Author: Matt Saccaro

UFC: Why Fans Have No Right to Steal UFC Pay-Per-Views

Illegally streaming UFC pay-per-views is theft no matter how you justify it. UFC president Dana White has taken some heat recently for making such claims and going even further, saying he would persecute those who steal the UFC’s content, but that…

Illegally streaming UFC pay-per-views is theft no matter how you justify it. 

UFC president Dana White has taken some heat recently for making such claims and going even further, saying he would persecute those who steal the UFC’s content, but that heat is undeserved. 

White may not be able to “beat the Internet” and, in that sense, his initiative to curb the streaming of UFC PPVs could very likely fail. 

However, that doesn’t make the thieves right.

Fans love to hate on White for his bold statements about Internet pirating, but their rationalizations for stealing from the UFC (and from the fighters they claim to love as a result) are just as foolish as they claim White’s statements to be.

One of the most popular arguments thieves use is that the UFC has no right to be charging “exorbitant” prices for their “watered down” cards. The streamers claim they have the right to steal the card because Zuffa is making them pay an unfair price. 

The world doesn’t work that way. 

Zuffa has the right to charge whatever they damn well feel like, as long as the market will bear it. Just because you don’t feel like paying for it or think it’s too expensive doesn’t mean you have the right to steal it. 

Besides, the problem of the “too expensive” card is easily solved.

If it’s too expensive or you don’t like who’s fighting on the card, you have several options: Don’t watch the card, have some friends over and split the cost of the event or go to a local bar that’s showing it. 

Those are simple solutions that fans overlook and the pathetic rationalizations they offer don’t hold up against those three actions. Sometimes, the fans just don’t want to spend ANY money on the pay-per-view and feel they can get away with stealing. 

They might be right in the sense that it’s unlikely that Zuffa will get every person who steals but that doesn’t make it OK. If you can afford to go to a bar or split the cost, do it. If you don’t have the money (or friends) or if you don’t feel the card is worth paying for, don’t make yourself a criminal.

However, some streamers aren’t that easily persuaded. Some have wallets that refuse to be opened; closed shut by the weight of ideological baggage.

The ideologues fall into two main categories. 

One group steals because they kept the UFC going during the infamous “Dark Ages” of the company. They believe that the UFC owes them for that, owes them in the form of letting them steal PPVs whenever they want. 

The other group harbors a fanatical opposition to all things Zuffa (yet, for all their vitriol, they still follow the UFC and Strikeforce) and they refuse to line the pockets of the company they hate.

Where is the source of their hate? The reasons are far too numerous to cover in detail suffice to say that the typical issues are the “underpaying” of fighters (which is only made worse by stealing, ironically) or Zuffa’s purchase and subsequent execution of Pride.

Sadly, members of these two factions often can’t be reasoned with. So great is their fanaticism that facts and threatened legal action cannot stop it. 

But no matter what reason these thieves give for stealing, watching UFC PPVs is not a God-given right. Like everything else in the world, if you don’t want to pay for it, you don’t deserve it—disliking the card, buying EVERY other prior UFC PPV, hating Zuffa or any other number of absurd rationales notwithstanding.

 

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The Kimbo Slice Boxing Match Was Not Fixed; His Opponent, Brian Green, Speaks

Kimbo Slice’s recent boxing match appeared to be a worked affair, but his opponent, Brian Green, is tired of the accusations that he took a dive; he has reached out to the community to say the fight was NOT fixed. “I would NEVER throw a fight, tak…

Kimbo Slice‘s recent boxing match appeared to be a worked affair, but his opponent, Brian Green, is tired of the accusations that he took a dive; he has reached out to the community to say the fight was NOT fixed. 

“I would NEVER throw a fight, take a dive, whatever you want to call it,” Green posted on The Underground (also known simply as the UG), a popular Internet forum for MMA fans and fighters alike.

“I have been fighting for 9 years now starting as a punk 17 year old kid, evolved into a professional mixed martial artist,” he said.

Green is indeed a mixed martial artist, with a record of 27-17 and having fought quite a few notable names in his day.

But admittedly, does it not seem a little peculiar that a middleweight MMA fighter with zero professional boxing fights was called in to face a heavyweight with more boxing experience and considerably more earning potential?

