With the recent string of UFC layoffs, it would only make sense that the trend would eventually trickle down to other networks. Now it seems even our poutine eating brethren are starting to feel the strain.
In a recent facebook post, former Fight Network color commentator Robin Black put out a statement saying he had been released from the Canadian media outlet earlier this week. Robin says this came as a complete shock as he was helping others grieve over the company’s major layoffs – little did he know, he was also on the chopping block.
“I got a few calls yesterday about big cuts at Fight Network, about friends being let go. I was sad and scared for them. Then the call came in to me. Heavy scaling back of originally-produced content. Down- sizing. After 8 years, my job is being eliminated.
I’m now a free agent. I don’t have a job today. I’m a bit frightened to be honest. Surprised and frightened. Analyzing The Martial Arts and breaking down fights is not a job for me. It’s a way of life. A lifestyle. It’s who I am. I will continue to do it. I will continue to do my breakdowns, they are a great joy of my life. Where? For whom? I don’t know. I’m hoping those answers reveal themselves soon. There is no one more passionate than me, no one more driven, no one who will work harder on their craft.
My name is Robin Black and i analyze fights and do Colour Commentary on The Art of Combat. For whom? I’ve got my phone in my hand. I’ll let you know when it rings. To be continued…”
Woah, heavy stuff. But to be honest Robin Black is well known and has worked with damn near every professional in the sport, so we’re sure he’ll find a home soon. If not, just go rogue, in the age of the internet do you really need a boss to make money? In the words of Joe Rogan “Dude…you should start a podcast…”
Surprising as it may seem, not everybody took this news hard. Some people were even happy to see the former Robin Black and the Intergalactic rock band member go. Many MMA fans found his breakdowns a bit too ephemeral, stating he used a lot of lofty words to say a whole lot of nothing. I mean how dare the man refer to mix martial art as…art?
I for one am a fan of anyone who is passionate about the sport. In a Meryl Streep world – outsiders see MMA as just violence – it’s refreshing to see someone who appreciates it as an artform. A never ending personal journey that’s inner just as much as outer. Sure, he can be a bit long winded, but if he gets his rocks off by giving us a great breakdown, then so be it. Let the man have his fun.
Even from an economic standpoint he was good money. Many of his picks lined my pockets for many Sunday brunches. Mimosas anyone? All kidding aside, the man could predict a fight, and will be missed.
Whether you found him cringe worthy or dy-no-mite, he was part of the close knit MMA family. I still consider this a niche sport so anyone with the knowledge and the passion to give the people what they need is okay in my book.
What really scares me is not so much the firing itself as to what it may imply. Is MMA doing that badly as a sport that major players such as the UFC and Fight Network have to conduct major overhauls? Have the best days of UFC come and gone? Although I don’t believe this to be true, it is food for thought. Could big money fights and short sighted gains be coming back to bite us in the tuckus?
Hit us up on in the comments section below and tell us what you think of the recent firings.
Lionel Harris-Spence is a writer, filmmaker, and functioning alcoholic. You can catch him screaming obscenities at flat screens on fight night.
So most of us have seen what MMA documentaries have to offer. A handful have been pretty good in the past, but the vast majority have been underwhelming. But there’s just something about this Hurt Business doc that has us thinking we’re going to get a movie actually worth our time. Ever since the first trailer dropped interest has been building on this thing. Now the second trailer for The Hurt Business has just been released and is being featured everywhere including premiering on USA Today. So we’re not missing out the gravy train either. Check it out for yourself after the jump and give us your thoughts.
So most of us have seen what MMA documentaries have to offer. A handful have been pretty good in the past, but the vast majority have been underwhelming. But there’s just something about this Hurt Business doc that has us thinking we’re going to get a movie actually worth our time. Ever since the first trailer dropped interest has been building on this thing. Now the second trailer for The Hurt Business has just been released and is being featured everywhere including premiering on USA Today. So we’re not missing out the gravy train either. Check it out for yourself after the jump and give us your thoughts.
