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Talk Radio: Why are online Fedor and Joe Rogan fans so annoying and obnoxious?

By Zach Arnold | May 27, 2010

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Maestro Breen on his Tuesday radio show was asked about why Fedor fans are so defensive and verbally attack people online like Africanized killer bees. This is put in context to fighters like Mauricio Shogun who have passionate, but respectful fan bases online.

“It certainly seems that Shogun fans are some of the most impassioned fans in Mixed Martial Arts, which is interesting because despite being impassioned… like there’s a hierarchy of MMA fighters who have horrible fans. Fedor fans are always the worst. And I find it interesting that Shogun fans seem to be like really passionate but yet they never, like, I would never think of them making my annoyance list which is interesting and so kudos to you guys.”

Which leads to the obvious question — is the obnoxiousness of Fedor’s online fans a reason why so many people want to see him lose?

“I think that might honestly be part of it. I think the larger thing is some people, I personally like I think Fedor Emelianenko’s great but I do think it would be amusing to see him lose just because I always wonder like what will happen to MMA, like how ridiculous will people’s reactions be? Part of me inside is always kind of interested in him losing just because I would like to see the reaction to what it would be but I think a lot of people in general just want to see him lose because they’re annoyed by the fact that he’s not in the UFC and see him as having no desire to fight the best fighters and I think a lot of people also, especially if you’re part of the forums and stuff like that or you sort of interact with fans constantly, you definitely get to see that his fans are some of the worst people alive… and that’s not to say that if you consider yourself a Fedor Emelianenko fan that you’re a horrible person. I would like to draw a very real distinction between a fan of Fedor Emelianenko and a Fedor fan. Like they’re completely different things. He’s the only fighter that I’ve ever seen apart from maybe BJ Penn and maybe Nick Diaz whose fans would also make the pound-for-pound annoying list who fans would seem to be willing to walk through fire and fight to the death to defend his name and it’s just like, dude, you take this way too seriously.

“I would say that the angriest e-mail I get at this point in time, like I mean there’s always a different reason to get angry e-mail, but I would say most of it and the angriest of it, the most upset, the most irate, the 12 out of 10 on the unhappy scale comes when we do like a Beatdown After the Bell it involves heavyweight division of some kind and we don’t dedicate 10 minutes to fellating Fedor and talking about how he’s the greatest human being in the history of time. After UFC 110 for instance, we essentially just talked about the strength of the UFC’s Heavyweight division, the fact that Cain Velasquez is a fantastic young fighter and I got lots of e-mail from people who essentially were mad that we just didn’t take a quick timeout to go, ‘look we’re talking about all these other guys and they’re pretty good, but we need to know that Fedor’s the best and no one will ever beat him.’ Like people were mad that we didn’t do that aside and as a result of that we had to sort endure lots of angry, vitriolic, and venomous e-mail. Really I think that as far as dreadful fans go, just the most kind of insufferable human beings who seems to take things way too seriously and have closely bound up their own personal worth inside the fleeting existences of an athlete in his prime, they definitely take the cake in a way that I’ve never seen in any other fashion.”

This transitioned nicely into a caller discussion about ‘why do people think Joe Rogan is good’ and the passionate defenders he has online. Count me in, personally, as a pro-Rogan guy in terms of his commentating work. He brings energy, he actually trains, and any time you have someone who loves MMA, lives MMA, and breathes it, they naturally just are going to make fans out of people who may have not given this sport a chance.

We set this passage up with Mr. Breen and his radio producer having a debate on whether or not Rogan is good, bad, or middle-of-the-road at what he does and how he compares to other sports commentators.

TJ DE SANTIS: “Mixed Martial Arts is not baseball or the NFL and Joe Rogan, yeah he gets a little bit obnoxious but for the most part he, compared to Mike Goldberg, is a breath of fresh air. He does understand technical situations, he can break down things sometimes, but he’s also terrible at going, ‘THAT LOOKS LIKE A GOAT’S VAGINA,’ I mean that’s stuff terrible. If you sort of you know sift out the terrible stuff, you’ll find a decent product somewhere in there.”

JORDAN BREEN: “See, the problem is, not only did you compare him to Mike Goldberg who does a different job from him, but also you make the point that I was about to make and stemming off that commentary issue the thing that Jake Rossen said that is the most relevant and really gets to the heart why anyone convinces themselves that MMA commentary is good at this point in time is that at this point in time just being better than all the other joke-sters is enough to convince people that you’re good enough. I think the big thing is that because Rogan is still, like there are obviously issues with Rogan but he’s so clearly better than most of his contemporaries and so I think because of that people ‘oh, well he’s good.’ In a relative guy, he’s better than everyone else, so he must great and we know that’s not the way to look at things. There is an absolute standard that’s higher and worth striving for.”

