Dana White: Stitch Duran and I Were Never Friends

Friends are people you call on the phone and talk to all the time. “Stitch Duran and I were never friends”. However, after a deluge of social media backlash, Reebok did release a comment on Twitter. Another thing about Stitch Duran saying I should’ve called him, I have never dealt with a cutman ever. Now it’s all about the economics. They wanted us cutmen to be a part of the Reebok deal, to wear the gear, but we weren’t going to get compensated. We weren’t friends, we’re not friends and no he shouldn’t have been expecting a call from me. After that I’ve tried to go to every local MMA event around the Gulf Coast and surrounding areas and decided to make it a point to have a career in some aspect in the fighting sport other than fighting in general (didn’t want to ruin my face). We lost all of our sponsors.

The former UFC middleweight, who is seen by many as a legend of MMA, has been one of the biggest critics of the promotion since being hit with a lifetime ban after fleeing his gym to avoid a pre-fight drug test. I really love working with the fighters and the UFC, but I also have a family to support.

Duran expressed a willingness to reconcile in an interview with MMAFighting.com’s Dave Meltzer this week. “I don’t think the UFC realized they picked on the wrong guy. I haven’t said everything I know!” I bring more to the table than just wrapping hands and working on cuts. This is turning a pro-wrestling show with fixed fights.

White doesn’t sound like he would be interested, though.

Check out his message to UFC President Dana White here.

“When I was asked [in the Bloody Elbow interview] about the cutmen, I told him we had to wear the Reebok gear and all they gave us was this generic jacket, but there was no compensation for us”.