Opinion: Mayweather-McGregor and media culpability

Has the media’s hunger for clicks gone too far?

So, we have the latest report from Floyd Mayweather that the Conor McGregor fight is absolutely, for sure going to happen. This story continues to have some kind of traction despite the fact that, without clearing some genuinely impressive legal and promotional hurdles, it’s an impossibility.

It was first leaked to a number of mainstream news sites. This has the combination bonus of these sites having much more reach, with them being perhaps more likely to run straight with the story than the more specialist sites and blogs might. Bad Left Hook, for example, might be cognizant of the promotional realities around a Mayweather-McGregor fight and decline to initially report on it.

There are few people in a news cycle who are actively incentivized in any way to report on what is “the truth” for something like this. The situation, in fact, benefits from having no objective truth available at all, because a rumour exists as soon as it is discussed. To mention it is to immediately call it into existence. Thus, Mayweather and his team can sagely nod. Yes, it’s certainly a rumour. We can’t, of course, disclose whether it’s true or not due to the sensitive financial information involved. Similarly, because it technically exists as a Schroedinger’s cat of could be booked / not booked yet there’s no basis to make an article about how silly the whole thing is.

It’s almost a closed loop: the fighters can leak unlikely stories to the media; the media pick up clicks; the fans get to share it with their friends and to rant about the matchups to each other; the fighters get added exposure and buzz. The rewards for each participant are clear, so the question becomes where the cost is.

May-Pac was terrible

Debatably, it’s a cost which Mayweather has felt already. Namely, sizzle vs steak. The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was a once-in-a-generation event. It broke through to an unprecedented number of viewers. It also sucked.

As I’ve written before, watching real-life combat sports can be traumatizing for those who have never watched them before. Not necessarily in the violence and blood and trauma, but more often in the lack of it. Someone who comes from watching films like Rocky and Kickboxer (where the actors hit each other with enough strikes to kill a bull moose) can watch the clinical and tactical exchanges of a real MMA or boxing match and bounce right off.

The aforementioned May-Pac fight was an especially bad introduction for people who had never seen boxing before. “Tactical” would be generous, and even hardcore fans blanched at the sight of an ageing Pacquaio trotting around the ring after Mayweather, occasionally eating a straight right or a left hook before being wrapped up in the clinch. A few people were sufficiently invested in a Mayweather win to convince themselves that it had been beautiful technical mastery, and fewer still have gotten far enough into combat sports that they genuinely enjoyed it in some way.

As an aside, this is something which happens in almost every area of entertainment: people set off on a journey to an eventual destination which would have been repellent to them when they started out. Some metal fans can end up listening with real enjoyment to an elephant farting into a mic over blast beats. There are those out there warped by watching enough face punching to have enjoyed Klitschko vs Fury.

Regardless, the consensus is that May-Pac was garbage, and this generated a wave of disappointment. The fans had to explain it to their friends, and suffer through combat sports taking a step into the global spotlight in a way that it hadn’t for years, then visibly falling on its face. That disappointment was easy to center on one person in particular, and Mayweather’s fight against Andre Berto took a hit from embittered hardcores and bored casuals alike.

After the least-credible retirement ever, Mayweather is likely doing his best to keep the fading spotlight as bright as possible until he can confirm who his opponent will be. Then they can presumably shift the promotional weight onto the public’s love for big, round numbers, like “50”. Or, for example, “200.”

Making the media do your bidding, and the value of truth

So, people were annoyed with Mayweather (fairly or not) for the promotion of a fight which wasn’t very good. Now we’re experiencing promotion for a fight which will likely never happen.

The most clear recent example of an entity using the media’s short-term need for traffic against their long-term interests would be Donald Trump. Despite saying some pretty worrying stuff about the freedom of the press, he’s dominated the news cycle for the US election, and much of the news cycle elsewhere. This enabled him to suck the oxygen out of the presidential race (much as he planned to), and smash the Republican field.

This, of course, generated its share of hand-wringing, and some mea culpas which also coincidentally served to generate some good Trump Traffic, as did the following rejections and discussions of guilt from the rest of the media.

Once again the media is being voluntarily led around by a person who is not very nice and in the service of something which is not true. Admittedly, the stakes are slightly less, as there is probably less of a chance that Floyd Mayweather could destroy the world as we know it. However, is there a fundamental lesson to be learned here about prioritizing money over truth?

Some say that stories like Mayweather vs McGregor might be dumb, but that in a basic and vital way they provide the revenue streams which enable the more important work of financial and technical analysis and, yes, journalism which sites like Bloody Elbow can provide.

Frankly, I disagree and so should you. I believe the world should work in a completely idealized way. As in all uncomfortable or complex situations, I would highly recommend finding the parts which you dislike and extrapolating them until they reach high enough levels to make you cross.

