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Fox Sports: "Zach Arnold's Fight Opinion site is one of the best spots on the Web for thought-provoking MMA pieces."

« | Home | »

Regarding Fallon Fox, UFC ‘suspends’ Meathead to protect their sacred cows

By Zach Arnold | April 8, 2013

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Last Sunday, the top doctors on the California State Athletic Commission held a meeting in Sacramento. A topic at that meeting was Fallon Fox and how to handle the situation going forward in the future in terms of licensing & medical testing. Fox is scheduled to fight Allanna Jones next and here is a recent interview with Allanna about that upcoming fight in Florida.

Perhaps this article (Fallon Fox and the culture of ignorance within MMA) was a harbinger of things to come. Matt Hughes, the UFC’s front man (a.k.a. “VP of talent relations”), had a… unique way of address the Fox matter.

Matt Hughes is company “management” now. He’s a face for UFC ownership. He was not suspended for his remarks.

Joe Rogan went full-tilt in a rant against Fox, a rant we transcribed due to how… blunt it was in terms of vociferousness.

“You can’t fight women. That’s fucking crazy. I don’t know why she thinks that she’s going to be able to do that. If you want to be a woman in the bedroom and you know you want to play house and all of that other shit and you feel like you have, your body is really a woman’s body trapped inside a man’s frame and so you got a operation, that’s all good in the hood. But you can’t fight chicks. Get the fuck out of here. You’re out of your mind. You need to fight men, you know? Period. You need to fight men your size because you’re a man. You’re a man without a dick.”

Joe Rogan is one of the most important faces to the general public when it comes to UFC. He and Dana do the PPV sales pitches at the end of FX shows. Rogan has been around the company forever. When it came to his comments about Fallon Fox, he was not suspended. UFC continues to parrot the “Rogan’s a comedian” line to anyone who presses them on the issue. It’s apparently worked, to a degree.

That line of excuse will not work for fighter Matt Mitrione, however. He’s a) a mid-card UFC fighter who needs UFC and not vice versa and b) he doesn’t have the money to sue UFC in Las Vegas court. So, instead, Mitrione will have his contract ‘suspended’ by the UFC for remarks he made about Fallon Fox on Monday.

Let’s compare what Mitrione said to what Rogan said in their two respective sound bytes. Mitrione’s comments in brown and Rogan’s comments in blue.

“Because she’s not a he. He’s a he,” he said. “He’s chromosomally a man. He had a gender change, not a sex change. He’s still a man. He was a man for 31 years. Thirty-one years. That’s a couple years younger than I am. He’s a man. Six years of taking performance de-hancing drugs, you think is going to change all that? That’s ridiculous.

“That is a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak,” he continued. “And I mean that. Because you lied on your license to beat up women. That’s disgusting. You should be embarrassed yourself. And the fact that Florida licensed him because California licensed him or whoever the hell did it, it’s an embarrassment to us as fighters, as a sport, and we all should protest that. The woman that’s fighting him, props to you. I hope you beat his ass, and I hope he gets blackballed and never fights again, because that’s disgusting and I’m appalled by that.”

“I’m looking at a man with a dress, OK? And you don’t… you can act as a woman, I will call you a ‘her,’ I will, uh, call you ma’am. I’ll be respectful but you can’t fight women when you have a man’s frame. PERIOD. Women aren’t that wide, that generates to increased punching power. Women don’t have that sort of muscle structure. I don’t know what you’re doing, I don’t know, you mean obviously if you’re transoperational it means you removed your testicles so your body’s not producing testosterone any more. I don’t know if you’re supplementing testosterone. If your body’s not producing testosterone, why are your arms so big? What’s going on here? There’s a lot of shit going on there and you can’t fight women. No fucking way.”

“I’m glad I could make fun of him a little bit because he’s obviously got some mental issues and wants to beat up on women.”

“How about some crazy dude who wants to beat the fuck out of chicks, so he gets his dick chopped off? I mean, that’s not outside the realm of possibility. There’s a lot of suicidal fucks out there. There’s a lot of people that are like on the edge anyway. Like getting your dick chopped off, you know you’re going to pay attention to me? OK, I’ll chop my dick off, I’ll be a girl for a while. There’s people out there that are fucking crazy and you can’t let them fight girls. You just can’t. So, if this chick fights on Indian land I guess they could do whatever you want. I don’t see the Nevada State Athletic Commission allowing a woman to fight a man, though. … I don’t agree with the (Florida) athletic commission letting this happen. I don’t know. I don’t understand it. I don’t know why anybody would ever allow it. When it comes to competitive athletics, that’s where you got to draw the line.”

