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Eating crow
By Adam Morgan | June 7, 2007
By Adam Morgan
Two days ago I ripped Dana White for allowing Noah Thomas and Marlon Sims to not only compete in the UFC but allowing them to fight one another as the live opener for The Ultimate Fighter Finale on June 23rd.
It now seems I owe Dana an apology. Whether or not Dana knew about the fight and approved it is up for debate. Either way, taking the fighters off the show and out of the UFC was the correct choice and validates what Dana said on the show about projecting a certain image. Was this due to the media backlash from the MMA community about allowing these hooligans to fight? Again, that’s up for debate.
However they came to the conclusion that these guys need to no longer be associated with UFC doesn’t matter. What does matter is the end result and this time Dana and the UFC have made things right. Don’t promote foolishness and meatheaded behavior because it makes the sport look bad.
Thanks for sticking to your word, Dana, and making a fool out of me.
Topics: Adam Morgan, Media, MMA, UFC | 12 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I agree on some levels. Dana finally did what was right and you have to commend him for that. Do what you say, say what you do.
However, Dana needs to take responsibility for his actions also. You introduce alcohol, a closed environment for a long period of time, a house full of alpha males, what do you expect????
It’s a pressure cooker just waiting to explode.
There’s a reason that only 1 alpha male runs in a pack of wolves….
I don’t think you need to eat crow nor do I think anyone made a fool of you. You made a judgment based on the information at hand, and I’m pretty sure every rational person agreed with you at the time.
Just because it turns out that the fight is not going to happen in the end doesn’t mean you weren’t right in the first place.
Besides, Dana White is speaking out of both sides of his mouth on this issue. If he really did not want to project a street brawling image for the sport, he would never have aired that backyard fight footage. Period.
Plus, hasn’t there been alcohol-fueled feuds every season? It seems like Dana is trying to preach “It’s not respectable to act like idiots!” while giving the fighters the alcohol to release their inhibitions. If he really wanted it to end, he could make it a ‘dry house’.
And then we would have Season 2 again: everyone would be boring and fewer people would watch.
Again we learn that “reality television” is only compelling when it isn’t real. Nothing exciting or compelling ever happens without casting the right blend of personalities, producers stoking the tensions, “surprise” elements designed to provoke, and deprivation of outside releases.
Adam,
No apology from you is necessary.
Whether DW’s story is true (that he didn’t know) or whether he backed down in response to pressure, either way, he deserves props.
Yeah, I really dont know what the logic is of restricting BOOKS from the house, but allowing plenty of alcohol. Its ridiculous. They want to create the type of environment where this shit happens. And then Dana bitches like he had no idea anything like that could ever ever happen. What a crock. Now he’s just covering his ass. Dana white is an oblivious jackass as usual.
Grape Knee High, Spike has a lot of say in what gets onto the show, so it’s not so much Dana White talking out both sides of his mouth but the realities of multiple people having a say.
An environment where shit happens & trained fighters street fighting is completely different. I’ve watched most of the shows and since the first season they’ve had a no tolerance rule about fighting.
Moreover, Thomas and Simms weren’t drunk when they fought each other. Blaming Dana for their fight is like blaming him for Diego pushing Koscheck at the weigh ins.
Body_Shots:
Sims was drunk, Thomas was not.
Simms said he had like a half bottle of whatever he was drinking, and that he wasn’t drunk.
Body_Shots:
Sims says a lot of things. Either way, their behavior was unacceptable.
Agreed.