Friday, September 11, 2009

Boxing's Bob Arum Says UFC Fans Are Skinheads, Fighters "Like Homosexuals"

Bob Arum, one of the most well known promoters in the boxing world, did his best in a recent interview with AOL Fanhouse's Ariel Helwani to characterize MMA, and UFC in particular, fans and fighters, as the worst common denomanator in combat sports.

"UFC fans are a bunch of skinhead white guys who are watching a bunch of people in the ring who also look like skinhead white guys," said Arum. "For me and people like me, it's not something they ever care to see... guys rolling around like homosexuals on the ground. It is not a sport that shows great, great talent. The guys who throw punches can't throw a punch to save their ass. When the punches land, the guys have no chins.

"(The Fertittas and Dana White) have done a marvelous job promoting UFC, but for me it's junk, it's garbage."

(Below is the video interview that Helwani conducted. The UFC comments begin about 4:10 into the interview.)


61 comments:

Anonymous said...

what a dumbass. I've never seen so much ignorance in a interview.....

Anonymous said...

An ignorant old fool deserves a ground pummeling - preferably with elbows - from another old fool like Don Frye.

Cy said...

man i hope the gay groups hear of this. it will be awesome for this guy to be publicly humiliated. "rolling around like homosexuals". what a dumbass. LOL!!! for this to be solved, just put mayweather or mosely in with bj penn or st pierre and they would be destroyed. these guys do not understand that boxing is only PART of mma. what a loser!!

Cy said...

boxing promoters just fear MMA takeover!!!

Anonymous said...

your marked for assasination arum

Anonymous said...

First off, does someone like Frye look like a homosexual? There are so many things wrong with this guy's statements that I don't know exactly where to start. First off, stating that the fans are a bunch of skinheads is just plain racist. Then comparing ground fighting as resembling "homosexuals" is just homophobic. And lastly, to state that MMA fighters have not skill or chin is stupid, seeing how many train with professional boxing coaches, such as Freddie Roach, and then to point out the obvious, those big ol' boxing gloves probably provide a little more padding than a typical MMA glove. This guy needs to go back to the 1930's, because being highly skilled as a martial artist is too much for his weathered mind to fathom. Peace.

Anonymous said...

THIS GUY IS A FUCKING JOKE! BOXING IS DEAD! GIVE UP!

Anonymous said...

Good God i hope Anderson DESTROYS Roy Jones Jr. when he retires so at least some of this nonsense can stop.... But its probably not going to happen. Roy Jones by KO.

Anonymous said...

This guy must be the biggest moron I have ever seen!!!

Anonymous said...

this is the dumbest shit i have ever heard. white black and mexicans watch mma. i hope ab blows his fuckn head off

Anonymous said...

i want to see Rogan Debate with this guy like he did with that boxing promoter.

JohnnyZ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JohnnyZ said...

The most important question of the interview was not answered: "If they are two different sports, why take a shot"?

Hank Aaron was a great player in so many facets of the game that all those who feared him could do is attack his skin color. People went as far as death threats when he was about to break a hallowed record.

FEAR!

Fuzzy Zoellar,when asked about Tiger Woods winning the green jacket and being in the clubhouse in I believe Augusta Georgia he referenced fried chicken not being on the menu. You think he was indirectly speaking to caucasion fans to divert their attention from the young champions brilliant golf game?

HATE

Jimmy "The Greek" speaking out on the physical differences in body make-up being the reason "those people" have athletic advantages.

Ignorance


I understand MMA fans and fighters aren't an ethnic group, but the boxing purists that speak out against MMA use these same harmful ingrediants as tactics to try to detract new fans, or change the minds of exsisting fans.If 1.7 million isn't correct and you know the numbers, name your source Mr. Arum. If your'e not scared of referencing homosexuals and so called skinheads in todays pc society, you must be desperate to get your message out their. If you are going to go that route, why the hell would you insult the biggest draw boxing has in Mayweather????

Oh yeah.... Fear....Hate....Ignorance!!!!
(if any of my facts on the examples above were wrong, I apologize. They were just written off memory)

Anonymous said...

This guy is a jackass! And props to the interviewer for not backing down and staying composed through the interview.

Anonymous said...

This is just a salty old timer speaking his mind. He has some valid point about some of the fan base evidenced by some of the crap that gets said on a lot of web forums. I happen to be black and the only my Caucasian friends are into mma like I am so there are some half truths and warped point mixed in with old dude close mindedness.It just painfully obvious that he has no concept of the beauty of ground fighting.

