UFC President Dana White is certain that longtime welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is not done inside the Octagon.
Ahead of UFC 171—an event which features three matchups involving the 170-pound division’s top 10 (including a ti…
UFC President Dana White is certain that longtime welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is not done inside the Octagon.
Ahead of UFC 171—an event which features three matchups involving the 170-pound division’s top 10 (including a title fight)—White met with reporters to discuss GSP‘s future with the UFC.
According to MMAfighting.com, White sounded sure of one thing: GSP will be back.
“I know for a fact he will (return),” White said. “Is it fun for Georges St-Pierre to be gone? I mean, no, I wouldn’t say that it’s fun for him to be gone. But the welterweight division is exciting right now, and when Georges does come back, whoever’s standing there, it will be a fun fight.”
Is this good news?
Something about the way GSP left the sport—the unceremonious post-fight interview after narrowly edging Hendricks at UFC 167, the refusal to use the word “retirement” even after deciding to take his leave—makes White’s proclamation welcome.
However, the other side—GSP‘s improved demeanor since stepping away, the reborn welterweight division, GSP‘s declining performances inside the cage—makes one feel that the champion should stay away from the Octagon for good.
Even if he never returns to the big stage of a UFC main event, nobody would question his excellence or his status as the greatest 170-pound mixed martial artist who ever lived.
All these things make one wonder what White knows. Is he looking beyond dollar signs and marquees featuring the Canadian superstar’s name once more? Is this something he has discussed with GSP recently?
The former champ recently hinted at a return himself, so White’s words may prove genuine, and the welterweight division might take yet another crazy twist in 2014.
Two men are very close to tying UFC records, men who have combined to go 17-2-1 inside cages constructed by Zuffa’s roadies.
Overwrought statements of promotion notwithstanding, there are kernels of truth in the hard sell Dana White has been doing for …
Two men are very close to tying UFC records, men who have combined to go 17-2-1 inside cages constructed by Zuffa’s roadies.
Overwrought statements of promotion notwithstanding, there are kernels of truth in the hard sell Dana White has been doing for months now: bantamweight champion Renan Barao and flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson are bad dudes, and they’ve been laying considerable beatings on opposition for quite a while.
A win by either or by both the next time out, and they’ll tie MMA heroes like Pat Miletich, Frank Shamrock and Chuck Liddell for consecutive title defenses.
And yet, if you brought that up to the average fan, they’d be much more focused on those heroes of the past than on the champions who are chasing their records.
Why is that?
The argument that no one wants to watch the little guys has been around for a while and it’s a fair one. They’re not for everyone, no matter how much they’re lauded for their quickness and technique. There’s always going to be a population far more keen to see behemoths one-punch each other cold, and that’s fine.
Some people, a growing percentage of fans actually, seem to be pushing back against that promotional bluster noted above—the more they’re told how great these champions are, the less they’re willing to listen. Maybe more importantly, the less they’re willing to pay money to watch.
Others have been around long enough to remember the guts and heart of these great former champions, men who emerged from the no-holds-barred era as pioneers, exceptional athletes in a sport that didn’t have many at the time. It’s hard to forget their place in the game, even harder to imagine that these new champions have earned what they earned.
But at the end of the day, Barao and Johnson are each a win away from placing their names beside them in the record books. By 2015 it’s possible, if not likely, that both will have passed them. The fact that they aren’t drawing interest for that has to be concerning to the UFC, and it’s not good for the sport, either.
MMA’s history is short, but the inability to escape its own shadow has potentially dire consequences. While other sports can afford to have debates over the past versus the present thanks to decades of action, MMA can’t. The sport needs the new faces to matter as much as the old ones because the old ones aren’t all that old. People remember their great performances; they saw them live. If they aren’t sold on the new guys in the same way, it’s far easier to dismiss them because they have first-person historical context to give their opinions weight.
When it comes time to sell those new faces such adverse opinions are incredibly damaging, especially to a sport that’s expanding rapidly with events on a weekly basis across the globe. Those events need headliners that involve either the stars of today or the men who’ll fight the stars of today, not guys that people think of as a step down from the champions of the sport’s dark ages.
If guys like Barao and Johnson can’t entice people to shell out $60 when their name is on the marquee, or get them to flip over to FOX to catch them chucking leather to sell ad space on a Saturday night, there are serious problems. They’re doing spectacular things as spectacular athletes, but they aren’t resonating with the people who matter.
Still and all, they’ll be record holders before you know it. They’ll pass great men of an era gone by, men who fought for nothing so that they could come behind and fight for something.
Without their deserved recognition though, it’s hard to know what that something really is.
