DA
07-14-2009, 01:23 PM
Rumors have been circulating on the 'net for a little while, but now UFC president Dana White has made his position crystal clear: he is at all-out war with Electronic Arts over the announcement of their forthcoming game, EA Sports MMA. And his main weapon? That would be the control he has over his fighters, as he has declared anyone who signs on to appear in EA's game will henceforth be blacklisted from the UFC.
"I'm not tap-dancing around this thing or whatever," White said in an interview with MMAJunkie.com (via Shacknews). "I'm telling you straight-up, I'm at war with them right now. That's how I look at it."
But what caused this brouhaha in the first place? In the interview, White insists EA started it when the company refused to treat the UFC seriously when they were first approached with the offer to make a videogame out of the immensely popular fighting league. "EA Sports told us, 'You're not a real sport. We wouldn't touch this thing. We want nothing to do with this,'" White said.
That's when the UFC went to THQ, who indeed acquired the license, and just recently released UFC 2009 Undisputed. "We put our asses on the line, THQ and the UFC, to make a video-game deal in the worst economy in the world," White explained. "We go out there and do this thing, and it's successful, and now [expletive] EA Sports wants to do a video game. Really? That's not what you told us a year-and-a-half ago.
"You told us you'd never be in business with us," White continued. "They wouldn't even take a meeting because mixed martial arts disgusted them. This wasn't a real sport. Boy, they got over that real quick, didn't they?"
White also defended his decision to blacklist fighters who sign on to EA's game by saying it's the right decision for the league. "You know what the difference is? I'm in the mixed martial arts business. EA isn't," he said. "EA doesn't give a [expletive] about mixed martial arts. They made that very clear."
Regardless, EA's MMA game is planned for release next year.
"I'm not tap-dancing around this thing or whatever," White said in an interview with MMAJunkie.com (via Shacknews). "I'm telling you straight-up, I'm at war with them right now. That's how I look at it."
But what caused this brouhaha in the first place? In the interview, White insists EA started it when the company refused to treat the UFC seriously when they were first approached with the offer to make a videogame out of the immensely popular fighting league. "EA Sports told us, 'You're not a real sport. We wouldn't touch this thing. We want nothing to do with this,'" White said.
That's when the UFC went to THQ, who indeed acquired the license, and just recently released UFC 2009 Undisputed. "We put our asses on the line, THQ and the UFC, to make a video-game deal in the worst economy in the world," White explained. "We go out there and do this thing, and it's successful, and now [expletive] EA Sports wants to do a video game. Really? That's not what you told us a year-and-a-half ago.
"You told us you'd never be in business with us," White continued. "They wouldn't even take a meeting because mixed martial arts disgusted them. This wasn't a real sport. Boy, they got over that real quick, didn't they?"
White also defended his decision to blacklist fighters who sign on to EA's game by saying it's the right decision for the league. "You know what the difference is? I'm in the mixed martial arts business. EA isn't," he said. "EA doesn't give a [expletive] about mixed martial arts. They made that very clear."
Regardless, EA's MMA game is planned for release next year.