Open Letter to Dana White

[hermit78]

Dear Dana White,

I write to you as a disappoint and somewhat angry UFC fan. I love the UFC, and sadly it does take a lot of my free time. I have personally purchased every pay-per-view event that I could from UFC 70 to the present UFC 104, with just two exceptions (UFC 97 which I attended live, and UFC 102, which was the same day at my Father-in-laws birthday). In Canada I am asked to pay $59.99 on Rogers cable to watch the events live in HD. I do this gladly. I am however not here to toot my own horn, or to say how big of a fan I am, but am here to say what I think many of my fellow fight fans feel, and that is as a result of UFC 104 I feel ripped off, perhaps cheated.

As the proprietor of a product, there is a responsibility on your side to ensure that your product is good. If I felt this way about a physical product, I would simply go back to where ever I purchased the product and demand a refund. I realize in this case this expectation is impossible. The logistics behind finding out who purchased the event, which cable company it was purchased from, and so on, would be time consuming and probably too costly. That is fine, you have my money, keep it.

What I am here to ask for, is that you do not take any more of my money based on this sham of a main event. One of the things I respect about you, and I am sure my fellow fight fans would agree, is how straight forward you are. It is encouraging that as the head of the organization you are willing to offer your own opinion on a major fight that contradicts the actual outcome. I applaud you for that. I do not believe any other organizations front man would do the same. Part of the appeal that the UFC has is you. You carry yourself as a fight fan that happens to also run the show, thank you for that.

Regardless of our respect of you, we do currently have the problem. Although I am happy with a Machida vs. Shogun rematch, I will have a problem with being asked to once again pay $59.99 to watch it. I have already done this. The UFC should not profit from this situation. What I ask is that you either put the rematch free on Spike TV, or simply add it to an already announced pay-per-view, making a super card (rather than one which 3 of the 10 pay-per-view fighters come in over weight).

As fans, I think we deserve this. As an organization, I think you owe it to us. I will not threaten you with a boycott, or a commitment to not purchase the next pay-per-view, or even a silly pledge to watch another organization, because none of that would be true. You have me. I am a UFC fan. If I am asked to once again pay money to watch this fight, I would do it. All I have is the ability to appeal to your sense of fairness.

I have no real way to make sure that you actually get to see this, so my plan is to post if on MMA websites. What I ask my fellow MMA fans to do, is either comment with agreement, or write your own letter to Dana. This is not right. We have been asked to pay for a professional program, and were given amateur hour. Please Dana, I know you have said you hear the fans, please respect us enough to understand that asking us to once again pay to watch this match-up is wrong.

Sincerely,

Andrew Gallagher
UFC Fight Fan and Fight Club Member