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These things I really know to be true…
By Zach Arnold | May 26, 2010
Reading your minds
That after all these years, I still don’t know entirely what moves the needle with MMA fans online. I once thought that the narrow list included:
- Dana White
- Fedor
- Steroids
- Gina Carano
- PRIDE vs. UFC
- Ring card girls
However, not even that list seems as consistent these days. I would be interested in hearing your opinions on what you think are “sure fire, can’t miss” topics that will draw an automatic discussion from readers.
Our readership, it should be noted, is exponentially growing these days, though the comments section has stayed about the same. The silent majority continues to grow. I need to figure out how to agitate you into action.
Soap in your mouth
That the reaction to Dave Meltzer’s comments on why we don’t see judges giving out 10-10 scores for rounds drew some ire from readers who left me notes saying how disappointed they were in the language that he used and the tenor in which he did so.
I will say this about the language issue — Dave has always used salty or rough language. He’s been calling bad fights or bad matches “abortions” for two decades now and still currently does. So, yeah, I’m not a huge fan of him calling critics of MMA judging “retarded,” but the best thing to say about this is “it is what it is.”
As for the defense of MMA judges and the attack on the judging system, I am much more interested in that. It’s funny that he delivered essentially a 2010 version of “don’t hate the playa, hate the game” when in fact he’s been vocal in his criticisms of some high-profile MMA judges for a while now. Chalk it up to a temporary mood swing?
But, yeah, I loved the PRIDE scoring system better. None of us are perfect.
UFC’s expansion into Canada is bigger than you think it might be
That comparisons of the UFC opening an office in Toronto to the way they opened an office in the UK won’t be accurate when the history books are written. The UK market has required Zuffa to put a lot of money in and get mixed results at best out of it. We already know what the Canadian market is like — red hot. Business for 2010 and 2011 will be huge in the country for UFC. Canada has the hottest and most passionate sports fans, bar none. (Except for the Blue Jays, a lost cause even with their current record.) American sports fans have nothing to be ashamed about, but Canada is where it is at right now. Opening an office in Toronto and staffing it with the right people is a huge deal. Nothing but positive things to say here. (View the Toronto press conference video here.) If you haven’t already done so, keep your eye on Showdown Joe Ferraro on Twitter. Joe is the man when it comes to covering the Canadian MMA scene (he and Neil Davidson of The Canadian Press).
Seeing this headline — Outlaw sport at Ontario’s gate — by The National Post has to freak out the politicians who are against MMA being allowed in the province. The Toronto Sun lays out who Tom Wright is, why UFC hired him, and the major challenges ahead of him. The Globe and Mail calls yesterday’s move baby steps being made on forbidden soil. All of those articles I linked to here are worth a few minutes of your time to read.
Rampage is not a fashionable pick amongst MMA writers heading into UFC 114
That the tide is turning on ‘conventional wisdom’ in the media as far as who is going to win the Rashad Evans/Quinton “Rampage” Jackson fight. Dave Meltzer predicted that Rashad would win by decision and Josh Gross lays out the case here as to why he thinks Rashad will win the fight by decision. Michael Bisping trying to attempt to act as Rampage’s mouthpiece makes me chuckle.
Thiago Alves gets a second lease on life
That I am glad to see the news that a doctor has cleared Thiago Alves to fight again and that his surgery ended up really being successful. I want to see him happy, healthy, and back in action. UFC can definitely use his talents wisely.
It is freaky to see how much coverage the UFC fighters get on TMZ, however. TMZ Sports is going to wreak all sorts of havoc when it officially launches.
Georges St. Pierre, the intelligent UFC fighter
That Georges St. Pierre is going to get a lot of grief for saying that he fights safe, especially in this current climate where UFC fans are pissed about the way Anderson Silva has been fighting.
Then again, if fighting safe means avoiding surgeries like the one Forrest Griffin underwent that will keep him out for several months, then you can see the reasoning behind wanting to avoid injury and avoid becoming punch drunk at an early age.
