{"id":98233,"date":"2014-05-21T12:50:09","date_gmt":"2014-05-21T19:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=98233"},"modified":"2022-02-06T11:37:57","modified_gmt":"2022-02-06T19:37:57","slug":"white-smashes-journalist-over-anti-barao-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/ufcnews\/white-smashes-journalist-over-anti-barao-comments\/","title":{"rendered":"White Smashes Journalist Over Anti-Barao Comments"},"content":{"rendered":"

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UFC President Dana White has done his best to sell Renan Barao as a legit draw in the sport.<\/p>\n

With a headlining slot on this weekend’s pay-per-view and near historic low PPV buys this year, the UFC boss needs some people to bite on that idea.<\/p>\n

A recent Ben Fowlkes article<\/a> brings Barao’s star-power into question and Dana isn’t having it.<\/p>\n

Here’s a few words from Fowlkes:<\/p>\n

First Barao was a “monster.” Then he was a “killer.” Now he\u2019s “the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world,” according to White, and just in case you aren\u2019t buying that, he\u2019ll go ahead and bury you with stats. Because nothing gets fans fired up for a title fight quite like math.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to blame the UFC too much. On paper, Barao should be a superstar. His unbeaten streak is legitimately impressive, even if the first few years of it came against regional nobodies, and even if White apparently felt the need to fudge some of those numbers when touting Barao\u2019s stats (“The kid hasn\u2019t lost a fight in 35 fights,” said White, which isn\u2019t exactly true, since Barao is 32-1 according to Sherdog and 28-1 according to MMA.tv).<\/em><\/p>\n

But if Barao\u2019s struggle to go big time tells us anything, it might be that skill doesn\u2019t sell as much as we\u2019d like to pretend it does. Not by itself, anyway. Not if it comes wrapped up in the package of a 135-pound fighter who doesn\u2019t speak much English, doesn\u2019t have much in the way of an identifiable personality, and \u2013 let\u2019s just be real here \u2013 looks a little bit goofy.<\/em><\/p>\n

And Dana’s response:<\/p>\n

\n

@benfowlkesMMA<\/a> if you don't know how good Renan is u should cover another sport<\/p>\n

— Dana White (@danawhite) May 20, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n