Arum’s UFC truce indeed temporary
Boxing promoter Bob Arum proved he'll do almost anything for charity.
But just because he uttered the magic words "I love the UFC" doesn't mean he's mellowed.
Arum, 80, called a temporary truce in his bitter feud with the UFC on Saturday to help spur a live-auction bidding war -- for gloves once worn by Muhammad Ali -- during Ali's birthday gala at the MGM Grand Garden arena.
The result was a $1.1 million "win-win" for everybody, said Arum, who promoted a number of Ali's biggest fights.
During the heated bidding competition with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Lorenzo Fertitta, Station Casinos' vice chairman and co-owner of the UFC, approached Arum and said, "I'll raise it to $750,000 if you'll say you love the UFC."
Arum said he looked over at event host Larry Ruvo and said, "Anything for charity" and kept his word.
"If (Fertitta) needed my endorsement that much I was happy to give it," said Arum, when reached by phone on Tuesday.
After submitting the $1.1 million winning bid for the coveted gloves, which Ali wore during his first title fight in Las Vegas when he stopped Floyd Patterson in the 12th on Nov. 22, 1965, at the Convention Center, Fertitta jumped on Twitter and tweeted: "Bob Arum said #ilovetheufc! He'll feezes over," meaning hell freezes over.
Give some of the credit to Jones for taking the bidding to a staggering $1 million, Arum said. "He wasn't going to be denied."
"It was a momentous night," Arum said. "A great tribute to Ali and all the charities."
The Keep Memory Alive Power of Love Gala, a benefit for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and Ali's foundation, will air this Saturday on ABC and ESPN.
Afterward , longtime boxing writers Tim Dahlberg of The Associated Press and Kevin Iole of Yahoo.com ran into Fertitta in a hallway.
"He said something to the effect that 'it was worth it just hear Bob say, 'I love the UFC,' " Dahlberg said.
Fertitta tweeted Monday, "Just to clarify the $ for ali gloves was for the RUVO brain institute a charity that will benefit society and fighters forever!"
But Arum isn't backing away from his anti-UFC stance.
"Those guys really don't know how to throw punches, and when they roll around, they lose me. Could be an age situation. People my age don't enjoy mixed martial arts. (Boxing) is what we were brought up on.
"Lot of it's an age difference and a cultural thing. Hispanics prefer boxing, and blacks prefer boxing. Young Caucasians are into mixed martial arts. That's life."
THE SCENE AND HEARD
A rep for the Miss Universe Organization, which includes the Miss USA pageant, said both pageants will "absolutely" be televised by NBC, not NBC-owned Bravo and Telemundo, as reported Friday by a website that follows international pageants. The erroneous website report appeared here on Saturday. The Miss USA pageant will be held at Planet Hollywood Resort on June 3 for the fifth year in a row.
SIGHTINGS
Country music superstar Shania Twain, soon to headline at Caesars Palace, and actor Chazz Palminteri, in groups at "Love" (Mirage) on Sunday. ... Neil Patrick Harris, walking the high wire at "Absinthe" (Caesars Palace) after visiting with the cast backstage on Sunday. Later he tweeted, "Hardest I've laughed in a decade." ... There's grumbling that Paris Hilton, after tweeting that she won $30,000 playing blackjack at Wynn on Friday, wasn't in a generous mood after partying on champagne with her friends.
THE PUNCH LINE
"The Yankees now have a new fragrance. It was just bound to happen because any time you walk into the clubhouse, you say, 'Oh wow, if someone could just bottle this.' " -- David Letterman
Norm Clarke can be reached at 702-383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke.
