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However, White now says that those comments, made to longtime MMAJunkie reporter John Morgan, were not "on the record" quotes, and were not meant for publication. He tried to soften the impact of those comments with an explanation that it was behind the scenes frustrations, and he apologized to Showtime for the fact that those words were published in the first place
"I would like to say the story that came out recently, about things that were said, was supposed to be a private conversation, and not said in front of the whole world," White said in a video interview with Ariel Helwani at MMAFighting.com. "MMAJunkie wrote a story that was supposed to be a private conversation between me and the gentleman who wrote it. Despite our creative differences, between me and Showtime, the guys over there, I do not dislike. I don't hate these guys, I don't have any ill will towards them, and I would never say anything publicly like that to embarrass the network, or embarrass them. What happens between a bunch of men behind the scenes when they're doing business needs to be left behind the scenes sometimes."
"That was never meant to be public. Right here, right now I'd like to publicly apologize for that stuff being printed for the whole world to read. It was never meant to be. Those were private conversations that I had that no way in hell should have ever been published. Those weren't quotes from me. The way that this normally works when you work with a journalist is you sit down, you have a topic you're being interviewed about, [they ask] 'can I quote you on that? Is that a quote.' That was never done, it was never done that way, it was never meant to be a story, and the guy who wrote it knows it."
White explained that indeed there were creative differences between himself and the main producer at Showtime, but said it wasn't a personal animosity and he'll basically just not be involved with Strikeforce so long as this particular individual is calling the production shots.
"We had four meetings, and obviously there's some creative differences between me and the producer of the show," he said. "This guy's not a bad guy. He and I have some issues with each other as far as where we are creatively. Creatively we have some differences, let's put it that way, and we're always gonna. Let's put it this way, he's not going to be sending me any f***ing Christmas cards anytime soon, we're not going to be hanging out, especially after that story. But, everything that was in there has been said to each other behind the scenes."
"If I saw him out publicly, he's a very nice guy, I would walk over and say 'hi' to him, shake his hand, it doesn't matter that we can't get along creatively. But that's basically what happened. We don't get along creatively; and while he has that type of power, I won't be 'in the mix.'"
Penick's Analysis: I don't know that this necessarily changes any perception on those comments, because it was how he felt when he said it; but it wasn't meant to be released as an interview, and he may have been harsher than he otherwise would have thinking it wasn't getting out to the public. Still, the creative differences between the two sides are real, and if that means a working relationship isn't going to happen, it very well still could be that White is just waiting for this current contract to come to an end before he and the UFC do whatever they feel like with Strikeforce's roster. This is a story that will be picked up on again later in the year, but clearly he's not happy it's a story at all right now.
[Dana White art by Travis Beaven (c) MMATorch.com]
Ebenezer Fontes Braga Chris Brennan Marcelo Brito Rob Broughton Mike Brown
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