As the UFC continues to progress closer to mainstream acceptance, the organization needs to take a page out of the NFL playbook.
Dana White recently said he believes the UFC is bigger than the NFL. In order to continue that momentum, he needs to have even more control over the fighters on his roster.
Yes, that’s right, more control for Dana White.
One of the main reasons the NFL continues to thrive under commissioner Roger Goodell is due to how quickly he responds to off-field incidents of his players.
By now you’ve read countless articles on Jon Jones and his DUI arrest. Or you’ve simply read the headline of the article, said “not another article on this” to yourself, and moved on. I’m not going to make an example out of Jones, or any other UFC fighter for that matter.
Generally speaking, there needs to be more guidelines on what is to be expected from UFC fighters and how they conduct themselves outside of the Octagon.
In the NFL, if a player is arrested and convicted for any reason, he is subject to a fine from the league as well as a suspension. Whereas in the UFC, there appears to be a blind eye turned if a fighter (or Octagon Girl) is arrested.
Sure, Dana will say something to the effect of, “He does some stupid things sometimes and he really needs to grow up,” but more often than not, the fighter will not be pulled from his scheduled fight nor will he be fined.
Thankfully, Dana hasn’t had to deal with too much poor behavior from his fighters. If the company is going to continue to land the big-time sponsors as well as maintain the current ones, there has to be a more strict fighter conduct policy in place.
Joe Chacon is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a Staff Writer for Operation Sports. Follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.
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