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Dave Meltzer: If UFC doesn’t change its attitude & stop acting like 1980s WWE, ‘s—‘s going to happen’
By Zach Arnold | June 6, 2011
Well, that’s quite the statement.
Dave Meltzer shared his thoughts late Saturday night (radio) after the TUF 13 Finale about the recent media scandals involving Quinton Jackson & Joe Rogan.
(You can read about everything in detail here and here.)
When discussing the Rampage & Rogan situations, he noted that the Rogan situation should be treated more seriously and that the Rampage situation is one that could cause more business trouble for UFC if they start to feel pressure from sponsors.
“Actually, Quinton’s not even the problem, Rogan’s the problem. Rogan is, I mean seriously… Rogan, he’s very lucky, that’s the only I can say, he’s very, very lucky that he’s announcing on Spike TV but… you know, again maybe if they got on, you know, ESPN that Rogan would be smarter with what he says on the Internet. Probably not, though.”
Probably not is right, based on the spam I’ve been getting from Rogan’s army of online supporters. A couple of paragraphs earlier, I remarked that Rampage’s behavior around female reporters is par for the course for him. That’s why he didn’t pay any attention to the ‘motorboating’ during the filming of the Rampage interview with Karyn Bryant at UFC 130. However, Bryant’s reaction and the way the interview played out in the media brought back some unpleasant memories for certain individuals.
“[Bryant] wasn’t put off by it at all and I really believe that she wasn’t and she’s not someone who’s just trying to protect the team, sort of speak, like a lot of people would be. But at the same time, you know, Quinton’s done things that have, you know, when Quinton humped Heather Nichols (video link here), this was about a year-and-a-half ago, she was clearly seriously uncomfortable with it and it was a really bad deal and because he’s who he is, no one said anything other than she did and then, you know, ‘oh, you were asking for it because you’re a pretty girl and you’re talking to a fighter and, somehow, because of that, you deserve to be dry-humped.
“You’re a female reporter and, again, it’s not a one-time thing and even though Karyn Bryant didn’t seem to have any problem with it, the fact is Heather Nichols did and the Japanese, he did this in Japan and the Japanese women whose name I don’t know that he did the doggy-style dry-humping to a couple year backs, she clearly had a problem with it but in Japan, you know, the role of the reporters in Japan, they’re just supposed to take it, you know, you’re not supposed to say anything and stars, fighters are big, big stars there and they can do, American fighters who are stars can do anything they want with complete impunity, so… that’s just their culture, I’m not defending it. The fact is if Quinton did what he did there here, that wouldn’t have gone over with anyone. He does have this track record of doing stuff and so [Nichols] complained about it.”
Late last night on Twitter, Rampage was talking with a follower about his exploits in relation to the Japanese fans and media there.
the_acylum @Rampage4real teach me english, great sensei!
His response?
Rampage4real @the_acylum hahahahaha I was young bro But that
shitwas funny,I still do it when I go 2 Japan,I love the Japanese,they r so nice,& gullible
Dana White’s bizarre one-paragraph tersely-written non-apology
The comments Joe Rogan made about Maggie Hendrick are ones that would garner immediate punishment on a bigger television platform or sports league.
“[Rogan’s ‘cunty‘ remark about Maggie Hendricks] enraged a lot of people and deservedly so because the fact is… I think that if, uh, in pretty much any other… if you’re in a real sport and you did this on a real network, you know, the reality is he’d been… when that post came out, he’d be fired by 5 PM. And I actually talked in a couple of different sports over this week who are in management and, you know, I actually wrote that before talking to anyone. And I was thinking, you know what? Maybe I’m an idiot and I said something that was wrong because I wrote it in the Observer this week and they said, oh, absolutely, without even question. You know, it was an NHL person and an NBA person. They said, if one of the announcers for this sport used that word on our web site to describe a female reporter or fan or anything, GONE. GONE, Joe Rogan or anyone. They’d be gone. But, you know, it’s UFC and it’s Joe Rogan and it’s Spike TV so, you know, I don’t expect anything specific to happen.”