Topics: Canada, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
“The silent majority continues to grow. I need to figure out how to agitate you into action.”
Put 45 Huddle on staff. 🙂
“I would be interested in hearing your opinions on what you think are “sure fire, can’t miss” topics that will draw an automatic discussion from readers.”
Hell if I know. I do sort of think that the sheer number of really long articles that push other articles down on the home page could have something to do with it. If they could be shortened up on the home page and then expand once you click it, there might be more on the home page that is readily visible.
“I do sort of think that the sheer number of really long articles that push other articles down on the home page could have something to do with it.”
I think this is very true. Often it can become more trouble than its worth to track down the comments section for an article only third or fourth down.
if 45 huddle is put on the staff I would probably stop visiting this site. I’m already ignoring his comments, but if he was made part of the staff I would have to leave.
I like the idea of the shortened articles that expand when clicked on.
That’s an interesting point about article lengths.
This blog does a pretty good job of putting up lots of short posts that can be expanded: metsblog.com
That’s a good point by Fluyid.
What about a pick em’ game?
“That Georges St. Pierre is going to get a lot of grief for saying that he fights safe, especially in this current climate where UFC fans are pissed about the way Anderson Silva has been fighting.”
I think there is a big difference between the safe way that GSP fights and the “safe” way that Silva fights. Actually, I think the word smart should be used instead of safe for GSP. GSP fights smart. He has a gameplan going into the fight that usually involves attacking his opponents where they are weak. He is always attacking and moving forward, always looking for the finish. Silva just sits back and waits for his opponents to attack him then counter attacks. If the opponent doesn’t engage then he acts like a douchebag, gets ahead on points, and then pretty much stops fighting once he has enough points to secure a decision. Silva fights safe, GSP fights smart.
I agree with the sentiment, however, wasn’t Forrest injured during training?
I think Fluyid has a good point about the length of front page posts.
A couple of ancellary points:
automatic discussion = discussion with little thought or
automatic discussion = generate discussions
Also if the posts contain a lot of topics, sometime I find that the comment flow has gone in a different direction than the subtopic I had intended to comment on.
to use Meltzer’s language (which does not bother me in the slightest!), the front page of this site is an abortion. It is too hard to follow. You need small boxes, not long articles on the front page.
Well the judging is retarded, that is to say it has not kept up with the “evolution” of the fights themselves.
Like that Shaolin fight, some judges gave Lyle the first round, but he never scored in it, the fight was in the standing position Lyle failed his take downs and ate knees while pushing Shaolin against the fence.
That’s a round to shaolin or if you missed the knee strikes, maybe you score it an even round. The next 2 round went to shaolin he landed better strikes and took lyle to the ground and tried to submit him several times.
Many other examples of retarded judging(its not the judges who are retarded it is the value system they are using that is retarded)some could be considered bias if you have a wrestler judging, it may just be his opinion that a takedown trumps damage from strikes.
Classic example Rutten vs Randleman. The only judge who scored it for the monster was Obake, who is a wrestler and was actually training with randleman.
SO its obvious that there is bias and no set value system in judging today. Effort to finish the fight makes the action.
And yes 45snuggle is so biased that I ignore his comments, he’s a complete waste of time. However I occasionally accidentally read a few words so it would be nice if you could get him on staff and put his comments in his own special column in the right side that you have to click on. It could be called “Dana white genius” or “Lets all watch the ufc!”
Zach, first of all, thank you and congratulations for all the hard work you’ve been putting in. I have a couple of suggestions.
Don’t put the full articles on the main page because it makes it hard to scroll a long distance up and down the page from one post to the next. If the articles appear closer together on the page, it’s easier to choose which one I’m interested in reading, and also to see how many other people have commented on each article. Generally, if there’s a lot of comments, I’m more likely to check them out.
