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UFC 112 judge Doug Crosby owes UFC management an apology
By Zach Arnold | April 12, 2010
OPINION
As Dana White noted in an interview with Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting after Saturday night’s main event debacle with Anderson Silva, UFC 112 was the company’s first impression not only in a new market but also with their new minority business partners, Flash.
“It’s all about first impressions and you know one of the things that I’ve always been proud of every time we go into a new market we always leave a good first impression. People always leave the event and spread what I call the virus, they infect 15 other people with what they saw that night.”
A lot of pressure was on the shoulders of Mr. White, Mr. Lorenzo Fertitta, and members of UFC management to get the job done right. One of those members who had to deal with the scrutiny of the event was Marc Ratner, who managed the regulatory side of the show for the Abu Dhabi card. As Marc noted in an interview with Ariel last week as the arena was being constructed at Ferrari World, he was in charge of bringing in the judges (a mix of USA and UK judges) and also for the rules, weigh-in, and drug testing of the fighters. Given that Abu Dhabi has no athletic commission, regulating the event went squarely on the shoulders of Mr. Ratner. Given his excellent track record, Marc deserved to get the very best out of the people he hired to do their job. From the referees to the judges to the adminstrators, everyone at UFC 112 was hired to do their job both at the arena and out of the arena in a professional manner. On shows where the territory has no commission, the spotlight is more firmly in place on Mr. Ratner.
Which is why Doug Crosby’s bizarre, troll-like rants online about his judging performance for the Frankie Edgar/BJ Penn UFC Lightweight title fight should be viewed as an insult not only to all MMA judges but also as a slight on the boss who hired Mr. Crosby in the first place.
By now you’ve seen Mr. Crosby’s online tirades about how he judged the Edgar/Penn fight. He wrote a post online stating that he would defend his scoring of the fight as 50-45 in favor of Mr. Edgar. Instead of explaining his rationale for why he judged the fight the way he did, he started trolling fans immediately. He started trolling UFC fans. He started trolling customers who bought the UFC PPV. Why? I don’t know and I don’t care. For troll jobs like these, use Occam’s Razor and come up with your own conclusion. The idea that Mr. Crosby decided to publicly show his contempt for MMA fans is not a new revelation for someone who works in the Mixed Martial Industry. There are plenty of people in the business who think the fans are nothing more than a bunch of marks and rubes and couldn’t give a damn about what they think, paying customers or not. Conversely, there are plenty of fighters, agents, and promoters who do care about what the fans think and do care what fans want to pay to see.
The problem for Mr. Crosby is not his contempt for MMA fans in general but the fact that he thinks he is no different than a random keyboard warrior on a message board. He’s wrong on this front and if he hasn’t realized it already, he better learn this lesson very quickly. He is a judge in Mixed Martial Arts. He is paid to be a professional — a professional who judges prize fights where fighters are putting everything on the line to win the fight, to win money, and to win titles. The last time I checked, trolling and insulting fans on the Internet is not part of the job description for being an MMA judge.
On this level, Mr. Crosby has tarnished not only his reputation but has also helped add to the laundry list of complaints that we often see fans express with both MMA judges and referees. Remember, it is Mr. Ratner’s job as UFC regulatory czar to not only make sure new states approve MMA legislation but also provide the proper training. It may not say in the rule book to act like a professional, but Mr. Ratner shouldn’t have to put that down in writing for Mr. Crosby. He should have known the standards that the fans, the media, and the fighters have for MMA judges in general. End of story.
Mr. Crosby owes Mr. Ratner an apology — one in private and one in public. In private, he should tell Mr. Ratner that he is sorry for his behavior and for the attention he has drawn to himself for his behavior. He should tell Mr. Ratner that he made a mistake and he will strive to do better in the future. After a private apology, he should issue a public apology to Mr. Ratner, UFC President Dana White, UFC management, and MMA fans for acting as foolishly as he has and by creating negative attention to the company’s event in Abu Dhabi. The apology should not be a half-assed one, either. Not the “I’m sorry if I offended you in any way” kind of apology, but a truly sincere one in which Mr. Crosby expresses regret for the comments he made and the way he has treated the fans. If he wants to be a keyboard warrior and not an MMA judge, then give up the job title of being a judge and ramble on to your heart’s content on The Underground Forum for as long as you want. If you want to be an MMA judge, develop a better sense of professionalism and a better sense of respect for the people you are talking with and for the people who you may impact based on your personal and public actions.
As for Mr. Crosby’s weak and almost non-existent defense of the way he scored the fight 50-45 in favor of Mr. Edgar, Mr. Crosby would be well served to provide a more coherent defense in regards to how he scored each round and why he scored each round the way he did. His initial defense of having fighters and staff cheer him on because he judged a fight and “not fighters” is an insult. His attacks on fans and paying customers who thought BJ Penn won the fight or lost a close decision is frankly beneath him and reflects poorly not only on his character as an MMA judge but also on his ability to intellectually defend his actions as a judge. Will we see Mr. Crosby apologize to fans and perhaps to Mr. Penn for his behavior? Highly unlikely, but he would be well-served to try to make amends very shortly.
It would be one thing if a random troll on a message board said something goofy or indefensible, but the words carry more weight and meaning when said by someone in a position of power. Mr. Crosby was in a position of power to influence the decision of a title fight. A fight featuring a prize title and big money. A fight featuring an underdog who was, at the minimum, a +550 underdog. Dana White pegged Frankie Edgar as a 7-to-1 underdog. With an underdog that big, the scrutiny on the officiating and the judging is that much greater. The last thing Mr. Ratner needs to deal with are accusations that a judge was “on the take” or that someone “made a lot of money” on the side. With so much on the line for UFC to make a first impression in Abu Dhabi in front of their new business partners, the last thing Mr. Ratner needs to deal with is an employee that he hired for the event to possibly create doubt into the validity of the judging process. Any action by an official or a judge that brings into question the integrity of the rules being enforced at the event is not only an attack on the validity of the fight process but also an attack on the integrity of Mr. Ratner.
Humans make mistakes all the time. Some mistakes are just bigger than others. This was not Mr. Crosby’s finest hour.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 3 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
[…] Fight Opinion’s Zach Arnold does a nice job explaining why Mr. Crosby’s troll job is more than just a bad joke. It would be one thing if a random troll on a message board said something goofy or indefensible, but the words carry more weight and meaning when said by someone in a position of power. Mr. Crosby was in a position of power to influence the decision of a title fight. A fight featuring a prize title and big money. A fight featuring an underdog who was, at the minimum, a +550 underdog. Dana White pegged Frankie Edgar as a 7-to-1 underdog. With an underdog that big, the scrutiny on the officiating and the judging is that much greater. The last thing Mr. Ratner needs to deal with are accusations that a judge was “on the take” or that someone “made a lot of money” on the side. With so much on the line for UFC to make a first impression in Abu Dhabi in front of their new business partners, the last thing Mr. Ratner needs to deal with is an employee that he hired for the event to possibly create doubt into the validity of the judging process. Any action by an official or a judge that brings into question the integrity of the rules being enforced at the event is not only an attack on the validity of the fight process but also an attack on the integrity of Mr. Ratner. Read more about: BJ Penn, Frank Edgar, UFC 112 […]
[…] UFC 112 judge Doug Crosby owes UFC management an apology | […]
[…] I said that if Doug Crosby was a smart man, he would be privately and publicly apologizing to UFC regulatory boss Marc Ratner for his behavior […]