RIVALRY RENEWED Dana White Slams Bob Arum

Bob Arum and Dana White, the man most responsible for making mixed martial arts a flourishing sport, have sparred off and on for many years. White fired the latest salvo at Arum, the 81 year old OG boxing promoter, in an interview he did with 5thround.com.

The 43-year-old Las vegas resident hammered Arum for making the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez bout on Dec. 8, reasoning that Pacquiao would have had an easier time with another prospective foe, Timothy Bradley. Here’s what White said:

“Dumbest fight in history. Bob Arum is a moron. You don’t take that fight, you idiot. Why would you do that fight? It’s all about the money, that’s why. That was a money fight, that’s what that fight was done for. He should have fought Bradley. Bradley’s the fight they should have done. He would have knocked Bradley out, he would have got his belt back and now he’s back in the position he should have been in. [Pacquiao’s] one of the best fighters in the world. He goes out and fights Marquez again? Bob Arum is the dumbest promoter in the history of the world.”

Arum poked White in 2007, about PEDs in MMA. White publicly scoffed at Arum’s suggestion that some boxing ticket sales were slow in 2008 because of the economy. A year later, Arum disparaged MMAs fans as skinheads, fans of a sport which appeals to homosexuals. They had a truce in 2010, but in 2011, hammered each other on the issue of salaries paid to athletes in their respective sports, with White calling Arum a “greedy pig.” A couple months ago, White railed against Arum, accusing him of being a hater of MMA, and calling himself a lover of boxing.

Readers, what is your take? Does White have a point? Off the top of my head, he could have touched on the fact that Pacquiao certainly has a say on who he fights next, and that Manny was keen on fighting Marquez a fourth time, over fighting Bradley for the second time. Weigh in, in our Forum, with your take on this beef.