Society tends to deride those who remain defiant even after a decisive and fair defeat. Someone who’s beaten and fails or refuses to accept this is looked at with pity, even anger. George Carlin already eloquently expressed a counter to this view, and so I’d like to highlight the inverse of this phenomenon, which can actually be a severe problem. I speak, of course, of the sore winner.
Generally (and, ok, a bit trivially) speaking, victory is power. When winners, specifically in sports, and even more specifically in MMA, cross a certain line of decency and abuse that power, we encounter what is perhaps the most unsportsmanlike behavior of all. There aren’t necessarily scientific tests for determining sore winner status in MMA, but here’s one fairly reliable-looking indicator: the winning fighter using their victory to violate the losing fighter’s dignity in some way.
That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with trash talk before a fight, or in its resumption once the immediate post-fight haze has passed. Conor McGregor and Chael Sonnen, two prodigious talkers of trash, pour industrial amounts of verbal acid onto their opponents before and after fights, but they always seem to have a sense of respect for the man they’ve just pummeled in the immediate moments following a win.
Society tends to deride those who remain defiant even after a decisive and fair defeat. Someone who’s beaten and fails or refuses to accept this is looked at with pity, even anger. George Carlin already eloquently expressed a counter to this view, and so I’d like to highlight the inverse of this phenomenon, which can actually be a severe problem. I speak, of course, of the sore winner.
Generally (and, ok, a bit trivially) speaking, victory is power. When winners, specifically in sports, and even more specifically in MMA, cross a certain line of decency and abuse that power, we encounter what is perhaps the most unsportsmanlike behavior of all. There aren’t necessarily scientific tests for determining sore winner status in MMA, but here’s one fairly reliable-looking indicator: the winning fighter using their victory to violate the losing fighter’s dignity in some way.
That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with trash talk before a fight, or in its resumption once the immediate post-fight haze has passed. Conor McGregor and Chael Sonnen, two prodigious talkers of trash, pour industrial amounts of verbal acid onto their opponents before and after fights, but they always seem to have a sense of respect for the man they’ve just pummeled in the immediate moments following a win.
UFC 199 is next weekend, and its main and co-main events are likely to exemplify how a winner should act right after winning. While UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and challenger Michael Bisping are quite bitter rivals, you can bet whoever wins their fight will honor the other with praise and a modicum of real affection after it’s all over, as was the case after their first fight in November 2014: Rockhold won by submission, and gave Bisping some handsome praise.
In the UFC 199 co-main, surprisingly-mean-at-times bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz is expected to wipe the floor with his long-time rival Urijah Faber. And still, you can bet your bottom dollar that if he does, he’ll smile and give the 37-year-old “kid” from California some just props (after all, that’s what happened after their second fight at UFC 132, which Cruz won by unanimous decision). And if Faber pulls out the W, does anyone really doubt he’ll give Cruz a hug and refer him to his favorite cornrow specialist?
Sadly, this basic decency is absent in some occasions, and from the minds of some fighters.
When Shinya Aoki broke Mizuto Hirota’s arm in December 2009 and then proceeded to flip off Hirota and perform other belligerent antics towards the crowd, he was rightly criticized for it. It’s not just that Aoki was happy in victory, but that he saw a beaten man before him, and chose to kick him while he was down (metaphorically, that is. Ironically enough, physically kicking Hirota while he was down during the actual fight would have been perfectly fine).
These cases can involve a lot of subtlety, as many winning fighters walk a fine dignity preservation/violation line. When Tito Ortiz did his “grave digger” routine, it was really a show of flair for the crowd. Ortiz would generally dig an imaginary grave for the other fighter, and then proceed to shake hands, hug, and show genuine respect to him. Post-fight celebrations are perfectly natural, and highly expected. In general, these celebrations only get really ugly when they’re pointed at the defeated fighter in a goading fashion.
If Michael “Venom” Page were to do his silly victory dances to himself in the middle of the cage, I doubt many would be bothered. The reason many are is presumably because Page chooses to direct his dances, like his fists, straight at his opponent’s face.
Perhaps the worst offender of this kind in recent memory is none other than former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. Rousey’s public behavior in general seems to indicate that she is a childish, cruel, stubborn, and vindictive person, which is probably part of the reason for at least two ugly post-fight incidents in her recent past.
When Rousey knocked out Bethe Correia in 34 seconds at UFC 190, she proceeded to tell her “Don’t cry.” It was a callback to Correia’s taunt at Rousey at the previous day’s weigh-ins, and would have been quite appropriate if this were a movie and the villainous Correia had actually wronged the champion. But in fact, Correia was just an athlete competing in a sport, and was lying on the ground in a semi-conscious state while a woman who had just punched her very hard in the face added insult to literal injury.
But Rousey’s worst infraction came before, at UFC 168. Rousey fought the woman who is probably her biggest rival, Miesha Tate, at that end-of-the-year event. Tate and Rousey had a long-standing rivalry even then, and tensions were high. Tate and Rousey had fought nearly two years before, with Rousey submitting Tate and taking her Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title. Their second fight was dominated by Rousey, as Tate attempted several takedowns only to be reversed and easily controlled on the ground by the stronger champion. Tate mostly struggled for survival for two rounds, before once more falling prey to Rousey’s signature move – the armbar. Tate had feared this scenario, exaggeratedly proclaiming beforehand that she’d shoot herself in the face if she submitted to another such Rousey joint lock. The champion had seemingly broken the woman known as “Cupcake” down, both physically and mentally.