Thus we need to come together and realize that there is an essential value judgement to be made for both organizations and the writers that comprise them, one based around the equations of clicks vs insight; of engagement vs revenue. If it’s OK to report on things like the probably-fictional matchups between boxers and mixed martial artists, then why not just give any kind of popular properties a superfluous MMA coating in order to generate a few clicks? Are we moral entities or not?

For me the choice is clear. I’ve always attempted to hold myself to rigorous ethical standards. I would like to think that the few people who read what I write would consider me a voice of truth, of some integrity even. I will never let the loyal readers down, and am ready to ask what I consider to be the Important Questions in this sport.

Questions such as

Is Ronda Rousey MMA’s Khaleesi from Game of Thrones?


A queen loses her crown and finds herself adrift. Who can save her? Her slightly creepy mentor figure? Perhaps her more recent love interest?

Fans of the popular Ice Zombies VS Fire Dragons (With No Actual Ice Zombies vs Fire Dragons) show have often complained that the problem with Khaleesi was that her steady upwards path has simply been too inexorable. Now, she finally has push back and some kind of challenge to overcome. The parallels between her and Rousey seem irresistible.

Perhaps some insight into Rousey’s fate can be gleaned by watching Game of Thrones Season 6, Sundays on HBO. After all, the motto of the show even reflects the ethos of the Ultimate Fighting Championship: “in the end… there can be only one.”

Is Dark Souls 3 an allegory for heavyweight MMA?


A land once populated with heroes and hope has fallen into hopeless decay. A selection of brave or foolish individuals attempt to plod their grinding way through the wasteland. They’re occasionally bludgeoned by telegraphed attacks and random cheap deaths which send them back to the beginning.

I’m not saying that Hideo Kojima, the creator of Dark Souls, was specifically inspired by the bleak absurdity of heavyweight fights, but he has admitted to at least playing a videogame about the UFC.

No, but I liked DC’s UFC game. Samrock was my fav. RT @EteRnalPAL Do you watch (UFC, Pride) MMA? If you do, who is your favorite fighter?

— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) June 24, 2012

It’s notable that his favourite character was Ken Shamrock. I’m not the only one to look at this Shamrock fight and find it familiar.


Is the Team Alpha Male clash reflected by Captain America: Civil War?

An eternally youthful blonde icon is betrayed by a friend and comrade-in-arms, forcing everyone around them to choose which side they are on.

Donald Trump Dana White?

It is undeniable that they are both businessmen who are often rude to people and don’t have much of their original hair left.

In conclusion: journalistic integrity.

Has the media’s hunger for clicks gone too far?

So, we have the latest report from Floyd Mayweather that the Conor McGregor fight is absolutely, for sure going to happen. This story continues to have some kind of traction despite the fact that, without clearing some genuinely impressive legal and promotional hurdles, it’s an impossibility.

It was first leaked to a number of mainstream news sites. This has the combination bonus of these sites having much more reach, with them being perhaps more likely to run straight with the story than the more specialist sites and blogs might. Bad Left Hook, for example, might be cognizant of the promotional realities around a Mayweather-McGregor fight and decline to initially report on it.

There are few people in a news cycle who are actively incentivized in any way to report on what is “the truth” for something like this. The situation, in fact, benefits from having no objective truth available at all, because a rumour exists as soon as it is discussed. To mention it is to immediately call it into existence. Thus, Mayweather and his team can sagely nod. Yes, it’s certainly a rumour. We can’t, of course, disclose whether it’s true or not due to the sensitive financial information involved. Similarly, because it technically exists as a Schroedinger’s cat of could be booked / not booked yet there’s no basis to make an article about how silly the whole thing is.

It’s almost a closed loop: the fighters can leak unlikely stories to the media; the media pick up clicks; the fans get to share it with their friends and to rant about the matchups to each other; the fighters get added exposure and buzz. The rewards for each participant are clear, so the question becomes where the cost is.

May-Pac was terrible

Debatably, it’s a cost which Mayweather has felt already. Namely, sizzle vs steak. The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight was a once-in-a-generation event. It broke through to an unprecedented number of viewers. It also sucked.

As I’ve written before, watching real-life combat sports can be traumatizing for those who have never watched them before. Not necessarily in the violence and blood and trauma, but more often in the lack of it. Someone who comes from watching films like Rocky and Kickboxer (where the actors hit each other with enough strikes to kill a bull moose) can watch the clinical and tactical exchanges of a real MMA or boxing match and bounce right off.

The aforementioned May-Pac fight was an especially bad introduction for people who had never seen boxing before. “Tactical” would be generous, and even hardcore fans blanched at the sight of an ageing Pacquaio trotting around the ring after Mayweather, occasionally eating a straight right or a left hook before being wrapped up in the clinch. A few people were sufficiently invested in a Mayweather win to convince themselves that it had been beautiful technical mastery, and fewer still have gotten far enough into combat sports that they genuinely enjoyed it in some way.

