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Former GOP’er-turned-libertarian Bob Barr uses ‘heart-ripping cage fighter’ story to attack MMA
By Zach Arnold | June 4, 2010
Seriously, Bob, is the best you can do?
And from a supposedly newly-minted Libertarian no less?
If you need background information on the ‘heart-ripping cage fighter’ story that has exploded in media channels, click here for the real truth. By the way, I laughed heartily (pardon the pun) at one of the most recent comments on that post about me not knowing the area that I was referring to.
It looks like Bloody Elbow was right about that story taking on a life of its own in the media. Will this supplant John McCain’s “human cockfighting” quote as the most annoying media cliché to use against MMA?
Be on the look out for this story about an Atlanta Falcon player who is a Jay Glazer MMA trainee getting suspended for a game by the NFL. Steve Cofield and Jeff Pearlman have been drilling Glazer lately like a punching bag. At least Steve won’t be complaining about Glazer being “a bad body guy” like Mike Russow.
- Related: As the cross-over between MMA and football expands, so does the media scrutiny on training and drug usage
- Related: Alistair Overeem, Brian Cushing, steroids in the NFL & MMA, and the way the media covers these subjects
New York MMA legislation bill gets new life
So sayeth The Albany Times-Union in this new report in which they indicate some new life may be given. With that said, this sounds like a dog chasing its own tail repeatedly and getting nowhere by doing so.
I remember when Marc Ratner was on MMA Junkie radio right around the time that UFC was heading into the 113 show in Montreal and he was very confident that something would get passed by mid-May. We’re into June and not much is happening in New York — at least right now, anyways.
These things I don’t know the answers to
Are sales for the UFC Undisputed 2010 game really ‘below expectations’ or is that hyperbole?
Lorenzo Fertitta says that if fighters want to create a union, go ahead. How fast would he be able to break up a union in MMA?
With all the love given to Melvin Guillard these days, just how many people giving him such love are willing to bet anything of value to them that he won’t make a dumb mistake in a fight like he has in the past?
Seeing reports that Fedor may retire after a couple of more fights to become a part of a pro-Putin, pro-Kremlin political party, how long will his mystique as a fighter hold up in the years after his retirement?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Here is what I know; M-1 Global isn’t happy with the ‘Fedor to retire’ rumor being out there alongside the ‘Fedor to run for office’ rumor.
Barr only joined the Libertarians because he couldn’t get anywhere in the GOP and wanted to run for President and be a big fish in a small pond. Like with Joe Liberman leaving the Democrats a few years ago. He’s not a true Libertarian.
Lieberman actually left the Democrats because he lost the 2006 Democratic primary to Ned Lamont and he knew that his support base was mainly the state GOP electorate anyway.
Fertitta gave a very proper answer. Saying anything but that fighters have the right to form a union if they want would have been super dangerous.
Continued hearty chuckle at anyone who thinks that Zuffa brass has any say in whether fighters unionize or not. Lorenzo is right: whether they do or not has little to do with Zuffa. Best way to prevent it is to make sure fighters are happy. Period.
If Putin’s United Russia political party wants Fedor to be “elected,” then he will be “elected.” There are no legitimate elections in Putin’s Russia, only the appearance of elections.
I think if he never goes to the UFC, he’ll be highly discredited among casual fans within a couple years. Not that he SHOULD be, just that the hardcore Fedor fans are almost laughably socially inept. They will try to defend his reputation in the face of very real questions, and drive away everybody else.
If Fedor never goes to the UFC, that is.
The Fertittas’ Station Casinos was notoriously the most bitterly anti-union of the Las Vegas casino chains. This earned the company the enmity of the Culinary, the union of hospitality workers in Nevada. That’s why the Culinary’s international affiliate, Unite Here, is waging war against the Fertittas by lobbying New York politicians against legalizing MMA, purely to hurt the Fertittas’ interests. This is a little known blowback effect the the Fertittas’ labor practices in a separate industry are having on the sport of MMA.
Fedor in politics would be pennies from heaven for MMA writers. Look at all the easy jokes you can come up with in a few minutes off the top of your head:
*The elections will be held up for months until M-1 gets the rights to co-promote it.
*Fedor will pull Russia out of the UN and find smaller organizations that will center themselves around him.
*Fedor’s Russia will only go to war with past-their-prime countries and over-rated countries while ignoring the true top ten armies.