Rousey had just maintained her hold on the UFC title in dominant fashion. But when Tate went and offered Rousey her hand to shake, in an attempt to reconcile, even if just slightly, the champion simply turned away. Rousey’s refusal to show her defeated opponent the minimum of courtesy and charity in the immediate aftermath of a crushing loss is perhaps the most discourteous act I’ve seen in a sport where people regularly engage in limb twisting and face hurting of the very violent kind. Tate was coming to Rousey humbled, extending her hand in a gesture of peaceful, defeated acceptance, and Rousey just swatted her away.
Rousey later said this was a reaction to Tate insulting her family, but as far I know, all that means is basically a few silly jokes aimed at her coach (to whom, as far as I am aware, she is not actually related), Edmond Tarverdyan. This should not excuse Rousey’s behavior towards Tate in any decent person’s mind. Showing a minimum amount of politeness to a defeated foe who’s reaching out to you is mercy. What Rousey did to Tate after that fight was cruelty. Honestly, while I think the people who directly taunted Rousey after her loss to Holly Holm were acting horribly, and while I’m saddened and worried by the fact that she felt suicidal in its aftermath, when keeping this incident in mind, it’s hard not to see much of the hate towards Rousey as a product of her own actions.
A big loss, and not just in MMA, can be devastating. The emotional low someone who’s just been beaten in a high-stakes contest often feels, especially if they were bested by a bitter rival, is immense. Those who choose that moment to treat their defeated opponents with malice should rightly be scorned by all.
BJ Penn’s comeback has been squashed before it could even begin, Nation.
Just 11 days out from his mildly-anticipated showdown with Cole Miller at UFC 199, Penn has been forced off the card after disclosing the use of a banned IV during training camp. Both the UFC and Penn have subsequently released official statements on the matter, which you can check out after the jump.
BJ Penn’s comeback has been squashed before it could even begin, Nation.
Just 11 days out from his mildly-anticipated showdown with Cole Miller at UFC 199, Penn has been forced off the card after disclosing the use of a banned IV during training camp. Both the UFC and Penn have subsequently released official statements on the matter, which you can check out after the jump.
First, the UFC’s statement:
“The UFC organization was notified today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) informed BJ Penn of a potential Anti-Doping Policy violation. Penn disclosed the usage of a prohibited method – the use of an IV in excess of 50 ML in a six-hour period – during a March 25, 2016, out-of-competition sample collection. In accordance with the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, Penn has received a provisional suspension, and has been removed from his scheduled bout against Cole Miller on June 4 in Los Angeles.”
“UFC will announce a replacement opponent for Miller shortly, and additional information will be provided by USADA and UFC at the appropriate time as the process involving Penn moves forward.”
Penn, meanwhile, took to his website to diclose exactly what went down.
“I voluntarily disclosed to USADA that during a non-fight period that I had an IV administered under the care of a doctor,” wrote Penn.
“The rule for IV usage had changed since my last fight in the UFC and was unaware of the change and voluntarily disclosed the information to USADA. I had no idea that IV use was banned 365 days a year. At no time in my career in martial arts have I ever doped and anticipate all test results from USADA will come back clean and will be working with the UFC to get the matter cleared up and return to fight as soon as possible.”
Obviously, this latest bust raises a lot of questions, the most prominent being, if Penn had voluntarily disclosed a violation back in March, then why the f*ck did USADA wait until the end of May to pull him from the card? We’ll be sure to keep you updated as to Penn’s potential punishment and Miller’s replacement as details are made available, but in the meantime, this:
(“So then the officer grabbed me like this and demanded to know which orifice I was hiding the bath salts in and…what were we talking about again?”)
Following a couple high profile, highly-criticizedsignings and the most epic press release of all time (not that we had anything invested in it), Italian promotion Venator FC held its third event over the weekend. It was a night of surprises, to say the least, with perhaps the most surprising thing being that the event didn’t end up being the absolute shitshow that it seemed primed to be.
In the main event of the evening, UFC veteran and contemptible asshole Rousimar Palhares was obliterated inside of a minute by heavy underdog Emil Meek. In a light heavyweight matchup, TUF 3 alum Matt Hamill faced off with Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and met a similarly brief/violent end, and even Cody McKenzie managed to secure his first victory in over two years via his signature guillotine.
But atop the shitshow mountain stood Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who was plucked from a 4 year absence (the majority of which he spent in the back seat of a squad car) to face fellow UFC vet Luke Barnatt in a middleweight title fight. Mayhem’s return seemed doomed from the beginning when he showed up to the scales a whopping 24 pounds overweight, but after being pulled from the fight and rebooked at light heavyweight against Mattia Schiavolin, the stage was finally set for what would surely be a disastrous performance.
