Dana White Rips CBS And Strikeforce For Post-Fight Brawl

UFC President Dana White and Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker find themselves agreeing on one thing – the post-fight melee that took place at the conclusion of the Jake Shields – Dan Henderson bout at Strikeforce: Nashville this past weekend was an embarrassment. White told Kevin Ole of Yahoo! Sports that CBS should be ashamed for aligning themselves with Strikforce.

“Everyone knows that they [Strikeforce] didn’t belong on CBS,” White said. “Even if you’re the biggest UFC hater out there, you know that. Shame on CBS for this. They knew they should have been with us, but they went out and let those Showtime idiots talk them into going with Elite XC.

“Now, they’re stuck with a bush league, C-level promotion that will probably be out of business next month,” he added. “And what you saw on Saturday is the kind of thing that happens when you put a product like that on national television.”

After dominating Dan Henderson for a unanimous decision victory to retain his middleweight crown, Jason “Mayhem” Miller interrupted Jake Shields during his post-fight interview. Miller asked Shields for a rematch from their bout last November, where Shields defeated Miller to win the vacant title via unanimous decision.

Shields reacted to the interruption by shoving Miller, who was then attacked by members of Shields’ training camp, which included Strikeforce champs Gilbert Melendez and Nick Diaz, as well as his brother, UFC fighter Nate Diaz. White noted that although Nate was involved in the brawl, he won’t face any punishment from the UFC.

“Have you ever seen him do that at one of my shows?” White asked.

As the brawl took place, CBS play-by-player announcer Gus Johnson pleaded for the fighters to stop, reminding them that they were on national television.

“When have you seen anything remotely close to that happen at a UFC event?” White asked. “What kind of ridiculous commentary was that? That was an idiotic thing to say. And then he was yelling at them to stop, telling them they are on national television. That was just another example of how bush league they are.”

Meanwhile, the Tennessee Athletic Commission is investigating the incident. Coker noted that he would take action over the incident once he has reviewed the footage, stating, “obviously, there’s suspensions and there’s going to be sanctions, things like that that we can do, but I want to take a look at the footage.

“Let’s see who threw the first punch or blow, because I didn’t see it [he was headed for the press conference when the melee broke out]. It has no room in our sport because the sport is young. It has no room in any league. When this happens, it affects the entire sport.”