UFC Gets a CagePotato Retraction for Joking That Dana White Will Bet on Jones

CagePotato, a fellow MMA news website, has caught the ire of the UFC for a satirical photo and caption that went along with one of their posts from Saturday. 

The post was simply about the idea of the UFC sponsoring Jon Jones in his light heavyweight title defense against Rashad Evans at UFC 145.

However, the photo they used was of UFC President Dana White and Jones together, and the caption read as follows: 

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"Not only am I paying Bones to wear UFC logos on his walkout gear next weekend, I also placed a $500,000 bet that he'd beat Rashad. Oh s**t. I guess I shouldn't have said that out loud." 

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Apparently, White did not find the joke amusing, as the UFC issued a press release Tuesday afternoon demanding a retraction. 

According to CagePotato, the release asks for a retraction “regarding certain false and defamatory statements attributed to UFC® President, Dana White.”

Additional information from the release reads as follows:

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"The claim that Mr. White would financially wager on the outcome of a UFC® event is outrageous in the extreme. Indeed, in the verified complaint we are presently preparing for Mr. White’s signature upon his return from Abu Dhabi, Mr. White expressly states under oath that at no time in the history of his association with the UFC® has he ever financially wagered on the outcome of a UFC® event."

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CagePotato, who once had an issue with the UFC for posting Octagon Girl Arianny Celeste's Playboy pics from 2010, did not hesitate in complying: 

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CagePotato doesn’t contest any part of this request; we hereby retract the line in question, which has since been removed from our site. Again, the caption wasn’t published with any malicious intent whatsoever, but we understand that Dana White’s reputation would be harmed if our readers actually believed that he bets on the UFC’s matches. Once again, Dana White does not bet on his own fights, and he never has. We apologize for any misunderstanding the caption may have caused.

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While not stated outright, the issue was likely that the caption was in quotes and was never identified as a joke (although few readers likely took it as anything besides that). 

The original post remains on the site, but it now reads "Yep, just a couple of bros hangin’ out and drinkin’ Bud. Nothing to see here, folks."

Ben Goldstein, CagePotato's managing editor, spoke with USA Today about the issue. 

Goldstein said he had no problem saying the caption was a joke and respected White for not wanting fans to get the wrong idea about how he runs his business.

With all that being said, White apparently is still not satisfied, based on a Twitter interaction he had with one of CagePotato's writers, Jason Moles:

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@TheJasonMoles not even close

— Dana White (@danawhite) April 17, 2012"

 

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It should be interesting to see if the UFC presses forward with a lawsuit or if they end up deciding that the retraction is enough. 

Interestingly, the USA Today article mentioned an instance where White bet $250,000 with then-PRIDE President Nobuyuki Sakakibara that Chuck Liddell would win the 2003 PRIDE light heavyweight tournament.

Liddell ended up losing in the semifinals to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson.