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How the AP’s story on “MMA for kids” has caused a firestorm
By Zach Arnold | April 4, 2008
I have noticed a big amount of local newspaper editorials across the nation today in regards to that Associated Press article last week talking about kids doing ‘ultimate fighting.’ That AP article did some major damage. CBS 13 in Sacramento has an article on the situation. The story has gotten so over-the-top that in Missouri, there is is now a bill to ban ‘cage fighting’ for kids.
Scott White at TKO Xtreme in Canada is looking for the following:
I’m looking for someone who can contribute news, articles and I’d like to get someone who’d be interested in conducting some interviews.
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Onto today’s headlines.
- 411 Mania: Dana White shouldn’t be President of UFC
- The Daily Nexus (UCSB): Former UFC champion Chuck Liddell kicks it in Isla Vista
- The Denver Post: Bloody sport a knockout hit with fans (claimed attendance of 6,742 for UFC event)
- Kevin Iole: Can Kenny Florian finish his quest for a title?
- The Boston Herald: Kenny Florian KOs Joe Lauzon in crowd-pleasing fight
- Waterloo & Cedar Falls Courier: 100 years later, Frank Gotch will have his day again
- The Journal Gazette/Times-Courier (IL): Eastern Illinois athletics to induct six into Hall of Fame (including Matt Hughes)
- The Times Herald-Record (NY): Is ultimate fighting on way to New York?
- Conde Nast Portfolio: Chuck Liddell – crunching numbers and opponents
- CBS Sports: Handicapping the ‘TUF 7’ cast
- Fox Sports (Forrest Griffin): My first day on “Ultimate Fighter”
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
An absolutely terrible article at 411, attacking Dana. Dana is a hell of a guy and nobody else is doing a better job in MMA promotion. If there was somebody out there doing a better job in MMA, than it would be fair to call out Dana. There’s not, so this is just mindless ranting and has no place anywhere on the internet (well at least not the top link in fightopinion’s news section).
How could anybody else do a better job with Fedor or HBO? Ha ha. I guess other people would have taken it on the chin, just to impress a bunch of internet writers. Dana doesn’t want to do it that way and I don’t blame him.
We’ve seen Fedor play nothing but games since PRIDE’s closing. It’s pretty obvious anybody who wants to deal with him is going to have to agree to a very one sided deal with little return. Fedor is a great boon for the internet MMA media, because that is the only place you can hear about his antics.
It’s also rather insulting to say Randy vs Fedor is the fight everybody wants to see. This is trying to gloss over that Randy has lost a lot of fans since his hissy fit last year. Only the hardest of the hardcore UFC haters can try to push Randy as the face of MMA at this point.
Why would it matter if UFC is on HBO or not? SPIKE is a great partner and available in more homes. Why do people want the fake prestige that HBO offers? It’s just another channel on the dial (for those who actually pay for it). There were claims that Golden Boy had HBO willing to offer them a slot for thier new MMA promotion, and they still decided it wasn’t worth getting into.
The CBS deal would have been a very big deal, but we see that they wanted the UFC to bend over for it to take place. We’ll see in the next year whether EliteXC gets anything out of this deal.
The crack about Cuban’s wallet was rather out of left field, considering he has not gone on a spending spree and is taking his time with MMA. I don’t see Cuban willing to be the thorn in Dana’s side that the hardcores keep trying to make him out to be. He knows these fighters will bleed him dry if he lets them. Not even billionaires like losing money.
I think hardcore MMA fans hate the fact that what they want is irrelevant. That is why they spend a lot of time attacking Dana White. He is not in the habit of catering to their whims. He’s had a lot of success doing things his way and that annoys them. He’s not perfect, but no other MMA promoter is either.
And who exactly are you to defend Dana White?
You dont know shit about why the HBO deal fell apart(no one does). But if its true that UFC would not relinquish production control, then that is a stupid-ass reason, because HBO’s production quality is second to none, and UFC’s, well, lets just say its not exactly top-notch.
And you say Fedor’s demands are one-sided?
How about the UFC contracts??? Where you can be cut at any time, for any reason? And your career can be indefinitely halted at the whim of Zuffa. Thats not one-sided?
Newsflash, the fighters are the ones making money for the promoters, not the other way around. Without top fighters to fight for them, the UFC would not be anything. The sport of MMA has become popular because its a great sport with great athletes, not because of Dana White.
Actually, the UFC contracts are pretty standard for all pro sports. Football and basketball players can be cut at any moment, that’s why they like signing bonuses so much.
Besides, if you perform well you don’t really have to worry about being cut (Lytle and Guida have had how many losses?), and if you are cut you can just sign with a different promotion, just like you would have if you didn’t sign with the UFC.
I’d also disagree about the fighters being more important than the UFC, at least when we consider individual fighters. If a guy like GSP or Penn or A. Silva never fought in the UFC, there would be some other “great” fighter in there getting all the attention. It’s all relative. The UFC is doing great right now, with or without a guy like Randy Couture. You wouldn’t even have the faintest idea that he left just by looking at the PPV buyrates.