Well, nothing lasts forever in this world. There are times when you have to cash in your cards and begin the process of stepping back, licking your wounds, and moving on to the next journey in life. But it seems like that time isn’t now for Cage Potato. Yes, yes, we said were planning to step away from the editorial world and pack up shop, but you know what, all the writers, supporters, and fans of the website aren’t yet ready to give up and throw in the towel, so why should we?
You may have read last month’s PSA and thought that we’d be going away for good. But where there’s a glimmer of hope, even one ember of the fire still burning true, we had to consider whether or not we’d stoke the that ember into a flame or allow it to be snuffed out. Luckily for us, and the Nation at large, option A was still open to us. We’re giving things one last go around before calling it a day.
Though the last few months may have seen article posting down and it seemed that all was lost, CagePotato is back and we’re planning for our content to be better than ever. With things heating up in the MMA world you can bet we’ll be more than prepared to bring you up to date coverage as well as opinionated editorial pieces that are sure to create some interesting buzz.
So no, we’re not riding off into that sunset. Instead we’re jump starting things again because we can’t get enough of what this community offers. Unabashed enthusiasm for MMA. That and the occasional unabashed vicious vitriolic verbal abuse that has made this website flourish. Thank you, Nation. You’ve breathed new life into this fading star. And by star, we mean the website…
With all that said, take a minute to appreciate the music in the video below and come to grips with the resurrection of Cage Potato!
As I’m sure you’ve noticed by the absolute lack of content we’ve posted in the past couple of weeks, things have taken a sharp downturn behind the scenes here at CagePotato. I won’t bother you with the grimy details, but suffice it to say, it looks like our lowbrow, profanity-laced shenanigans may finally be coming to an end, all but confirming what many of you predicted would happen some 7 years ago when Old Dad left.
The thought of being the person who finally takes CP behind the proverbial woodshed is a surreal one for a number of reasons, the biggest being the long, crazy way in which I came to be a member of the CagePotato crew in the first place…
As I’m sure you’ve noticed by the absolute lack of content we’ve posted in the past couple of weeks, things have taken a sharp downturn behind the scenes here at CagePotato. I won’t bother you with the grimy details, but suffice it to say, it looks like our lowbrow, profanity-laced shenanigans may finally be coming to an end, all but confirming what many of you predicted would happen some 7 years ago when Old Dad left.
The thought of being the person who finally takes CP behind the proverbial woodshed is a surreal one for a number of reasons, the biggest being the long, crazy way in which I came to be a member of the CagePotato crew in the first place.
I first stumbled upon CagePotato just a few months after it had been launched back in 2007. I was a high school senior at the time and had been following the sport for a good 4 years by then, occassionally getting my rounds in at a local gym crammed into the basement of a children’s dance studio in Upstate New York, and was looking for a website that would both keep me informed on the daily goings-on of MMA and do so in a way that was a little more entertaining than the haiku-length, glorified press releases offered by most of the outlets covering the sport at the time (no offense, you guys).
Thanks to articles like “Ben vs. Ben,” offbeat listicles like “Top Ten Japanese Freak Show Fights That Were Actually Good,” the regular “Fight of the Day” pieces, and of course, the Hot Potato galleries, I instantly fell in love with CagePotato’s uncompromising style of what could be loosely defined as “reporting.” In a time where MMA was just beginning its second life and in need of all the positive press it could get, here you had a website that was not only willing to call out the sport’s many hypocrisies, but tangle with the boss and any fighter who annoyed/pissed them off, really, in the pursuit of making you laugh and mayyybe teaching you a thing or two. It may not have been the most “professional” or “journalistically integritous” route of doing things, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t a joy to read.
But aside from the articles themselves, CagePotato also had a comments section that was every bit as vile and despicable (you know, in a good way) as the loonies running the asylum — a community full of abrasive, trollish, yet occassionally like-minded characters like fatbellyfrank, FriedTaco, Armfarmer, cecils_pupils, Viva Hate, and of course, CAPSLOCKHAL, with personalities as unique as their names might suggest. I signed up for an account almost instantly — DangadaDang, named after the iconic war chants oft bellowed by the greatest UFC champion/street fight sensei of all time — and spent the next 4 years engaging in flame wars, invoking Godwin’s law, and winning the occasional“Comments of the Week” contest along the way (though I could never really take an interest in the forums).
