The great debate on whether UFC has changed boxing or not
By Zach Arnold | August 5, 2009
Bernard Fernandez, a long-time boxing writer for the Philadelphia Daily News, did an interview with Joe Hand, who is the major player for closed circuit TV distribution of fight events. Hand told Fernandez that UFC is where the money is in distributing events to bars as opposed to boxing shows, which cost more and draw (supposedly) smaller crowds.
Last week, Bernard was on the UFC conference call and I went ahead and transcribed his questions on the call. Check it out.
Bernard Fernandez (Philly Daily News): “Although it’s a couple days early, let me say in advance welcome to Philadelphia.”
Dana White: “Thanks brother, we’re excited man. It’s a huge event, I’m sure you already know the biggest fight in Pennsylvania history, so. We’re excited.”
BF: “Yeah, well, we’re going to have a special 8-page pull-out section on Friday which in the newspaper industry almost never happens any more. So, thanks for that.”
Dana White: “I love you, man. Heh heh heh.”
Bernard Fernandez: “I have three specific questions and one has to do with the level of competition and I think it speaks a lot towards UFC and what’s happening in MMA because the four top guys and the two top on August 8th have a combined record of 66-17-and I believe 1. You look at boxing and so many guys get moved along and when they finally get a title shot they’re 43-and-0 with 40 knockouts and whatever, even the best MMA guys you know if they have a 75% winning percentage, that’s pretty pretty good. I mean what does it say about the level of competition that it’s so much harder to compile a really stupendous record in UFC.”
Dana White: “Yes, it’s not though, when you really look at the sport and the way the sport is, there’s so many ways to win and so many ways to lose in this sport and guys… I’ll give you an example, Machida, he’s like 17-and-0 or 18-and-0 now, guys who can go undefeated and even if you look at guys who have records like Tito, um, you know, any of the guys that are any of the top fighters in the UFC to go for long periods of time without losing a fight, Kenny Florian is going into this fight without having lost in like the last 2 1/2 years. You know, that’s very tough to do in this sport and that’s one of the things that people started getting sick of with boxing, you had these guys that were you know 42-and-0 you know who had a title but they’ve only fought good guys their last three or four fights. You know what I mean?”
Tito: “I gotta help you out with that, Dana. With the UFC, what they do, I wish they did but I guess they don’t anyways, is give fighters kind of gimme fights. There’s never been a gimme fight at any one of the UFC’s at all, every single one of them are an action-packed fight, you guys are getting the best, you guys are getting main events when they’re even not main events. It’s just every one of these fighters who competes as far as their records aren’t 43-and-0 because they’re competing against the best guys in the world, it’s not like boxing where you can get Joe Schmoe to box somebody else and yeah he gets a knockout 50 times in a row or 40 times in a row and yeah, they’re good fighters but at the same time they’re not competing at the same level as MMA guys are and as Dana says, we can win any ways of knockout, submission, decision, referee stoppage, I mean there’s so many different ways that to win or lose in this bout it’s separated from boxing you know you can say boxing as checkers, well MMA is chess. There’s so many ways, so many ways to win and lose, there’s so many different moves you can do, and that’s why it’s so exciting for the fans to watch I think.”
BF: “I know that you know in the past and maybe even still now that you have been a boxing fan but you’ve also been critical of that sport because of moves that things that they do that are don’t seem very sensical, shooting themselves in the foot and that sort of stuff. In recent weeks, we’ve had situations where Showtime announced a tournament for the Middleweight division and they had another meeting with like 30 boxing promoters where they were all work in unison. This is something that hasn’t happened before. Do you think that these sort of moves are like boxing trying to answer stuff from the UFC that you know that they have been having so much problems competing with you guys that they’re making moves that maybe they should have done a long time ago, you know, in direct reaction to the success of your operation.”
Dana White: “No doubt about it and listen, the things that I say about boxing are absolutely 100% true about how screwed up that business is and these guys have just taken and taken and taken and taken from the sport for years and never given back and yeah, I think they’re trying to fix it now, they’re trying to but here’s the reality, you know what the reality is? Both of these sports can exist. I like boxing. The problem with boxing is they’re doing it again with the next Floyd Mayweather fight. Nobody wants to see that fight. Fans do not want to see that fight. But that’s the fight they’re going to give you. They’re going to cram that one down your throat and see if you’ll pay for it. Everybody wants to see the Pacquiao/Mayweather fight, that’s the fight everybody wants to see. And yeah, these guys are… more than just that, I see tons of things that they’re trying to do you know to make it, but good! That’s good! It’s good that we’re forcing them to make that sport better.”