Now if the UFC started losing a large portion of the established talent, that would be different, but that’s not the current situation. It’s only a select few that are upset with the UFC. Everyone else is happy and making money.
I completely disagree.
If Royce Gracie, Mark Coleman, Maurice Smith, Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, BJ Penn, BJ Penn, Anderson Silva, etc, etc, etc, were not in the UFC, it would not be shit. PERIOD.
“And who exactly are you to defend Dana White?”
I’m a MMA website reader who has seen Dana White unfairly attacked for the past year by fans, fighters and MMA journalists. It’s very played out and I’m willing to speak out for him.
“Thats not one-sided?”
So the other MMA orgs have lifetime employment contracts? Only the UFC releases fighters?
I’m not sure why Dana is either the best thing eva or the anti-christ to everyone. He’s a promoter and president of a company that’s done a great job looking at the big picture, but has also made a lot of mistakes, both large and small. Defending his mistakes to such a degree as some do is foolish, but no less so than discounting his numerous achievements at the head of Zuffa. Attataching yourself firmly in one camp or the other on such a broad basis, as everyone seems to do, is very counter-intuitive.
The 411 write up simply isn’t very good.
“Fedor is a great boon for the internet MMA media, because that is the only place you can hear about his antics.”
Based on what I’ve read, Fedor is only being as shrewd a business man as Dana and, the UFC have been in their dealing with fighters. The UFC kept Arlovski from making a living in his field for nearly a year. How many other fighters are kept from fighting for the benefit of the UFC? Defend that all you want, but don’t criticize Fedor for wanting to get the best for himself. He has more to lose than the billionaire led UFC.
This is all a political ploy to contain the growing MMA crowd. The state government in Missouri is worried that the police wont be able to abuse their authority as easily when you have kids who know how to put them in Armbars. There is clearly nothing wrong with MMA for kids, it teaches them boundaries and respect. Zach you missed out the article on Drudgereport.com that lauded the expansion of MMA to younger children; the way Drudge saw it was that it prevents younger children from doing ‘imitation’ like so many other children have done with pro-wrestling (which has resulted in deaths, broken bones, hurt feelings etc..) and teaches them that MMA isnt just something you see on TV, that everything is real. I don’t know why the elders of this country keep pushing for desensitization, but yet do not wish to hold any responsibility for the result of it. Im teaching my kids MMA, in the garage if i I have to; I know my rights the government can go suck it as far as I am concerned. We should be encouraging readers to write their congressmen in states such as Missouri and prevent the restriction of our freedom to practice martial arts with our family. Teaching MMA to a child is no different than teaching them Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu or Karate. I know some critics say they dont want their kids around the supposed ‘thug culture’ that MMA allegedly creates (a statement that I am vehemently against), butwhat better way to stem that ‘culture’ than to introduce kids and families who are just as interested, into the scene? It doesnt make sense and this state bill wreaks of professional boxings touch.
Probably a good idea to crack down on kids doing MMA unsupervised before it turns as popular as backyard wrestling. Most kids would probably be perfectly fine, but you write laws for the minority, not the majority.
If young kids can learn to grapple, box and kickbox then i don’t see any reason why they can’t do it all in one.
The only thing that seems to be an issue is the term ‘cage fighting’ and all the negative connotations that surround it. As soon as a debate is formed and the knee-jerk reaction is dampened by education, then i can’t see there being any problems. But that said someone has gotta step up and do the educating…
Football and basketball players can be cut at any moment, that’s why they like signing bonuses so much.
Basketball has guaranteed contracts. The NFL is the only major sports league without them and its a major issue regarding potential future labor problems.
I’d also disagree about the fighters being more important than the UFC, at least when we consider individual fighters. If a guy like GSP or Penn or A. Silva never fought in the UFC, there would be some other “great” fighter in there getting all the attention. It’s all relative. The UFC is doing great right now, with or without a guy like Randy Couture. You wouldn’t even have the faintest idea that he left just by looking at the PPV buyrates.
You think the UFC doesn’t miss Randy’s drawing potential? Anderson Silva hasn’t shown that he’s a major draw yet and there’s no way BJ Penn/Joe Stevenson did more than half the number Couture/Gonzaga did.
Actually, Zuffa’s contracts aren’t standard to what all sports contracts include. Most sports contracts in major sports aren’t as ridiculous when it comes to clauses that are tacked on. Obviously, this is because there isn’t one player that can have his contract extended due to winning the Super Bowl or winning the World Series. But there is one other defining difference… Zuffa’s contracts have yet to see their day in court.
Many of the clauses in the Zuffa contract could be easily deemed unenforceable. Most notably, the clause binding a fighter indefinitely for refusing to fight an offered matchup. The non-compete clause, to an extent, is long when you look at past cases involving non-compete clauses being thrown out. In many instances, one year non-compete is too long in some states.
I wouldn’t say that contracts in this sport are similar to most other sports quite yet.