Green addressed that in his post on the UG. 

I took a huge opportunity (and helped fill in for the promoter) to go make a name for myself by fighting Kimbo Slice. I have sparred with several world class MMA fighters in my day, and I have adapted well through the years to where I can hang with most. Now, I saw an opportunity to fight Kimbo who in my eyes was EXTREMELY over rated. Plus, How many people actually get the opportunity to fight this guy? and in Strictly boxing, where I only have to avoid 2 weapons instead of punches, kicks, knees, elbows, AND takedowns, I figured hey, what the heck, I really think I can last to a decision with this guy.

There was nothing dubious in Green being matched up against Kimbo, unless you count being a motivated athlete as something shady.

But what about the actual knockout itself, suffered by Green in the closing seconds of the fight? Critics say that the punch was a grazing one that was tantamount to the buzzing of flies.

Critics are wrong. Green’s explanation of the knockout is detailed to the point where breaking it up would do it a disservice. Green said:

As far as the actual Knockout…I know you people who sit on your couch and eat doritos know everything there is to know about fighting, BUT Maybe, Just MAYBE you didn’t take into account that the shot that turned out my light switch was actually THREE punches on the button. Not just the uppercut, the first uppercut, then the straight right, and then the final hook/uppercut that finished

I fight at 185lbs people, going to 170, as I’m on a career best win streak, and i would do best at 170 instead of 185 against other monsters in the MW division. (Not that I couldn’t give some of them a tough fight, or beat them, but I would have the most success at WW. 

Now put all this into perspective, on top of the fact that I had been eating shots (AND GOT ROCKED PROBABLY SIX TIMES EARLIER IN THE FIGHT) Then, on top of all the wearing down punches, me being tired from throwing on him, and the absorbtion [sic] of all this, Before a 260lb Gorilla who has a ton of muscle in his body hitting me three times in a row RIGHT on the button. I dont care if they were arm punches or he got everything into it, either way, on a tired fighter, those can deliver a Knockout. 

Brian Green, a veteran of over 40 MMA fights, did not take a dive against Kimbo Slice. Saying otherwise is pure ignorance or wishful thinking on the part of haters, keyboard warriors and armchair quarterbacks not fit (or brave) enough to put on the gloves and enter the cage for themselves.

 

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UFC: Should MMA Become a High School Sport?

There is no problem with MMA becoming a high school sport in the United States. In fact, it should be a mandatory part of the curriculum. This notion might sound absurd at first, but it’s not. Bringing MMA into high schools (and it’s already in on…

There is no problem with MMA becoming a high school sport in the United States. In fact, it should be a mandatory part of the curriculum. 

This notion might sound absurd at first, but it’s not. Bringing MMA into high schools (and it’s already in one high school‘s curriculum and in another in club form) would strengthen the youth of a nation who is currently too afraid to have their children play dodge ball.

It would also help solve two other serious problems in the United States: bullying and the obesity epidemic. 

Nearly a third of all students are bullied at one point in their education according to the National Center for Education Statistics. At first, it seems like arming kids with the “destructive” knowledge of MMA seems like it’d encourage bullying, but it may well curb it. 

Why would one kid bully another when he knows that kid knows how to fight? And it’s possible that the more timid kids who would’ve otherwise been bullied might actually be good fighters! It certainly couldn’t make bullying any more of a problem.

Regarding obesity, approximately 17 percent (12.5 million) of children/adolescents are obese according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

These obese children will eventually grow to become obese adults (and some “thin” children might even become obese as they grow older), bringing the estimated percentage of obese adults to over 35 percent.

This is a crisis, a crisis that can be solved—although not immediately—by mandatory MMA in high schools (and perhaps even in middle and elementary schools). 

Obese children will undergo the strenuous workouts that are part of MMA and will lose weight as well as develop the tenacity and mental strength to keep the pounds off and become more fit in the future. 

More fit children/teens would lead to more fit adults—adults who would raise their children with the lessons learned from MMA training. This would, over time, stem the tide of obesity. Americans would replace Dunkin Donuts with the Dolce Diet and a brighter tomorrow would ensue.