After college, I quickly realized that a career building foundations and repairing septic tanks with my father’s construction company, though admirable, was simply not meant for me. “No, making dick and fart jokes about a sport that roughly 2% of the country has even heard of is a more stable, HONEST way to make a living,” I said to myself in the first in a series of self-destructive decisions that would plague my young adult life for years to come. And so, I sent an email to Ben Goldstein inquiring if CagePotato happened to be in need of new, completely underqualified writers, or knew of someone who was.
Ben responded to my email within the day, as generous, truly thoughtful guys of his ilk are wont to do, and graciously offered to publish the very first thing I had ever written for public consumption. People seemed to like it alright, so I continued sending in my nuance-free taeks on the sport and silently plotting for the day in which I would rise to power by taking out one of CP’s staff writers in a Showgirls-style “accident.” That moment came when fellow commenter-turned-staffer Doug Richardson (aka ReX13) chose to step away from CagePotato (I believe his reasoning was “to spend more time with his family” or some other such nonsense), forcing Ben to call upon the only other now-at-least-half-qualified guy in his arsenal to take his place. It was an incredible moment for me, being brought on as a member of the website that I had been a daily consumer of since its inception…and the first in a series of self-destructive decisions that would plague both Ben’s young adult life and the life of this website for years to come.
The first year or so here was difficult — watching the same commenters you once joked alongside relentlessly critique and trash everything you hold dear, while not a unique experience to anyone who has worked in online media, is never an easy thing to deal with — but I eventually found something resembling an audience and even got our resident pornstar, Carmen Valentina, to tolerate me. In a website run by Old Dads and New Dads, I’d like to think that I served as a Drunk Cousin of sorts, stepping into the impossible-to-fill shoes of Ben Fowlkes, then ReX, then BG, and attempting to rekindle the magic that made CagePotato such a distinct and fun place to begin with.
I’ll spare you all a written history of CagePotato, which I think BG did a pretty stellar job of in his own farewell piece, but if this truly is the end of CagePotato — which all signs seem to be indicating is the case — there are a few people I’d like to thank:
First, obviously, is Ben Goldstein: My employer, my mentor, and truly one of the most laid back, generous, and understanding people that I have ever met (via Skype). Beyond all that he’s done for me by bringing me onboard the CagePotato staff (as well as the Screen Junkies, HolyTaco, and Escapist crews), Ben was an integral part of why I became obsessed with this sport in the first place. As hyperbolic as it might sound, he created something with this site that will forever hold a place in the sport’s history (CP neva die!!), and one that also served as a jumping-off point for some of its most talented writers over the years. I wish things could have ended, so, so much differently, Ben, and I hope that we can actually meet face-to-face one day and get that band off the ground.
Next, I’d like to thank my parents, Ron and Karen Jones, for supporting my wishes to pursue a career that they didn’t have the slightest understanding of at first, and doing whatever they could to help ensure that I succeeded (or at least stayed busy) from there on out. After six years spent covering a sport that caters almost exclusively to skinheads and homosexuals, I think I’m finally ready to admit that I probably should’ve become an engineer like you said. I love you both so, so much.
Doug “ReX” Richardson, the man who not only stepped aside to give me a shot in the big time, but continuously supported me as I was getting my sea legs in one of the most vicious online communities this side of 4chan.
Seth Falvo, easily the person I contributed with most in my time here, and someone I’d follow into the fiery pits of Hell if he promised to ship me a bottle of booze 6 months after the fact for doing so. You’re a good man, Seth, and an even greater bartender (or so I’m told).
Matt Saccaro, a modern day philosophizer, the human manifestation of white man’s guilt, and the mastermind behind the greatest tweets in CagePotato history. I never got to know you all that well in your time here and I’m not sure if we’ll ever truly see eye-to-eye on anything, but there’s no denying the unique perspective that you brought to CP. Never choose the path of the wicked, friendo.