Whatever your personal feelings on the matter are, the truth is that UFC could suffer in the long run by not punishing Rogan now as opposed to have it used against them by a special interest group putting pressure on them financially down the road. Dana White is more interested in online Twitter feuds with Bloodstain Lane. However, keeping the sponsors happy is a lot more important to his company’s bottom line than engaging in a stupid Twitter war during main event fights on Spike.
Early this morning, Dana White issued the following as a press release.
Joe Rogan recently made an offensive statement reflecting a personal opinion that does not represent the UFC in any way. I have addressed this directly with Joe.
No direct apology to Maggie Hendricks. No mention of the actual offense committed. No mention of punishment as a result of said ‘offensive statement.’ By being vague & obtuse, it’s passing the buck by acknowledging something was said but not going into detail what was actually said, hoping that people will read it and just ignore it as a blip on the radar screen. For a PR statement in terms of effective, it’s a lousy statement.
Why? People who are curious will start digging around to find out what was said and to whom it was said to. What a magnanimous gift by the UFC President to Maggie on her birthday.
As far as what Dave (Meltzer) thinks the final outcome may be…
“This is one of those things where it’s, you know, there’s a chance that this just blows over, actually a good chance this blows over and nothing happens. But if the wrong group, you know, sees it, you know, they could easily lose sponsors over this, easily.”
When he talks about ‘the wrong group,’ he is referring to a group like the National Organization for Women. As far as dealings with politically-connected interest groups are concerned, Dana found out the hard way before with GLAAD what that experience was like.
“And it’s just like, it’s kind of like um… I mean it’s one of the things and this thing is going to happen and I can tell you this with 90% certainty that unless, you know, Dana (White) & Lorenzo (Fertitta) realize as they get thing more popular and play in the big leagues that they’re going to have to play in the big leagues. I mean, their attitude is very, very similar to Vince (McMahon) in the ’80s, you know, I mean Vince in the ’80s was like, ‘I’m Vince and I’m having nothing but success,’ and he had a couple of periods where he got taken down bad, real bad because of that attitude and, you know, nearly lost his business once over it. You know, lost some TV stations over it because of that, key TV stations in key TV markets because of that arrogance. And they are big as Vince was then, you know, in the sense of they’re not so big that they’re impenetrable to all this. You know, again, if they’re on NBC and this happens, you know, that spotlight’s a little bit too big and they’re going to, again, if you know anything about sponsorships…
“In ’99 when WWE was on fire, I mean they were doing 6’s (cable ratings), they had, you know, one or two sponsors [leave] and it was the domino effect and Vince had to go in there and go, ‘we’re toning down,’ they had to, they had no choice because they were going to lose all their sponsors and that’s the reality of this world. And this is one of the reasons the product is what it is now.”
WWE went from The Attitude Era to having K-Mart sponsor their house show tours in 2011. Serious business calculations were made. If you lose sponsorships, you lose money. When you lose money in MMA, it means you have less quality fighters to bring in. Do you want UFC to go back to the sponsorship days of Mickey’s malt liquor and Condom Depot? Wasn’t that long ago, was it?
“These guys (UFC) are doing really well, you know, Edge (Shaving Gel) is jumping on board and Dodge has jumped on board, they’re getting real sponsors and they’re getting real credibility and… you know, you get a woman’s group after you and start playing these tapes of [Rampage] and then it comes out that you never punished him and then you got this announcer (Rogan) saying this, it could all go down, I mean this domino effect goes down real quick.
“They’re just stupid to let it happen. They need to make a move before it’s too late instead of after because after, you know, once the snowball starts going, man, it’s real hard to stop that snowball. If you stop the snowball when it’s still a snowball, then it’s not an avalanche. It’s pretty easy to stop, but when it becomes an avalanche and then you start trying to do damage control and realize you made a mistake, man, it often can be too late. But, we’ll see how it plays out.”
