Author: James MacDonald

Dana White: The UFC President Is a Race Car in the Red

I have often stated that UFC president Dana White is as close to an indispensable figure as we have in mixed martial arts. However, his recent behaviour should perhaps be cause for concern for anyone who values White’s contribution to the sport.
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I have often stated that UFC president Dana White is as close to an indispensable figure as we have in mixed martial arts. However, his recent behaviour should perhaps be cause for concern for anyone who values White’s contribution to the sport.

If you were unfortunate enough to miss out on the immediate details from yesterday’s media conference, I feel for you.

A handful of reporters had the pleasure of being in the room with the UFC president as he, by all accounts, ranted and raved like a man who had neglected to take his daily meds. Indeed, simply following the live tweets was so utterly compelling that it could have qualified as premium content.

When Lawrence Epstein, the UFC’s chief operating officer, made an appearance to see what all the commotion was about, those in attendance must have been wondering whether he was wielding a tranquilizer gun.

From drug testing to Ronda Rousey to Alistair Overeem to Cris “Cyborg” Justino, the UFC president went back and forth with the media for over two hours—mostly “forth” and mostly in the absence of his inside voice.

These unfiltered rants are a part of White’s appeal. It is both endearing and infuriating in equal measures, but the balance has arguably shifted towards the latter in recent weeks.

Without White’s influence, it’s difficult to predict where the UFC—and by extension, the sport—would be right now in the sporting landscape. It almost certainly wouldn’t be on the cusp of the mainstream, nor would it be a viable career path for so many aspiring athletes.

The UFC president’s largely scriptless approach to fight promotion has allowed him to connect with the fanbase in a way that the likes of Bob Arum and Don King could only dream of.

One could even argue that White is as big a star as any the sport has ever produced. He may not be an athlete, but in terms of visibility and status, you would be hard-pressed to think of a more recognisable name to mainstream audiences.

It’s unfortunate, then, that some of the UFC president’s recent outbursts have raised the question of whether he has jumped a mile-long row of sharks. As my B/R colleague Scott Harris pointed out yesterday, Dana White is a race car in the red.

Over the past several weeks, he has turned throwing fighters under the bus into its own sport. Granted, putting his fighters on blast and calling their character into question is hardly a recent development, but all of his worst tendencies seem to be at their apex.

Is it fair to ask whether we are at a point of diminishing returns with the UFC president? MMA forums and comment sections are now filled, more than ever, with voices that have grown weary of White’s shtick.

Such temperature-taking research is unlikely to be published in any peer-reviewed journals, but there seems to be a growing sense that White’s pugnacious ego verges on being counter-productive.

Of course, his erraticism may be a symptom of the UFC’s ambition for world domination and the sheer amount of work that entails. Such lofty aspirations are rarely realised without personal sacrifice.

Perhaps it’s time for the UFC president to take a brief sabbatical, if only to recharge batteries that, until now, appeared to be powered by pixie dust.

One must be careful what one wishes for, though. After all, it was only a few paragraphs ago that I waxed lyrical about the compelling nature of White’s personality.

Are we willing to sacrifice those captivating scrums and headline-making rants, not to mention the refreshing informality of his demeanour? In his stead, do we want someone who offers little more than canned responses contrived by committee?

For his own health, it may be best for White to scale back his workload, but the sport would be a less interesting place without him.

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Dana White: Weidman vs. Belfort in Las Vegas, Confident Belfort Gets Licensed

If you were anticipating problems for Vitor Belfort getting licensed to fight in Nevada, you may want to re-evaluate your position. UFC President Dana White appears convinced that the Brazilian will stroll through the licensing process.
In an interview…

If you were anticipating problems for Vitor Belfort getting licensed to fight in Nevada, you may want to re-evaluate your position. UFC President Dana White appears convinced that the Brazilian will stroll through the licensing process.

In an interview with Sherdog.com, White restated his belief that “The Phenom” doesn’t deserve the scrutiny he has been subjected to by both fans and media:

“[Testosterone Replacement Therapy] is legal. He follows the rules and he does everything the way that he’s supposed to… You can say what you want about TRT, because I’m not a fan either, but TRT doesn’t make you kick better. It doesn’t make you do all the things he’s doing better, better. It makes you train better.”

One could certainly make a solid argument against the latter point. After all, it is through training that Vitor has learned how to “kick better” and “do all the things he’s doing better, better.”