Anonymous said...

now THAT'S some funny shit!!! And all that from an ignorant dinosour!!!LOL!!!

Shocked_n_Awed said...

Smacks of desperation from a dinosaur who knows his time has come... I'm already looking forward to his apology to the fags - nothing like watching a homophobe shoot his mouth off for a camera and then have to eat crow two or three days later!

Anonymous said...

Bob must have dementia or some other mental defect. He's just talking jibberish and doesn't know what he saying. Manny should fire his dumbass. Im Filipino and I love the UFC. Bob get your facts straight you old racist homophobic fart!!!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like this old bastard has some underlying racist issues.

Boxing is dead & so are these old farts who run around acting like it isn't.

Anonymous said...

What a douche!

Anonymous said...

I love how in the beginning he defines black people as ethnic lol...the Tim Silvia fight gave boxing more ammo, fuckin' ass Tim...

Anonymous said...

I am a Mexican and have stop watching boxing for over two years now and have switch over to MMA. Have ordered almost all UFC events. What a DumbAss Bob is.

Anonymous said...

boxing is showing it's true colors. It's full of ignorance and hatred towars MMA because boxing is dieing a slow death. Mayweather is a racist and I will never pay money to see him fight again. All MMA fans boycott boxing don't watch the mayweather and show the dumbass in boxing that MMA is taking over

Anonymous said...

And to wonder why boxing is dead. All the dirty promotors killed it.

Anonymous said...

Frye actually looks like a heavy versin of Freddy Mercury.

Anonymous said...

this guys has one foot in the grave so who gives a shit what he says, im 31 white myself and yet to meet a "skinhead" or a kkk guy let alone a gay one, im glad ufc is here to show the world what real fighting is, not a bunch off hyped up monkey shows with no talent for anything other than thier mouths

Anonymous said...

Boxing is garbage!!!ur a faggot and I would love to smash ur face, u old washed up racist sloppy piece of shit. Fuck ur life!!! Ur ignorant and don't have the slightest idea what the fuck ur talking about. MMA fighters are some of the most talented and hard working people out there, and if u tried traing for just one day u would realize that. I would love to c how u would take a punch with a 4oz glove. Lets c ur technique on how to throw a proper punch cause im pretty sure my 7 yr old cousin could throw a better punch that u.

Anonymous said...

waht ignorance...the interviewer should have put him in a rear naked choke

Anonymous said...

beauty is in the eye of the beholder. this guy seems to want to see homosexuals, my guess is he does on a daily basis in the comfort of his own bedroom.

JohnnyZ said...

Michael says,"Frye looks like a heavy version of Freddy Mercury".

Ever try using your own sense of humor? That joke was Tank Abbotts way back in an early UFC. He was actually talking about Dan Severn. Well timed joke theft when Arum just said MMAers look like homosexuals. Michael is officially a douscebag idiot.

Anonymous said...

props to the interviewer 4 letting this guy know he wasnt on the same page... nice work

Anonymous said...

what an ass.MMA is made up from a number of olympic sports yet this dinosaur says its junk.take a closer at boxing mate then you will see what is junk

Anonymous said...

Hope that old has been croakes soon ..... he's an ignorant senile old puke with no class.I even used to admire this guy at one time but he's made himself out to look foolish.He also knows his chosen sport is hanging by a thread and will soon enough be an afterthought in the history of combat sports so I'll take this opportunity to to say goodbye boxing and all the deaths it has created over the years by way of the standing 8 second count which has contributed to more deaths than mma ever will in it's history.See ya Arum and I hope you pass soon as you're a blight on combat sports worldwide.

2ndcomingof2pac said...

Guy like this old gieser help prove that old people have trouble with new things. They would rather things stay the same as they were in the 60's when they were capable of making informed decisions. To him I say go home and have a double scotch, beat your wife and get to bed by 8:00pm. Your homo-erotic dreams do mean that you are gay and you should pay attention to them. Your stiff shot of brandy in the morning may help you forget that you want the experience of a stiff wet cock in your mouth but it doesn't change that fact.
Besides who cares what this idiot thinks. His opinion of modern sport (or anything) became irrelevant when his list of prescriptions exceeded his age. Die slow old fart

Anonymous said...

What a damn shame! Arum has done wonders for boxing, but the UFC has matched and trumped what he's done. PLUS, as a Jewish male, I take exception to another Jew calling me a freaking skinhead. Admit it Bob. You lost. You are a elderly statesman for boxing and you talk such nonsense. Boxing is not dead, but is not even close to what it once was.