As for topics that generate discussion, I think it has to do with timing. Speaking for myself, I get excited right before and right after a main event. Before the event, hype and predictions are a lot of fun. Afterwards, I enjoy post-fight analysis (yours and other commentators’), tinkering with rankings, and playing fantasy matchmaker for future events. So that’s usually when I’m most likely to want to participate in discussion.
Thanks again and good luck!
That GSP interview was brilliant. Everyone should read it very carefully. It has dramatically increased my respect for this guy – his intelligence, his honesty and his courage to speak his mind and to be firm in his convictions.
I fully agree that the way of the future is to avoid damage. The onus to create an exciting fight cannot fall on those who have developed and mastered a style that avoids damage while dominating the opposition. As the fighters tighten up their defense, there may be a period where fights are perceived as “boring” but this state of affairs can’t last indefinitely. The pendulum will swing in the other direction.
Right now, the gaping hole in MMA is effective defense, and I think a lot of work needs to be put in that department, both in the gym and in the strategy room, until the average top fighter approaches the level of GSP, Fedor, Machida, etc in the defense department. But this will then create a breed of challengers who will make it their mission to figure out and overcome the tight defense of the current spate of elite fighters. That’s when MMA will elevate to a new level.
This pattern also plays into the wrestling-dominance issue. Wrestlers can, should and MUST rely on their powerful martial art to keep themselves safe and to crush their opponents. The onus is on the opponent and his camp to train in wrestling and counter-wrestling, and to develop strategies to neutralize the wrestling-based MMA fighters’ game, both on the ground and on the feet. I don’t know what the answer will look like, but I’m willing to bet a generation of Greg Jacksons will dedicate itself to cracking this puzzle. I’m looking forward to it!
Too much hate for me on this one.
I picked Evans over Ramoage a long time ago. Interesting to see others starting to think the same.
I’m open to writing a once a week article for this site. Nothing more. In the past I’ve tried to get into MMA writing and it kills my love of the sport. And I bet at least 25% of the articles would be negative towards the UFC.
You went from being not very prolific, to far too prolific practically overnight. Some of the transcribed audio stuff is interesting, but it seems like now it is a non stop torrent of gigantic, sprawling posts that often contain a huge amount of conversational information that doesn’t interest me. I’d rather have my eyes clawed out by a rabid mongoose than read through transcripts of Dave Meltzer butchering the english language in gruesome detail.
If you made less literal transcriptions, and fewer new posts per day, I think the discussions might be a bit more focused. As it stands, there is too much crap being thrown at the wall to even keep track of what is sticking. You do a good job of posting interesting stuff that is outside the banal MMA blog bubble, but lately it has been a bit overwhelming with all the long posts.
I for one appreciate the long well thought out posts, and ESPECIALLY the transcriptions (I tend to read on a machine that can’t do video/audio very well).
I do agree with the above that it might be worthwhile to break certain topics down a bit.
But I don’t know, BloodyElbow gets tons of comments because their frontpage articles are borderline trolling. Sure, the fanbase is engaged, but the writers look like glorified forum posters.
“But I don’t know, BloodyElbow gets tons of comments because their frontpage articles are borderline trolling. Sure, the fanbase is engaged, but the writers look like glorified forum posters.”
There are a lot of good articles, but there are a couple of writers in particular who I’m certain don’t actually believe what they write.
Don’t go that way, Zach.
Front page looks a lot better now.
I’m not really sure what would be a surefire draw for the website. I have my personal nerd interests in this sport, and they probably aren’t universal.
One thing I do have to agree with others posted here, is that you really shouldn’t post entire articles on the front page. Too much scrolling if you don’t want to read that particular article, and some of your articles are huge. Also, while I certainly come here for the writing, the occasional picture wouldn’t hurt if you’re going to do an article about Gina Carano or ring girls.
I suppose that maybe you could do an article about whether or not TUF has worn out its welcome, and what things could potentially be done to reinvigorate it? I dunno. It’s not the article I’d personally want to write, but it’s an article that I think would generate interest if you had some new ideas.
I echo the sentiments of too much scrolling. Can\’t you see more after the jump?