Mike Russell, who came and went with such vigor that I barely got time to thank him for all he did for this site. I hope all is well with you up in the Great White North, MRuss.
Elias Cepeda, one of the first guys I was given the privilege of editing here at CagePotato and one of the only guys with both the brains write about this sport and the balls to actually participate in it. You’ve obviously gone on to better things by now, but I wish you the best of luck all the same.
Jason Moles, Perhaps the only member of the CP crew who actually went out on his terms. His MMA Stock Market pieces were always the best event aftermaths out there.
Nathan Smith, The 12 oz Curls. Possibly the most eager and passionate contributor we’ve ever had. I really wish we could’ve given you a more expanded role here at CP, but in a different life, maybe.
Ben Fowlkesand Chad Dundas: You guys may not know me, like, at all, but you’ve had more of an influence on me as a (hack MMA/film/comedy) writer than you could ever know — I still watch Fowlkes’ Christmas message whenever I’m in need of a laugh. That you even stuck your neck out and supported our disastrous Patreon campaign just goes to show how far CP will forever be ingrained into your DNA, no matter how much you try to deny it while working at far more “respectable” and “still operating” publications now. (Oh, and buy Chad’s book, you guys.)
If you’re still looking to keep up with us out there on the Interwebs, continue to follow both CagePotato and myself on Twitter and keep an eye out for my stuff over at Uproxx MMA. Thanks again, Nation.
If you’re a big follower of MMA personalities on the social medias, you might’ve gotten wind of something called #UFCFightKit earlier today, which rang in the official unveiling of the Reebok’s UFC fighter uniforms (or “kits”). The ceremony — which kicked off in NYC just 20 minutes past its 10 am-scheduled time — was of what we’ve come to expect from the UFC’s “style over substance”-themed press events: A hysterically inept series of flubs that managed to both hyperstimulate and underwhelm at every conceivable turn.
Truthfully, the only enjoyment anyone has been able to scrape out of the whole ordeal has come via the brutal mocking the event has received on said social medias, so join after the jump to check out all the highlights (if you can call them that) from this morning’s ceremony. In keeping with the UFC’s way of doing things, this list will neither be 10 items long nor adhere to any numerical system.
If you’re a big follower of MMA personalities on the social medias, you might’ve gotten wind of something called #UFCFightKit earlier today, which rang in the official unveiling of the Reebok’s UFC fighter uniforms (or “kits”). The ceremony — which kicked off in NYC just 20 minutes past its 10 am-scheduled time — was of what we’ve come to expect from the UFC’s “style over substance”-themed press events: A hysterically inept series of flubs that managed to both hyperstimulate and underwhelm at every conceivable turn.
Truthfully, the only enjoyment anyone has been able to scrape out of the whole ordeal has come via the brutal mocking the event has received on said social medias, so join after the jump to check out all the highlights (if you can call them that) from this morning’s ceremony. In keeping with the UFC’s way of doing things, this list will neither be 10 items long nor adhere to any numerical system.
10: The Music
While we are eternally grateful that the UFC had the nu-ance to pass on the nu-metal (I’m sorry) stylings of STEMM for today’s event, what we were given in its place was something arguably worse: Overbearing, wub-wub-laden dubstep. Or maybe it was trap. I honestly have no idea.
Look, the UFC’s fanbase is already widely-perceived as musclehead, skull t-shirt clad dudebros who can barely make it through a PPV without destroying a Buffalo Wild Wings, so can we please not add these kind of douchebags to the equation? What’s so wrong with Soundgarden, is I guess what I’m saying.
Ironically enough, it wasn’t until today’s launch that I realized “Watch you rise, watch you fall, now I’m about to break” perfectly describes the journey of a UFC fan over the past 5 years.
9: The Lighting (Or Lack Thereof)
I will never claim to be the authority on fashion, fashion shows, or any season of America’s Next Top Model (barring season 2, obvi), but when you’re holding a lavish ceremony to show off your “game-changing” and other buzzwordy uniforms, shouldn’t you actually be able to see said uniforms? Or the fighters wearing them? That photo up there? The brightest it ever was during the ceremony.