Kevin Iole pointed out in his Yahoo column last Friday that UFC management privately apologized to Maggie Hendricks but didn’t issue a public apology. The fact that they didn’t speaks volumes about what the real leaders of the company think about the situation. In other words, they’re not thinking. Dave Meltzer thinks that this kind of business attitude will prove costly down the road.
“As long as they have this attitude, guaranteed, because this happens with every single business, shit’s going to happen. Shit happens with them. It’s going to happen and it’s going to be the wrong shit and if they build up the wrong track record and the wrong person can build up this case against them, they can look real bad.”
Other issues on the horizon
While the Rampage & Rogan stories gained media traction, another interesting story went under the radar. Brian Foster (on Twitter) announced that he was ready to come back to active MMA competition. Josh Gross wrote an article about this titled Brian Foster cleared to compete, train. Read the article. Consider what Brian has went through in the last couple of months and what the future holds in store for him. His health & safety are obviously critically important. I wish him all the luck in the world for his recovery and hope that he has a productive career.
On his Sunday night radio show, Eddie Goldman expressed concern about the quick turnaround for Brian’s comeback from the time his brain bleed was first discovered by an MRI to now getting a positive approval from a Nevada doctor.
“The ESPN article starts off: ‘Seven weeks to the day that Brian Foster was removed UFC 129 due to bleeding on his brain, the 27-year old Welterweight was cleared by doctors to train & compete again.’ And it goes on that there had been an MRI required by the Ontario Athletic Commission 60 days prior to his scheduled bout revealed a damaged blood vessel and Foster had said he got that injury because of hard sparring before the test. According to this article, Foster went to the UFC Fighter Summit and it said while there he underwent an MRI and was informed of the results during a consultation with a neurologist on Tuesday afternoon. It’s not clear who did this MRI, it’s not clear actually from this article whether the commission in Nevada or other commissions have cleared him to fight or what the position of the UFC is. But what his manager said, according to this article (Marc Fiore), if the UFC calls him with a fight this weekend, ‘He can do it.’
“And if this is true, this is really scary because in many states, boxers and MMA fighters that have bleeding on the brain have not been licensed to fight, have been [told], ‘We’re sorry, it’s terrible, but you could die in the ring if you already have bleeding on the brain.’ This is pretty abominable and, yet, you don’t see this issue discussed. We don’t see this elaborated on, we don’t see any indication that the health & safety regulations are going to be followed properly regarding Brian Foster and, frankly, I think that’s a scarier & much more dangerous & important situation than what Rampage Jackson did when he’s acting the fool in a post-fight interview with Karyn Bryant or even what Joe Rogan said about Maggie Hendricks. That’s the kind of thing that should be discussed, but again, we don’t have much of an MMA media at all and we don’t really have any serious dialogue going on as does go on, to a certain degree, about other sports.”
I do take issues like the health and safety of the fighters very seriously. It was almost a year ago when we wrote about the controversy regarding whether or not Matt Hamill fought Keith Jardine in Las Vegas while having a staph infection. There was also the issue last year of a young fighter named Michael Kirkham who died in South Carolina that received national attention. I do agree with Eddie that issues in MMA related to health & safety are not adequately covered. With that said, I do not think that the reasons for the lack of coverage are malicious. I think the main reasons you don’t see enough coverage on this topic in relation to the MMA media is because there isn’t enough medical knowledge amongst many of the writers to where they feel fully confident on covering such matters. It doesn’t excuse the lack of coverage, however.
As for what the end game is with all of the recent media controversies, Eddie hammers home a point that I’ve made repeatedly this past week.