Additionally, the UFC president claimed that Belfort’s situation is no different to that of Josh Barnett, or any other fighter who has been popped for steroid use in the past:

“Vitor will have to go before the commission, not because of his TRT, but because of his former steroid use. Just like any other guy would. In the Travis Browne-Josh Barnett fight, they even made Travis Browne do the drug testing. It’s no different to what any other guy would go through.”

Of course, the obvious difference between Belfort and Barnett is that the latter, as far as we know, hasn’t applied for a therapeutic use exemption for TRT. This distinction has been highlighted to White in the past, but he doesn’t appear to have been persuaded by it.

In the same interview, the UFC president also confirmed that Weidman vs. Belfort will indeed take place in Nevada, despite persistent rumours that the event would be held in Brazil.

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UFC 169: Bleacher Report Main Card Staff Predictions

It’s Super Bowl weekend, and I’m told that’s significant in the United States. I’m in Scotland where we’re too busy tossing cabers and eating haggis, but if this weekend is important to you, it’s important to me, par…

It’s Super Bowl weekend, and I’m told that’s significant in the United States. I’m in Scotland where we’re too busy tossing cabers and eating haggis, but if this weekend is important to you, it’s important to me, particularly with a stacked UFC 169 accompanying all the pigskin-related fun.

Saturday night’s card, coming to us from the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., features not one but two title fights. In the main event, Renan Barao defends his bantamweight title against perennial contender Urijah Faber. In addition, Jose Aldo puts his featherweight title on the line against Ricardo Lamas.

And if you’re still not on the hook, perhaps the prospect of Alistair Overeem vs. Frank Mir will bait you.

With so much to digest, I have assembled a team of experts to guide you through UFC 169’s main card. Read on for the thoughts of Scott Harris, Riley Kontek, Craig Amos, Sean Smith and me, James MacDonald.

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Bjorn Rebney: Examining the Bellator CEO’s Plumetting Popularity

Mixed martial arts fans don’t like Bjorn Rebney. Let’s not finesse the issue. Of all the follicly challenged MMA promoters out there, the Bellator CEO is unarguably the least popular.
It wasn’t always that way, of course. When th…

Mixed martial arts fans don’t like Bjorn Rebney. Let’s not finesse the issue. Of all the follicly challenged MMA promoters out there, the Bellator CEO is unarguably the least popular.

It wasn’t always that way, of course. When the California-based promotion first gained our attention back in 2009, fans were quick to throw their support behind the fledgling organization.

Rather than snatching up overpriced free agents and immediately trying to compete with the UFC, Rebney instead chose to invest in fighter potential and a novel tournament format.

Title shots were to be earned, not given, we were told. Regardless of whether one made Jon Fitch look like Diego Sanchez, the relatively simple act of winning ensured that one’s career would remain on an upward trajectory. Lateral moves had been banished by design.

Certainly, the tournament model had its limitations, but there was no reason why Bellator’s strict meritocratic philosophy couldn’t evolve as time passed and circumstances changed.

As was the case with Strikeforce, fans were, for the most part, willing to come along for the ride and offer their support.

After all, the existence of strong alternatives to the UFC is good for the sport. It not only provides consumers with more options, but more importantly, it offers leverage and more employment opportunities for our fighters.

What changed, then? Perception has shifted so dramatically over the past two years that it would be tough to identify a solitary issue that turned the tide of public opinion.

A confluence of factors has led to Bellator’s current PR issues within the MMA community, arguably starting with Viacom’s purchase of a majority stake in the promotion in late 2011.

No longer perceived as “the little promotion that could,” the fans’ tolerance for any moral missteps appeared to dissipate rapidly. And rightly or wrongly, Bellator’s transgressions are considered Rebney’s transgressions, with the two now widely viewed as being almost interchangeable.

How much control the former litigator actually has over the promotion’s direction is unclear, but his passionate defense of its every action has led to the perception that the buck stops with him.

When Bellator appeared to be sabotaging the careers of Tyson Nam and Eddie Alvarez, it was Rebney who absorbed the full force of the MMA community’s backlash.

Whether he is solely responsible for these and other unpopular promotional tactics, the zeal with which he publicly assumes responsibility means that the criticism is justified. Rebney is telling us ad nauseam that he is in charge, so who are we to say otherwise?

Even in light of the PR disaster that was the Alvarez contract dispute, there was no real barrier to rehabilitating Bellator’s image, particularly when the former lightweight champion relented and re-signed with the promotion.

