Following up on my post here explaining why I did not believe the UFC's decision to cut Daley based on his sucker punch at UFC 113 was inconsistent with the UFC's position with respect to Nate Diaz after the Strikeforce brawl, I came across this article where Dana discusses why he thinks his positions can be reconciled.
It comes as no surprise that Dana White believes (at least according to his statements) -- and explains -- that the UFC's positions with respect to Nate Diaz and Daley are only superficially inconsistent. I think his reasoning is on point -- largely because many of the things he said were things I had posted about, e.g., the effect of Daley's actions on efforts to get the sport sanctioned in other states, the fact that unlike the Strikeforce brawl, Koshcheck had no reason to be prepared for a punch as opposed to a handshake etc.
Nonetheless, and again not surprisingly, Dana White did take a jab at Strikeforce for allowing Mayhem to enter the cage after Shields had won the fight.
In this regard, and I have no concrete example that comes to mind (except maybe GSP and BJ Penn although I could be remembering wrong), but the UFC frequently permits -- indeed, probably encourages -- the next challenger to enter the cage to hype the next fight. I think, again don't quote me, that after Carwin defeated Mir at UFC 111, Lesnar entered the cage to hype the next fight. This crosses into boxing as well. As a recent example, Mosley entered the ring after Mayweather's Marquez win and called him out (although Mosley has stated repeatedly that he belonged in the ring because of his affiliation with Golden Boy).
While Dana specifically notes that the Diaz brothers presence in the cage (and their propensity to be involved in post-fight altercations) gave Strikeforce reason to prohibit Mayhem from entering the cage, I am not totally sold -- although I certainly agree that the Diaz brothers (Nick in particular) have been involved in post-fight shenanigans.
I am much more comfortable blaming the actors and not necessarily the organizations. Mayhem entering the cage to hype a Shields fight can be good business just as Lesnar entering the ring and Mosley entering the ring can be good business.
Bottom line remains the same, Daley was completely out of line throwing an unprovoked punch after the fights and I think the UFC's positions can be reconciled.