Smoogy sums up the double-secret probation punishment on Mitrione:

I can’t believe Mitrione broke the UFC’s secret rules. Hopefully after a week in the Box of Punishment he’ll be back to polluting main cards.

As sports writer Beau Dure stated on Monday night:

I’m sorry — I’m completely baffled by the UFC’s suspensions and non-suspensions. Can’t event comment beyond that.

Look, Dana White said far worse things about certain women than Mitrione did about Fallon Fox. Where’s the consistency?

Matt Mitrione is expendable and easy fodder for the UFC to gain cheap PR points for making an example of. Joe Rogan remains a sacred cow with UFC management and they will defend him no matter how far he goes and they will continue to do so by using the “he’s a comedian!” line. You can feel however you want to feel about the comments these men made regarding Fallon Fox but I would wisely advise you to not fall for the myth that the UFC is pushing right now in regards to how their employees independent contractors feel about transgender fighters. Proceed with caution.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 72 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

72 Responses to “Regarding Fallon Fox, UFC ‘suspends’ Meathead to protect their sacred cows”

  1. Mark says:

    Rogan also gets a pass because he’s a comedian and has an unofficial agreement with Dana that nothing he says in his stand up comedy can be hold against him. So the “Houston Alexander beats down guys like he caught them raping his mother” comment was chalked up to “Ha ha, that crazy comedy boy!” and if a fighter-announcer like Randy Couture or Frank Mir said it, they’d be made to go to rape crisis seminars like Forrest Griffin last year.

    • Mark says:

      And while I definitely agree they both they’re both guilty of the same thing, you have to admit it is much easier to make a ‘hate speech’ claim against a guy who said “[Fox is a] lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak” versus Rogan giving himself a “just kidding!” out by saving his harshest stuff for a straw-man of aspiring MMA fighters wanting to follow in Fox’s footsteps.

      • RST says:

        “And while I definitely agree they both they’re both guilty of the same thing…”

        Voicing an opinion instead echoing a slogan is the mark of guilt in the new normal.

        • Mark says:

          He’s free to have whatever opinion he wants. But when you do an interview promoting a company you work for, it’s common sense that you cannot say something controversial. It doesn’t matter what your job is, you’re expected to not embarrass the company.

  2. Beau Dure says:

    I should clarify one thing: I’m not saying Mitrione shouldn’t get at least a talking-to. I’m saying it’s ridiculous to let Hughes and Rogan slide while Mitrione gets treated as if he’s the only person who ever said anything questionable about Fallon Fox.

    I also don’t buy the “Oh, Rogan’s a comedian” excuse. Mitrione’s funnier than he is (unless NewsRadio’s writers are writing for him).

  3. 45 Huddle says:

    What Mitrione said was much worse.

    It is as simple as that. Rogan might not like Fox fighting females but he didn’t personally attack her with hate speech. Mitrione did.

  4. 45 Huddle says:

    Also…. Mitrione referred to Fox currently as a man. That is a huge no no in the transgender community. The only time Rogan called Fox a man is when he was talking about her in the past.

    Mitrione would have been suspended in basically every other sports league for his comments. Rogan would not have.

    • Mark says:

      Yes. I think a better argument against this would be calling out UFC for not suspending Matt Hughes for calling Fox “It”, which is far more offensive than calling a transgender person “him”.

    • RST says:

      “That is a huge no no in the transgender community.”

      Is Mitrione a member of the transgender community?

      Is every other community bound by transgender community rules in the new normal?

  5. Alan Conceicao says:

    Fox Sports 1 to have weekly boxing show on Mondays, signed Golden Boy to provide 24 shows this year. Between this and all those million viewer + HBO shows, boxing is clearly dead and gone, guys.

    • Mark says:

      I wonder if they asked Dana if he was okay with them coming on like they asked Vince McMahon as a courtesy when they came to Spike in 2005?

      • cutch says:

        Why would they? Golden Boy already had a TV deal with Fox Deportes and Fuel.

        I would guess this will feature lower level fighters with guys like Brian Stann commentating.

        • Mark says:

          Because UFC was allegedly so important to building the non-FX FOX cable brand the same way WWE was allegedly so important to building Spike in their post-country music relaunching. Although there is far more evidence about WWE making the network and deserving the courtesy getting them 4.0’s in 2001 than UFC getting a 0.48 or whatever once.