“I wonder whether the New York politicians are paying attention to all of this kind of stuff because we understand that with the MMA bill passed in the (state) Senate it’s going to go the tourism committee in the Assembly but it could die in committee even if it’s passed once again as it’s been in the passed in the tourism committee in the Assembly, it could die in the committee because Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver doesn’t want it. And I wonder whether these people like Bob Reilly and Silver and these other people are finding all these stories about what’s going on in MMA and utilizing them against MMA for their own interests. I don’t know whether they’re smart enough to do so but MMA is killing itself. If you think MMA’s growth is going to continue to skyrocket, all these chickens are starting to come home to roost.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 41 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Before I get to my main point, let me just point out that the issues in NY have nothing to do with stories about the sport. It is purely a money issue with unions and politicans pushing it from being sactioned. Now onto my point….
The entire appeal of the UFC to most of their fanbase is that is that they are NOT like the other established sports.
They don’t put a muzzle on their announcers. They don’t restrict their athletes. Meltzer just doesn’t get it. I’ve been a serious fan of the UFC since the late 1990’s. I was at Zuffa’s first UFC event (UFC 30).
FOR YEARS…. FOR YEARS…. I have heard people talk about how something is going to take down the UFC.
1) The way Dana White acts.
2) The way the fighters act.
3) The way the UFC interacts with the media…
Those are an easy three. But there is a much longer list. And you know what? Nothing has stopped the UFC.
All most of this is, is the internet fans getting their panties in the bunch over something that most people do no care about.
And the UFC is still poised to get a good TV contract that will likely lock them in for another 3 to 5 years. They are still doing solid PPV business. They now have the potential to spread across 3 networks (SpikeTV, Versus, & Showtime). None of these past “issues” have even remotely gotten in their way….. Because they aren’treally issues.
It’s nice in 2011 to see some authenticity in sports. And with that, comes the good and the bad. It still beats what we get from a NBA or MLB player…. Which is that they can give 1,000 interviews and say absolutely nothing in all of them.
Dana White is at E3. He was at the Microsoft Press Conference talking about new features for the UFC through the XBOX. The guy gets new media.
I think what Rampage was refering to last nite on twitter was a video posted recently where while in Japan, he constantly makes fun of some random Japanese guy buy saying he had a small penis and asking the guy to repeat it. Also asking the Japanese guy to repeat “I’m gay” over and over. Childish
bullshitreally. Offensive? Absolutely. I’m not even going to bother posting a link to it. No need to give it anymore attention.Which brings me to one of the bigger issues I see in mma. The fact that sites like bloodyelbow and a few others are willing to post these negative stories front page, and with as controversial headline as possible, all in the name of page hits. Their reasoning? It gets people talking. Yes thats true, it does get people talking, but about all the wrong things. And for quite a while. Ask any site what gets the most hits. On a day when a slight scandal breaks out and there isn’t much else going on in mma, the scandal always gets the most hits. I say that’s bullshit. I’d rather have a smaller fanbase in mma, than have 100 different people who would never have spoken up had said scandal never been whipped into a frenzy in the first place. Yeah you get them talking, but for all the wrong reasons.
One more issue with the whole Rogan/Cunty thing. Would it have been any better if Rogan called her a “stuck up
bitch” instead of “cunty“?I’m not sure if that’s a serious question, Simon Cason, but obviously, calling her that would be just as bad.
“45 Huddle”:
On New York, polling data seems clear that a majority of Democrat voters don’t want MMA. Maybe there’s something more to it, but I don’t see how “unions” play into it, unlike other issues. But if you can link me to something to show how they’re affecting it, I’d appreciate it.
On UFC, you’re totally twisting what’s being said. It’s not “media scandals will kill UFC”; it’s “media scandals will limit UFC/MMA’s growth potential”. MMA has grown tremendously over the last decade, but if it gets an image like that of pro wrestling (ie. it’s low-rent entertainment for slobs), it won’t get the mass media coverage and sponsorships needed to reach the next level.
Zach et al. aren’t trying to say that UFC is doomed, or wanting it to fail. They’re trying to suggest ways that UFC could improve, both for its own sake and for the MMA industry as a whole. Zach would like to see MMA become a sport with the same respectability and importance as the big team sports. But that won’t happen if crap like this persists.