BF: “You know, you remember going back years ago with you know the image that MMA used to have with the John McCain comments and that sort of stuff, several years ago you brought in Marc Ratner who had been the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, very well-respected guy as the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs. How much has he meant to UFC?”
Dana White: “He’s meant a lot. I mean, a lot of the key people over the last couple of years we’ve picked up a lot of great people and Ratner being one of them. The crazy thing about the fight business is, everybody hates everybody in the fight business, this guy is like the most respected man I’ve ever met in my life. It’s very hard to find people that say bad things about Marc Ratner. He loves the sport of combat, he likes combat sports, whether it’s boxing or Mixed Martial Arts and he’s been one of the guys whose helped build this industry, too, and I think by us bringing him in, it’s meant a lot to the UFC and to the sport. You know, he’s an amazing human being and the answer is yes, if that’s what your asking me, has it meant a lot for Marc Ratner being a part of this? Absolutely. I couldn’t say enough good things about him.”
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 38 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Strikeforce/Fedor conference call set for Thursday
By Zach Arnold | August 4, 2009
2 PM EST/11 AM PST start, featuring Fedor, Coker, and Vadim.
BTW, one of the major ‘sticking points’ being floated today about why M-1 and Fedor signed with Strikeforce is that M-1 wanted the video rights to be able to distribute in Russia. The line being touted is that M-1 wants to make money on Fedor in Russia and make him a big star. Here’s the problem — PRIDE, under Nobuyuki Sakakibara & Sotaro Shinoda, gave M-1 the rights to PRIDE footage in Russia and… it hasn’t helped Fedor become a big star in Russia.
Article alert: In their own words – Dana White on why UFC failed to sign Fedor
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 44 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
How the media is covering Fedor’s signing with Strikeforce
By Zach Arnold | August 3, 2009
- The New York Times: Man considered world’s top fighter rejects his sport’s top brand
- Steve Cofield: An irate Dana White responds from Abu Dhabi
- Josh Gross: Strikeforce establishes itself as major player with Fedor signing
- Bloody Elbow: The consequences of war – the UFC money drain will soon make Strikeforce its primary target
- Franklin McNeil: Fedor could make Strikeforce debut in November
- The Globe and Mail: The heavyweight roster is thin outside of UFC
- Jamie Penick: Strikeforce pairing with M-1 and DREAM is only good for the fans in the short run
On Tuesday morning’s ESPN SportsCenter program, anchor Josh Elliott said the #1 blogged-about story on the US sports blogs is Fedor signing with Strikeforce (29%), more than Plaxico Burress getting indicted in New York on gun charges. However, ESPN (when covering MMA stories in the blog buzz) never usually links to MMA sites. Instead, they go with more “general” sports blogs. Here’s the blog they chose to cover:
This is like turning down an NFL contract to sign with the CFL. The money is with the UFC, the fanbase is with the UFC, the more legit competition is with the UFC… I do not see any upside to Fedor’s decision. I am not saying that Strikeforce pays peanuts, has no viewers, and no good fighters, but it is inferior to the UFC in ALL of those categories.
Elliott went on to say that Fedor should have signed with UFC to fight Brock Lesnar and when asked by co-anchor John Buccigross who runs Strikeforce, Elliott had no clue.
On a slight side-note, Carmichael Dave of KTHK 1140 Hot Talk in Sacramento has responded to us in regards to the way the media covered the Fedor/UFC negotiations last week.
Dave Meltzer on Yahoo Sports:
Fair or not, part of what Emelianenko will be remembered by, is that in 2009, as the sport reaches uncharted popularity levels, he turned down a huge money offer to face the top competition. Whether it’s ludicrous to suggest he’s afraid of Lesnar, fans are asking that question in droves, so it will always be part of the story of his career.
Given what was said on ESPN on Tuesday morning, he’s probably right.
