It's on.

HBO claims that their decision to air a high-profile boxing match on the same night as UFC 103 was entirely unintentional. When Dana White and the UFC are already engaged in a counter-programming battle with Strikeforce, they're probably not going to see it as unintentional. They're going to declare war.

White addressed the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Juan Manuel Marquez bout, a Golden Boy Promotions production, in a Youtube video in which he slams Mayweather, Marquez and boxing altogether.

White's logic is a bit wobbly as he hollers about how "boxing is giving you the fight you didn't want" and that "nobody in this room even knows who Floyd's fighting!" White instead suggests that people pay to watch Rich Franklin battle Vitor Belfort, who hasn't fought in the UFC since 2004 and will be a stranger to casual fans. Not only that, but this fight takes place at an irrelevant catchweight of 195 lbs.

The fact remains that the UFC took time to make an attack ad and attempt to derail HBO's event.

Mark Taffet, senior vice president of HBO pay-per-view, expressed a total lack of concern. According to him, there's only a five-percent overlap between boxing and MMA fans, anyway.

What he's overlooking is that the UFC is always aggressively seeking to expand their fan base.

The UFC is raising entire generations up on MMA and infiltrating new cultural and international markets all the time. It's becoming a cultural heritage, which is the main advantage boxing has over MMA right now.

This is not the first time the UFC has butted heads with Golden Boy. In July, the UFC countered Affliction: Banned with Ultimate Fight Night: Silva vs. Irvin. Banned was co-promoted by Golden Boy.

White and company have a history of running their competition into the ground, and now they're giving HBO and Golden Boy the worst kind of fight: the kind of fight they didn't even want.

Comments (4)

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OMalley said:

... I applaud Zuffa and White for the strides they have obviously made since the beginning. But this is absurd. White proves with his statement of "nobody in this room even knows who Floyd's fighting!", that we'd be more likely to see him at a NASCAR event than a thinking man's boxing match. This fight is heralded by those in the know as a great match up between two of boxing's best. Mayweather is an boxing ICON that has always fought the best and made them look like amateurs. Dana White may surround himself with mouth breathing morons that have no idea who Jaun Manuel Marquez is but that does not speak for even the casual fan of boxing. White seems to believe if he says something loud enough and enough times it will become fact. He is way off the mark in this case. HBO hit the nail on the head - 5% is a share HBO doesn't care about because they have determined the money it would cost vs the money they would garnish from pursuing that 5% is not a viable option. It's too bad Dana doesn't have the same cla*s or sense as HBO.

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September 13, 2009
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darms said:

	You are in total error Do me a favor: stop repeating that the bankrupt fert*ttas' frontman handles things at zuffa. This is simply not true. And by the way, the whole of combat sports is in a battle with the fert*ttas and their frontmen. They want to make combat sports into professional touring theater like the wwe. We cannot accept this.
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September 13, 2009 | url
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OMalley said:

	... Darms - you are one who speaks the truth. Thanks for not drinking the kool-aid.
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September 13, 2009
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Dom Velando said:

	I am not in total error. darms: I never said Dana White is in control, which is why I repeatedly said "the UFC". Please don't direct your hatred of the UFC towards me.
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September 15, 2009
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