Dana White to Fighters: You Dont Turn Down Joe Silva

Dana White has always favored fighters who step up and take fights when they are called upon. He has always shown love for a guy who comes out and says, ‘I want to fight this guy! Please make it happen.’ On the other hand, when a fighter does the opposite and says, ‘I DONT want to fight that guy,’ not only does it look bad in the eyes of the UFC President, it enrages UFC VP for Talent Relations Joe Silva, as proclaimed by Dana White at the UFC on Fuel 7 Media Scrum:

“I can tell you this man, you f@$%ing call Joe Silva and turn down a fight, you might as well say f@$%ng rip up my contract,” He also said, “He’s a mean little f@$%er. You don’t call Joe Silva and tell him you don’t want to f@$%ing fight anybody man. You might as well take the fight because it’s going be worse if you don’t. You might as well do it, f@$% it, I’ll fight him.”

Dana was adamant about fighters taking fights when they are asked, or else suffer the wrath of Joe Silva. Some may see this as a threat to fighters that don’t do what they’re asked, as a sort of ultimatum. Should fighters be scared to take a fight in which they may not be prepared? Or should they step up when called upon to fight no matter the opponent nor the risk?

Joe Silva has not been the kind of Matchmaker to mismatch opponents a great deal, so to him, and to UFC President Dana White, there is little reason for most fighters not to step up to the plate when the UFC Matchmaker comes calling.