News Dana White lashes out at Stephen Espinoza, calls #Showtime exec ‘a complete phony’

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David Street said:
3 Gates of over $20 million this year!! Dang someone needs to replace Showtime boxing quickly, if Showtime is really leaving boxing.
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Those 3 gates are PPV PBC/Showtime events … tank vs Garcia …. Spence vs Crawford… Canelo vs charlo … remember “If” Showtime leaves boxing they are going to keep doing PPV ‘s … so this big fights will continue on their platform
 
MMALOPEZ said:
Those 3 gates are PPV PBC/Showtime events … tank vs Garcia …. Spence vs Crawford… Canelo vs charlo … remember “If” Showtime leaves boxing they are going to keep doing PPV ‘s … so this big fights will continue on their platform
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Good point. But makes the issue of if it is PBC that's leaving with their regular fights then why would they leave their Pay-for-View events with them?
 
David Street said:
Good point. But makes the issue of if it is PBC that's leaving with their regular fights then why would they leave their Pay-for-View events with them?
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Nobody knows …. I think PBC will do what’s best for them and run the company with multiple outlets just like they did before with Showtime and Fox ….
 
KowboyMMA said:
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Despite working together in 2017, Ultimate Fighting Championship chief Dana White and Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza are anything but friends.

On Tuesday, following the eighth episode on the 2023 season of Dana White's Contender Series, White conducted a post-fight press conference to discuss various matters from the bouts that night to current events around combat sports. Among the many topics included a rumor that came about on social media regarding Showtime’s future in boxing, specifically that Showtime would be getting out of the boxing business after 2024. White was not surprised.


“That’s incredibly unfortunate,” White remarked while wearing a wry grin. “Production of that show is fantastic, the guy who runs Showtime Boxing is a great human being…it’s unfortunate to hear this. F--- Espinoza, and it’s about time that sh--ty product is off the air.”

The President of Showtime Sports was not about to let that slide, although his response was not directly targeted at White in particular and rather the product in which White helms. At the press conference of “Canelo” Alvarez and Jermell Charlo on Wednesday, Espinoza took a swipe at the UFC while opining on the successes of Showtime Boxing over the years.

“Calling ‘Canelo’ vs. Charlo a ‘fight’ is like calling filet mignon ‘meat,’” the Showtime head suggested. “It’s like calling Lebron James a ‘basketball player,’ calling ‘The Godfather’ just a movie. This is special, this is different. When you drive down the street, you see a lot of cars, and there are cars and then there are Bugattis, there are Lamborghinis, there are Koenigseggs. Not all of them are the same, not all of boxing is the same, not all of combat sports is the same. No, what we’re doing here on Saturday night, what’s been going on all year [for Showtime Boxing] is special, it’s different, it’s not the same old boxing. It’s not like the others, and no disrespect to anyone, but there are levels to this. And what we’re doing here is the highest level of the sport.”

Espinoza continued, “The event on Saturday night will generate a gate of over $20 million. That’s a rare feat in combat sports. It’s rare in concerts or events of any kind. But this will be the third time in the last six months that we’ve done a gate of $20 million…to put that in perspective, UFC has never done a gate of $20 million in its entire history. We’ve done it three times since April.”

Within a few hours, White got the message and fired another shot across the bow, this one even more hostile than his first statement at the DWCS presser. On his Instagram Stories Wednesday night, White posted a scathing response to Espinoza. His post in full reads as follows:

“That’s exactly the type of response I would expect from that Weasel Espinoza. That scumbag has absolutely nothing to do with the success of Canelo, Ryan Garcia, and Terrence Crawford. Those guys are mega stars and they are the ones responsible for driving the dates in their fights. For him to even try and take any credit at all shows you exactly what an arrogant, delusional POS that guy is.

“For this clown to talk about ‘levels’ is hilarious. The production of the fights on Showtime is an embarrassment and I have been saying that FOREVER. He is a little guy with a BIG yap, and is a complete phony. I’m not at all surprised this is the end of them. It should have come way sooner. Sorry to see you go Weasel, enjoy your retirement. – Dana White.”

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https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/D...a-Calls-Showtime-Exec-A-Complete-Phony-191216

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Is it just me or does Dana hate Espinoza almost exclusively because Conor didn’t know who he was and called him a weasel? Or did Dana ask Conor to do that? I remember thinking how weird it was to shit on the event organizer like that.
 
TheOnlyGreatest said:
Is it just me or does Dana hate Espinoza almost exclusively because Conor didn’t know who he was and called him a weasel? Or did Dana ask Conor to do that? I remember thinking how weird it was to shit on the event organizer like that.
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It was extremely disrespectful for McGregor to call him that to his face when he's fighting on Espinoza's network. This isn't just any old exec he's the president of Showtime Sports ffs.
 
it's hard to get a read on Dana. He went from riffing on boxing to seeming genuinely pissed at how poorly run the sport is.
 
Espinoza a lawyer who used to work for Golden Boy Promotions, Inc. A smart guy, Dana came in with his own ideas which Espinoza quickly put him in his place. Old resentments... Dana never forgets, he just moves on. Do not know what Dana wants to try for his Zuffa Boxing plan but will only be a low level boxing promotion at best. TKO Group Holdings needs to buy a top boxing promotion if they want to put on the top fights.
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Kovalev's "Man Bag" said:
According to Dan Rafael and multiple other sources it did between 650–700k PPV buys. Final numbers aren't out yet since they're still being tallied.
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Yes … I heard the 700k but not final number sales yet … so it looks it did very well



@KowboyMMA
 
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TheOnlyGreatest said:
Is it just me or does Dana hate Espinoza almost exclusively because Conor didn’t know who he was and called him a weasel? Or did Dana ask Conor to do that? I remember thinking how weird it was to shit on the event organizer like that.
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I think it is more than likely that Dana and Espinoza were having issues during negotiations and at that time Dana and Conor were hand and hand, traveling around in jets together and Dana probably just told Conor to hate Espinoza and Conor being the little lap dog he is he followed suit
 
Dana has said Al Haymon saved the event, and now claims he will only work with Al Haymon and Eddie Hearn. Bob Arum for many years called MMA that 'gay sport', and Oscar De La Hoya also went through a period insulting MMA, before he tried creating his own MMA promotion. Espinoza wasn't a MMA fan either wonder if he has changed his mind...
 
PBAC said:
it's hard to get a read on Dana. He went from riffing on boxing to seeming genuinely pissed at how poorly run the sport is.
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Dana is an insecure man flailing about trying to grow a sport that has outgrown him. He's terrified that boxing keeps taking his biggest stars and giving them huge paydays, or his washed out past champs and making them look like chumps.

And he's powerless to stop it so he rages until he becomes a meme.
 
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