*There will need to be interim heads of parliament crowned once a year when Fedor breaks his hand pounding a gavel at sessions.
*Russia will be judged on what it did in 2004.
*The new national anthem will be performed by Era.
*RVCA will get the contract to make military uniforms.
*Sarah Palin can see Fedor from her house.
*Instead of being given infamous “Phone Call to Putin” electric shocks to make terrorism suspects speak, they’ll now be subject to Fedor’s ground n pound and armbar arsenal.
*Aleksander Emelianenko will make a fine Russian version of Billy Carter, Roger Clinton, or Neil Bush.
Fighters union will never happen, not even a hint of a chance. If the pipedream ever did come about, the Fertittas would be gone.
The Fedor sideshow holds no interest for me anymore. Due to M-1’s choices for his career, if he retires, he will likely be nearly forgotten by all except a few die-hards. I understand the choice to go for as much money as they can squeeze out of promotions, regardless of the quality of matches. But as a fan who prefers quality matches, especially for the elite fighters, I have lost interest in Fedor’s career.
People bash Dana White for downplaying Fedor’s ranking but he’s absolutely right. Just look at his record, he’s had TWO (Arlovski and Sylvia) top 10 opponent since the Cro Cop fight in the last 5 years. And both of those guys couldn’t make Top 15 now in my view. Meanwhile the division has improved dramatically while he’s taking crud fights in a lesser promotion. Werdum fits right in the zone of Fedor opponent material, has beaten ONE top 15 opponent, Silva – who only recently got in Top 10, in the last forever. Sounds like a stellar career for ‘the best fighter ever’ claim.
Fedor is a great fighter and should he ever choose to fight top contenders again, he should win most of those matchups. But until then he’s just another talking point about what could have been if he weren’t involved with dirty mobsters. He should go to the UFC, where the mobsters are clean and make better matches.
Sorta like Brock Lesnar being a consensus #2 HW with wins over notable opponents like Randy Couture, who wouldn’t be a top 15 LHW let alone HW (but he was highly ranked once upon a time!). Or Heath Herring – maybe top 25 HW today?
His best win is Frank Mir who is 5-4 in his last 9 fights – who he’s 1-1 against – and Mir’s sudden skyrocket in the rankings is probably 1/2 due to a voctory over Lesnar.
Or how about Carwin whose ranking is based off beating Mir?
See how you can do that for anyone?
You can absolutely discredit many fighter’s records using this method of analogy. But this discussion is about Fedor alone. Understand, I think Fedor is great but his management is ruining his chances of the respect he deserves. And I think his ranking is based on the old success. You shouldn’t have to lose to go down in ranking, you should have to get quality wins.
Fedor > Rogers, at that time had exactly 1 decent win. A quick KO over a weak-chinned Arlovski. Man you gotta love Strikeforce’s matchmaking.
Fedor > Arlovski, at the time a quality matchup, Arlovski had 5 straight wins going in (Rothwell, Nelson, O’Brien, Werdum, Cruz).
Fedor > Sylvia, at that time Tim had lost 2 of 3 (Nog, Couture) with unimpressive wins over Vera and Monson. I repeat VERA AND MONSON. Way to kick it off Affliction!
Fedor > Choi. This was Choi’s 2nd MMA bout ever. He earned this fight with his impressive quick KO of the legendary Bobby Ologun. (Thank you M-1)
Fedor > Lindland. A man 2 weight classes below him and he still had to repeatedly grab the ropes to avoid Matt’s ground and pound. Congrats.
Fedor > Hunt. Hunt at that time was tough but he came into the match fresh off a Josh Barnett loss. Not anything to brag about.
Fedor > Coleman. Does anyone want to be reminded? He was fresh off the Shogun fluke win and the great Milco Voorn (who?). Oh yeah Fedor had beat him 2 and half years earlier. Only notable thing here was Fedor made Coleman’s little girls cry a lot on camera. Thanks again M-1.
Fedor > Zuluzinho. I only went this far so I could remind all of this travesty. Zulu was 3-0 coming in, more than most Fedor opponents can say.
Fedor > Cro Cop. FINALLY another quality match. Much to be said, but I’ll just say this, one of the best matches ever for me personally.
[…] this topic for a few reasons, but what triggered his reaction on Sunday was due in part to the likes of the Bob Barrs of the world bringing up the ‘heart-ripping cage fighter’ story as a way to attack the UFC in the […]