Darren Rovell was very early to report that the UFC had interest in selling the company to WME-IMG. When the ESPN business reporter published those rumors back in May, president Dana White denied that the UFC was for sale and basically called Rovell a liar who was bad at his job.
LOL: @danawhite says UFC is not for sale and that I'm not a "fan of facts." We had 5 independent sources on this pic.twitter.com/ST17klo1XK
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) May 11, 2016
Say what you want about Rovell, but — as it turns out — he was dead-on with his reporting of a potential sale. The UFC was officially handed over to WME-IMG for $4 billion earlier this month. Though much richer because of the deal, White had to take the L for his harsh criticism of Rovell.
But that hasn’t stopped the UFC prez from going at Rovell once again, this time after he reported that the acquisition had gone sour.
Not sure there's been an acquisition that has soured as quickly as the UFC. Have to wonder what protections WME-IMG has before deal closes.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) July 20, 2016
White clearly didn’t appreciate Rovell’s sleuthing, and he fired back by calling him a “total douche.”
he doesn't hate UFC he's just a total douche who needs to talk about just about anything to stay employed.
— danawhite (@danawhite) July 20, 2016
It’s still a bit of a mystery whether or not the deal has actually gone sour — and, if so, for what reason — but if we’ve learned anything over the past couple of months, it’s that we can’t rule Rovell out even if White strongly denies what he reports.
Rovell hasn’t responded to White’s latest verbal assault. Maybe he’s waiting for another round of vindication to do the trash talking for him.
(Via Bro Bible)
