Former UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn released his new book entitled “Why I Fight” last week, and with it brought some interesting stories and questions to the surface regarding Dana White and the UFC’s business practices.
BJ Penn’s New Book Is Surrounded With Controversy, Questions About Dana White
A couple weeks before Penn’s book was set to hit the bookshelves, Dana White somewhat curiously took issue with the release of the book and why some things, which I’ll get to in a bit, were discussed.
White was quoted as saying the following by SI.com.
“Why would you [speaking to Penn and Penn’s lawyer] put out a book that is 90 percent not true? I asked him [Penn] why he would write lies in there and he swore to me that he didn’t write it or read it.”
So what exactly is Dana referring to when he mentions the lies in Penn’s new book. The following excerpt via Bloody Elbow is undoubtedly one of the talking points that White has a problem with.
"K-1 was offering me $187,500 per fight - five times what the UFC was offering - and I was still willing to stay with them for one-third of that amount. This was when the relationship took a turn for the worse, and my view of White changed drastically. From that point on, I knew when it came to money, we couldn't trust him to treat us right. Did I like him at the dinner table? Sure. But at the negotiating table? Not at all. The pressure to perform and safeguard other people's money had changed him, even though he was constantly bragging to anyone willing to listen about how 'big this thing was going to be.' Things between us would never be the same.
When it was finally official I was going to fight in Japan, White called me up and told me his true feelings. 'You motherfucker! You're fucking done! You'll never fight in the UFC again! You're finished. You're scorched earth, motherf**ker. Scorched earth. Don't call me crying saying you want to come back because you're f**king done!' And on and on and on, like a true professional - even going so far as to tell me I would never see my face again in a UFC video, promotion, or anything else. He also planned on removing my fight with Hughes from the UFC 46 DVD so no one would even know who I was. 'It doesn't have to be this way,' I told him. 'You know it wouldn't take that much to make this work.' But he just kept yelling."
If that conversation did indeed take place, which at this point there really is no reason to think otherwise, it’s obvious to see why the UFC president isn’t too happy about this book being published.
But one has to wonder why Penn, who at least has appeared to be in good graces with White recently would release this type of information now. Sure, he’s arguably at the height of his popularity and is looking to sell as many copies of his book as he can, but is it really worth it to publicly call out your current employer in such a fashion?
Only time will tell the ramifications of this book release, but you can rest assured we haven’t heard the last of this issue.
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