The word ‘legend’ gets thrown a lot when talking about past phenoms in MMA and it’s also been tossed around recently by Tim Sylvia, who called himself a legend in the sport. You hear the term legend thrown around for Fedor and (Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira and Wanderlei Silva. The question is, who are the legends of Mixed Martial Arts and is the term being used too loosely to describe a lot of guys who, as Skip Bayless says, would fall into the “Hall of Very Good” instead of the “Hall of Fame” category?

“I tend not to get too riled up by the phrase ‘legend’ at this point in time because what tends to happen is people think that the meaning of the word ‘legend’ means like an all-time great and that’s not necessarily ever what it meant. Legends are supposed to be, for instance I think a good way to explain it would be, if you were telling the history of MMA the people that you couldn’t tell… if you couldn’t tell the history of the sport without them, if somehow they wove into the fabric of the sport and there’s lots of guys who are important and vital along the way that necessarily aren’t great fighters. Now that does make them legends or not in the current semantic sense? I don’t know. For instance, people call [Maurice] Smith an MMA legend. Mo Smith was not a great fighter. Mo Smith is a .500 career fighter.

“So, does that make him a legend or not? Questionably.

“So I think it comes down to sort of how you perceive the word ‘legend.’ All I would say is… don’t necessarily treat the word ‘legend’ as all-time great because not only is it not is truest sense but it doesn’t, it’s not always going to get used like that so you get this weird disconnect when you hear people call a Matt Lindland a legend. Now I mean Matt Lindland’s a bit more extreme because you might be able to tell the story of MMA without Matt Lindland, but definitely don’t always treat it is as ‘oh, someone said legend, well he’s not as good as Fedor!’ which necessarily isn’t the implication of saying that someone is legendary.”

And later on in the discussion…

Tim Sylvia’s still not going to be an elite heavyweight at this point but he insured that if he wants to have another fight with Wes Sims, for instance, he can do that and maybe get paid to do it.”

Tying in legendary names and announcers and people who have a strong online following, Bas Rutten is truly one of the most likable people that you meet in this business. He has a larger-than-life personality and a storytelling ability that matches it as well. That said, he has been taking criticism in the last couple of years like a piñata for working a lot of lower-level MMA events on TV and PPV telecasts.

Jordan Breen is nonplussed that Mr. Rutten still has a large base of online supporters currently defending his commentary work in the business.

“At this point in time, Bas Rutten, you know I think it says a lot about MMA fans and nothing positive that we ran a poll on the site about who the best color commentator is in Mixed Martial Arts and Bas Rutten was leading it over 40%. It’s not 2002 anymore. If you’re listening to Bas Rutten at this point in your life, at this point in Mixed Martial Arts and think ‘wow, that’s great,’ I don’t know what to tell you. Clearly you have a necessity in your life to have the kind of wacky uncle that you just never had. Other than that, I really don’t know what to say. It seems that the guy hasn’t watched Mixed Martial Arts in the last half-decade, doesn’t really want to be there, it’s just cashing in on the Bas Rutten personality. No one wants to listen to that or shouldn’t want to listen to that.”

The irritation of having to tolerate ‘Black-on-Black crime’ as a marketing catch phrase

This actually led to a caller making the suggestion that if we’re going to keep pushing the ‘racial foolishness’ right now like Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson are that we may as well have a “Latin-on-Latin crime” theme in Bellator to set up a fight between Roger Huerta and Jorge Masvidal, two fighters who right now are on the sidelines.

“Yeah, I could definitely get behind that. I actually think it would be a fight it would be interesting to see if either guy could prevent themselves from failing since they’re both the kind of guys who drop the ball because of short-sightedness and bad strategy and that kind of thing. I think it would be great. They obviously need a way to use Huerta in an interesting way since he’s now not in the tournament mix. Masvidal, they essentially nixed him from the tournament because of the, he should have beat Luis Palomino, but he lost a split decision down in Florida and so they basically nixed him and axed him from the tournament. I think it would be a real nice super fight. If you’re going to put something… Now we’re kind of seeing I don’t want to say the limitations of Bellator but when they’re only having two tournament fights in a week because of the semi-finals now and they’re putting in more prelims I think that kind of note on a card where they’re doing the finals or something like that would be a very, very nice note to hit like a real proper co-main event feature to go along with one of the tournament finals, so that’s something that I definitely could get behind.

“I think I’d be inclined to go with Masvidal, looking at how Pat Curran was able to just back up and out-box Roger Huerta, hit him to the face, hit him to the body, Masvidal has markedly more power. I would probably favor Jorge Masvidal there but it’s never out of the question that he would find a way to blow it as he did against Luis Palomino earlier this year.”

Roger Bowling — exciting prospect but is he the next Roger Huerta, a fighter with lots of potential that will get his career derailed in the future?

