OK: the original story, as I see it, was the implication that the UFC is discouraging, or flatly denying, managers and agents access to their fighters backstage.
is this true, or not true? Dana White has, I suppose, denied it (calling something retarded is, in White's mind, a denial, from what I can tell). Will they prove it? Can a journalist film the agents and managers going backstage?
Without answering that question all the White apologetics are garbage.

I don't travel to every event, but I've seen managers backstage at nearly every event I've been to.

The fighters get a certain amount of people they can get credentials for, and if the manager is included in that group, the UFC doesn't block that. I think the problem is in trying to get more people backstage.

I don't know-I read this story last week and from the comments I read, it's the way Dana talks all the time. Now, please understand that I'm not saying it's right, but in this day and age, a lot of us talk like that around friends using those slurs and not meaning them as any kind of slight against the people they are literally referring to. I mean how many times have you said "that's retarded" and not meant any disrespect against a mentally handicapped individual. I know I have lots of times and I have also called a woman the slang for a female dog when referring to a particularly heinous woman, but I have as much respect for women as anyone. It's part of the language today and for me to impugn Dana on this one would make me a huge raging hypocrite and I couldn't do that in good conscience. I'm no Dana fan-you are right Mark, there is no confusing him with the commissioners of the major sports, but to some, that is part of the appeal of the sport. I see MMA fans as a hybrid of wrestling and football fans as far as the general grouping of fans, and I'd imagine at either of those sporting events you'd hear very similar language. Dana's going to have to change if he wants to be a Bud Selig, but is that what he wants? He's going to have to decide.

Dana is as real as it gets. My question to Mark is, why are journalists like yourself, especially journalist covering sport where people get beat to a bloody pulp worried about innappropriate language?

This is the real world and people use language like that everyday. I loved every minute of the rant. I love it when people are real and not PC. Face it Mark, you're a hypocrit too. You never uttered the word fag, bitch, or retard? Come on don't lie now.

And, before you respond by saying well his high level position makes it different----I'll say that Dana is successful because he is more like the fans of the sport than any other commish. He knows what we like, and what we don't. He has a better pulse on his product than anyone else. The rant just further solidifies deep down he's still a fan not a drone like the other sports commishes.

Come on. People are way too sensitive. When did retarded become a slur? The phrase "retarded person" used to be a legitimate and actually sensitive thing to say when referring to mentally disabled people. Also, the definition of the word retarded doesn't just refer to a disabled person. Really, it just means 'slow' or 'behind'. Besides, I'm sure he doesn't mean disrespect to disabled people in saying that.