“Electronic Arts Doesn’t Give A #$%& About Mixed Martial Arts”

By Akela Talamasca on July 13th, 2009

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To be clear, I don’t know what word was used in place of the string of characters in the title, but Dana White said it, so you can probably pick and choose. The president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship has come out swinging against video game publishing titan Electronic Arts. During the post-UFC 100 press conference, White made it very clear how he feels about EA’s decision to create an MMA fighting game.

Apparently White had tried to interest EA in an MMA game, but was told in strong terms that the publisher wasn’t interested. “You told us you’d never be in business with us. 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’s strategy is to blacklist any current UFC fighter who goes over to EA for inclusion in their announced MMA title. “I’m telling you straight-up, I’m at war with them right now. That’s how I look at it.” Given all the controversy over the fighter who balked at having his likeness used in the UFC’s own THQ-published game “UFC Undisputed 2009″, we know that White’s not just blowing smoke; he’ll do it.

Is it at all possible for EA to apologize to White and make this whole thing friendly again? Probably not, so it will be interesting to see who they get to be in their MMA game. There are maybe a handful of non-UFC fighters that are well-enough-known that their inclusion would be of interest — Fedor Emilianenko, Cung Le, Frank and Ken Shamrock, former UFC fighter Tito Ortiz, etc. Would that be enough to make EA’s game a success? Honestly, I’m just happy I’ve been able to use fake swearing in two back-to-back posts.