Banter Sports

In a recent episode of his podcasts, ex-UFC star and current Bellator Light Heavyweight Chael Sonnen described Dana White by saying, “Fight promotion isn’t something you can major in in college. You can’t buy a textbook for that. You either got it or you don’t and Dana White- man, Dana White has got it.”

20130426024904_IMG_9954 (1).JPG — White (left) and Sonnen (right)

Now, Dana White is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a popular figure in Mixed Martial Arts. Plenty of fans and fighters alike will rightly criticise him for underpaying fighters, twisting the truth for the sake of the promotion, and occasionally being a little too brash on Twitter. However, Dana White is still a figure. Indeed, in his operational style, Dana White has always been more of a Vince McMahon than an Adam Silver.

Whether the fighting world likes it or not, Dana White has always been the face of the UFC, the physical representation of the organization as a whole. In fact, at times, it would seem that Dana was all-powerful, deciding which fighters stay and which fighters go based on a whim. Shows like “Looking for a Fight” and “Dana White VLOGs” brought the promotion president front and center in the minds of MMA fans (not that he had ever been anywhere else). White’s brash comments and candid media appearances earned him a reputation for being a loud mouthed, brash president. In fact, White had no qualms about airing his grievances about any employees and promotions. One thing about Dana White, if he put together a bad night of fights, he would be the first one to call it out. All of these characteristics can tell the perceptive fan one thing about Dana White, just about the only thing that really matters: White loves fights. It is precisely this love that has allowed him to take a business that was worth about $40 million in the hole and sell it for $4 billion. It is precisely because Dana White loves fights that he could promote them so effectively, and that he could continue to run a business at the highest level after nearly 20 years on the job. Dana White gained a few thousand pounds, lost all his hair, and is still going because he loves the sport that he helped build. Make no mistake; if you don’t have Dana White, you don’t have MMA. It’s as simple as that.

So, as an MMA fan, it doesn’t matter whether you think he should pay his fighters more, or aim to be less misleading to fans, or more politically correct on Twitter. If you’re a fight fan, you love Dana White because, yeah, he can be kind of a meathead sometimes but man, Dana White gets it. He understands why fight fans are FIGHT fans. Dana White is the UFC personified. He knows that it doesn’t matter if he’s a little vulgar or rough around the edges. He’s raw, he’s real, and he gives us what we love because he loves it too. Today, when the UFC is going through major structural changes due to its sale to WME-IMG, it is possible that we may be seeing the end of the Dana White era of the UFC. If rumours of how WME-IMG want to present the UFC are true, we may soon see Dana White be replaced by a stuffed suit who gives press-friendly conferences and maintains a politically correct, pseudo-robotic Twitter account. However, that will be a sad day indeed, because the one thing most needed for the job above all, is passion for the sport, and Dana White has it in spades.

In 2016, if one were to be asked to describe Kawhi Leonard in one word, most people would say: “Defensive”. Kawhi has been described to have the fastest hands in the NBA, the most relentless man-defense, and is praised as a “rhythm destroyer” by many great players, including Kobe Bryant. Leonard has had a prominent career already as he has attained an NBA All-Rookie Team award, a Finals MVP award, two All-Defensive Team mentions, two Defensive Player of the Year awards and one All-NBA Team spot. Though he’s racking up more honors than most players do in their entire career, Kawhi’s offense hasn’t matched up to his defensive prowess. Or has it? If you’ve seen Kawhi Leonard in action recently, you’d think that Michael Jordan’s NBA spirit has found a new host in Leonard. But maybe MJ isn’t the correct comparison…

Kawhi Leonard has recently transformed his game from being not only a defensive beast, but as an offensive threat as well. From the smooth shiftiness to the aggressive driving to the nearly impossible closely contested shots, Kawhi’s game has become the near mirror image of Kobe Bryant; arguably one the greatest players to play the game, Kobe has gifted Kawhi Leonard and the entire Spurs franchise with a little bit of his Mamba Magic. After a meeting between the Spurs and the Lakers last year, Kobe stuck around after the game to have some words with the Spurs’ head coach, Gregg Popovich. Both Pop and Kobe saw the immense potential in the young Kawhi. However, though the Spurs have had phenomenal players walk through their franchise, they haven’t had an elite scorer. Because of this, Popovich asked Kobe to help implement a little bit of himself into the young star.

Though it is unclear of what Kobe did to help Leonard, it is quite evident that Kawhi has a little bit of mamba mentality in him now. Leonard has been playing at an entirely new level offensively, embarrassing defenders and making some very Kobe-esque decisions along the way. Even Sacramento Kings superstar center Demarcus Cousins said that he saw “flashes of Kobe” in Kawhi’s game. So far this season, Kawhi is averaging a whopping 25 PPG in his 5th year in the NBA, the same as Kobe in his 6^th year. With these statistics in mind, could Kawhi match Kobe’s name? Or will “Kawhi” be the new “Kobe”? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure—the fans are going to thoroughly enjoy the impact that Kawhi has for the Spurs for many years to come.