Gary Shaw Claims Dana White Is Disloyal, Cutting Kimbo Slice A Mistake

Gary Shaw is still being all ‘Gary Shaw’ on us, but I’ll take any opportunity he gives me to share his wisdom with the masses. In a recent interview, Gary was asked about the UFC’s decision to cut Kimbo Slice following his loss to Matt Mitrione.

“I think the UFC made a huge mistake. Once again Dana’s ego has gotten in the way. I think Kimbo Slice could be a draw wherever he goes around the world. I think they matched him up wrong. I would have put him in against just stand-up fighters. I would have built to a pay-per-view with James Toney. My way of doing business is obviously different than Dana’s and the UFC.”

Pretty standard, classic Shaw. Exploiting a situation to optimize short term gain. Instead of forcing Slice to evolve as a fighter, just put him into a controlled, competitive stand-up fight to attract a good draw. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s not the direction the UFC wanted to be headed. It wasn’t until he was asked about Dana White’s business ethics that things got interesting, for myself at least. Again, on the subject of cutting under-performing fighters, Shaw had this to say:

“I don’t believe in it, I believe in loyalty. If you’re gonna ask for loyalty from your fighters, you need to give them loyalty. To have two fights and cut them? I don’t get it.”

This kind of poses the question: What does it mean to be loyal? And is it necessarily a good thing?

Dana White is really nothing more than an employee for a company, the face of it, for sure, but even he answers to a higher calling. He represents the best interests of that company, but is he being disloyal by doing so? Is effectively firing someone who is under-performing and, in turn, giving someone new an opportunity to succeed, being disloyal?

And who should he be loyal to, exactly? Fighters? Fans? Sometimes being too loyal can land an organization into a world of hurt. Ever heard of a guy named Matt Millen? He was the President and Ceo of the Detroit Lions for eight years, and in his stint with the team from 2000-2008 amassed the worst eight year record in the history of the modern NFL. I’m not going to go into his draft choices, but the point is that he was retained year after year out of a sense of loyalty by the Ford family. Eventually, they had to make a business decision.

As a fight fan, I appreciate the UFC’s high standards. When I’m shelling out my cash for one of their events, I enjoy the assurance that I’m watching some of the best fighters in the world. If anything, Dana has notorious instances of being TOO loyal. His relationship with Chuck Liddell is the only reason the Ice Man is still fighting for the promotion, and his fatherly benevolence for Stefan Bonner all but assures him a fight check 3-4 times a year for the foreseeable future. Don’t even get me started on Renzo Gracie. Loyal or not, most decisions made by White and the UFC don’t seem to harbor much in the way of personal animosity or admiration. Josh Koscheck is living proof of that.