Dana White and UFC at War with EA

UFC's president Dana White has explicitly stated that any fighter who appears in Electronic Art's new MMA game would never fight in the UFC. The UFC, short for Ultimate Fighting Championship, is a mixed martial arts league that has a huge fanbase in the United States and is growing. Electronic Arts owns the publishing rights to many of the most famous sports video game franchises like Tiger Woods PGA tour, Madden NFL, FIFA, and NASCAR.

According to Dana White, this all began a year and a half ago when he tried to pitch the idea of a MMA video game to EA, but they replied "You're not a real sport. We wouldn't touch this thing. We want nothing to do with this", over the phone. He stated that they refused to even meet with him and that the thought of publishing an MMA game "disgusted" them.

So far, EA hasn't made any public statement responding to Dana White's accusations. But I wouldn't hold my breath, though Dana White has a reputation for treating his fighters unfairly, he doesn't have a reputation for lying. My thoughts are that what he's saying is true, though possibly exaggerated, and now he's reacting like a spoiled child who's been insulted. He's punishing any fighter who's trying to earn more money on top of the paltry sum he gives them.

So far two of UFC's own fighters have signed up, Randy Couture and Tim Kennedy. After a court appearance by Randy Couture, it looks like he will remain in the UFC and still star in EA's game, but Dana has stated publicly that no other fighter should expect the same consequences and it looks like Tim Kennedy might have to start looking for a new league to join, if his current contract with UFC doesn't contain a non-compete clause; I'm thinking it does. Fedor Emelianenko will also be headlining in the game. It will be interesting to see what effects this has on his negotiations with UFC. So far it's unknown if there will be other UFC fighters starring in EA's game but I'm hoping that there will be.