Mike Tyson is one of the greatest boxers of all time, however, he has also changed the landscape of the MMA scene. UFC CEO Dana White has revealed the inspirations he took from watching one of the icon’s major fights.
With fast combinations and a fearsome aura, Mike Tyson has undeniably written his name into combat sports history books.
Dana White Based Commentary For UFC off Mike Tyson Fight
Before the UFC had exploded onto the global scene, boxing was the sport which dominated the fighting world. Legends like Mike Tyson were capturing the imagination of the public. Therefore, when Dana White was entering the game, he could look at the way other promotions work and could make changes for what he would eventually be able to call a superior product.
Something which would really aggravate Dana White was commentary. Dana White was once left furious by what the pundits were saying. When Mike Tyson made his major return to the sport against Francois Botha in 1999. Dana White couldn’t believe the negative things that were being said about the icon.
Due to this, when he started crafting his commentary team for the world’s best mixed martial arts he made sure he would go and do things very differently. During an episode of HitBoxin, with Mike Tyson himself, Dana White explained;
“The way that the UFC production is built, was based off Mike Tyson’s walk-in to that DMX song, when he was coming back for the Francois Botha fight.”
“Tyson’s walking into the fight, and I use this as an example all the time, I show people, they (the commentators) are sh**tting on Mike from the minute he starts walking in.”
“I couldn’t f***ing stand listening to these clowns. I used to literally watch HBO Boxing and mute the commentary, because I couldn’t stand these f**ing guys.”
“So, when we started building the commentary for the UFC, you don’t ever see the commentators s**t on the fighters.”
Joe Rogan Made Massive Change To Podcast After Mike Tyson Episode
It looks like Dana White isn’t the only person Mike Tyson has influenced, with Joe Rogan going on to make massive alterations to his podcast after sitting down with the former heavyweight champion.
While the former boxer is now a mild-manner and friendly, during his fighting days he was truly a frightening individual who was capable of knocking out anyone with only a single shot.
During the build-up to Mike Tyson’s exhibition fight with Roy Jones Jr, Mike Tyson seemed to have flicked a switch. This is due to it seeming the old Mike was back into the public sphere. During an interview, Joe Rogan would see just how much of a savage the warrior can be. Due to this Joe Rogan realised he needed to go and make a change to the way he conducted his podcast.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