Anonymous said...

The old man is speaking the truth.
UFC is predominantly a blue-collar sport.

MMA is a disgusting sport, gear towards blue collars. I work in wallstreet and NO ONE at my firm watches the UFC.

On the other hand,a high school buddy of mine who works in constructions get together with his co-workers to what UFC every month.

Boxing is also blue-collar but less so than MMA. Bottom line, most people appreciate the techniques of boxing or MMA only after they get sucked into it. And they get sucked into the violence. Everyone started watching UFC 1 because it was a real life Jean Claude VanDamme-ish tournament. No one ordered it to watch kimuras or armbars (I didn't even know what those are).

It is only after people got sucked in, they realized that there is an art behind fighting.

From day 1, MMA took a shot at boxing. Boxing didn't say anything back because MMA was nothing back then. But now, boxing is feeling it. The "skinhead rednecks" that used to watch boxing (without knowing the techniques behind boxing) switched over to MMA (they watch MMA without knowing what kimuras are).

The old man is wrong when he says boxing is NOT hurt by MMA. The hardcore boxing fans are still gonna watch boxing. But the average "skinhead" (the typical target group for WWE, MMA, and Boxing) are gonna buy MMA to quench their thirst for blood.

Anonymous said...

^ That was more ignorant than Arum. Maybe your a neanderthal, but not all are.

Anonymous said...

dana talks the same way

tdotTim said...

What's the big deal. Don't we all know a dozen people (way younger than Arum) who don't get MMA? So what. Nothing he said was all that controversial...he was being honest. He's and old school guy who clearly has always been about boxing and wasn't into martial arts in any form...so he has no interest in this new huge sport that skews very young. That doesn't make him a dumbass, or ignorant. I'm among the biggest MMA fans on the planet, and haven't watched a single boxing match in YEARS, but there is a grain of truth in his demographic picture of the fan base. I believe he said "look like skinheads", not actually skinheads. Look at the live audience at a UFC show and tell me there aren't a shit ton of white dudes with tattoos and Affliction shirts.

Even though I disagree with his opinion on MMA completely, I respect him not sugar coating his opinion...it's his opinion. STFU with all this walking on eggshells politically correct bullshit. One of the reasons I've come to respect Dana White is he doesn't really care what people think of his opinion...and hat's off to Arum for doing the same thing.

On a side not, Helwani is the best MMA interviewer I've seen and should be working for one of the big MMA promotions on air. Well I guess that would mean the UFC nowadays...anyway he's damn good.

2ndcomingof2pac said...

Hey... wall street egg-head! #1 Why did you come on this site if you don't watch mma? #2 How many times did you get your ass kicked growing up? #3 Do you think you are better than a construction worker (more important). If so would you say that to my face? #4 Are you a latent homosexual? #5 Are you saying that the Average American is a skin-head? I assume that you think you are above average. Yet you still come onto an mma website to comment on something an old biggot idiot said.
Well to you little bitch I say you are a shameful ignorant sad excuse for a boy, let alone a man. I picture you as a skinny man with a flabby stomach who got picked on relentlessly though-out his childhood. You think that this is in someway evening out what happened to you in the past. Sorry pencil dick, you and Bob are both wrong. All of my university buddies love the UFC and we all know what a kimura is. Personally, I was never a WWF, WWE fan nor was I much of a boxing fan.
But some of my buddies were. This does not mean they cannot solve a mathematical problem at an above average level.
I can go on about what a pin head you are but what's the point? Nobody is going to agree with what you said. They are just going to come up with more and more reasons why you are an idiot. You are an idiot by the way. I want you to go to a bar that shows a UFC event and ask some of the people watching the fight if they are skinheads. Tell them you work on wall street and that you think mma is beneath you... Better have a few drinks cause you are gonna get knocked out bitch.
by the way next time you come on here... leave a name.

tdotTim said...

tupac...way to prove critics of the average MMA fan right. Relax.

Anonymous said...

My wife is a 60 year old white female and she loves UFC. I often say it does look kind of homoerotic, but it is not. F Arum.

Anonymous said...

we need to put this gut in the cage!, hell i'm mexican well half and I watch every ppv, old rich fool!

Anonymous said...