Democrats are very pro-union, so it makes sense that the unions pushing for MMA to not be sanctioned would get them to side in that direction.
Also, the UFC already has big named sponsors. It has Bud Light, Harley Davidson, Dodge, and most major movie studios pushing their movie choice of the month.
And the mass media will come around when there is a breakout star. It has nothing to do with this topic.
What I’m asking is why would unions be anti-MMA.
They’re anti-Fertitta, because the Fertitta’s reportedly don’t use union labor in their NV casinos.
To say that Station Casinos/the Fertitta’s and unions (I believe the Culinary workers unions being chief) have a long, acrimonious history would probably be somewhat of an understatement.
Simon: You’re essentially saying that the online MMA media should ignore these stories because they attract negative attention. Wrong. MMA needs to clean up its act now, at a point *before* it’s made a first impression on most of the public, so that the first impression isn’t negative. If UFC can clean up its act PR-wise in the next few months, the last scandals will only be covered by the Fightopinions of the world, rather than ending up on ESPN’s SportsCenter.
This is being discussed because there’s a real problem. It’s not ginned up for web traffic.
Actually what I was trying to get at was that If I had a choice of gaining new fans(or critics) of mma by constantly bringing up scandals or not gaining new fans at all, I’d rather take no new fans. Most of these people that are making these comments are people who whould have never spoken up in the first place. For example, Like Zach said earlier, no one is talking about Brian Foster, yet they jump at the chance to throw stones.
One other point I’d like to make is, That Rampage video above was made back when he was with Pride, if I’m correct, and the other one was made just a few years ago, and in both video’s, Rampage actually makes contact with both women. You don’t see any of that in the Karen Bryant vid. Did he invade her personal space? Yes, but touch her he did not. My point is, from the day that first vid was made until the nite of the second vid all the way up until the Karen Bryant incident, where the hell was the outrage? Where were the critics who are so visiable now, only after Rampage had “a little fun” with a “willing” participate? Where were they 4 or 5 years ago, whenever it was made, when he physically dry humped a reporter? I find those two instances deplorable, yet no one really said anything until now.
Regardless, this is the last time you’ll see me mention it. I think it’s silly and has been dragged to the point of stupidity. Zach getting spammed by Joe’s lackeys doesn’t help anyone. Joe’s style of humor is my kind of humor, it’s why I like him so much. IF and when he refers to bloggers as “cunty” thats where I draw the line. IF he calls a blogger’s writing “cunty”, that’s not an issue to me as I can name about 10 bloggers and a few actual journalist who I have no problem proclaiming their work as “cunty”, maybe even worse.
Some people did make a big deal when he humped that interviewer a while back. Where were you?
Oh, by the way, I have to disagree with you on “not being ginned up for web traffic” comment. Look around these blogsites, and a couple of the news sites for mma, you’ll see. Most of the time it’s the same story that was posted right after it originally happened, they just add some new commentary, or they’ve formed a new opinion because something new was said by Rogan or some new development like the attacks on Maggie and now Zach. Look at the comments count at the end of each of these posts, then compare them to the traffic on any mma related story on that same site. Sometimes it’s as high as 3-1 difference in the ammount of comments. THat’s just comments, not page hits. I can promise you, most of these sites are pretty happy when a scandal breaks out in mma. Especially in the past 3 weeks, from what I’ve seen, almost no buzz for UFC 130, close to zero for TUF finally, and 131 doesn’t seem like it has a lot of steam, so yeah, they love a scandal when it is this “boring” around mma.
Def, 131 losing Brock hurt that card, still Carwin/JDS and Florian FW debut, Munoz/Maia, Herman and J.O.E. making debuts, OMiagwa, Cowboy, its a solid card but yeah 130 main event wasnt great, TUF finale wasnt great, Guida/Pettis didnt live up to the hype, 131 lost Brock, 132 is a great card top to bottom but Faber/Cruz isnt a huge PPV, really its 134 that’s when the UFC will break out.
