UFC president Dana White recently lambasted sports media superpower ESPN via Twitter for canceling his UFC 134 promotional interview with them due to the UFC’s new television deal with Fox. Some may be annoyed with White, but it may be something that proves to be a watershed moment in sports media history.
White tweeted:
“ESPN always hated us and now they hate us more now that we are on FOX. They canceled my int next week for UFC Rio Fuk ESPN”
While many fans may roll their eyes at this incident and say, “Here he goes again,” that sort of reaction is a bit short-sighted.
In truth, it is possible that White’s apparent feud with and distaste towards ESPN may shift the sports media world.
MMA is the fastest-growing sport in the world and the UFC is the fastest-growing sports brand in the world. The television deal with Fox will serve as a superlative catalyst to the UFC’s already impressive growth and will help to guarantee that the sport and the organization will be popular.
With this basically guaranteed popularity boost, there are two possibilities regarding the UFC’s tiff with ESPN.
The first possibility is that ESPN initially sticks to their guns but ultimately wanes in their stance until they give the UFC the same attention they give the other major sports. In this scenario, ESPN’s hand is forced by the growth of the sport; ESPN cannot claim they are the worldwide leader in sports without covering what will be one of the primary sports in the world, MMA.
The second and more interesting possibility is that ESPN forever holds onto their relatively anti-UFC stance. What would result from this would be a change in the sports media world.
ESPN would lose ground as the UFC becomes more and more popular. Other sports networks—more specifically, websites, since the world has been moving more away from television and more towards the Internet—will begin to gain ground on ESPN.
The increasing amount of UFC fans will head elsewhere, perhaps to websites such as Bleacher Report, for UFC coverage and will end up staying at such websites since they can get their dose of the other sports they follow as well.
It is possible that by not showing the UFC the reverence and practical worship they show the NFL and MLB, ESPN’s hegemony over sports will finally come to an end, usurped by smaller websites and citizen journalists…all thanks to one little tweet from Dana White.
Matt Saccaro is a Bleacher Report featured columnist and avid fan of MMA. For more articles like this and for 140-character insights into MMA, follow @mattsaccaro
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