        • cutch says:

          Golden Boy already had a “6 figure” deal with Fuel for 12 shows, this deal is for 24 shows, chances are that this will have an even lower budget than Friday Night fights and probably do about as well as Top Rank on Versus.

          Fuel never once mentioned Golden Boys ratings but the company that kept breaking Fuel TVs ratings was the UFC and there are a bunch of press releases to prove it.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          The UFC ran live shows with a bunch of promotion behind them. Golden Boy has used Fuel as a dumping ground for 2 month old cards from Fox Deportes with overdubbed commentary. But yes, it is exactly the same to provide Fox Sports 1 with live boxing cards. Boxing is in deep trouble.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          People who say boxing might be in trouble… Including myself…. It is because if you look at the numbers…. There fanbase is getting older every year. And they lost an entire generation of fight fans to the UFC.

          Things don’t collapse overnight…. But boxing is not in a good place for the future. Go to a UFC and Boxing event…. The UFC is so many young people there, while the boxing fans are very old.

          I don’t see how 4th rate cards are going to change that.

          There is a reason why the contract the UFC got from FOX was bigger then both HBO & Showtime’s Boxing budgets combined….

        • Fluyid says:

          “Go to a UFC and Boxing event…. The UFC is so many young people there, while the boxing fans are very old.”

          I go to both, very regularly. What you’re saying is incorrect.

          The boxing shows easily have as many young people there. I’ll note that they’re mostly hispanic, but so what?

        • 45 Huddle says:

          From the events I have been to that is not true. From the cards I have seen on TV, that is not true. From the television ratings, that is not true.

          The UFC skews much younger than boxing.

        • Fluyid says:

          I’m at around 25 events/year, if not more. I’m only speaking from my direct experience.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          The TV Ratings don’t lie. Friday Night Fights on ESPN 2 basically never gets in the Top 100 for the key 18-49 demographic.

          Hmmm, I wonder why….

          And typically HBO & Showtime does not release the age demographic for their boxing events.

          Once again, I wonder why….

          They do for Game of Thrones which knocks it out of the park for the key demographic.

          These numbers don’t lie…

        • Mark says:

          The TV Ratings don’t lie. Friday Night Fights on ESPN 2 basically never gets in the Top 100 for the key 18-49 demographic.

          You can’t judge a bunch of no-name fighters to the caliber of fighter UFC puts on in their TV main events and co-mains. Who has been on ESPN 2 that is as big of a star as Wanderlei Silva? Or Nate Diaz? Or even Mousasi? Those caliber of boxers stay on PPV and premium cable. The show certainly isn’t the fight stardom quality the old USA Tuesday Night Fights show was. And even that wasn’t that great.

          If they put Tony Thompson and Martin Murray on main events and they don’t go top 100 and future FS1 cards do, then you’ve got a point. Otherwise you are comparing apples to apple tree sprouts.

        • Mark says:

          I only responded to Mark, basically implying that the UFC should be worried about Boxing on their same network and pointing out that they have been on Fuel together for more than a year.

          I didn’t mean they should be worried, I was wondering if they got the same courtesy call afforded to King Carny 8 years ago. Not implying they’re going to do to UFC what UFC did to WWE, to be clearer.

      • cutch says:

        Alan, Golden Boy are not getting big money for these events, so they will put low level fighters on these cards and put their big names on CBS/Showtime. This will be proved when you see the fight cards and I guarantee that the UFC’s Fight Nights on Fox Sports 1 does at least double the ratings these shows get.

        This is from Richard Schafer “Fox made it clear to us that they would like to get bigger events as well. We told them that to get them they have to look at seven-figure license fees and they didn’t shy away from that. That they are interested to buy bigger fights and want to become a player is great for boxing.”

        Those will be the ones that do big ratings not these shows.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          I understand what they are. I understand they might not get above a .5 or .6. So what? It is more boxing. Weekly boxing, no less, on a network not previously showing live weekly boxing (Fox Sports 1, presently SPEED). Is this a sign of boxing’s demise? About as much as NBC and CBS putting fights on Saturday afternoons again, or Showtime stealing away Floyd Mayweather, or HBO’s TV ratings for boxing being consistently higher this year than I can remember in recent memory. Meanwhile, boxing is dying! UFC UFC UFC

        • cutch says:

          I only responded to Mark, basically implying that the UFC should be worried about Boxing on their same network and pointing out that they have been on Fuel together for more than a year.

