Live Transmission: UFC president Dana White

360 goes head to head with UFC president Dana White to talk sequels, favourite fights, boxing and Electronic Arts…

360: The last game features classic fights. What is your favourite fight from your time with the company or before?
Dana White: My favourite classic is Frank Trigg vs Matt Hughes 2. It was at the MGM Grand, and it was one of the best fights I’ve ever seen.

360: If you could get any two fighters, who would you like to see fight?
DW: I do it all the time. The great thing about the UFC is that it’s different from boxing. Everyone wants to see Manny Pacquiao v Floyd Mayweather, but they can’t make the fight. I can make the fight. People want to see the fights, I’ll make ’em – that’s the difference.

360: Were you tempted to put yourself in the game?
DW: I’m in there as myself. We try to keep this thing as real as possible. When you’re playing the game it’s like you’re actually watching it on TV.

360: Do you think the game has opened up a new audience?
DW: Hell yeah. It’s such a great marketing tool. All these kids are playing it, and millions of people across the world [who] don’t know anything about the UFC – they’re starting to learn how submissions work, stand-up fighting, learning who the fighters are. This why keeping the game as real as possible it important to us.

360: When 2009 came out, were you the first one banging on THQ’s door, asking them to implement things?
DW: We were very involved with the production of the game. The great thing about THQ is that its programmers have started taking jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai classes and are really passionate about this game.

360: Do you create an uber-Dana White, a nine-foot monster of a man with unbelievable statistics?
DW: No, I suck. Every time I play someone kicks my ass.

360: Do you play Undisputed against the actual fighters?
DW: Yeah, when we first started doing the tour I was undefeated, and then Georges St-Pierre kicked my ass up in Montreal. Then after the game came out, everyone beat me!

360: Do the fighters complain to you about their appearance or stats in the game?
DW: I do! Have you seen how ugly my model is in the game? I was up there complaining. I’ve had guys saying their guys are too weak. Trust me, I’ve heard all of it.

360: Why Brock Lesnar for the cover?
DW: Because Lesnar is the heavyweight champion and one of the most famous people guys in the world. People love him, and people hate him, and [with] what he’s accomplished in such a short amount of time, this guy might go down as the greatest heavyweight of all time.

360: When you play the game who do you play as?
DW: I play as all the champions; I play as Chuck Liddell. You know you’re going to pick the strongest guys.

360: EA Sports MMA launches six months after Undisputed. Does this affect anything?
DW: EA is the Johnny-come-lately; these guys are the me too’s of the videogame business. We talked to EA, and this is exactly, I quote, what EA said to us: “It’s not a real sport, those aren’t real athletes and we would never do a videogame like that.” We came out with a game that’s successful [Undisputed 2009], and all of a sudden it’s a real sport and these are real athletes.

360: Speaking of the success, how does [current UFC headliner] Randy Couture being in EA MMA affect your game?
DW: I don’t think it’s going to impact us at all. We were out there first, we’re the brand, we’re the real deal. We started this sport. Everyone else now is just trying to come in. [EA] thinks [it’s] going to make a better ****ing videogame than we are.

360: UFC has done so well, do you think as a game it’s the big new thing?
DW: There are people out there that like shooting games, racing games, and people like fighting games. [Undisputed 2009] is the most innovative fight game out there.