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, StrikeForce, Zach Arnold | 77 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fedor, Werdum, and Strikeforce
By Zach Arnold | August 3, 2009
So Fabricio Werdum is off the 8/15 San Jose show, but hey – look at the bright side — Strikeforce now has Fedor.
Obviously, Showtime plays a major role in terms of who Strikeforce books and what the network wants to see. So, how much did they pony up to get Fedor? Remember, it was Showtime that was pushing the Affliction show hard during Strikeforce telecasts, so clearly the network knows who Fedor is and wanted him.
As for the whole “co-promotion” deal that M-1 always angles for, well it makes a lot of sense with Strikeforce and none with UFC. Why should UFC pay 50% of any show they promote with Fedor on the card when 95% of the people watching UFC buy it because of their loyalty to the brand? (Alan disputes the loyalty factor here, but when your floor is 325,000 buys a show… People arguing that there is no brand to a loyalty are forgetting that most of the ‘stars’ headlining these shows were created or pushed by the UFC marketing machine.)
Strikeforce, however, doesn’t rake in the cash like UFC, so splitting costs and revenues 50/50 is a pretty easy pill for them to swallow. Plus, we know that for a company like Strikeforce with a limited-size office that running a lot of Challenger shows requires resources if you aren’t dealing with sold shows (i.e. guaranteed money). We’ve seen M-1 run a lot of strange shows in Seattle and KC and so forth. If M-1 wants to continue doing that, Strikeforce can just piggyback on it and Showtime will provide the TV money to do it for the smaller shows. It makes some sense.
I would have published Strikeforce’s statement on the Fedor signing, but I’m not on their mailing list so I’m not all cool like that or whatnot.
If you’re a UFC fan who is bummed out about not seeing Fedor in the cage… chances are, and history seems to indicate this, eventually he will end up facing a UFC-or-go-home situation. The positive take on Dana White’s side here is that he’s watched Fedor’s stock incrementally go up in the States without having to pay a dime for it. Plus, look at all the promotions Fedor has fought for that have gone out of business. Now, you can say that Strikeforce will be the exception to the rule, but unless they start getting a lot of heavyweights to build up depth in a division without a lot of depth in the first place, eventually there will be no other real option other than UFC. So, if you’re in Dana White’s position, just step back and watch the circus and see what happens from there.
All of the chips have moved on the table to the Fedor option for Strikeforce. How much money is left for the promotion?
As for prognostications that this move is a gamechanger, well… Fedor hasn’t been a game-changer since PRIDE died. What the move does allow is for Fedor to still be able to fight in Japan because Strikeforce will co-promote with others. Remember, Scott Coker has a long history with Kazuyoshi Ishii, so the idea that we could see Fedor on NYE in Japan is not out of the realm of possibility. In fact, it makes a lot of sense. If Strikeforce can get into the mix with K-1, then we could certainly see Fedor vs. Barnett in Japan and we could see some K-1/DREAM talent coming stateside shortly.
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 81 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Playing catch-up
By Zach Arnold | August 3, 2009
Lots of odds and ends to cover here…
The main headline coming out of the Sengoku 8/2 Saitama show was… Satoshi Ishii in the ring to announce his MMA debut on 11/7 in Tokyo at Ryogoku Kokugikan. It seems very likely that the 22-year old will make his debut against 39-year old Hidehiko Yoshida. With Barnett likely in the semi-main event slot, his options for opponents seems limited. “Bigfoot” Silva looks to be likely the next opponent for Barnett. It’s a tough fight to take because if Barnett wants to fight Fedor on 12/31 for K-1 on NYE, he would have to hope that he comes out the Silva fight relatively unscathed. Not an easy task.
BTW, Sengoku once again did not release an attendance figure for their Saitama Super Arena event. I’ve never heard of a Japanese promotion not releasing crowd numbers for any show in the past.
Antonio Inoki was in Seattle doing a photo-op with Bob Sapp to promote this weekend’s IGF show in Tokyo at Ariake Colosseum. Barnett & Ogawa vs. Sapp & Takayama is the main event.