          I have never said Boxing was dying, in fact I think Mayweather’s PPV replay on CBS will beat a few of the UFC on Fox events and Boxing would probably be on free TV on prime time a lot more if they dropped their price a little.

  6. Josh Colson says:

    Look, I dont agree with the way Mittrione said what he did, he wasnt thinking in pc terms. I dont think he meant Fox Fallon’s gender change was disgusting but only the wanting to fight women part. Besides, if you watched Matt on TUF, you know he doesnt always think before he talks. As far as Hughes, nobody’s going to suspend him, so let that go. His nomenclature was improper, but I dont think he was trying to offend, just poor choice of words. Joe Rogan is a comedian and often speaks as such, but that doesnt change that a lot of what he said was correct. Unless Fox could have her entire physical structure changed, she shouldnt be in a womans division. It comes down to actual size, strength, body structure and bone density. I’d put money on a lot of girls over some guys, but that doesnt make it okay to book such a fight. The physical advantages outweigh skill advantage in most cases. I was so glad for the girls finally getting the chance to fight in UFC and hope they add a couple more weight classes, but Fox Fallon shouldnt be in one. I respect her feelings and that she feels that she was supposed to be a girl, but it wont changed her physiology. I am sorry that she’s in such a position, but the reality of her body says that she shoulnt fight women.

    • Mark says:

      You’re right, he did clarify he was referring to the fight and the shielding the opponent from knowing. But it was so boorish it’s hard to feel sorry for him. He could have said “You shouldn’t be able to do this” without the hyperbole and have not left himself open to “you said transgenders are disgusting” interpretations. Instead, he went over the top thinking he’d get some minor internet publicity out of it like Rogan & Hughes and it cost him.

    • RST says:

      “…he wasnt thinking in pc terms.”

      Which is a huge no no in the transgender community/new normal.

  7. Jonathan says:

    I don’t think that Fallon Fox should be able to fight women, period.

    On the other hand, is she any “less” lady-like than Cristiana “Cyborg”?

    Transgender or Amazon…does it really make that much of a difference?

    • 45 Huddle says:

      A different chromosome would say you are wrong.

      • Jonathan says:

        I’m familiar with the chromosonal differences between a man and a woman.

        But you know what I am talking about. They’re both beserkers that probably should not be fighting in women’s MMA because of the things that they have done to “enhance” their body through non-natural means.

    • RST says:

      “I don’t think that Fallon Fox should be able to fight women, period.”

      Why not.

      Dont you believe in equality?

      Everybody is exactly the same and equal in every respect in the new normal.

      And to have any differing opinion is simply racist.

  8. Chris says:

    He called Fox a disgusting freak, maybe he meant Fox was a freak for wanting to fight women but the way it came out made it seem like Fox was a freak for being transgender.

    and why do people keep bringing what Dana said years ago? Times change, someone on another site made a good point about racism in baseball, at one point it was cool and then it wasnt. Same thing here with Dana, they didnt have a Fox deal, they didnt have a Code of Conduct back then and Dana got heat for that. You also have the culinary union making things tough for the UFC, giving them ammo to say UFC fighter says being transgender is disgusting and you are a freak is bad publicity.

    I agree with Matt that Fox shouldnt fight women but what he said needed to be addressed, he would have been suspended in any sports league.

    Its funny, they dont do anything they get called out for tolerating hate speech and rape jokes, they do something all anyone can do is bring up bu bu but Dana said cunt and faggot years ago, he wasnt punished.

    • Mark says:

      someone on another site made a good point about racism in baseball, at one point it was cool and then it wasnt. Same thing here with Dana, they didnt have a Fox deal, they didnt have a Code of Conduct back then and Dana got heat for that.

      Maybe because the forced segregation of the Negro League ended in 1947 with Jackie Robinson and Dana White dropped the C-bomb less than a decade ago?

      Or that it’s common sense for Dana to have realized the public face of a company shouldn’t degrade women with or without a “code of conduct” or network deal?

      • Mark says:

        Not to mention he went from “nobody wants to see women fighting” to “Help, help my buyrate, Ronda!” when he realized a physically attractive fighter beyond Gina Carano existed. So the perception of Dana being sexist is deeper than the C-bomb incident.