Unfortunately, Rebney continued to draw the ire of the fans with many of his decisions.

Despite being a wholly transparent attempt to sidestep the tournament format, the introduction of a championship rematch clause was, as a business decision, a sound idea. In order to grow, Bellator had to evolve.

However, Rebney’s anti-UFC rhetoric had largely focused on the arbitrariness of its matchmaking and the virtues of Bellator’s tournament format. Rather than concede that a certain amount of decisional whimsy is a good thing, he instead attempted to represent the decision to introduce the clause as being philosophically consistent.

Few things rile people more than hypocrisy. Not practicing what one dogmatically preaches is a fantastic way to hemorrhage even your most sympathetic supporters.

Then again, the championship rematch clause afforded us the opportunity to see the long-awaited rematch between Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez, so the pitchforks remained in storage temporarily.

Even when Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal was crowbarred into an interim light heavyweight title fight, despite the division’s champion, Attila Vegh, claiming to be healthy enough to compete, we gave Rebney the benefit of the doubt.

But the last straw was the decision to hand Pat Curran a thoroughly undeserved rematch with his recent conqueror Daniel Straus, despite the pair’s recent bout being as lopsided as any title fight in recent memory.

As a result, the season nine featherweight tournament champion, Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, is forced to wait for the shot that he, by the organization’s own matchmaking philosophy, had earned.

Even the most Bellator-friendly journalist would be pained to defend the persistent hypocrisy.

One wonders whether the promotion would be better off without Rebney at this point. He has so thoroughly discredited himself in the eyes of the fans that it would be inaccurate to describe him as merely polarizing.

On the other hand, the memory of the average sports fan tends to make goldfish look like they have photographic recall. The prevailing attitude of “what have you done for me lately?” means that fans are only too willing to forgive and forget so long as you give them a reason to.

Whether Rebney’s personality allows him to earn absolution in the future remains to be seen. Given our fickle nature, I’m not inclined to bet against him.

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Keith Kizer’s Resignation: A Positive Step for Combat Sports

Departures, mortal or otherwise, are often followed by overly saccharine eulogies that do not necessarily reflect reality. Such was the case following news that Keith Kizer had chosen to resign from his position as executive director of the Nevada Stat…

Departures, mortal or otherwise, are often followed by overly saccharine eulogies that do not necessarily reflect reality. Such was the case following news that Keith Kizer had chosen to resign from his position as executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

We are occasionally told that if you can’t say something nice, you shouldn’t say anything at all. Unfortunately, my editor isn’t fond of articles that consist merely of a headline and a page of blank space.

Instead, I’ll just be honest.

It is worth noting that the “overly saccharine” reaction to Kizer’s resignation simply amounts to members of the MMA media stopping short of calling the NSAC’s former executive director the single biggest barrier to progress in combat sports.

Some may wonder whether I am exaggerating the impact a single individual could have, but one has to factor in the influence of the NSAC.

Las Vegas has long been the fight capital of the world, hosting many of the biggest contests in combat sports’ history. With much of the world’s media focused on these events, what happens in Vegas most certainly does not stay in Vegas.

How the NSCA and Kizer have handled high-profile cards like Pacquiao-Bradley and Mayweather-Alvarez has undoubtedly harmed the reputation of combat sports globally. But perhaps most egregious was the sheer lack of accountability for the commission’s many glaring errors.

Kizer routinely defended the indefensible. From calamitous judging to borderline criminally negligent refereeing, he appeared to fetishize contrarianism. If the devil ever needs an advocate, he knows who to call.

As head of the commission, Kizer’s biggest weakness was perhaps his ego. His stubborn refusal to admit to mistakes was an obstacle to much-needed change.

When the focus should have been on fixing problems with judging, refereeing and drug testing, Kizer’s frustrating obstinacy left us mired in a debate on whether there was even a problem in the first place.

Whether his resignation will solve any of these issues remains to be seen. Intuitively, one has to think that things can only get better. However, this very much depends on who replaces Kizer as the NSAC’s executive director.

I am not in the habit of siding with Victor Conte or Dr. Johnny Benjamin, but I agree with their view that Dr. Margaret Goodman would make for an outstanding executive director. In terms of advancing drug testing and fighter safety, there is no one more qualified than the NSAC’s former chief physician and the current head of the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.