Two men are very close to tying UFC records, men who have combined to go 17-2-1 inside cages constructed by Zuffa’s roadies.
Overwrought statements of promotion notwithstanding, there are kernels of truth in the hard sell Dana White has been doing for …
Two men are very close to tying UFC records, men who have combined to go 17-2-1 inside cages constructed by Zuffa’s roadies.
Overwrought statements of promotion notwithstanding, there are kernels of truth in the hard sell Dana White has been doing for months now: bantamweight champion Renan Barao and flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson are bad dudes, and they’ve been laying considerable beatings on opposition for quite a while.
A win by either or by both the next time out, and they’ll tie MMA heroes like Pat Miletich, Frank Shamrock and Chuck Liddell for consecutive title defenses.
And yet, if you brought that up to the average fan, they’d be much more focused on those heroes of the past than on the champions who are chasing their records.
Why is that?
The argument that no one wants to watch the little guys has been around for a while and it’s a fair one. They’re not for everyone, no matter how much they’re lauded for their quickness and technique. There’s always going to be a population far more keen to see behemoths one-punch each other cold, and that’s fine.
Some people, a growing percentage of fans actually, seem to be pushing back against that promotional bluster noted above—the more they’re told how great these champions are, the less they’re willing to listen. Maybe more importantly, the less they’re willing to pay money to watch.
Others have been around long enough to remember the guts and heart of these great former champions, men who emerged from the no-holds-barred era as pioneers, exceptional athletes in a sport that didn’t have many at the time. It’s hard to forget their place in the game, even harder to imagine that these new champions have earned what they earned.
But at the end of the day, Barao and Johnson are each a win away from placing their names beside them in the record books. By 2015 it’s possible, if not likely, that both will have passed them. The fact that they aren’t drawing interest for that has to be concerning to the UFC, and it’s not good for the sport, either.
MMA’s history is short, but the inability to escape its own shadow has potentially dire consequences. While other sports can afford to have debates over the past versus the present thanks to decades of action, MMA can’t. The sport needs the new faces to matter as much as the old ones because the old ones aren’t all that old. People remember their great performances; they saw them live. If they aren’t sold on the new guys in the same way, it’s far easier to dismiss them because they have first-person historical context to give their opinions weight.
When it comes time to sell those new faces such adverse opinions are incredibly damaging, especially to a sport that’s expanding rapidly with events on a weekly basis across the globe. Those events need headliners that involve either the stars of today or the men who’ll fight the stars of today, not guys that people think of as a step down from the champions of the sport’s dark ages.
If guys like Barao and Johnson can’t entice people to shell out $60 when their name is on the marquee, or get them to flip over to FOX to catch them chucking leather to sell ad space on a Saturday night, there are serious problems. They’re doing spectacular things as spectacular athletes, but they aren’t resonating with the people who matter.
Still and all, they’ll be record holders before you know it. They’ll pass great men of an era gone by, men who fought for nothing so that they could come behind and fight for something.
Without their deserved recognition though, it’s hard to know what that something really is.
MMA Fighting’s Luke Thomas tweeted the following yesterday:
A reasonable sentiment, especially in an age where the UFC is going to put on two events in the same day, though the tweet was not specifically directed at the UFC. It was tweeted two minutes after a jape at Bellator’s expense. Dana White ignored such nuances. He took the tweet personally, and responded with 140-character artillery fire this morning:
MMA Fighting’s Luke Thomas tweeted the following yesterday:
A reasonable sentiment, especially in an age where the UFC is going to put on two events in the same day, though the tweet was not specifically directed at the UFC. It was tweeted two minutes after a jape at Bellator’s expense. Dana White ignored such nuances. He took the tweet personally, and responded with 140-character artillery fire this morning:
Hilariously, Dana White didn’t know Luke Thomas—one of the most well-known figures in the MMA media—was a media member. Once White found out how accomplished Thomas was, specifically that he was on an episode of UFC Countdown, White brought the hammer down. But there’s something more concerning about White’s behavior. He doesn’t care about legitimate criticism that’s offered politely and eloquently. White’s intransigence in the face of disagreement is nothing new, however, but it’s starting to wear thin; he’s been more churlish than usual lately. He went mental when the always-reasonable Georges St-Pierre announced his retirement. More recently, he behaved questionably at a media luncheon, and buried Alistair Overeem and Jose Aldo after fantastic performances.
“Dana is gonna Dana” is no longer a valid excuse for such behavior. Lorenzo Fertitta has proven that you can respond to criticism courteously while maintaining the UFC’s “as real as it gets” image. Dana White needs to do the same or be yanked off stage with a Vaudeville hook. We understand he’s used to hearing whatever he wants from the media, but acting in a hyper-emotional, immature manner when writers offer their take on issues in the sport (which is their job) is unacceptable. More unacceptable than that is intentionally telling fans not to watch your product and disregarding their opinions, as White did on twitter this morning too.