    • RST says:

      “He called Fox a disgusting freak,”

      That was an unnecessarily mean thing to say.

      But it still sounds like an opinion to me.

      Did he suggest or encourage violence against the subject of his opinion?

      Would fallon fox be punished for calling Matt Mitrione a disgusting freak?

  9. 45 Huddle says:

    http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/04/mfc-middleweight-champ-elvis-mutapcic-signs-with-world-series-of-fighting

    Bellator should be the ones picking up fighters like Elvis Mutapcic, especially when there last Middleweight Tournament winner was Doug Marshall.

    I think the writing is on the wall for good prospects. They see what happened to Eddie Alvarez and they fear signing with Bellator and get stuck in that endless abyss.

  10. RST says:

    “Polluting main cards”

    Really Smoogy?

    As opposed to the clean burning fuel of Jon Jones vs chael sonnen.

    If only there were some way we could put dana and zuffa in the box of punishment instead.

    And let Mitrione go to WSOF.

    Unfortunately zuffa can stall and manipulate your right to work whenever they want to,
    but you cant just walk away from zuffa whenever you want to.

    And as far as fallon fox (aint that a fierce new name),
    welcome to the new normal.

    Dana has to throw someone or something under the bus to look progressive on twitter.

  11. Megatherium says:

    Nice gotcha Ariel!

  12. edub says:

    http://www.lowkickmma.com/UFC/sometimes_it_is_best_to_say_nothing_at_all_298155

    My take on the Mitrione dumbassery.

    IMO what he said was a lot worse than what Rogan and Hughes said. All three were disrespectful. One was vulgar, and seemed down right hateful. The other seemed born from a place of opinion (whether correct or incorrect), or religion (Matt Hughes loves jesus).

    Thought about adding the talk from Rogan and Hughes in, but as I said, I believe Mitrione’s was over the top.

    • nottheface says:

      Link isn’t working and I couldn’t find the article on Lowkick.

      • The Gaijin says:

        I looked too – my bet is it probably blew up with insanely idiotic comments and they just took it down since Lowkick, no offence edubs, doesn’t really have the resources to moderate such ridiculousness.

        • edub says:

          Thanks for looking for it guys, but I took it down myself. You are pretty much spot on Gaij, and its even a bit worse than that.

          I was all for debating with some folks, but I laid out simple rules regarding posting comments (one of them being don’t infer to Fox as he/him/etc. Be respectful) and people just wouldn’t follow it. I was the only one deleting comments, and a some of the staff even couldn’t oblige.

          After a while I realized the site has a very large contingent of people that just don’t care to respect Fallon (or transgenders as a people). So I just took it down.

          The whole thing is a bit of a gut shot.

        • klown says:

          That sounds rough, edub. My respect for your efforts, though.

  13. david m says:

    The suspension is ridiculous. Mitrione is being scapegoated. His comments were harmless. Dana White is the most consistently inconsistent person I can think of.

  14. 45 Huddle says:

    http://www.whatyoupayforsports.com/2013/04/the-fox-sports-1-plan/

    A great read on how the transition to FOX Sports 1 will effect cable subscribers.

  15. scott whitt says:

    I think the big difference between Matt and Joe’s comments were the venom in Matt’s. Joe’s seemed a lot less personal. However if I read one more jackass comment about how Jose Aldo or any other fighter can just go have SRS and dominate the ladies division. That is so incredibly insulting to those that have made that life altering decision. To insinuate that winning a couple fights is somehow involved in making that decision is moronic. Similar to saying if you allow gays to marry next you can marry a horse. Plus doesn’t Fox fight in a division that has weight limits? You guys act like Brock is fighting D. Cruz.
    Meisha’s comments are the blueprint for what to say. Fox not telling anyone beforehand realky didnt help either

  16. Dnm3k says:

    I’m one of the biggest supporters of equality for all out of almost all the people I know in my life. Black,gay,white,tranny,Mexican, at the end of the day just like Genki Sudo’s banner says “WE ARE ALL ONE”. A fair level playing field with no special treatment, or restrictions based on who or what you are, or where you came from, it’s about who you are as a person.

    Yeah, I know nice fantasy world, base a man on the color of his character, not based on the color of his skin.