134 Rio, 135 could have Edgar/Maynard and or Page/Jones, Oct with Cain vs JDS/Carwin and GSP/DIaz, BW, FW will both be ready to be defended in the fall, so alot of big fights will be happening from 134 to the end of the year so this is kind of a slow time in mma.
Sure we are in a stretch of 6 weeks in a row with mma and Reem/Werdum card coming up is big, Versus card is nice but your right shit like this sells. It gets views, comments, scandal works.
I personally dont care, Rogan getting fired for saying cunty? really?
Zack keeps bringing it up for views, this is a dead issue imo, he didnt make a racist or anti gay remark, Bryant said she was cool so thats a dead issue imo.
If she wasnt cool then its a story, if Rogan called someone a nigger or a faggot ass bitch cunt then yeah thats a problem.
This shit will pass after another week so it dont matter.
so, what you are saying is being sexist is not as bad as being racist or a homophobe.
Comments after a story are a poor indication of traffic. Some of my most read stories at Bloody Elbow received less than 100 comments. Some of the stories that were followed by mass hysteria in the comments were not traffic bonanzas.
Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, Jonathan SnowDUMB! 🙂
David Ditch:
As per your request:
http://mmapayout.com/2008/10/labor-politics-at-the-heart-of-mma%e2%80%99s-impasse-in-new-york/
Also, please link me to this poll that you are citing. The only poll I know about on the matter was commissioned by Bob Reilly himself and was very suspect.
MMA like Boxing is never going to be as mainstream as team sports because they dont have a built in home team audience who will watch no matter what. History has shown that when Boxers do something controversial, it gets more people interested in their fights (see Mike Tyson)
I know people will claim that Boxing has the bigger history and that is true but if you want to talk about something that has become mainstream in the past 20 years just look at Rap music. It’s filled with anti gay and sexist lyrics, racism, shootings and everything else and people wanted it banned for years but the likes of Snoop Dogg & 50 Cent can go on any talk show and they wont be treated differently to any other music or entertainment star.
Great points.
Zach do you know what the ppv numbers were for the WWF in its heyday? I don’t have any recollection. My sense is that UFC is much more ppv based than WWF ever was, which means that controversy doesn’t hurt them in the pocketbook as much because their money isn’t coming as much from sponsors as from people being willing to pay dolla dolla bills to watch their product.
http://withleather.uproxx.com/2011/06/joe-rogan-needs-to-get-rid-of-the-seaward
It’s pretty sad that WithLeather, a sports blog built on dick and fart jokes probably has a better perspective and understanding on the Rampage/Rogan incident and mma-fan trench war over said incident than 95% of websites, bloggers and commenters out there.
Joe Rogan is a loser and a poser. He spends most of his stand-up comedy and podcasts making fun of “meatheads” and “fratboys”, when it’s painfully obvious from his constantly embarrassing lash-outs (Rios, Hendricks, etc.) that he’s every bit the goonish troglodyte he claims to despise. I better hope he doesn’t read this because he’ll probably challenge me to a fight!
“…cause more business trouble for UFC if they start to feel pressure from sponsors.”
Good.
And I hope they all decide that we’re just to offensive and not nice disney channel material.
We’ve already got to many nimrods and pimps jumping on the bandwagon from MTV and yahoo and cbs trying to reshape MMA into something they can exploit better.
When MMA becomes pureed, refined and reduced into a grey goo of sexless (well no heterosexual sex at least), inoffensive, easily digestible politically correct baby paste then I’m gonna have to find something else fun to obsess over everyday.
Its getting harder to find interesting things that haven’t been ruted out by the sheeple and tainted with their stupidity.
At least murikan things.
50-60% of people in the world are idiots IMO.
(Probably more like 70-80%, but thats not nice.)
Catering to those kinds of people so that you can become vastly popular is almost always a sign of vast mediocrity.
And tyranny of stupidity.
Dude, you are way off on those estimates. I’m willing to go as high as 89-90% of the worlds population have their heads in the sand. From my interactions with people on a daily basis at least.