Shockingly, however, Miller not only looked halfway decent in the cage, but appears as if he might actually be on the path to redemption.
(“So then the officer grabbed me like this and demanded to know which orifice I was hiding the bath salts in and…what were we talking about again?”)
Following a couple high profile, highly-criticizedsignings and the most epic press release of all time (not that we had anything invested in it), Italian promotion Venator FC held its third event over the weekend. It was a night of surprises, to say the least, with perhaps the most surprising thing being that the event didn’t end up being the absolute shitshow that it seemed primed to be.
In the main event of the evening, UFC veteran and contemptible asshole Rousimar Palhares was obliterated inside of a minute by heavy underdog Emil Meek. In a light heavyweight matchup, TUF 3 alum Matt Hamill faced off with Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and met a similarly brief/violent end, and even Cody McKenzie managed to secure his first victory in over two years via his signature guillotine.
But atop the shitshow mountain stood Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who was plucked from a 4 year absence (the majority of which he spent in the back seat of a squad car) to face fellow UFC vet Luke Barnatt in a middleweight title fight. Mayhem’s return seemed doomed from the beginning when he showed up to the scales a whopping 24 pounds overweight, but after being pulled from the fight and rebooked at light heavyweight against Mattia Schiavolin, the stage was finally set for what would surely be a disastrous performance.
Shockingly, however, Miller not only looked halfway decent in the cage, but appears as if he might actually be on the path to redemption.
Video after the jump.
Though Miller would ultimately succumb to a rear-naked choke midway through the second round, he had clearly taken the first round and appeared to be in control in the second until his cardio got the best of him. All things considered, it was a hell of a performance for the formerly prolific fighter, and one that Miller himself sees as, hopefully, the start of something new.
Speaking with MMANews.pl following the fight, Miller showed hints of the thoughtful, charismatic and above all else, coherent man we came to know before he began his downward spiral.
“If you don’t learn from an experience, that’s ’cause you haven’t thought about it long enough,” said Miller. “Look, it’s only been about an hour and I already thought a lot about this. I have an idea of where to start to change my whole life.”
While it’s still too early to tell whether or not Miller will fall back on old habits once he’s reentered the states, it’s hard not to feel genuine remorse for the guy. Not for what he’s done, mind you, but for what he could have been outside of the cage. Jason Miller is not the kind of guy whose career necessarily had to begin and end with fighting — his stint as the host of Bully Beatdown proved as much — but if it took getting his ass-kicked by someone who *wasn’t* a police officer to make him see the light, we sincerely hope that he can stay on the straight and narrow long enough to take back some of the things he’s lost. He may never be a UFC champion, sure, but there’s still promise there.
Anyways, that’s just a fellow lunatic’s thoughts on the matter. You can check out Miller’s fight against Schiavolin below.
You guys remember how Jason Miller was recently plucked from whatever Mission Viejo drug den he’s been rotting away in and booked for a fight against fellow former UFC middleweight Luke Barnatt, right? Or that even after being booked in said fight, he seemed to be under the impression that he was fighting UFC heavyweight Josh Barnett? How about the fact that he was *then* arrested and held on a million dollars bail, or that the President of the promotion that booked him then used a satirical statement we wrote as his company’s actual press release?
Well, it might shock you to learn that Miller hasn’t exactly used this fight as an opportunity to turn his life around, as some have suggested it would be. At this morning’s weigh-ins, Miller showed up a staggering 24 pounds over the middleweight limit and has subsequently been pulled from his fight.
You guys remember how Jason Miller was recently plucked from whatever Mission Viejo drug den he’s been rotting away in and booked for a fight against fellow former UFC middleweight Luke Barnatt, right? Or that even after being booked in said fight, he seemed to be under the impression that he was fighting UFC heavyweight Josh Barnett? How about the fact that he was *then* arrested and held on a million dollars bail, or that the President of the promotion that booked him then used a satirical statement we wrote as his company’s actual press release?
Well, it might shock you to learn that Miller hasn’t exactly used this fight as an opportunity to turn his life around, as some have suggested it would be. At this morning’s weigh-ins, Miller showed up a staggering 24 pounds over the middleweight limit and has subsequently been pulled from his fight.
Video and details after the jump.
You gotta love the hubris of Miller thinking that taking off his board shorts would somehow help him make weight here. It’s arguably a more scathing indictment of his current mental state than the 14 charges he will likely be arrested for while making his way to his car later today.
The craziest thing? Venator not only didn’t pull Miller from the fight immediately, but offered Barnatt 30 percent of Miller’s purse plus an extra five thousand euros to still fight Miller, who it bears repeating showed up 4 pounds over the light heavyweight limit for a middleweight bout. Barnatt and has instead been booked against Stefan Croitoru, a 6-1 Moldovian middleweight who weighed in at 183 for a separate bout on the Venator III card, in a five-round bout.
Oh, and just in case you’re wondering, Venator is still attempting to find a replacement opponent for Miller on a day’s notice, because it’s not like they’re just going to just let a prize like Miller slip away from them, right? The man is clearly taking the first steps on a path to redemption, and anyone who thinks otherwise can kindly suck on Frank Merenda’s nuts.
