UFC President Dana White

By Joshua Molina

UFC President Dana White is falling back on familiar territory in his criticisms of Bellator and Spike TV.

In a recent interview, White said Bellator is dead and that Viacom runs the show. This is the same mantra White preached when Strikeforce landed its contract with CBS.

Playing the role of little guy vs. big guy is White’s specialty. In his mind, he can’t lose to a peer. Not that he’s losing to Bellator, but the idea that another MMA promoter could emerge as a successful enterprise means White has to beat somebody down to make his company look better.

Make no mistake about it. UFC is no underdog in this war. We don’t know exactly how much UFC is worth, but it is significant. With what it pays its fighters, UFC executives must be bringing home a pretty penny.

When White attacks Viacom it’s because he knows the company is a threat to the UFC empire. Bellator’s job in the MMA wars is to blur the line between the UFC and Bellator so that the general public slowly stops associating the UFC as No. 1 and everything else as less than No. 2.

Bellator needs to follow-up on its recent signing of Randy Couture and sign other stars. The best acquisition Bellator could make is to lure Mike Goldberg or Bruce Buffer. Taking these voices of the UFC would hurt the company and present Bellator as a the place where the stars want to be.

Bellator should also let Eddie Alvarez go and promote his conqueror, Michael Chandler, as the best lightweight in the world. Give fans and fighters a reason to believe the best fight in Bellator.

The UFC is great for MMA, but MMA must survive long after the UFC. With UFC’s current chokehold on the sport, it won’t.