90% seems about right.
I think what I’m trying to say (I write kind of stream on concise), is that MMA is doing just fine.
Surprisingly well in fact.
And its quite a fortunate wonder that we’ve gotten so far without bending over TO far or selling TO much of our soul to get here.
I dont agree with the arguments that we need to change our image, behavior, “maturity” and opinions (unnecessarily at least) to get even BIGGER.
Sometimes you have to decide that this is enough, and its not worth it to want it all.
MAA doesn’t need breast implants, collegen lips, nips, tucks and facelifts.
Although the Big dumb bland masses are a larger and more lucrative audience, we’re already pandering to that enough.
Thats what Rampage was for in the first place.
Rampage and the feminists are equally grotesque caricatures that should both be ignored IMO.
Your rants are becoming more incoherent, and that last line was just pathetic.
I sniff a troll.
This story has been fascinating for me to follow, mostly because it really reveals to me how much of MMA’s fanbase is really the same fanbase that made up 90s pro wrestling and not the same as you find the other major leagues.
The SBJ had an great article on the immense success the UFC has seen over the last few years. But tucked in with all the good news in the article was the nugget that the UFC resembled Bull riding and poker in that it was made up a few hardcores and a bunch of casuals that end up drifting away. In other words it isn’t viewed as a real sport and wouldn’t last at its current level of popularity. Now, how does it not suffer this fate? By becoming a real sport, and that can only happen if it doesn’t drive off 50% of the population because of its gender, thus remaining a niche sport. That’s why I think this is important story and this is the biggest challenge Zuffa is going to have to face over the next couple of years: focus and its key hardcore base or try and become part the mainstream.
If I get time tonight I’ll post something on BE.
More in common with Bull riding and Poker, than boxing? Boxing and it’s media have little to do with other main stream sports, and it is nothing like Bull riding or Poker.
Boxing has been dying for 20 years, and before that in other brief periods over the last 120. MMA isn’t going anywhere.
A thought I’ve been having lately during all these shenanigans…
What the hell defines “mainstream” to most people commenting here? I keep hearing about UFC needing to be “mainstream”….in what way?
They’re sponsored by brands like Harley Davidson, Bud Light and Dodge. Fighters have sponsors like Under Armor and Xbox. Jon Jones and Dana White are currently appearing in a Bud Light commercial. Dana White is appearing at Microsoft’s event to plug UFC being available on Xbox Live. Fighters are appearing on Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Dr Phil and others. UFC PPVs are outselling all but the most popular of all boxing fights.
I’m sorry, how much more “mainstream” can you get? Are you guys really still convinced that this is some little niche sport that nobody knows about? That it’s flying under the radar?
People point to a lack of acceptance from some of the stuffier “traditional” sports outlets…so what? The UFC doesn’t need them and it knows it. If Podunk Tribune doesn’t write about them in the sports section? UFC will communicate directly with those fans, on Twitter, on Facebook, on the places their fans are actually going rather than dying outlets like newspapers.
Be offended or don’t be offended by what people involved with MMA are doing, but can we all quit pretending UFC is some tiny sport just WAITING to break out, and this is hindering it? That argument may have held water back in 2004, but those days are long gone now.
Far too many long time fans still have “little man complex” when it comes to MMA. They haven’t realized that the sport is no longer in midget status.
good post. when you think about it, UFC is more profitable than some of the big 4 sports in America. The NBA has been hemorrhaging cash, I assume hockey isn’t particularly profitable, and who knows what will happen with the football strike.
Agreed.
(I think I wrote pretty much the same thing after you but before I read your post.)
Regarding the Brian Foster stuff, Goldman has no idea what he is talking about. No one does except for those people who are privy to Foster’s medical records.
Speculating that there is something shady going on because other guys have been shelved for similar conditions while Foster has been cleared is muckraking at it’s finest. Perhaps medical professionals have determined that Foster’s issue was not as serious as those other fighters. Perhaps Foster’s condition has improved while those other guys have not. Perhaps Foster’s initial diagnosis was wrong. Goldman has no insight on the specifics of Foster’s condition or the condition of those other fighters.
