The UFC's Dana White has made the top ten on GQ Magazine's list of "Sleaziest Figures in Sports". Meanwhile, the company president issued an apology for the judging controversy he was involved in this past weekend in Macau, China.
In a report by Bloody Elbow, Dana White's UFC obligations as its president since Zuffa took over in 2001 has not made him a popular figure among many people. White was often criticized for not compensating his fighter in a justifiable manner, and GQ Magazine saw it as one of the reason to put him on the eighth spot for their list of "Sleaziest Figures in Sports."
"Turns out underpaying your UFC employees, bullying rivals, and generally impersonating Don King as a bald white guy doesn't do wonders for your charsima!" the magazine wrote about the UFC executive.
Apparently, it is not turning out to be a good week for UFC's Dana White. On Saturday, right after the UFC Fight Night 48 card in Macau, China, the UFC executive admitted to having a judge removed from the event after deeming him incompetent.
"Did you ask me sir, if it was true, that a judge was removed?" White said during the post-fight press conference as reported by MMA Fighting. "Yes, he was. He was involved in the first fight and the second fight. I told the guys to go let him grab some beer and some popcorn and go sit down and start watching some fights, not judging them."
This move by the UFC, Dana White and Marc Ratner of the Nevada Athletic Commission was deemed wrong by many, including famed veteran journalist Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports.
"Judges and referees need to be accountable and should lose plum assignments if their work isn't up to snuff," Iole wrote in an article about Dana White's UFC Macau controversy. "There is no debate about that. It's just that White, or any promoter, shouldn't be the one making that determination."
On Tuesday, however, Dana White admitted to his mistake and issued a public apology.
"I got a little crazy and overstepped my bounds," White said during the UFC 180 media scrum in Mexico City. "It's not the first time, and hopefully it's the last time I'll ever do that. So yeah...I was wrong."