    With that being said I’m against her fighting girls.
    Science, 30 years of bone density, muscle mass, testosterone, puberty has scientifically changed your body, XY chromosomes are different than XX one’s and that science dictates the scientific makeup and build, that’s what genetically differentiates a man vs. a woman, not just genitals, or being born in the wrong body. My physical makeup is different than my wifes beyond tits and external features, our bone structure, and muscle mass, and the hormones our bodies that we each produce. It’s not about who have the ovaries or a testes, our pituitary glands kicked in and changed us into XX and XY when we reached puberty. Science makes that clear as day, and using science to alter what we see, doesn’t change that genetic code no matter how much some people try.

    It’s illegal to use drugs or steroids in an MMA fight because you create and have an unfair playing advantage against your foe. It isn’t a fair fight from a scientific POV. The fact that she refuses to acknowledge that difference is sad, ofcourse it would kill any claim or “right” to fight as she wishes.

    She should be able to go out and proudly live her life how she choses, just like you and me are able to. Equality for all, but in a 1 on 1 sporting competition like MMA there are reasons, scientific reasons we don’t allow men vs. woman beyond just moral or ethical problems, scientific reasons why a 4:1 testosterone limit is internationally accepted, but a 6:1 ratio is laughable, and why having a 15:1 ratio is illegal in sporting events not just mma, doing things to alter or enhance yourself outside of your bodies natural ability is against the rules(unless you get a TUE 🙂 ). If there were other banana split fighters out there, then make a tranny divison, not ment as a freak show(although some would see it that way and call it TuckJob Billy FC), but as a fair and level playing field against others who are similar to you in body makeup.

    Life isnt perfect, and it isn’t fair, no one isn’t saying you can’t train and go through the rigors of any of it, but because you’ve had a life altering surgery shouldn’t change the fact that in 6 hours it because legally okay for you to hit a man or woman within the bounds of a sporting competition. It pains me to say that because it isn’t fair and equal to every person and goes against my own beliefs, but it is what feels right in this situation.

    I actually cannot remember this at the moment, but the IOC, do they allow transgender athletes to compete in the division they identify in? While MMA has the aggression and violence not found in any of the Olympic events, they set the standards for the world when it comes to doping standards and rules that are generally followed around the world.
    If the IOC has no issue with allowing transgender athletes in Wrestling, and Judo, and Volleyball events then I guess we should allow it in MMA, even when many of us are against it for different reasons.

    • Dnm3k says:

      *when I said changed us into XX and XY, I know we were born that way and puberty didn’t make that, I ment it that at puberty the difference in the xx to xy chromosomes kicked into gear and changed our bodies based on that genetic makeup.

      sorry for the long post, ive held out long enough trying not to say anything about this chick.

      • edub says:

        This is exactly what a well reasoned, respectful position is supposed to look like. I disagree with it, but there wasn’t an ounce of disrespect anywhere.

        Why is this so hard for most people?

    • The Gaijin says:

      ” actually cannot remember this at the moment, but the IOC, do they allow transgender athletes to compete in the division they identify in? While MMA has the aggression and violence not found in any of the Olympic events, they set the standards for the world when it comes to doping standards and rules that are generally followed around the world.

      If the IOC has no issue with allowing transgender athletes in Wrestling, and Judo, and Volleyball events then I guess we should allow it in MMA, even when many of us are against it for different reasons.”

      Yes, the IOC does in fact allow it and has set standards for when they will allow it.

      • Mark says:

        I still predict Fox will be unofficially blackballed in America and wind up in Japan. You know K-1 or Inoki would love to pitch a transgender fight. And if they turn that down they could pitch something completely insane like Fallon Fox vs. Akebono or Don Frye for NYE.

        • The Gaijin says:

          Sadly, I think you’re on the nose, Mark. The reaction from mma fans and the mma community has been (unsurprisingly) unwelcoming and at times downright hostile.

          I can see a lot of promoters not wanting to deal with the backlash, negative press and/or fighter revolt.

        • edub says:

          I’d actually think a lot of promotions would grab her. Any publicity is good publicity, so I think most promoters would see that foremost.

  17. liger05 says:

    People are still running with this ‘boxing is dying’ BS. I swear I have been hearing this now since 2007 if not before. When Lennox Lewis quit and the decline of Tyson it was dead. When Oscar quit it was defiantly dead, when Chuck fought Rampage we were told that would end boxing, when PBF v Pacquiao never happened it was dead. You can go on and on.