Didn’t the same/similar condition effectively end Joe Mesi’s career? If I recall correctly, he (and I’m sure he’s not alone) did a lot of commission and doctor shopping trying to get back in the ring, including allegations of doctored tests/reports – so it wouldn’t be completely unprecedented. But you’re right, Goldman should probably wait until we actually see what’s going on before shooting his mouth off and creating controvery.
Mesi’s was a subdural hematoma, not sure if that was the case or not for Foster.
Well, UFC is going to have to take into consideration what they may need to do to take the sport “mainstream,” if that is what they want.
You know, they might not. There’s a lot of worry here by folks who are afraid that the fights are going to be turned into the WWE. I’ve noted in the past my concern about that; I want the fights to be competitive, but with rules in place to ensure the safety of the fighters, within reason.
UFC already is pretty much WWE style, anyway–look at Joe Rogan. He is the screaming commentator who makes outrageous statements and pisses people off. Perfect.
Dana White just has to be Dana White; and the fighters just have to be who they are, though I am concerned they will start stroking guys to act out in ways that are out of character and cannot be covered by acting ability.
The thing is: MMA will never be “mainstream.” Smalltown, USA may love a good fight as long as they don’t have to fight it, but the concerns many have over its safety and the bloodlust that some really seem to want when they go to these fights or buy the PPVs is going to make some sponsors pause.
I watch MMA for the technical skill; I realize that puts me in the minority, but that’s what I admire and respect out of fighters. If you want to guys to tear each other to pieces? Well, if their style is to brawl, then it works for them.
What bothers me (again I’ve said this) is too many people are pissed off that the fights are not “entertaining.”
I always thought in MMA or any combat sports, the goal is to win the fight. Again…you want entertainment, watch WWE.
What is wrong with Mickey’s malt liquor ?? those grendades of alcohol are delicious sir. And why are you opposed to condoms ? sounds like you are no better than Mr. Rogan who I support for being honest. Yeah he offends people but what he did was on his own time and from his own house and computer. You make it sound like he said those comments while working for the ufc at a live event or while commentating. He stated his opinion freely like we all are entitled to do on the mmaunderground forum after a whole slew of others started in on the subject. If you disagree with him fine but dont try to make everyone else join in on your opinions and hate someone for it. The fact is what happened was unprofessional on Rampages part and if Karyn Bryant was offended than she has every right to be and take action. Im sure Zuffa did take action and address the issue & had to of cautioned their fighters about this issue during the Summit. If you feel Rogan should tone down his voice on the sport thats fine. But all he was doing is expressing himself and his passion for the sport of mma. Like I said he didnt represent the UFC when he called Hendrix that, so why should the ufc suffer, when Tito beat up Jenna did the ufc become women beaters? no what happens in peoples personal life at home is their business and right or wrong they have a right to express themselves. The only thing that will make this issue snowball into an avalanche is more reporting from writers like you trying to make this small thing into a much bigger debate almost hoping for negative results. The ufc is great because of their freedom and ability to be different than sports leagues who follow strict guidelines making them stale and boring to follow. its all about excitement & entertainment and they deliver on that. If it becomes offensive than good change the channel & tune out find something else to do. more so find something else to TALK ABOUT
I very much respect the UFC for its modern, forward-thinking attitude in the way it handles itself as a quasi-mainstream sport. Myself, like many sports fans I’m sure, am pretty tired of the lamebrained coverage, overt greed, obliviousness and sometimes contempt of new media, and hypocritical political correctness that pervades most major sports leagues. The UFC’s unofficial mission to ‘keep it real’ is one of the reasons I like the sport, and it will be copied once the other sports get around to it in about 10 years. However, I often wish the UFC would be similarly forward-thinking in terms of gender issues (in particular), fighter safety issues (which it sort-of is), and drug testing.
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