For the most part, fighters entered in complete darkness, with only the occasional laser or strobe light to lead the way. It was…confusing from a focal standpoint. The entire unveiling looked like it was shot in the same basement wherein Wanderlei Silva documents his slow spiral into schizophrenia.
(That’s Rory MacDonald in the second photo, BTW, perhaps the only fighter at the ceremony who was accustomed to lifelessly standing around in the dark.)
7.5: The Voice
As if hearing the phrase “UFC Fight Kit” repeated ad nauseum by a robotic, overly-reverbed and oddly threatening voice (while the same 30-second dubstep tracked played on loop) wasn’t off-putting enough , it would’ve helped if the UFC/Reebok had hired a voiceover guy who knew how to pronounce the actual fighters names. “Cai-yeen Velasqwez”, “Alexander Goose-stuffson”, and “Fabricio Ver-dumm” were just a few choice selections that this demon-infested Speak-n-Spell spat out.
Eleventeen: This Camera Angle
Because nothing says “passionate” and “prepared” quite like repeatedly cutting to a shot of your presenters AS THEY READ OFF A TELEPROMPTER.
It’s probably hard enough to go up in front of a room full of of journalists (as well as the hundreds of thousands of tens of people watching online) and act as if adding mesh to a t-shirt is the next evolutionary step of our species, but to send a heavily-accented German woman who probably wouldn’t know what MMA was if I told her I covered it for a living? That’s just cruel, son.
I’m sure Ms. Werkle is a lovely woman, and she was never short on enthusiasm throughout her presentation, but she also seemed to have no clue who the fighters she was speaking to even were.
“What happened to your arm?” she asked Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who calmly explained that she got it defending her title all of 8 days ago.
“What are you up to in the next 2 weeks? Are you training?” she asked Cain Velasquez, who just lost his title all of 17 days ago.
She almost got kicked in the head by Conor McGregor. The whole thing was hilarious.
6 x 3 (2w + 8): The Uniforms Themselves
I’ll give Reebok this, they seemed to put a lot of thought into the bra technology of the women’s uniforms, as explained by a painfully awkward exchange between Werkle and Ronda Rousey late in the ceremony, but the men’s kits?
“I dunno, bro, maybe just add some more slanted stripes and call it a day.” — Reebok design team
I’m not saying the UFC’s uniforms had to contain Aoki-esque levels of eye factor — and how could you expect that from a company uniform, really? — but this looks like an NBA warm-up shirt over a pair of bleached jorts. Highly customizable? I think not. “Allow for individualism“? Not so much.
#Pineapple: The Prices
95 DOLLARS? FOR A HERNANI PERPETUO REPLICA “JERSEY”? WHAT THE FUCK’S A HERNANI PERPETUO?!! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
I know what you’re thinking, “But a football jersey costs around that much, you biased, UFC h8r non-journalisty subjective a-hole!!” To which I say: True, but I don’t recall any Tom Brady jerseys with giant “N–F–L” letters plastered across the front flying off the shelves. That’s because they don’t exist. That’s because uniforms are supposed to be representative of the player/team, not the corporation that owns them. Because fans are interested more in the players than the brand they are (unwillingly) bound to.
The UFC brought in 20 or more off its biggest talents, then proceeded to have them stand in the darkness like creepy living mannequins while strobe lights lit up their UFC-branded torsos and nothing else. If that doesn’t tell you who the UFC really values first and foremost, I don’t know what does.
Too: The Ending
No music. No lights. Barely an applause. Werkle stumbles through a recap of the pillars of fighter uniforms and then, darkness. Not unlike the darkness left in my soul after realizing that I actually wasted an hour of my life watching this, and now double that writing this article…
God, why have you forsaken me? Why have you given me a voice, then forced me to waste it covering this tripe? Is it because I hit that hobo with my car when I was 18 and drove off without checking on him? Or because I killed my twin brother in the womb? Because if you think about it, that second one was more your fault than mine — you knew damn well that there wasn’t enough room in there for the both of us, yet you allowed it to happen. Created in your image, I was, and now forever destined to spend my life toiling away in a Sisyphean hellscape only occasionally punctuated by bouts of LCD-induced levity. I renounce your name, lord and savior. I renounce your name.