    • Mark says:

      It was one thing when UFC could do over 600K and call it a just-okay buyrate. But now that everybody agrees UFC hit its peak years ago, it’s beyond ridiculous. You’re reduced to cherry picking to a white male 18-35 demo, ignoring the non-US/Canada markets, and pitting a weekly show’s cast of nobodies rating to a monthly show’s cast of mid-level fighters rating to try and force a point Dana probably doesn’t even believe in anymore. I haven’t heard his “boxing is dead” spiel for years (unless I missed it.)

  18. liger05 says:

    Is it accepted now that the hopes the UFC had of getting the hispanic/black demographic away from boxing is dead?

    • Mark says:

      No, they still have Velasquez and Jones to hope catch on with their respective race demographics some day. Rampage, Rashad and Tito also never caught on with the same marketing (although Ortiz never got the “HE’S MEXICAN SO WATCH!” push Velasquez gets), but that won’t stop them.

      But I’ve always thought them pinning getting an entire race of people to watch their PPVs for one or two people is silly. Boxing had years of being the only sport where African American athletes were spotlighted in without being segregated to their own league like in baseball. So that got passed down from generation to generation (although it stopped when African Americans became prominent in all sports by the 70s.) It wasn’t a case of “Hey, there’s Cassius Clay! He’s black, I’m black, so I’ll watch!” like UFC is convinced Mexicans are going to say for Velasquez. They support Mexican boxers because boxing is an institution in their culture. Maybe Cain can be the start of making more Mexican Americans want to do MMA, but he won’t be the one who takes them to boxing’s level in their community.

  19. edub says:

    Ah snapppp. GSP came in .4 over. Internet MMA explode!!!

    In all seriousness its incredibly shady, and IMO the main culprits are the UFC/Quebec AC.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Not GSP’s problem. And it does not get Diaz a rematch.

      From the info out there…. It does not seem like the UFC had much to do with it.

      And Nevada admitted they round down too.

      I do not see the problem really

      • edub says:

        When did Nevada do that?

        Honestly this is the first I’m hearing of it.

        As for the UFC not having much to do with it; IMO them not stepping in above the commission in that situation to enforce their contract is a bit surprising.

      • The Gaijin says:

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywEsvxb1oP8&feature=player_embedded

        Other than one of their legal team coming to tell Diaz about the “rule allowance” and that this is “off the record”…? Clearly they were involved in the process and as the guy in the video notes, there’s a suspiscion that they’re making this last, minute, double-secret, off-the-record rule change because the champ is overweight and they don’t want their title fight scrapped in Montreal.

        There is no re-weigh-in under QC commission rules.

    • The Gaijin says:

      I’m not going to act all outraged, but that’s just another example of how “bush league” and “shady” the sport can really be at times – even at the highest level.

      I’m beyond being “up to here” with the UFC vascillating between push around the commissions and telling them they’re a joke and they’ll take things in their own hands and then hiding behind the “hey, they commission is in charge!” whenever it benefits them.

      Having shady weigh-in B.S. with your biggest star in your biggest hometown, is pretty appalling. But it will blowover and everyone will hide behind the, it wouldn’t have made a difference…which is stupid reasoning for excusing it.

      • The Gaijin says:

        **your biggest star in his hometown and one of your biggest markets**

        • cutch says:

          Montreal let Bernard Hopkins weigh in again against Jean Pascal, they obviously weren’t helping the home town fighter then.

        • The Gaijin says:

          Yes, because Jean Pascal and GSP are equivalents.

        • cutch says:

          He’s the biggest Boxing star in Canada, he’s not the biggest combat sports star that’s GSP but he’s still a big star in Montreal. Pascal and Bute will sell out the Bell Centre, I don’t think GSP-Diaz did (although I don’t know what the ticket prices for both fights)

  20. Jonathan says:

    Oh Lord yes! That .4 pounds TOTALLY changed the course of the fight. Had it not been there, Diaz would have owned GSP.

    Really.

  21. The Gaijin says:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywEsvxb1oP8&feature=player_embedded

    Also, to the people saying it’s not a big deal – the UFC is certainly treating it like one by trying to squash any evidence of it and hush the story up. They had the video pulled from YouTube and denied ever being a part of any conversation about the weigh-in matter and then tried to paint Diaz as being a whiner (he is, but in this instance it has merit). Their Asst. GC denied that he’d had any discussions with Diaz’s camp – but now the DCMA claim got yanked (so much for sweeping that under the rug and muzzling the evidence) and you can see the fucking guy IN THE VIDEO telling him about “the rule” allowance.

    SHAAAAADY.

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