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Using Matt Lindland To Break New York
By Iain Liddle | March 12, 2008
Despite his status as a former Olympic medallist and the fact that he is widely regarded top five middleweight in the sport, the UFC appears to have no interest in recalling Matt Lindland to compete in their octagon. They seem to have no such qualms though in using his pedigree as a competitor to reflect beneficially on themselves.
The new MMA Facts website, set up by Zuffa to lobby the New York State Athletic Commission into allow mixed martial arts in the state, has a section that allows the government suits to get to know the men behind the macho, fighter persona and attempts to show that they’re good guys after all.
It’s understandable that they’d choose clean cut, good looking guys like like Tyson Griffin and Kenny Florian as examples of the kind of elequent everyman that UFC fighters can be, rather than musclebound meathead they are often be portrayed as.
Scroll down to the bottom of the ‘Athletes’ page though, past the creepy picture of Keith Jardine, and you’ll see a surprising face at the bottom of the page. Yes! The news we’ve been waiting to hear. Matt Lindland makes his glorious return to Zuffa. Albeit not quite in the manner I’m sure we were all hoping for.
As expected, when clicking on his page the first statements greeting you are:
No Husker wrestler ever had a better single-season record than Matt Lindland’s 36-1 mark (.973 winning percentage) in 1993. Though he suffered his only defeat in the NCAA Championships and didn’t medal, Lindland went on to experience plenty of wrestling glory — earning gold medals at the 1999 and 2000 Pan American Games, winning U.S. amateur national titles in 1995 and 1997-99 and a World Cup title in 1996.
His wrestling career reached its zenith in 2000, when he joined his Husker teammate Rulon Gardner on the U.S. Olympic Greco-Roman team for the Sydney Games. Lindland earned a silver medal.
Quite an impressive record, no? With Olympians of this calibre taking part it is hard to dismiss the sport as ‘human cockfighting’ or whatever phrase the gutter press are using this week and surely proves that mixed martial arts is worthy of gracing any state.
Of course, as we all know, Zuffa has no interest in Matt Lindland on 364 days of the year. Dana White has specifically said recently that he has no interest in bringing the middlweight back to the Octagon, and Lindland himself has confirmed in recent interviews that he has received the same message personally. When it comes to presenting themselves are high-level competition and with the smell of the potentially large sums that can be made by promoting in ‘The Big Apple’ in the air, it seems that he is fair game.
Whilst Zuffa will say this site is a philanthropic act and they have set it up with the aim of getting the sport sanctioned in New York, rather than simply the UFC, recent examples such as their unwilling to co-promote the biggest possible fight in MMA history (Fedor-Couture) and legal wranglings with the IFL prove that they only have their own interests at heart and could care less about the sport as a whole as long as the money continues to line their own pockets.
Talking of the recent IFL court case, which was largely over Kurt Otto’s group briefly – and accidentally – using a picture of Randy Couture on their website without consent, it seems interesting that Zuffa isn’t afraid to do the reverse and borrow from their smaller rivals whenever they see fit.
So whilst he may not be trading punches with Anderson Silva any time soon, Matt Lindland finds himself in the ironic position of being one of the select few chosen to try and knock down outdated legislation. Which could well be the most inportant blow Zuffa lands all year.
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, UFC | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
lindland needs to “resign” from the ifl if he really wanted back in the ufc. if he wasnt a coach there he would have been back in the ufc.
I think Doug Marshall should’ve been represented.
OK, so when the UFC would basically promote the Zuffa Myth and try to take credit for everything, they got crap from the hardcores.
Now they are giving people from around the entire sport their due in an effort to lift the whole sport of mixed martial arts and you’re getting on their case for it?
UFC is footing the bill for this effort to sanction MMA in one of the most important states in the country, but it will benefit the entire sport, whether it is the IFL trying to get into NYC or a local promoter looking to put on a show in Buffalo and any promoter or point in between. Are other promoters contributing money towards the UFC’s lobbying effort? No? Then why aren’t you criticizing them? It’s OK for them to piggyback and profit off the UFC’s effort but UFC isn’t supposed to use Matt Lindland’s picture? really?
Seriously, did you think this one through in the slightest before you posted it?
UFC is footing the bill for this effort to sanction MMA in one of the most important states in the country, but it will benefit the entire sport, whether it is the IFL trying to get into NYC or a local promoter looking to put on a show in Buffalo and any promoter or point in between. Are other promoters contributing money towards the UFC’s lobbying effort? No?
That’s why its the UFC’s lobbying effort. The point obviously went over your head, as the organization that threw Lindland aside and gladly brought in Sean Gannon is now more than willing to use the names of those not even in their employ to establish just how great they are and why they should be allowed to sanction bouts in the future.
Very good article, I agree with everything you said. The hypocrisy is astounding.
Also, from a legal standpoint, if the IFL or its partners putting an image of a UFC-contracted athlete on an IFL web site is grounds for a lawsuit, then why isn’t Zuffa or its partners putting an image of an IFL-contracted athlete on a Zuffa web site also grounds for a lawsuit? It makes about as much sense as the other lawsuit.
I just hope that eventually this clears the way for Kimbo to fight Butterbean @ MSG.
Or Kimbo vs. Gannon, that would be just as much of a joke
Entertaining me isn’t a joke.
Has anyone talked to Lindland and asked him about this? Instead of just making assumptions.
Maybe he approved..
Zack— Sorry, I thought you were joking.
If you look at the site now, the pic has been changed.
The hypocrisy of using Lindland in that way will be a lot harder to swap out.
Meh. I should have known that Ivan would show up on this in a big way. :p Always on the lookout for big bad Zuffa’s evil misdeeds! :p
Anyways, when/if MMA becomes sanctioned in NY, it will be a good thing. I could care less how or with whom this lobby is undertaken. It won’t affect my enjoyment of the sport.
lol, I never said evil, just hypocritical
Because we know that the end always justify the means.
It’s amazing how many UFC nuthuggers there are out there.
Does the UFC put on a good card? Yes.
Does the UFC employ and pay fighters? Yes.
Does the UFC promote legislation that benefits others? Yes, But I really think that is happenstance.
Is the UFC about the sport? Hell No. Lets get one thing straight. The UFC is about the UFC. plain and simple. It is what it is. Their brand trumps everything else. Do I begrudge them this? Maybe a little. They have a strong brand. Nothing wrong with that. Why do they have to step on everybody elses corpses to assuage their egos?
They will do anything and everything they can to benefit the UFC.
The definition of hypocrite is suing somebody over using an image on a website but then using an un-contracted picture on their own website.
There are scenarios where sport is a vector that can be used to strengthen brand though, and UFC has shown itself to be quite adept at straddling that line, more so than other promotions, including those that like to claim that they are about the sport side first.
And it’s an easy claim to say that some of the more popular brands, particularly in Japan (the pop brands, not Pancrase, we’re talking Pride and successors here) don’t give a shit about the sport.
All businesses are for themselves first and foremost. However, the UFC has done more to further the sport of MMA than any other organization.
The haters will never give the UFC the credit they deserve. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth for your sport becoming main stream and sanctioned in the majority of US states.
“recent examples such as their unwilling to co-promote the biggest possible fight in MMA history (Fedor-Couture)”
Please God make it all stop.
When someone complains about how the UFC didn’t sign Fedor or didn’t co-promote with M-1, it makes me quickly lose interest in anything else they have to say.