The UFC’s product is clearlydiminishing in value. Fans are getting restless. While White is to be commended for his accessibility on social media, hurling insults that read like they were written by a 14-year-old as well as telling fans to not watch the UFC’s product is harmful. Instructing potential customers to not buy what you’re selling is a terrible practice, but to Dana White it’s business as usual. In case you don’t understand why that’s a bad idea, check out this exchange between MMA firebrand Front Row Brian and famed MMA historian Jonathan Snowden. Telling fans to ignore your product has disastrous results. Words of apathy become acts of apathy. There are fights on tonight? Meh, who cares? Instead of fostering behavior like that, Dana White should be trying to demolish it root and stem. But White will do no such thing. If you don’t watch every single card, and shell out more cash than any other sports fan, your’e not a real fan, dummy!
By the way, here are the complete results for UFC Fight Night 37, a card some of you might not been real enough fans for:
Main Card
Alexander Gustafsson def. Jimi Manuwa via TKO (knee, punches) – Round 2, 1:18
Michael Johnson def. Melvin Guillard via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Brad Pickett def. Neil Seery via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Gunnar Nelson def. Omari Akhmedov via submission (guillotine) – Round 1, 4:36
Preliminary Card
Ilir Latifi def. Cyrille Diabate via submission (neck crank) – Round 1, 3:02
Luke Barnatt def. Mats Nilsson via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:24
Claudio Henrique da Silva def. Brad Scott via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Igor Araujo def. Danny Mitchell via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Louis Gaudinot def. Phil Harris via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 1:13
Let’s make one thing clear from the start: UFC Fight Pass is an amazing idea.
Perhaps no single entity has as much potential to chart the future of MMA as the UFC’s new digital subscription service. Its invention signals our sport’s f…
Let’s make one thing clear from the start: UFC Fight Pass is an amazing idea.
Perhaps no single entity has as much potential to chart the future of MMA as the UFC’s new digital subscription service. Its invention signals our sport’s first baby steps toward a glorious, a la carte future in which fans and promoters alike are less beholden to pay-per-view providers and television networks.
Indeed, Fight Pass may someday be all things to all people.
Unfortunately, in the present, we’re not quite there yet.
As the fight company’s online network stumbles out of its free trial period and into the bright lights of the for-profit world this week, it still has some holes in its game.
The UFC has worked to clean up alleged security defects and cancellation issues reported during the hasty launch late last year, but the complete fight library promised at the network’s unveiling remains very much a work in progress. Early adopters also report some streaming issues and continue to gripe about the overall user experience, claiming it’s difficult to find what they want when they want it.
Those bugs are negligible, however, once you consider the real major flaw of Fight Pass: Right now, it’s a bad deal for MMA fans in the United States.
While some international viewers are able to use the service to watch a more complete menu of the UFC’s 2014 schedule, viewers stateside only get access to the company’s lowest tier of new live events.
In essence, they’re being asked to pay an additional charge for fight cards that used to be free or didn’t exist at all because they weren’t up to the standards we expect from the world’s largest MMA organization.
Even for the UFC’s most ardent admirers, it’s tough to spin that as a bargain.
The subscription service’s fee of $9.99 per month (or nearly $120 per year) comes on top of what hardcore fans currently spend annually on pay-per-views: $719.87 if you bought all 13 of them in 2013.
That’s in addition to the escalating cable costs many experienced when the UFC moved away from FX and onto the fledgling Fox Sports 1 last summer, and it comes on the heels of the promotion inflating the price of its December UFC 168 PPV by $5 for no discernible reason other than because it could.
At a time when it’s getting more and more expensive just to watch the UFC, the primary goal of Fight Pass should be cutting the sport’s most attentive fans a price break—not asking them to pay extra.
That’s something World Wrestling Entertainment understood when it launched its own online network in February.
For the same monthly cost as Fight Pass (plus a six-month contract), the WWE Network grants users live access to all the promotion’s PPV events, making it a screaming deal for anyone who was going to buy them anyway and a compelling draw for people who weren’t.
There’s no small irony in the fact that WWE—a company notorious for failing to understand its fans—managed to offer up a better package for subscribers than the usually fan-friendly UFC. By cutting the cord with traditional PPV providers, though, Vince McMahon’s decidedly old-world sports entertainment empire did exactly that.
In order for Fight Pass to become the truly revolutionary force everyone wants it to be, the UFC will eventually have to follow suit.
