Kemal
15-02-2011, 19:30
After Fedor Emelianenko (http://www.mmafighting.com/tag/Fedor+Emelianenko/) lost on Saturday night's Strikeforce card, UFC President Dana White (http://www.mmafighting.com/tag/Dana+White/) went wild on Twitter, where he ripped Fedor's management at M-1 Global for, in White's view, tarnishing Fedor's legacy by keeping him away from fighting in the sport's premier promotion.
White's tweets included comments like, "Fedor has been fighting bums for years!" and "Last nights fight was a set up for Fedor to win and he got his face smashed!" Many of the tweets included profane insults about Fedor's managers and fans, some of whom were using Twitter to argue with White about Fedor's legacy.
But while White was animated and many of his Twitter correspondents were, too, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker (http://www.mmafighting.com/tag/Scott+Coker/) said he didn't get worked up about any of it.
In fact, Coker told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that he's just glad to know White was watching Showtime on Saturday night.
"At least the guy's watching, right? He's watching Strikeforce," Coker said. "As long as he wants to keep watching Strikeforce that's a good thing."
Coker refrained from criticizing White on the matter, but Coker did criticize one of his own business partners, M-1 Global's Evgeni Kogan, who responded to White on Saturday night.
"Easy to be a prick tweeting on your phone, isn't it? Come see us and say it to Vadim's face - we're in 'Jersey, coward," Kogan wrote in a tweet directed to White a few hours after Fedor's loss.
Coker said he thought it was silly for Kogan to respond that way.
"That's childish, 'Come to Jersey,'" Coker said. "Like Evgeni -- what's he gonna do?"
For his part, Coker said he admires the way White has worked to build the UFC and thinks that both promotions can coexist successfully.
"I respect Dana and what he's done," Coker said. "Their success is great and our success is great, too."
White's tweets included comments like, "Fedor has been fighting bums for years!" and "Last nights fight was a set up for Fedor to win and he got his face smashed!" Many of the tweets included profane insults about Fedor's managers and fans, some of whom were using Twitter to argue with White about Fedor's legacy.
But while White was animated and many of his Twitter correspondents were, too, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker (http://www.mmafighting.com/tag/Scott+Coker/) said he didn't get worked up about any of it.
In fact, Coker told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that he's just glad to know White was watching Showtime on Saturday night.
"At least the guy's watching, right? He's watching Strikeforce," Coker said. "As long as he wants to keep watching Strikeforce that's a good thing."
Coker refrained from criticizing White on the matter, but Coker did criticize one of his own business partners, M-1 Global's Evgeni Kogan, who responded to White on Saturday night.
"Easy to be a prick tweeting on your phone, isn't it? Come see us and say it to Vadim's face - we're in 'Jersey, coward," Kogan wrote in a tweet directed to White a few hours after Fedor's loss.
Coker said he thought it was silly for Kogan to respond that way.
"That's childish, 'Come to Jersey,'" Coker said. "Like Evgeni -- what's he gonna do?"
For his part, Coker said he admires the way White has worked to build the UFC and thinks that both promotions can coexist successfully.
"I respect Dana and what he's done," Coker said. "Their success is great and our success is great, too."