Other notes… I’m noticing a lot of search requests for our site are coming from users of Bing. It used to be Google that dominated, but now I see a lot of hits from Bing. Traffic-wise, 80% of our traffic is North American. For the sake of reference, the two most-searched terms that people used to discover Fight Opinion… Brittney Skye and Gina Carano. Well…
Traffic for July ’09 was about 25% higher than the numbers we normally get. Every site imaginable benefited from UFC 100. I can’t compete with the larger sites in terms of finding writers (nobody wants to do it) or getting indexed on Google News (don’t ask), but I certainly am trying a lot of grassroots marketing. We’ll see how it turns out.
I’m actually transcribing last Friday’s UFC conference call, if you can believe it or not. This is going a lot slower than I anticipated, but it will be worth it in the end in terms of content. As far as conf. calls go, the only time I ever was actually on one was a couple of years ago when The Fight Network had signed Big John McCarthy to a deal. Other than that, never got an invite to one. I have no idea the invites go out or work, anyhow.
Reading material
- The Philadelphia Daily News: Ultimate homecoming for UFC’s Burt Watson, event coordinator
- AOL Fanhouse: Frank Mir says Miguel Torres is the best in MMA but that Brian Bowles could beat him
- The Examiner: Dana White can deliver knock out blow to Mayweather and boxing for 2009 with UFC 103 on 9/19 in Dallas
- This is Nottingham: Paul Daley claims he has a big fan base in America
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 26 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sengoku 8/2 Saitama Super Arena
By Zach Arnold | August 2, 2009
- Akihiro Gono vs. Dan Hornbuckle
- Heavyweights: Yoshihiro Nakao vs. Choi Mu Bae
- Heavyweights: Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Blagoi Ivanov
- Lightweights: Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Clay French
- Sengoku Lightweight Championship: Satoru Kitaoka vs. Mizuto Hirota
- Sengoku Middleweight Championship – #1 contender’s match: Kazuo Misaki vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
- Featherweight GP Semi-finals: Hatsu Hioki vs. Masanori Kanehara
- Featherweight GP Semi-finals: Michihiro Omigawa vs. Marlon Sandro
- Featherweight GP finals
“The must decision” rule is hideous
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out results from Sengoku’s 8/2 Saitama event. Interestingly, the judges here are using some 10-10 rounds, which is something Jordan Breen and others have argued about for a while in terms of not seeing it in the States.
Referees as judges
I’ve heard of referees as judges before, but never playing both roles on one show. So, what’s your take – fair or foul?
Topics: Japan, Media, MMA, Sengoku, Zach Arnold | 33 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Media activists backpedal after Fedor and UFC fail to reach a deal
By Zach Arnold | July 31, 2009
When I wrote an article a couple of days ago stating the intentions of what a lot of MMA writers and media types displayed in regards to getting Fedor into UFC, I pointed out statements that displayed what their admitted intentions were. Remember this quote?
I’m more than willing to be a pawn in this negotiations if it means we see Fedor vs. Brock in the UFC.
The intentions were made very clear here.
Now there’s an attempt to shift the focus using a sleight-of-hand, hoping you don’t catch the difference.
Facing heat both online and during a radio interview, Carmichael Dave of KHTK 1140 Hot Talk in Sacramento is on the defensive. It was Dave’s ‘report’ on what UFC allegedly offered Fedor that helped various activists claim that they would put pressure on Fedor to sign with the UFC and that if he didn’t sign that there would be ‘pure viciousness’ from online fans towards him.
Carmichael Dave went on Sherdog to answer questions from fans online since he basically took the bait from a UFC source to push the ‘contract rumors’ that the company had allegedly offered Fedor. A forum member asked:
“Lets stop beating around the bush here Mr. Dave. Was you source UFC ‘management’ or not? And do you believe you were used as a tool to carry out their propoganda? The fans deserve an answer.”
Here is how Dave responded:
“I will answer your second question, I cannot answer your first. Of course there was a bit of “using” and propoganda involved. The info put out there was not an accident. No one got high on drugs and fed me the info. They knew who I was, and it was very clear what I would do with the info when I got it. My concern isnt their agenda. My concern is their credibility and involvement in the procedures, and whether the info leaked merits reporting or not.”
Then, Carmichael Dave did an interview with ESPN 1100 Las Vegas (audio here).
