Are Dana White and Brock Lesnar More Than Just Friends?

That's right. Brock Lesnar and Dana White are business partners, as well as friends, and lately business has been bad.

Originally scheduled to defend his title against Shane Carwin at UFC 106, Lesnar was forced to withdraw due to an unknown illness. Shortly thereafter it was reported that he will also likely miss UFC 108, which is surely causing White numerous headaches.

It is not the type of situation Dana White is fond of. Generally if a fighter stops earning for Dana, any friendship that might exist between the two will fade as fast as Roy Nelson in a foot race.

The story isn't very pleasant from Carwin's point of view either. Having been promised a title shot, Shane has been training for an event that will not happen. Though Carwin claims he is not over training, it is almost guaranteed that he will either peak too soon or get sloppy from inaction. Both are good for Brock.

With Tito Ortiz returning to dispatch Forrest Griffin in the main event of UFC 106, the general impression is that for now, at least, the focus will be taken off of the heavyweight division and placed back in the hands of the lightwieghts, welterwieghts, middleweights, and light heavies.

While there seems to be a good chance that the Lesnar vs. Carwin fight will happen eventually, it is not guaranteed. Four to five months is a long time. Something else could happen to one of them during that time. Cross your fingers if this is a fight you really want to see because right now there is only around a 50-50 chance it ever will.

Should, as some have speculated, Brock actually retire (pull a Ramapage act), it is unknown who Dana will market in order to sell his Heavyweight division. While Cain Valasquez and Shane Carwin are clear front runners, they are not widely known and therefore would not draw even half the people a Lesnar fight would.

Therefore Dana would need a new gimmick, a new angle. Maybe a Kurt Angle?

Whatever the case Dana will have to scramble to sell his Pay-Per-Views with no Brock to make it easy. Fighters such as Anderson Silva, BJ Penn, George St-Peirre, and Machida, while successful fighters, are not good draws and need more to make a card successful than just themselves.

Perhaps we will see multiple title defenses in a single show. Maybe the WEC will dissolve and a bantam weight division in the UFC will emerge. Fighters like Miguel Torres and Mike Brown would certainly add some spice to an otherwise bland roster.

Josh Koscheck? Diego Sanchez? Nate Diaz? Cole Miller? Sorry, they are not draws. Kosheck in particular has a very irascible personality that seems to rub fans and management the wrong way. No one likes a whiner, and he is becoming a rare vintage.

Wandy is a good sell—having "The Axe Murderer" as your nickname gets you attention. Many fans would like to see him fight whatever is left of Bisping following Michael's fight with Kang. Perhaps new stars could be found that fans could rally around such as Bader or Hamil. It is simply a matter of marketing.

Strangley enough, marketing seems to be a serious weak point in the UFC Organization.

The UFC has the talent, there is no doubt about that. Unfortunately you could have ALL the talent and still fail because of bad marketing. The UFC needs to get all of its eggs out of the Lesnar basket and spread them around.

Fedor could, of course, solve all of Dana's problems. However, rather mysteriously, Dana doesn't want to give an inch on the co-promotion concept with M-1 Global. As a result any Fedor signing is unlikely.

Perhaps Dana should stop thinking about what he would have to share in order to get Fedor on board and think more about what promoting the UFC with Fedor's name attached in the Far East could do for his franchise.

If Dana is smart and plays his cards right, he could end up being more than just friends with a lot of fighters instead of one sick, frightened one.

If he doesn't, he could see everything he has worked for fall down around his ankles.