Imagine if a Fight Pass subscription was all-inclusive, if it got you live access to the PPV cards and FS1 cards and everything else. Not only would interest in the service spike, but the UFC could also significantly raise the price while still offering fans a deal.
(Author’s note: If Fight Pass included PPVs and Fox events, I’d gladly pay $50 per month, as I’d be saving a boatload on my cable bill alone.)
So far, UFC brass say they either can’t or won’t do it. Company president Dana White told FoxSports.com’s Damon Martin in January that he thought WWE was “devaluing” its product by giving away the whole kit and caboodle for $10 a month.
There’s also the matter of the UFC’s broadcast partners, both on PPV and cable, who would no doubt need some serious convincing before anything radical could happen. But assuming the company could raise the price of Fight Pass to premium levels if it included premium content, surely there would be enough money to make everyone happy.
The UFC only exists in its current form because for years it did things the television establishment thought were impossible. It’s only as successful as it is today because it always faced forward and rarely succumbed to the pressures of professional sports’ old guard.
Fight Pass could be one more victory in that battle, rewarding loyal fans by saving them some money while pushing the entire industry in a bold new direction.
In order for the digital subscription service to be everything it can be, the future must be now.
“I’m done,” spat a venomous Dana White, his wrath to be felt by a mere mortal as it had so many times in the past. “If he wants to fight in the UFC, he better talk to Lorenzo quick.”
And just like that, it was over. White had won, crushing his opponent…
“I’m done,” spat a venomous Dana White, his wrath to be felt by a mere mortal as it had so many times in the past. “If he wants to fight in the UFC, he better talk to Lorenzo quick.”
And just like that, it was over. White had won, crushing his opponent like a bug trapped in a tiny octagonal cage, there solely to be stepped on by the boss and discarded with even less ceremony.
That’s life in the fight business, particularly the top of the MMA mountain: accept White’s terms or get lost. He will not be engaged in bullying unless he’s the one doling out the figurative wedgies, and if you want to risk your livelihood by testing him on it, then do so at your own peril.
His opponent this time was Gilbert Melendez, perhaps the uncrowned champion of the 155-pound division, and a man who had ridden his own iron will through trying times already during repeated attempts to join the UFC in the past.
And he altered the fantasy narrative above by beating White clean. For once, the UFC president didn’t win. He couldn’t bully his way into enforcing his own favor. A mortal didn’t come rest at his feet, but instead called his bluff and won the hand.
Sure, White likely prefers that which is written above to the truth, particularly when he’s grown so accustomed to said narrative, but it wasn’t meant to be this time.
The result? Everything short of a line of personalized Gilbert Melendez designer cagewear. Though to be fair, we haven’t seen the whole deal yet. That could be coming too.
Melendez will coach The Ultimate Fighter against Anthony Pettis before he gets a crack at the lightweight title again. He’ll be given the chance to continue his career as an analyst for FOX. He’s guaranteed to be on pay-per-view at least three out of every four fights, of which he’ll get a cash cut.
To put it mildly, Melendez made out alright.
But that’s what’s coming from the contract—the exposure, the big fights, the big money. He earned that with years of hard work and good showings in the cage (and sometimes ring), and he earned it with a willingness to take the biggest fight of his life against Zuffa and win it handily on all judge’s scorecards.
What’s next, though, for Melendez as an entity in the UFC? What of the things that aren’t negotiated on paper, his daily dealings with the men he just battered in the boardroom the way he’s battered so many in combat?
One would like to think that his successful negotiating tactics won’t cast him with a black mark from the head office, but it’s hard to think that it’s all water under the bridge. The way Melendez got his terms may very well change the face of the sport, and there are plenty of dudes who have already caught the scent of that trail.
History indicates that might be a tough pill for the UFC to swallow, and if it’s an issue that they see get out of hand in a hurry, they may look at Melendez as Patient Zero for the outbreak. Contract or not, they’re not going to offer him much additional support if they feel jilted down the line by the deal he negotiated.
If his life outside the cage doesn’t get harder though, Melendez is in a position to flourish inside it. He’ll only get big fights from here on out, and he’ll only be paid big purses for his work. At a time when the UFC needs big names more than ever, he’s a big name with a big contract who’s going to get big usage from the promotion.
At the end of the day, that’s all any fighter wants. Sometimes they have to get it by any means necessary.
Then again, for a collection of athletes that make their living battering one another in a steel cage, should anyone be surprised? The fight is what they live for, and winning it is more important than anything.
Melendez knew that all along. Now White and the UFC do too.
UFC President Dana White is certain that longtime welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is not done inside the Octagon. 
