Why is Dana White announcing fighters' retirements?

[Anthony342]

What is wrong with Dana White here? Why is he becoming the guy to announce a fighter's retirement? He first did this with Chuck Liddell, then, more recently I believe also Rich Franklin? And I just heard him saying in articles on Bleacher Report that he thinks BJ Penn and Matt Hughes should retire. The ego on this guy. Why does White have to make it all about him? Why not meet with these guys privately, tell them they think they should retire and that they won't sanction anymore fights for them in the UFC, then let the fighter announce their own retirement. That way the attention stays all on the fighter and they get to go out with some more dignity.

I don't know, maybe I'm crazy here, but don't you guys think fighters should announce their own retirements and if the guys in charge of the UFC think it's really unsafe for a fighter to continue to compete, then just say you won't let them fight, if they decide to go to a different promotion? Or they can let these fighters finish out their contracts and not resign them.

[hayZ]

Agreed but usually if he's asked a question he just says what he thinks especially if he thinks it won't hurt the business. He was Liddells manager for a long time and Chuck was getting ko'd left right and centre for a number of fights, so I'm with him in regards to that to a certain degree, though if that was my friend I would have just given a response like you better ask him what he wants to do, its not up to me or something like that. They also don't want fighters to keep on violently ko'd because lets be honest, it does lead to lifelong brain issues, listen to Chuck speak now compared to 10 years ago..he has changed substantially. They don't want negative press like that around their promotion, Franklin does not really draw, BJ Penn is so washed up though I think he is still a draw (not compared to what he once was) and Matt Hughes has not fought in a long time and has said himself that he was thinking about it a lot. Dana White is a ego-maniac, honestly. He criticises fighters like Fedor even when Fedor hadn't lost a fight legit but I assure you if Fedor was in the UFC at that time, he would be saying he is the best fighter to ever live like he does with Silva now, even though he is not stepping up to fight Jon Jones like a true MMA legend would do like Sakuraba for e.g. (Silva is immense though)

[Anthony342]

Yeah exactly and I've said that same thing in the past, if Fedor got most of his wins in the UFC, Dana would be praising him as well. And I agree it's dangerous that these older fighters keep getting knocked out. That's why I said just don't sanction anymore fights for them if White thinks it's too dangerous, but the let the fighters announce their own retirements or else it makes Dana look like he's taking some attention away from the fighter and making it all about him. Geez, the ego on that guy.