3. International Mafia Troubles
A Las Vegas cage fighting group having mafia troubles seems like something out of a movie, but it's true, UFC President Dana White has spoke openly of his problems with the Yakuza in Japan and Mafia in Mexico. White surprised a lot of people when he openly cited the Yakuza as a reason why UFC have failed to fully capitalise on their purchase of Japan's PRIDE fighting championship. The japanese PRIDE group was a globally recognized brand, but UFC did almost nothing with it. "We had plans for Pride, we were going to do Japanese shows, but the mafia runs that place and it is very hard to do business over there, Whit told Fighters Only magazine. That basically killed the brand. The UFC president has since admitted those comments were unwise, with fan speculation that he's now on the Yakuza's hitlist! There's also been trouble for White in Mexico, where he stated UFC was struggling to promote because "basically because five families control all of Mexico. Then there was UFC's protracted and ultimately failed bid to sign MMA legend Fedor Emelianenkno. Fedor's russian agents had White flown out to a private island where they tried to thrash a deal out, with White commenting on the shady circumstances. Fedor ended up returning to Russia where he was later pictured with Vladmir Putin. A further note on White and the mob, he originally left Boston out of fear after crossing infamous gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger (the man who inspired 2006's The Departed movie). White had promoted boxing on Whitey's patch, he got threatened, and bought a one way ticket to Las Vegas. The rest as they say is history.