”Are we pawns in this game? Of course. Even if the information is 100-percent right all the time it still doesn’t mean we’re not being used. It’s politics of sport. Of course you can be a pawn.”
Anyone who has ever worked in media understands that sources are trying to work over writers. It’s been a part of the business forever. Just ask any baseball, football, or basketball writer about what GMs and teams try to do to use writers when trading deadlines occur each season. No one is arguing that sources try to work over writers like ‘pawns.’
This line of argument is a sleight-of-hand. What the activists don’t want the focus to be on is the fact that they publicly admitted that they purposely wanted to be a pawn in order to advance a personal agenda and that personal agenda was to see one of their favorite fighters fight in the UFC. Whatever it was going to take to get it done was their motto.
Now that it’s clear that a deal between Fedor’s camp and UFC will not go through, watch for some of these activists to start backpedalling in the media. Watch for them to try to blur the lines and confuse readers. “Well, we’re all pawns, that’s how it works in the media.” Watch for an attempt to put the focus somewhere else and distract away from the true focus on what their motives were for their attempted activism and why it was being done.
Several people this week took big credibility hits and they’re trying to figure out a way to recover from it and repair their image. Who knows if they will be successful at undoing their own self-inflicted damage.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 56 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Media thoughts coming off UFC conference call (and UFC 100 buyrate discussion)
By Zach Arnold | July 31, 2009
Dave Meltzer comments on UFC’s Friday conference call with the media about the Fedor negotiations falling through:
“And I got to say that you know one thing that I got to say about you know everyone talks about crazy Russians and stupid Russians and all that stuff, but if [M-1’s] goal is to get him over in this country without him fighting anyone I mean Dana White’s done a hell of a job because I mean they have made this, he’s made this into such a big thing publicly, you know this week I mean it’s been the big story this week and everything and I mean it’s not just the Internet, I mean it’s hit you know ESPN and you know major you know news you know things, LA Times and it’s going you know and it will hit more today coming off of this press conference because that was clearly the thing and I mean you know they built up they built up his name without having to you know fight anyone. I mean, you know, and again I don’t want to be one of these guys, I mean there’s a thing about Fedor, I don’t want to downplay his accomplishments, I would call him the greatest from a historical standpoint I would call him the greatest MMA fighter of all time because of what he has accomplished and his record and all that. However, you know, this is a rapidly changing industry and he hasn’t fought a #1 contender in four years and so to um you know call him #1 today um you know it’s a big difference between would you favor him, I’d favor him a fight against any heavyweight because until he’s beaten because I’m that impressed with his fighting, but is he the best fighter in the world? I mean you know I don’t know that you can even necessarily say because, you know…”
Speaking of Dave, he is claiming that the UFC 100 PPV buyrate is 1.72 million. For the sake of pontification, let’s assume that number is close enough to being accurate. 1.72 million PPV buys at an average price tag of $50 USD per PPV purchase is $86 million USD. With both standard definition and HD versions of the PPV (available for $10 extra), let’s round up the PPV figure to $90 million USD. Now, on a conservative level, let’s say that UFC gets 40% of the PPV revenue. That’s $36 million USD. Then add in the revenue from the live gate at a little over $5 million USD. Throw in the revenue from closed circuit and bar showings. Let’s say that the overall take for UFC is $43-44 million USD. That’s a lot of money to make on one show.
Granted, there will be plenty of costs (including the millions given out to the headliners on the show along with their $3 cut per each PPV buy given that the buyrate broke all records). However, UFC’s take at the end of the day after everyone gets paid will still be very, very healthy. It was already a safe assumption to think that UFC would have a nice take home at the end of the day, but the numbers in the end paint an even rosier picture for Zuffa.
One other stat to look at – Spike TV has a major role in pushing both UFC and TNA on their channel. TNA’s PPV buyrates are in the 12,000-20,000 range. UFC, with their excellent countdown special for Lesnar vs. Mir, drew over 1.7 million PPV buys. For those keeping score at home, the UFC 100 buyrate is 85 times larger than what TNA does on a good day for a PPV. Adding salt to the wound is that TNA gets 2 hours each week of prime-time exposure plus a weekend replay of their show and it still means nothing to their bottom line.
