Renowned boxing trainer and analyst Teddy Atlas believes boxing could use a “dictator.”
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has gained quite a bit of steam over the last few years. From having the reputation of being glorified “human cockfighting” to becoming a legitimate combat sport, mixed martial arts has grown beyond expectations thanks in large part to the UFC. One man who takes a good chunk of the credit is UFC president Dana White.
Atlas Says Boxing Needs A Dictator
Atlas took to his podcast to explain how boxing could learn from the UFC (via BJPenn.com):
“I’ll tell you how it changes, make boxing the UFC. Get Dana White, it’s not happening, but he’s a dictator. You know what, dictators usually are not good but sometimes in some places, they can be useful.
“The UFC and the building of that product, the development, the building, and the growing of the UFC — and boy did they grow — was because they have a dictator. Because the dictator can make all the rules. There was no separate powers. There’s no one saying we are fighting on our network, or our network, or our network, and we do what we want to do. There was one place, one guy laying the rules out. You fight him, or you’re out.
“You know what? That’s why he [Dana White] grew that sport and he grew that product because he can demand competitive fights. That’s what you’re asking for. You just want competitive fights, that’s all the fans are asking for. He [White] can do it, because he’s a dictator.”
Atlas’ tone is a far cry from his take on MMA back in 2009. While Atlas insisted that he wasn’t knocking the sport, at the time he claimed that MMA wasn’t a “pimple on the ass of boxing.”
What do you make of older boxing figures changing their tone on MMA?