“A lot of people are excited about Roger Bowling. I think an exciting performance (at Strikeforce Challengers in Portland). If you had never seen Roger Bowling before, that’s what he looks like. Apart from the fact that he didn’t give up position, which is also very Roger Bowling like, I think that’s kind of what you’re in for. I compared him to Roger Huerta for a reason, both positive and negative. I do think that’s what you’re getting with Roger Bowling — a bigger, stronger Roger Huerta who when he does lose is (because it’s) going to be a lack of strategy, it’s going to be him prizing aggression over technique, it’s going to his ability or when you say ability it sounds positive, perhaps his inability to stop guys from taking positions on him, taking the back, and getting on top… that kind of thing.”

Topics: Bellator, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

26 Responses to “Talk Radio: Why are online Fedor and Joe Rogan fans so annoying and obnoxious?”

  1. 45 Huddle says:

    The online Fedor nuthuggers basically created his haters. They are so over the top in their love for him and refuse to acknowledge his long gaps in fighting competition. They also refuse to villianize him an put all of the blame on M-1. When in reality they represent him, so he is the one to blame for the antics. I think without those over the top fans, the naysayers wouldn’t be half as vocal or care.

    Rogan is Rogan. I enjoy his commentating. I have heard him in non UFC interviews and the guy is a wacko.

    • IamANT says:

      Amen, preach it brother.

      • Bob says:

        Morans! 😉

        Zach, how dare you put Rogan on the same line as

        Fedor?

        I like Fedor, I like Shogun as well. In the online world,
        I think there is a bit of mutual schadenfreude. Some folks like to see Dana blow a gasket when talking about Fedor and others want to see the fallout from a Fedor defeat.

        Can you imagine how ticked off anti-Fedorites would be if he retired with his family to a resort on the Black Sea after beating Werdum?

        As for commentators, I’m content unless they are distracting.

    • The Gaijin says:

      I fail to see how they are any different/worse from the frothing at the mouth BROCKLESNAR!!1! fanatics that think someone with 5 career fights against competition that’s been equally overrated (to that of Fedor’s) is a legitimate #1 HW candidate.

      The naysayers are so vocal because they will swallow whatever line Zuffa Inc. serves them and are dogged against anyone who thinks differently.

      • 45 Huddle in says:

        Maybe they exist…. But I really haven’t seen half as much hardcore fan hype for Lesnar as compared to Fedor.

        Lesnar is the champion of the bigger organization in the world. With Nogueira being knocked out of the #2 spot, Mir and then Lesnar was the logic choice. Is he inexperienced? Absolutely. Does he does that #2 ranking? Absolutely.

        But I would say there is more hype for Junior Dos Santos out there then there is for Lesnar. A lot of people cr#p on Lesnar. Too many think Dos Santos is the 2nd coming of Jesus.

        • The Gaijin says:

          Dos Santos is an all action stand-up fighter that KO’s a lot of people…I can’t say I’m completely surprised about his bandwagon.

          But there is no way there’s more hype for Dos Santos than there is for Lesnar. Most of the people that crap on Lesnar are the people that hate him because he was a pro wrestler, not for “relevant” reasons.

          Lesnar may well be the #1 sometime in the very near future, but being crowned by beating a 48-year old fighter that struggles mightily against fringe contenders at 205, a tough but shopworn/lame-duck Herring and going 1-1 with Frank Mir doesn’t make a #1 HW resume imho. He gets a quasi-Ubereem treatment based on people’s expectations of what he WILL do.

      • Steve says:

        “I fail to see how they are any different/worse from the frothing at the mouth BROCKLESNAR!!1! fanatics

        The difference is that the BROCKLESNAR meme is a joke. It’s kind of like the Minowaman jokes that float around about him beaing an unbeatable monster. Once you get someone out of BROCKLESNAR mode they are usually willing to engage in a meaningful conversation.

        The Fedor fans are not joking. They are deadly serious about Fedor being the second coming of Christ, the next step in human evolution, and the most interesting man in the world. They are absolutely not willing, under any circumstances, to even consider that he is not a God walking among men.

        • The Gaijin says:

          “They are deadly serious about Fedor being the second coming of Christ, the next step in human evolution, and the most interesting man in the world. They are absolutely not willing, under any circumstances, to even consider that he is not a God walking among men.”

          Right…

      • IceMuncher says:

        Noone calls BROCKLESNAR the top p4p fighter in the world. Noone says BROCKLESNAR is bigger than the sport. Noone calls BROCKLESNAR the greatest of all time, and a legend we’ll tell our grandkids about. Noone says there’s no reason for BROCKLESNAR to fight the top 6 HW’s in the world because none of them have earned the right to take on the invincible BROCKLESNAR.

