8. GSP Walked Away... And Criticised Drug Testing In The UFC
Isaac Brekken/AP/Press Association ImagesIt's never a good thing when your biggest draw walks away. GSP, after beating Johnny Hendricks in November 2013, gave a bit of a confused speech in the octagon, saying he wanted a break, but not actually saying he was retiring. Dana White would lose his mind in the press in the following weeks, not really thinking about the damage he might be doing to the relationship between him and his star. He criticised GSP leaving the sport. He would side with Johnny Hendricks in claiming Hendricks won the fight (it was close, but not nearly as controversial as some past bouts). He would even try to claim that GSP would return in 2014. That a rematch between Hendricks and the victorious GSP was a done deal. It was a stupid, stupid move on White's part. See, in GSP's case, White isn't the hand that feeds. It's the other way around. GSP is the draw, not Dana White. Fans buy PPVs to watch GSP fight. They don't pay to listen to Dana White rant. Worse, on the way out the door, GSP brought up drug testing in the UFC. GSP wanted to make a difference. He wanted to clean up the sport. According to MMA Fighting journalist Shaun Al-Shatti, GSP was "adamant that the drug testing issue was something he said to Lorenzo and Dana behind the scenes." Lorenzo of course being Lorenzo Fertitta, UFC co-owner. And there was this comment, in a video-taped, widely circulated video scrum from Montreal: "I tried to do something to change the sport. Unfortunately, there were other people, for different reasons, maybe for money, in fear of losing money, because if you canceled the fight because someone tested positive there are millions of dollars (lost). Also, the sport's image - If you start testing everyone, how many will get caught? I don't want to say in public because I don't want to accuse anyone, but the sport's image will be hurt." Has anything improved? No. Is GSP going to fight in 2014? No. A GSP-less 2014 is not what Dana White wanted, especially with Anderson Silva out as well.