The problem is that one tends to get what one pays for. By all accounts, the NSAC’s limited budget means that the pay is not commensurate with the workload. Therefore, attracting the right person for the job might turn out to be a lengthy process.

One hopes that whoever eventually takes on the role is not only passionate about combat sports and its athletes, but also capable of taking constructive criticism and using it positively to improve the sport.

Until that happens, at least there’s a good chance we’ll get to see John McCarthy working in Nevada again. That possibility alone makes Keith Kizer’s departure a positive step for the sport.

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How Is 2014 Shaping Up for the UFC?

It would be a slight understatement to say the UFC’s 2013 has been an improvement over the organisation’s disastrous 2012.
Injuries and withdrawals were so common last year that one could have been forgiven for thinking the Culinary Union h…

It would be a slight understatement to say the UFC’s 2013 has been an improvement over the organisation’s disastrous 2012.

Injuries and withdrawals were so common last year that one could have been forgiven for thinking the Culinary Union had been sticking pins in a roster’s worth of voodoo dolls.

In particular, the last few months of 2013 have delivered some of the most memorable fights one could ever hope to witness: Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson, Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez, Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva and more.

Could 2014 possibly improve on what has arguably been the most successful single year in the UFC’s 20-year history?

Only a charlatan would dare make such a prediction with any degree of certainty. However, recent developments at the top of the roster have provided cause for pessimism

With Georges St-Pierre taking his leave of the sport, per MMA Weekly’s Jeff Cain, the UFC has lost its biggest pay-per-view draw. This doesn’t just hurt the organisation’s bottom line; the GSP-shaped hole also leaves the welterweight division without a bankable star for the first time in almost a decade.

Additionally, lightweight champion Anthony Pettis likely won’t be back in action until the summer, heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez looks set to miss most of 2014 while he rehabs his left shoulder, and light heavyweight king Jon Jones won’t make his first competitive appearance until April.

Bearing in mind the spate of lower-profile withdrawals, the UFC’s charmed 2013 is increasingly looking like an anomaly.

At the risk of piling on the misery, recent noises made by Ronda Rousey suggest she may not be long for the sport. Back in August, the women’s bantamweight champ claimed she may have only a couple of years left in MMA.

One wonders whether the former Olympic judoka’s flourishing movie career might expedite her exit from the sport, though. Since her much-lamented stint on The Ultimate Fighter, the retirement talk has only increased.

Rousey’s recent MMA-related appearances have been the very definition of car-crash TV, but she was charm personified in her interview with Jimmy Kimmel.

These days, it seems as though she has little time for the sport or those involved with it, expressing disdain whenever she is confronted with anything less than a mainstream audience. I honestly wonder how much we will see of WMMA’s most visible star in 2014.

“Do you actually have anything positive to say, James?” I hear you ask.

Since you asked so nicely, there are some promising developments.

The addition of a women’s strawweight division is a terrific move by the UFC. Invicta’s 115-pounders routinely dazzled us throughout 2013. One could even argue that the weight class boasts more talent than the women’s bantamweight division.

Using the TUF format to introduce the strawweights and crown a new champion is a touch of genius. It’s fair to say we’ve all grown a little weary of the show’s slightly misleading promise of a six-figure contract to the winner.

The announcement of the UFC’s new subscription-based digital network—set to debut in January—is a potentially game-changing development for the sport.

Events exclusive to the subscription-based service will largely showcase lesser-known fighters and local talent not quite ready for the big show.

With almost 50 events scheduled for next year and close to 20 airing on the new network, the UFC seems to be taking fighter development into its own hands instead of relying on regional promotions.

As of writing, there are still too many variables and unknowns to be able to predict the success of this venture. The monthly subscription fee hasn’t been established, and we don’t know what content will air on the network or who will have access to it.

There is also the question of how consumers will react to the UFC diluting its brand by allowing lower-level fighters to compete under its banner.

Our conception of a UFC-level fighter has changed drastically over the past three or four years. No longer is the organisation a destination exclusively for the sport’s elite. Whether this is a change for the better remains to be seen.

With injuries starting to pile up and some high-profile stars on the sidelines, it seems counterintuitive to say that the success of UFC’s 2014 may depend on the organisation’s ambition.

But the key to the UFC’s success has been its willingness to take risks. Dana White and the Fertitta brothers have never been content to remain in stasis. Their desire for growth, even when circumstance seems to dictate caution, has served the sport well.

Only a fool would bet against them.

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