The new MMA Weekly Rankings are out. They were correct in canceling out the Gomi/Diaz fight. Their rankings are still off the wall bad. If the last few months have taught us anything, it is that the UFC fighters at the very least are equal to the Pride fighters in terms of skill level. Yet the rankings continue to be dominated by Pride fighters.

LW – Pride (7) & UFC (1)
WW – Pride doesn’t use this division yet.
MW – Pride (6) & UFC (3)
LHW – Pride (7) & UFC (3)
HW – More UFC guys now, but only because 3 Pride fighters recently made the switch.

Yushin Okami – No where to be found, despite being the #4 guy in the UFC.

Rashad Evans – Undefeated with strong wins over Salmon & Lambert. Both Lambert & Pride scrub Nakamura are ranked.

Where have the UFC Lightweights gone? Franca? Stevenson? Huerta?

LOL

Also, pro-wrestling fans are mutually exclusive from sports fans, faces and heels only exist in pro-wrestling (never mind Ron Artest, Barry Bonds, John Rocker and the New York Yankees). Frankly, as a wrestling fan that transitioned to MMA because I wanted to see what real technique was like, I think Goldman just denied my existance.

All in all, his “critical thinking” apparently involve finding evidence to support your hypothesis and ignore everything else.

Once again, I appreciate your role as the “conscience of combat sports”. But I urge you to diversify your critcisms rather than targeting the UFC in what appears to be a personal vendetta.

Your sponsor, the IFL, is guilty of plenty of antisocial behavior. The blogger linked below draws attention to this buffoonish exchange between Ken Shamrock and Don Frye which is not only “pro-wrestling” in style, but is also homophobic and offensive.

http://www.fightopinion.com/2007/04/24/wednesday-notes-ufc-draws-184-cable-rating/

While I commend you for your attention to racism, I think the combat sports are more susceptible to other oppressive constructs – those that pertain to masculinity, namely sexism and homophobia.

Please broaden your critique of the combat sports to include sexual exploitation of ring girls, and even female athletes (as Elite XC did in their initial broadcast), and homophobic trash talk. No one covers these issues, but they are important. They make our sport unwelcoming to women, children, homosexuals, and families.

I, for one, am ashamed to introduce my friends to MMA as a legitimate sport, because I know my claims will be discredibed by the incessant sexual exploitation that goes on.

To sum up:

1. Keep up the good work of bringing social ethics into the discussion of combat sports

2. Do not get stuck on the UFC and Dana White (I’m not asking you to give them a free pass, not at all)

3. Be more critical of the IFL. Your credibility is on the line because of your sponsorship by them. If anything, you should be MORE critical of IFL than other organizations, if purely to protect your journalistic reputation

4. In addition to racism, bring up the topics of sexual exploitation, sexism and homophobia in the combat sports

And thank you.

Point taken. I listened to Goldman’s show and posted the following comment on his blog. It hasn’t appeared yet as it is subject to the webmaster’s approval first. I am reprinting here for good measure in the post below.

You just have to get to know Don Frye on a professional level to realize that is his persona… I laughed my rear off listening to him.

Great Interview btw. I’ve had multiple occasions to interview him and each time is a different entertaining experience.