MMA has saved lives before in direct ways (through fighters stopping criminals or through a kid choking out a dog), but it also has the power to save lives in indirect ways through stopping or severely limiting the growth of bullying and obesity.

Lastly, and comparatively least important, from an entertainment perspective high school MMA would increase the size of the talent pool and therefore raise the baseline skill in MMA as a whole.

Fighters would be better on average as a result and would able to pull off more impressive maneuvers or just fight with more technique in general. The fighters who manged to make it to the UFC would be better for it since they would’ve had to best a stronger local circuit. 

Thus, MMA should become a high school sport—America can’t afford for it not to. 

 

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What Is the Heart of MMA: The Fans or the Fighters?

MMA fighters and fans have a contentious relationship, but this does not have to be. Both groups are at the very heart of the sport; they don’t need to hate one another, but love one another. The origin of the conflict(s) between fans and fighters…

MMA fighters and fans have a contentious relationship, but this does not have to be. Both groups are at the very heart of the sport; they don’t need to hate one another, but love one another. 

The origin of the conflict(s) between fans and fighters is complicated to pinpoint since it depends on what perspective you’re looking at it from. 

From the perspective of the fighters, the conflicts arise because arrogant or otherwise uneducated fans are overly critical of their performances. 

From the perspective of the fans, the conflicts arise because the egotistical fighters ignore that the fans pay their salaries or don’t provide an entertaining fight. 

Of course, there might be other reasons as to why the fans and fighters can be at odds sometimes. 

There is likely a tinge of jealousy involved; the fans could resent the fighters for having what they feel to be the “best” and “coolest” career while they have to labor at a menial desk job. Fighters get to have their dreams fulfilled (or at least partially fulfilled) while the fans don’t. 

That is perhaps the biggest disconnect between the fans and the fighters. 

The fighters generally occupy a better position than the fans, who watch the sport to escape the trials and triviality of their every day life. This might be the most speculative reason as to why the fans dislike or heavily criticize fighters, but it’s worth noting. 

But why would fighters dislike the fans?

Aside from the fervent criticism and arm-chair quarterbacking that fighters must deal with from fans, fighters might not be able to handle the simple fact fans do, in actuality, control their fate. 

An unfit, unmotivated, keyboard warrior controls the fate of a fighter who could beat up a whole squad of fans. They control the fighter through money and through opinion. 

Jon Fitch is a great fighter, but the fans have ultimately controlled his career because they don’t like watching him; they won’t pay to see him. UFC management therefore picked up on that and proceeded to make Fitch’s career more difficult (read: trying at all costs to keep him away from the title as long as possible). 

Fighters could not make money without the fans. It’s the money of the fans that drives the MMA business, not the bravery and skill of the fighters. With no fans, there’s no audience and no money. With no fans, fighters are showcasing their skills in parking lots, strip clubs and other sordid venues. 

The whole issue of fighter vs. fan gets even more complicated when you include the media. 

The media is the most maligned aspect of MMA (“unprofessional” bloggers, fan boys, mail-room clerks, and other insults are regularly hurled towards the media on forums and other havens for haters) but sometimes without reason. 

Yes, it has its flaws, but members of the media only became so because they loved MMA so much that they didn’t want to live without it. They wanted to write about it (in any capacity) for a living. 

The point the media serves is to act as a conduit between fan and fighter. Certain media members can also act as a lightning rod for the hatred of the fans through scathing editorials. 

All three of these groups—the fans, the fighters and the media—are all a piece of MMA’s heart, yet, neither is solely at its core. 

Like the human heart that is split in to chambers, just so the heart of MMA is split in to chambers. 

The fans are passionate about the sport and separate with their cash so that it may grow, the fighters are at the base of the sport and provide inspiration and entertainment to the fans and the media acts as intermediates between the two. 

Each group has its role to play in the MMA world and none is better than the other. The fans, the fighters and the media should all be of one mind—a mind of acceptance, tolerance and love.

 

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Are MMA Fans the Snobbiest in the Sports World?

MMA fans are by far the snobbiest in the sports world, and it’s largely because of the Internet and the cultural zeitgeist they were and are surrounded by.The genesis of modern mixed martial arts is unique when compared to the upbringings of the other …

MMA fans are by far the snobbiest in the sports world, and it’s largely because of the Internet and the cultural zeitgeist they were and are surrounded by.

