UFC President: EA Sports doesn't care about MMA

13.07.2009
Get ready for a fight: UFC and EA Sports are officially going to war in the MMA market. Ultimate Fighting Championship and THQ's success with (over sold in a single month) has generated some competition in EA Sports, who recently announced their own mixed martial arts title, appropriately titled . UFC President Dana White is not happy with the developer, who reportedly refused a previous partnership.

In a expletive-laden interview with , Dana White lambasted EA Sports for attempting to cash-in on MMA's newfound popularity after the company refused prior approaches to a video game deal. According to White, EA Sports said to the UFC that mixed martial arts was "not a real sport," and that the company wanted nothing to do with them. However, EA Sports is now directly challenging THQ and the UFC, during a press conference at this year's E3 show.

"It's easy to sit on the other side of the table and judge me on how I react to stuff like this," White said. "But let me tell you what -- I've been in the trenches for almost 10 years, and I've been dealing with all these businesses, and EA was one of them."

"We put our asses on the line, THQ and the UFC, to make a video-game deal in the worst economy in the world," White said. "We go out there and do this thing, and it's successful, and now [expletive] EA Sports wants to do a video game. Really? That's not what you told us a year-and-a-half ago.

"You told us you'd never be in business with us. They wouldn't even take a meeting because mixed martial arts disgusted them. This wasn't a real sport. Boy, they got over that real quick, didn't they?"

With UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia already announced as headliners for EA Sports MMA, Dana White is already drawing a line in the sand for the rest of his roster. Sign up with EA Sports and "You won't be in the UFC."