What do you think of UFC President Dana White praising Vince McMahon of WWE?

["Jim Crockett Promotions Fan"]

UFC president Dana White recently visited WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Conn. for the first time to chat with WWE CEO/chairman Vince McMahon.

USA Today talked to White about his visit, noting White "looks up to McMahon" and "emulates his business model." White called McMahon "the guy that basically created the pay-per-view market."

White also discussed his WWE visit on Twitter Tuesday. Asked if UFC will be coming to Connecticut, White took the question another direction, saying, "I was there a couple weeks ago and checked out WWE hq's. It was cool."

State legislators in Connecticut recently considered a bill that would legalize MMA in Connecticut. Coincidentally, MMA proponents blamed WWE for trying to block legislation, but WWE denied the claim, saying they are not opposed to what the state chooses to regular in sports or entertainment.

-- Also in White's USA Today interview, White said he hopes Brock Lesnar will be able to return to fighting in January 2012.

[Tymccail 2.0]

Vince McMahon is an icon in business and entertainment. Anyone who doesn't respect him is an idiot. Her praise of him sounds honest and not all that surprising.

[Homer Simpson]

Vince is a financial GENIUS and great promotions marketer. that's why. OR married one.....

[Dynamicroute817]

Vince McMahon deserves the praise. All hail Mr. McMahon!

[cooingvegetable409]

I'm going to star you there, and everytime i see a MMA mark talk crap about wwe, i will directly link that in their f-k'n faces!

[oby]

Vince is good in business and also a good entertainer, so he merits It.

[The 90s Sucked]

So Brock and Undertaker are going to "stay on vacation" until they can workout a match? I don't see how Connecticut is important unless that is the gateway if you will to get UFC cleared to have events in all 50 States.

[The Dragon]

Jim Crockett (Jim Crockett Promotions; WCW) created the PPV market. Vince may have run with the ball, but he did NOT invent PPV nor did he create the market. I hate it when Vince gets credit for creating/inventing/developing things other people did first. There was no need for Dana White to kiss Vince's @ss like that...unless he's trying to butter Vince up to back off his opposition to White's promotion gaining a foothold in "McMahon country". Dodging the question about UFC trying to get into Connecticut? Hmm...very politically correct and didn't step on Vince's toes. Nice.

The WWE denying opposing MMA being legalized in Connecticut is nothing new. When Vince tried to take over the U.S. south in his WWF expansion in the mid-80's and failed so miserably that it became known as "Black Saturday", Vince just shrugged it off as the south didn't matter. Publicly, his stance was WCW fans (and big southern wrestling markets like Atlanta) didn't matter. But behind the scenes he never stopped working to try to take over "Flair country". Vince can always say MMA is completely different from what the WWE does and he doesn't care about MMA "invading" his home state, but Vince isn't going to just stand idly by while another promotion tries to bite into his market. Vince spent 17 years biting into everybody's market and swallowing them whole to kill pro wrestling; he's not going to just stand by while somebody else does that to HIM. I'd love to see it, though. Not that I want the WWE to get swallowed up and killed, mind you, but because I want Vince to experience what he put so many other people through. Payback's a b*tch. And so is karma.

If I was Dana White I'd hope one of my big draws will be back in the ring, too, making me money.

While I'm not a huge MMA fan (I catch the occasional show now and then) I'm a supporter of variety. I welcome all alternatives to what Vince puts on TV.