Watching today’s UFC 150 press conference was a bit of a revelation, and not in a good way.
You see, whenever the UFC announces their intention to go to a certain city for a big show, they do these on-sale press conferences in the host town. They’ll bring in the main event fighters and answer some questions from the local media, all in the name of hyping up the soon-to-be-on-available ticket sales.
That’s all well and good. The problem, at least on my end, is that it’s absolutely infuriating to hear some of these local media folks ask questions.
A perfect example: During today’s press conference, which I had the pleasure of watching via the magic of Internet streaming, one of the very first questions asked of former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar—the guy getting a rematch for the belt in the main event of UFC 150, mind you—was this:
“Is it a possibility that if you do win the belt back, that we’ll see you face Jose Aldo in the very near future?”
Obviously, Edgar was dumbfounded. He tried his best not to show it, but you could hear the frustration in his voice.
“I’m obviously not thinking about that right now,” he said. “This fight is looming two months away.”
Why in the world is Edgar having to answer questions about going down to featherweight? I understand that it’s almost a certainty that we’ll see Edgar drop to 145 pounds, and it’ll happen this year. But that’s well off into the future, and he has a big lightweight title rematch coming up in just a few months. You know, the entire reason that the press conference was held in the first place?
I’ve tailed fighters as they’ve gone through media rounds in the past, and I can understand their frustration. They’re constantly asked the same questions, one after another, and the mainstream sports reporters—such as the one who asked Edgar this truly dumb question—who know nothing about the sport are the worst offenders by a country mile.
It’s no wonder athletes hate doing media.
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