Johnny Z,

I actually hadn't heard that one so to me it was original I am a fight fann in general, Boxing and MMA. It seems that you on the other hand take life a little too serious, must be one of those AL Davis nut huggers who wants to fight everyone. Trust me you wouldn't last the first five minutes. Keep your Kimbo Slice luvin ass on Youtube.

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Anonymous said...

Ignorance is dead on....doesnt this fuckin moron realize that MMA is more culturally diverse than any other sport. MMA is full of Blacks, Asians, Whites, Middle-Eastern and European fighters....AND OUR GIRLS FIGHT BETTER THEN YOUR BOXERS.

Anonymous said...

i knew that interviewer was jewish when i first saw him

2ndcomingof2pac said...

tdot Tim ... I will not apologize for having a short fuse. I like to fight. I like to call people out. I don't beat around the bush. I am not a skin head, racist, sexist and I am not an idiot. Actually I have a post secondary degree. I don't care if you or anyone criticizes me. Hence my ID. If this makes me blue collar so be it. I am an adrenaline junkie. I am a UFC fan.

Anonymous said...

JZ,

Blows Tank Abbot

Anonymous said...

Im glad the reporter said he took offence to what that old bastard was saying.Know your facts pops.

Anonymous said...

Johnny Z is a homosexual and blows Tank Abbot and Don Frye

Anonymous said...

This guy is a fucking idiot, MMA is the most amazing sport in the world, and are you serious UFC is Global, Brazilian, Mexicans, Blacks, Japanese, Germans, Russians, UK, Chinese, and South Koreans. This guy has no clue and the tattoo coment WTF is he talking about this guy is retarded.

Anonymous said...

The guy has a bias against the sport. It is in direct compeition with his business, and his business has been dying for years. Imiatation is the greatesst form of flattery, and he specifically says that he is trying to copy several of the things that the UFC does. Despite the fact that he thinks it's garbage, he is trying to make his product more like it. Also, he says, his generation thinks it's junk. He's probably right on that. But most marketers are not catering to the 70+ year old male market, so his logic is flawed. Who cares if his generation doesn't like it... He's a promoter and he is generating a buzz by his comments. Don't give him the satisfaction of making a big deal about it. Just let him and his sport die quietly.

Anonymous said...

The guy has never been in a real fight where people do kick and try to take you down, BUT he is just retaliating to Uncle Festers(dana w.)comments about boxing. This guys is a dumba$$. Also, its kind of weird that dana would trash talk boxing when he used to be a boxer(supposedly).

Anonymous said...

What a blowhard, he is afraid MMA is taking over boxing forever.

2ndcomingof2pac said...

Isn't there any other news? I am tired of this shit!

Anonymous said...

"guys rolling around like homosexuals on the ground"

Maybe... except for the punching, elbows, kicking, choking, arm-bars, etc. I'm no expert on homo-sex but i believe fighting your partner isn't part of intercourse. Maybe he knows something i don't...

Gundevil said...

I am a native american that loves the UFC, does that make me redskin head? And it's only gay if you make eye contact. That guy should have stayed in the 30's where he belongs. The UFC is the best combat sport I've ever seen. Those guys are ninjas.

Anonymous said...

Bob is a hater his is just doing his promoting Job its no different from how Dana would trash talk Kimbo now he has him singed and he is the face of Tuf. Also I big fan of Bj and George but Mayweather would beat the piss out of both cant compare pro boxers in prime to mma fighter fight starts out on foot you teach a proboxer to spraul its over. No with that being said sure if they took him down but again big difference between mma stricker and pro boxer its like Anderson Silva better all around fighter than Roy Jones who I hate but if Anderson tried to strike with him he would make him look bad trust me

Unknown said...

SADLY THE MAN IS STUCK IN THE OLD DAYS WHEN ALL YA"LL GOOD OL BOYS WHERE THE ONLY ALLOWED TO FIGHT. I LOVE BOXING (FROM PUERTO RICO WHAT DO YOU EXPECT) BUT I KNOW THIS ANDERSONE SILVA WOULD PUNCH A HOLE IN MIGUEL COTTO'S CHEST. BOB ARUM I KNOW WE ARE SUPPOSE TO RESPECT YOUR ELDER'S BUT YOUR A FREAKING MORON . YOUR GOING TO TELL THAT JUDO , WRESTLING AND SUMO WHICH HAVE MAJOR CONTACT ON THE FEET AND GROUND . IS A GAY SPORT . REALLY ? DUDE THESE ASSHOLE'S MAKE ME SO MAD .

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