have always loved for pro wrestling and I don't think many people in the United States have maybe even heard this term. It's cool I like to refer to it as fighting opera.

"As far as Dana is concerned, listen, he went out there he said something and I fired back with how I believe. I was not pissed, I'm not mad, I did think that he should have apologized to the wrestling world, not me individually or anybody individually. Come out and say, ‘Hey you know what, sorry I used used the word fake it's definitely the wrong word.' Because listen, if it wasn't for pro wrestling, things like MMA would never exist. Pro wrestling is the foundation. Pro wrestling is the grandfather of all of these types of mixed martial arts and anything like that that you see on TV. Whenever there's a pro wrestling aspect to the UFC is when they draw the biggest number. And that's not just me talking out of my ass, Brock Lesnar was a professional wrestler first and a UFC fighter second. When they do their highest ratings when the pro wrestling guy was there. You know why? Because he had personality and he's larger than life. So to say what we do is fake or you know the professional wrestling business doesn't matter. It's kind of ignorant."

I still maintain my position that they're arguing semantics. White seemed to make clear that he respects what pro wrestlers do but he simply cannot get past its predetermined, choreographed nature. That said, "fake" is a trigger word for many within the wrestling world simply because it's been used not as a definition but an attempt to downplay the art form.

Then again, it's hard to feel that bad for an industry that widely labels its fans "marks."