  2. Jonathan says:

    I concur with The Gaijin here. Too many people who are anti-Fedor are so pro-UFC-everything that it makes me sick!

  3. Fluyid says:

    Such is the nature of the internet.

    (I’m so damned wise!)

  4. Isaiah says:

    Fedor gets so much irrational criticism that people are really sensitive to it. Also, he was on top before the recent explosion in popularity of MMA so the new fans resent him, and the older fans sort of feel a sense of ownership. I think there are a lot of rifts in the MMA community, and it happens that Fedor is in the middle of a lot of them.

  5. Zack says:

    Organizational “nuthuggers” are the worst group of fans.

    • IceMuncher says:

      Depends on which org. Being pro-UFC is about as absurd as saying that GSP is the best WW in the world. They’ve got 90% of the talent, their commentating and presentation are better than anyone else (Pride is dead ffs), and their worst show of the year would be an above average card for everyone else.

      I’ve seen people trash a UFC card and praise a smaller org in the same post, even though the UFC card had more top 10 fighters on it. In that case, then yes, organizational nuthuggers are pretty bad.

      • The Gaijin says:

        Nothing like painting any kind of discourse against the “popular” opinion as “absurd”.

      • The Gaijin says:

        “Being pro-UFC is about as absurd as saying that GSP is the best WW in the world.”

        There’s a universe of difference between being a UFC supporter and fan of the sport and being a mindless idiot that attacks anyone who dares to express a contrary opinion.

  6. EJ says:

    Na, Fedor fans are still by far the worst they live in some sort of delusional state that doesn’t allow for facts only irrational worship.

    Which i’ve never understood, i’m a fan of fighters but if they pulled half the stuff that Fedor has these past 5 years i’d no longer be their fan.

    I think that’s one of the few things I don’t like about mma fans online, there is too much over the top stuff coming from them. A guy wins a couple of fights in a row and he’s unbeatable, he loses a few and he sucks there seems to not be able to be subjective and let their passion overrule common sense.

  7. edub says:

    Its pretty funny how certain people (Gaijin, Zack, Isaiah, and Jonathon) are trying to turn the conversation from “Fedor fans are over the top for their guy” to “Fedor gets too much hate from UFC-nut huggers”….

    • Zack says:

      If you’re referring to me, you’re really stretching there based off what I said.

    • Isaiah says:

      Fedor is a polarizing figure. That’s it. And that feeds on itself. He gets crazy haters and then he gets over-the-top defenders, which gets him more crazy haters and so on.

  8. Rob Maysey says:

    Fedor’s rabid online fan base seems to derive, at least, in part, that they are constantly forced to defend the “ranking” and “status” of Fedor.

    Fedor is one moment hailed as the greatest fighter of all time, and the next day, “not even a top 5 HW”. The guy has never lost. He has beaten a string of challengers that is unrivaled by any other active heavyweight. He has been ranked number 1 for going on 7 years.

    In any other sport, his standing as the best would be unquestioned. In MMA, it is constant fodder amongst the “media.”

  9. cutch says:

    I think most people know he should be ranked number one at heavyweight but logically should’nt be number one in the P4P rankings.

    Heavyweights are full of one dimentional fighters and guys who have had average careers at LHW (Couture, Overeem) and guys who have just recently turned fully pro (Carwin, Rogers)

    The fact that the number two Heavyweight in the world has 4 wins in his whole career says it all really.

    Would this happen at any other weight class? No but because Fedor has managed to stay undefeated at HW for years people put him number one in the P4P rankings.

    • Isaiah says:

      This is another thing. I think he’s pretty obviously the best fighter we’ve seen relative to his size. So when people try to elevate everyone who wins a fight at HW or a title at another weight over him, it just makes me shake my head.

      I imagine if the press and baseball fans called every top prospect the next Barry Bonds, and claimed that everyone having a big year was better than Bonds, you’d probably have a lot of really prickly Bonds fans.

  10. The Gaijin says:

    I think my favourite part is that a far greater number of people like to biasedly hate on/degrade Fedor’s standing as a fighter than there are religiously devoted fanatical fans.

    And many of those same people try to lump together the very thin minority of fan (to quote: “The Fedor fans are not joking. They are deadly serious about Fedor being the second coming of Christ, the next step in human evolution, and the most interesting man in the world. They are absolutely not willing, under any circumstances, to even consider that he is not a God walking among men.”) with the fans who would actually dare to “defend” or side with him in order to devalue their argument or any valid points.

    • Steve says:

      LOL

      Nice job trying to paint me as a Fedor hater.

      Here are my thoughts on Fedor: Greatest fighter in the history of MMA by a country mile and to this day he is still the best HW in the sport.

      My hatred of his fans has nothing to do with my opinon of the man.

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