Bob Arum trashes MMA, but admits Dana White feud is fabricated for mutual benefit

It’s no secret that boxing promoter Bob Arum is not an MMA fan.

Speaking on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show on Monday, Arum once again disparaged the entire sport.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s trash,” Arum said. “I don’t like it. I don’t like to watch it.

“I’m not going to say that this is a sport that I love, because I don’t. It really does nothing for me.”

Given the way Arum talks about MMA, it should come as no surprise that he’s received some blowback from UFC President Dana White.

Interestingly, however, Arum went on to admit that he’s never met White, and that the pair’s alleged feud is entirely fabricated and brought up whenever its convenient.

Arum on Dana White.#HelwaniShow pic.twitter.com/t7GA2EarTs

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) March 9, 2020

“Let me tell you God’s honest truth,” Arum said of his relationship with White. “I have never, ever met Dana White. I have never, ever talked to Dana White. Again, all this idea of a feud is sort of nonsense that we throw out to the press when it benefits an event that we’re doing or something. But I don’t know who Dana White is as a person. I have never, ever met him or had any conversation. How do you like that?

“That’s publicity,” Arum added when pressed about his previous exchanges with White through interviews. “I have never met him.”

Needless to say, it sounds like we’re all being played!

Bob Arum is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, the promotion behind current boxing stars like Manny Pacquiao and Tyson Fury, and formerly stars like Muhammed Ali, Oscar De La Hoya, Roberto Duran, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Marvin Hagler, Juan Manuel Marquez, Sugar Ray Leonard and Floyd Mayweather.

What do you think of these comments from Bob Arum?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 3/10/2020.