The genesis of modern mixed martial arts is unique when compared to the upbringings of the other major sports. While football and baseball had the telegraph and the newspaper, mixed martial arts had the Internet. 

But it’s not just the Internet that made the growth of the MMA fanbase unique, but it was the societal circumstances, too, that had a massive impact. 

Baseball and football fans had to survive depressions, world wars and other horrific calamities. 

Compare this to the overly-entitled Occupy Wall Street generation that MMA draws much of its fanbase from. 

When these two factors are combined, it creates the perfect storm for a fandom that is a wretched hive of petty elitism and other sordid practices. 

MMA almost died once, but intrepid fans kept it alive through exchanging VHS tapes and by posting on obscure Internet chat rooms. 

These fans later proclaimed themselves “hardcore” fans and developed an entitlement complex. They feel that MMA owes them for “saving” the sport during the dark ages. 

They look down on “casual” fans who started watching the sport after they did.

Why?

Probably because they’re pathetic ne’er-do-wells whose greatest accomplishment in life is posting on a forum before other people did or buying an old PRIDE tape. 

They need to say that they helped the sport, and that they are better than other fans so that they can feel like big men.

However, this is not to malign people who are passionate about MMA.

MMA is the greatest sport in the world, and there is almost a sort of brotherhood between fans.

It’s just that fans can be far too critical. Do football fans divide themselves into “hardcore” and “casual” camps? Do baseball fans get mad when they see another fan wearing a jersey or a team shirt and say, “If you don’t play baseball, you don’t have the right to wear that?”

Of course not, because football and baseball fans are just happy watching the sport, not berating “lesser” fans or any such nonsense. 

But some fans aren’t snobby, they’re just entitled.

They feel as if they shouldn’t have to pay for events for any number of pathetic rationales (and there are thousands).

For some reason, they feel that paying for one pay-per-view, or watching the sport during the dark ages, or not liking Dana White gives them the right to STEAL (and it is stealing) pay-per-views. 

The fact that a significant amount of MMA fans are elitist snobs is one of the biggest factors holding the sport back. Once they can learn to just relax and appreciate anyone who has even a slight interest in MMA (even if they wear a TapouT shirt, even if they call it “UFC”), the sport and its growth will be that much better off for it.

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UFC: What Will the Post-PPV MMA World Look Like?

The UFC and WWE are constantly compared, but for once, it will be valid because the post-pay-per-view UFC will resemble the WWE and professional wrestling.Fans malign the fact that the UFC has too many pay-per-views at too high a cost given the “watere…

The UFC and WWE are constantly compared, but for once, it will be valid because the post-pay-per-view UFC will resemble the WWE and professional wrestling.

Fans malign the fact that the UFC has too many pay-per-views at too high a cost given the “watered-down” fight cards. Fortunately for them, Dana White foresees a day without pay-per-views.

What will this be like? It may bare resemblance to the older days of professional wrestling.

The WWE wasn’t always the PPV machine it is in more recent times. There used to be only a few major events per year on PPV (Wrestlemania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, the Royal Rumble and King of the Ring) while the majority of WWE programming was on television.

You’d see matches and storylines develop throughout the weeks and months on television and would only have to shell out your hard-earned cash on pay-per-views for the mega-events spaced throughout the year where you’d see feuds culminate and epic matches.

The post-PPV MMA world could be very similar. 

You can see “undercard” or lower-level fighters on FUEL, the mid-level fighters on FX and the upper-level fighters on FOX. 

PPV, if it’s used at all, will be used sparingly. Cards that are reserved for PPV might have more than one title fight or just one title fight that is epic in scale (think Silva-Sonnen II or a fight of that nature).

An additional benefit of not having many PPVs is that the sport will be more accessible; people won’t have to pay to see it anymore, so it will be followed by more people. With more viewers comes more advertisers, merchandise sales and people training in MMA. 

With more money, the fighters’ salaries raise. With more people training, the baseline level of talent increases, and the fighters that make it to the UFC are that much better for it.

Thus, the post-PPV MMA world will be one in which the UFC and MMA as a whole undergo a new renaissance, one that captivates the whole of American society.

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