Dana White: Bob Arum Is Getting Cornholed On ESPN

Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank via Getty Images

Dana White and Bob Arum may share a broadcast partner, but that certainly doesn’t make them better friends because of it.

White and Arum have been involved in a decades long back and forth feud, with neither man willing to pass up an opportunity to roast the other. Arum was one of the loudest voices calling White an irresponsible ‘cowboy’ for holding events so soon during the Coronavirus pandemic, with Dana responding in typically forceful fashion. Following Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 10 card from from the APEX compound in Las Vegas, White saw another opportunity to diss Bob.

“So many people are watching, this is everybody’s time to shine,” White said regarding the state of the sport during the Coronavirus pandemic. “The sport is at a whole other level right now, you know what I mean?”

“When we first started on ESPN, if you look at the ESPN totem pole, you had NFL, Major League Baseball, NBA, these guys, right?” he continued. “And we were down like … we were one notch above Cornhole. Okay? Now we sit in a much better place on the ESPN totem pole than we did when we signed this deal a year and a half ago.”

“By the way, Cornhole almost out-rated Top Rank the other night for their fights. So congratulations to Top Rank. Bob Arum, give him a shout out.”

“Good job, Bob. You’re f**king brilliant. You dickhead.”

White may not want to crow too much about ratings just yet. While being the first sport back last month definitely garnered the promotion some brownie points with ESPN and UFC 249 reportedly did gangbuster PPV numbers, ratings for some of the Fight Night level cards and prelims have struggled to hit pre-COVID numbers. Which is kind of strange considering there’s little else going on (well, other than a pandemic and mass protests of course).

With viewership numbers clearly tied to the fame of fighters appearing on the cards, it might be a bit premature to throw stones at Arum’s first boxing events back before the glass house ratings of a Jessica Eye vs. Cynthia Carvillo main event card come in. We’re sure Bob Arum will fill us in on that in the coming days.

Or maybe Cornhole is just fire and needs to be checked out? I’d look into it, but I’d hate to contribute to the embarrassment of UFC ending up back in the same ratings neighborhood.