1: GIBLERT. MELENDEZ.
As many on social media have been quick to point out, the website in which fans can purchase these bland, insanely-overpriced uniforms is already fraught with errors. From Marcio Lyoto Machida to Jacare “Ronaldo” Souza, the general lack of spellchecking out of the gate by Reebok is really something to behold, but none have given us more of a chuckle than that of former Strikeforce lightweight champion and UFC title challenger Giblert Melendez.
It’s a small mistake, really, but Twitter’s reaction to it has been nothing short of gold. Giblert’s already received his own handle, and is really looking forward to his fight against La Iaquinta on Jluy 15th. Other notable zingers included:
Congrats on another home run of a press conference, UFC, and don’t let the fact that next to no fighters are voicing their support for these uniforms online dissuade you from plowing ahead with this poorly-conceived endeavor. Like it ever has, amiright?! Up top!!
If you’ve visited CagePotato within the past few days, you’ve likely read my inspiring and totally original war speech which triumphantly declared that we will not be be going quietly into the night, nor will we be vanishing without a fight, and so on and so forth. You were likely moved to tears by this heartrending and undeniably epic rally cry, and most certainly hugged your loved ones a little tighter before tucking them into bed, reminding them to never, ever take anything in life for granted.
And while I wasn’t technically wrong in declaring that CP’s flame will forever burn, it turns out that my soaring call to arms might have been a bit, presumptuous…
(It’s more “Save” than “Free” now, but the message is still relevant.)
If you’ve visited CagePotato within the past few days, you’ve likely read my inspiring and totally original war speech which triumphantly declared that we will not be be going quietly into the night, nor will we be vanishing without a fight, and so on and so forth. You were likely moved to tears by this heartrending and undeniably epic rally cry, and most certainly hugged your loved ones a little tighter before tucking them into bed, reminding them to never, ever take anything in life for granted.
And while I wasn’t technically wrong in declaring that CP’s flame will forever burn, it turns out that my soaring call to arms might have been a bit, presumptuous…
Starting February 1st, I will be CagePotato’s last and lone remaining soldier, and my contributions to the site will be severely cut back. It is a backbreaking development to say the least, and one that could very well chase away the last of you who still consider CP your go-to source for all things MMA.
With CP clinging to life support, I have been forced to resort to what few options are still available. So here’s what I’m prepared to do:
1). Moving forward, CagePotato will become the *true* voice of MMA fans across the globe. This means we will be accepting, editing, and if they’re up to snuff, publishing YOUR contributions as if they were our own. (You’ll still be getting the credit, of course, and all that sweet blogger tail that comes with it). Have some thoughts on a potential opponent for Kimbo’s Bellator debut, an upcoming UFC event, or just feel like sharing a “Martial Arts Fail of the Week” (RIP Saccaro) clip? Well as long as you’re willing to work for free, contact us — either via email or our Twitter (or mine) — and get to writing.
2). Although we’re still waiting on approval from corporate, we are hoping to launch a crowdfunding campaign in the immediate future in order to provide the necessary capital to keep CP running. Being that we’ve been reduced to a one-man operation, it is going to require some man hours to edit and publish all your contributions, so if you truly love the original and occasionally humorous voice that CP provides to the MMA community, open up your wallets…er…hearts and show your support. There will be prizes for the highest donors, if that helps. (More on this later.)
3). Yes, we are currently working on restoring a commenting system that both works and is accessible through other mediums than Facebook. Also, we know our gallery viewer sucks and we’re fixing that as well. Again, these are things that your monetary contributions will go towards fixing.
I cannot begin to describe how much your support has meant to us so far, and hope that you will continue to rally behind CagePotato in these dark times. BG would be proud of you sonsabitches, so please, let’s keep this thing going by any means possible. The Time Is Now…to #RallyforCagePotato.