Topics: Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, TNA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Today’s UFC press conference/call
By Zach Arnold | July 31, 2009
I’ll be away from the site for a little while, so whatever news is made… use this post to comment.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
How effective was the media campaign against Fedor?
By Zach Arnold | July 31, 2009
Take everything I wrote yesterday and add this into the equation – Sports Navigator (Yahoo Japan) printed M-1’s denial to the rumors of UFC ‘offering’ Fedor a $30 million USD contract. Note what the headline is in Japan – Denial of UFC offering a 6-fight $30 million contract.
Yes, the article posts M-1’s response to the rumored offer, but UFC and/or their media allies have just used the speed of the news cycle and repetitiveness to get that magical “6-fight, $30 million dollar” number out there.
Even if it’s not true and even when M-1 rejects the rumors, the fact is that you have all sorts of sports web sites, MMA web sites, and blogs that are either running with headlines saying “UFC offered Fedor 6 fights at $30 million” or “M-1 denies a UFC offer of 6-fights, $30 million.” ESPN yesterday on SportsCenter (Thursday morning) did a ‘blog buzz’ segment and Fedor rejecting UFC’s supposed ‘big money offer’ was their fourth-most highlighted item.
All of this gained steam because of a Sacramento radio host who has a close relationship with UFC and an activist media that has openly admitted that they want to advance this story in order to apply pressure on Fedor to sign with the UFC. No matter how many times M-1 says the rumors are false, the fact is that the magical $30 million dollar number has been repeated over and over, meaning both hardcore and casual fans will use it today, tomorrow, and probably two years down the line on any message board or web site debate when talking about Fedor not being in the UFC. Just like other various UFC-related stories (including the Zuffa Myth), expect that $30 million number to be parroted in the press — and UFC doesn’t have to take any responsibility for it, as they don’t have their fingerprints on this… officially-speaking, of course.
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The activist media campaign against Fedor
By Zach Arnold | July 30, 2009
I haven’t said much on the whole Fedor “will he or won’t he?” story in regards to whether or not he will go to UFC. I’ve always felt that it will never happen, so why get antsy about it? I think Fedor’s camp will be perfectly happy with having the mystique of their guy being ‘the one that got away’ from UFC.
However, there seems to be a lot of media types who unfortunately are acting more like political activists than actual writers and reporters. What a shock, I know.
On various message boards and web sites (and a couple of radio outlets), we’re now lead to believe ‘rumored’ numbers like Fedor being offered $30 million dollars by UFC, and yet there’s no online ‘fingerprints’ from UFC’s behalf for it. It’s the David Axelrod graduate school of marketing here, but it also helps to have willing participants ready and able to carry your water. (Carmichael Dave is on KHTK in Sacramento and Dana White is a frequent guest.) Have you noticed how the campaign of information and misinformation online is working to discredit Fedor and try to paint him in a bad light? Look, we know he’s isolated and nothing is going to change and whatever happens for the rest of his career, it will be on him in regards to why he didn’t fight in UFC. If that offends you, then it offends you. Obviously he seems happy with his current business arrangements, so let him go off and do whatever he is going to do.
However, this idea that web sites and blogs should participate in an explicit active role of ‘being used’ for spread information/misinformation in regards to what UFC is ‘allegedly’ offering to Fedor’s camp is silly. It plays right into Dana White’s hands. Hey, if the MMA web sites say anything negative about him, he has ammunition to not give them media credentials for live events. And if the web sites start astroturfing in order to generate good press for UFC, well he has his cake and can eat it too.
One of the media tactics that UFC has used in the past with great success, on their own accord and/or through various media members, is that they will float a news item and do it so strongly that by the time there’s evidence to contradict the initial claim, it’s already too late because the majority of people have already bought into what UFC (or the media writer) has said. UFC has managed to use the speed and repetitiveness of news cycles, combined with media laziness, to craft the message they want the public to absorb. You always see this with ‘PPV buyrate trending estimates’ or, the best example, being the Zuffa Myth. It has been said that UFC invented rules and cleaned up MMA so many times in the press that even if you try to correct the record, only a small percentage of media consumers will figure the initial claim is bogus or spin – the majority of media consumers and writers just end up parroting what UFC said in the first place. In fact, this rapid response claim tactic is what UFC does best — and they have willing, anxious participants in the media who are ready to write it and carry water at any time. If you were in UFC’s shoes as a promoter and have a bunch of willing writers willing to carry your message unchallenged, you’d do the same thing. Can’t blame them. In this case, blame the messengers.