As an aside, this is something which happens in almost every area of entertainment: people set off on a journey to an eventual destination which would have been repellent to them when they started out. Some metal fans can end up listening with real enjoyment to an elephant farting into a mic over blast beats. There are those out there warped by watching enough face punching to have enjoyed Klitschko vs Fury.

Regardless, the consensus is that May-Pac was garbage, and this generated a wave of disappointment. The fans had to explain it to their friends, and suffer through combat sports taking a step into the global spotlight in a way that it hadn’t for years, then visibly falling on its face. That disappointment was easy to center on one person in particular, and Mayweather’s fight against Andre Berto took a hit from embittered hardcores and bored casuals alike.

After the least-credible retirement ever, Mayweather is likely doing his best to keep the fading spotlight as bright as possible until he can confirm who his opponent will be. Then they can presumably shift the promotional weight onto the public’s love for big, round numbers, like “50”. Or, for example, “200.”

Making the media do your bidding, and the value of truth

So, people were annoyed with Mayweather (fairly or not) for the promotion of a fight which wasn’t very good. Now we’re experiencing promotion for a fight which will likely never happen.

The most clear recent example of an entity using the media’s short-term need for traffic against their long-term interests would be Donald Trump. Despite saying some pretty worrying stuff about the freedom of the press, he’s dominated the news cycle for the US election, and much of the news cycle elsewhere. This enabled him to suck the oxygen out of the presidential race (much as he planned to), and smash the Republican field.

This, of course, generated its share of hand-wringing, and some mea culpas which also coincidentally served to generate some good Trump Traffic, as did the following rejections and discussions of guilt from the rest of the media.

Once again the media is being voluntarily led around by a person who is not very nice and in the service of something which is not true. Admittedly, the stakes are slightly less, as there is probably less of a chance that Floyd Mayweather could destroy the world as we know it. However, is there a fundamental lesson to be learned here about prioritizing money over truth?

Some say that stories like Mayweather vs McGregor might be dumb, but that in a basic and vital way they provide the revenue streams which enable the more important work of financial and technical analysis and, yes, journalism which sites like Bloody Elbow can provide.

Frankly, I disagree and so should you. I believe the world should work in a completely idealized way. As in all uncomfortable or complex situations, I would highly recommend finding the parts which you dislike and extrapolating them until they reach high enough levels to make you cross.

Thus we need to come together and realize that there is an essential value judgement to be made for both organizations and the writers that comprise them, one based around the equations of clicks vs insight; of engagement vs revenue. If it’s OK to report on things like the probably-fictional matchups between boxers and mixed martial artists, then why not just give any kind of popular properties a superfluous MMA coating in order to generate a few clicks? Are we moral entities or not?

For me the choice is clear. I’ve always attempted to hold myself to rigorous ethical standards. I would like to think that the few people who read what I write would consider me a voice of truth, of some integrity even. I will never let the loyal readers down, and am ready to ask what I consider to be the Important Questions in this sport.

Questions such as

Is Ronda Rousey MMA’s Khaleesi from Game of Thrones?



A queen loses her crown and finds herself adrift. Who can save her? Her slightly creepy mentor figure? Perhaps her more recent love interest?

Fans of the popular Ice Zombies VS Fire Dragons (With No Actual Ice Zombies vs Fire Dragons) show have often complained that the problem with Khaleesi was that her steady upwards path has simply been too inexorable. Now, she finally has push back and some kind of challenge to overcome. The parallels between her and Rousey seem irresistible.

Perhaps some insight into Rousey’s fate can be gleaned by watching Game of Thrones Season 6, Sundays on HBO. After all, the motto of the show even reflects the ethos of the Ultimate Fighting Championship: “in the end… there can be only one.”

Is Dark Souls 3 an allegory for heavyweight MMA?



A land once populated with heroes and hope has fallen into hopeless decay. A selection of brave or foolish individuals attempt to plod their grinding way through the wasteland. They’re occasionally bludgeoned by telegraphed attacks and random cheap deaths which send them back to the beginning.

I’m not saying that Hideo Kojima, the creator of Dark Souls, was specifically inspired by the bleak absurdity of heavyweight fights, but he has admitted to at least playing a videogame about the UFC.

It’s notable that his favourite character was Ken Shamrock. I’m not the only one to look at this Shamrock fight and find it familiar.



Is the Team Alpha Male clash reflected by Captain America: Civil War?

An eternally youthful blonde icon is betrayed by a friend and comrade-in-arms, forcing everyone around them to choose which side they are on.

Donald Trump Dana White?

It is undeniable that they are both businessmen who are often rude to people and don’t have much of their original hair left.

In conclusion: journalistic integrity.