The amazing thing in all of this flurry of activity within the last 24 hours is just seeing how many people in the media are so willing to do whatever it takes to get Fedor into UFC. A perfect example of this is right here.
If anyone from M-1 is reading this, allow me to give you a heads up. The more news of these terms spread, the more the MMA fanbase (hardcore and casual) are going to turn on you in what I can guarantee will be pure viciousness in its backlash. Perhaps that is of little concern to you and your motives, but it is an inevitability.
Why the hell would Fedor or his camp care about what writers say about him? Seriously. They’re not the ones paying him $1.5 million USD per fight; promoters are. But I have to admit — Fedor’s camp has opened himself up to this line of attack when they sent out that goofy semi-press release stating that they wanted Brett Rogers instead of Vitor Belfort because of what they saw on a web site.
“Pure viciousness?”
So the same Fedor fans who are being encouraged to get upset by various web sites because he won’t sign with UFC are just suddenly going to stop watching the guy fight, especially if he fights Josh Barnett in Japan on NYE? Whatever.
I’m more than willing to be a pawn in this negotiations if it means we see Fedor vs. Brock in the UFC.
Let me stress that if you are a fan and you are adamant about doing whatever it takes to drumbeat support for Fedor in UFC, that’s your right. You’re a fan; you’re not a writer and you’re not trying to pass yourself off as a professional. Too many people on various web sites and blogs want ‘respect’ and want to be treated like a professional ‘journalist’, yet act in an entirely different manner. Perhaps Fedor is flushing down some cash down the toilet for not signing with UFC, but the longer this story progresses the more it seems that various UFC boosters are willing to flush their credibility down the toilet as well.
It’s one thing to be an ‘activist’ if you are trying to root out, say, steroids or the mafia from the fight game. It’s another thing to become an activist and to huff and puff when a fighter doesn’t want to sign with your favorite fight promotion.
Addendum: Couple of arguments already against what I’ve written here…
a) I’m not on anyone’s side here. Re-read the article and you’ll see that I’m not siding with Fedor. I don’t care if he’s in the UFC or not. I’m not an activist on this issue and neither should other writers who want to be taken seriously, either.
b) I’m amazed at what people take away from certain articles as opposed to what the whole point of the articles were in the first place. Case in point – the BJ Penn article here yesterday with his quotes about the media ended up turning into… you guessed it… a re-hash flame war debate on Penn vs. GSP, which wasn’t the point of the article. Now with the article about media activism in trying to pressure Fedor to sign with UFC based on generating a negative campaign, people start arguing about… why Fedor is a clown and a bad guy for not signing with UFC.
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 93 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Fedor press conference today in Anaheim
By Zach Arnold | July 29, 2009
It’s 6:45 AM in Los Angeles… and M-1 just sent out a notice for the media to attend the press conference in Anaheim that will take place in 6 hours. So in a timespan of six hours, they are going to have the media sign up for credentials either for live attendance or for a conference call on the phone. I know…
At the hastily-arranged press conference will be Fedor, Vadim Finkelchtein, and Gary “Jerry” Millen. Here’s how the press conference is being described as:
Former PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko will address the media for the first time since Affliction’s decision last week to cancel “Trilogy.” Fedor will discuss his reaction to the news while also talking about his potential future options. Additionally, the press conference will also include a Q&A session with reporters.
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 93 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Josh Barnett on 8/9 IGF show in Tokyo
By Zach Arnold | July 29, 2009
The word ‘doping’ is used in the Japanese caption. The headline basically says that he’ll participate on 8/9 for IGF and that he’s trying to shake off the doping scandal.
8/9 Tokyo, Ariake Colosseum (5 PM start)
- Naoya Ogawa & Josh Barnett vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Bob “The BALCO Beast” Sapp
- Original Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara
- The Predator vs. Atsushi Sawada
Topics: Affliction, Media, MMA, Pro-Wrestling, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |