Tag: media call

Attention UFC Fighters: Only Give Interviews With “A Point” From Now On (Whatever That Means)


(Shown wearing the t-shirt of a band that would obviously approve of limiting self-expression.)

It’s no exaggeration to say that Dana White was upset by Matt Mitrione’s appearance on “The MMA Hour” this Monday. I’m not just writing about, you know, his rant against transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox. I’m writing about Matt Mitrione simply agreeing to be on the show.

While addressing reporters at yesterday’s UFC on FOX 7 media conference call, Dana White discussed his stance on Mitrione’s controversial statements. And while he was obviously upset with Mitrione for referring to Fox as “a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak,” he seemed to be more annoyed over the fact that “Meathead” was giving what he deemed to be an unnecessary interview. Via MMAmania:

It’s one of those things, it’s just a pain in the ass. You know what I mean? First of all, he didn’t even need to be doing an interview. And I’m going to talk to these guys. The only time these guys need to be doing interviews is leading up to fights. It ended up being a nightmare for him.

What was the point of that interview? There’s no point in it. Now it’s causing him a bunch of headaches and problems for no reason whatsoever. He just fought and he wouldn’t fight again for another few months. And he is still over there enjoying himself in Sweden. What was the point of doing that interview? What was the upside to that interview? There was none. No upside.


(Shown wearing the t-shirt of a band that would obviously approve of limiting self-expression.)

It’s no exaggeration to say that Dana White was upset by Matt Mitrione’s appearance on “The MMA Hour” this Monday. I’m not just writing about, you know, his rant against transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox. I’m writing about Matt Mitrione simply agreeing to be on the show.

While addressing reporters at yesterday’s UFC on FOX 7 media conference call, Dana White discussed his stance on Mitrione’s controversial statements. And while he was obviously upset with Mitrione for referring to Fox as “a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak,” he seemed to be more annoyed over the fact that “Meathead” was giving what he deemed to be an unnecessary interview. Via MMAmania:

It’s one of those things, it’s just a pain in the ass. You know what I mean? First of all, he didn’t even need to be doing an interview. And I’m going to talk to these guys. The only time these guys need to be doing interviews is leading up to fights. It ended up being a nightmare for him.

What was the point of that interview? There’s no point in it. Now it’s causing him a bunch of headaches and problems for no reason whatsoever. He just fought and he wouldn’t fight again for another few months. And he is still over there enjoying himself in Sweden. What was the point of doing that interview? What was the upside to that interview? There was none. No upside.

White’s comments create an interesting conundrum for his fighters: Title shots are being given to the most popular fighters – regardless of where they stand in the division – yet fighters are also expected to limit their opportunities to talk to the media. The number of fights you win doesn’t matter nearly as much as the number of tickets you can sell (ask Johny Hendricks), but if you’re coming off of an impressive victory – like Matt was – you’re supposed to decline these “pointless” opportunities to gain new fans. Also, if you’re a relatively unknown prospect who just scored an impressive victory on the preliminary card, you’ll probably be passing up the only opportunities you’ll have to talk to the major media outlets. Deal with it.

The joke of it all is that some of the UFC’s most popular fighters have given some pretty “pointless” interviews in order to build their own fan-bases. Did the world need to read about how Rampage Jackson felt about video games? Or did we need to hear Dan Hardy explain his tattoos to appreciate him as a fighter? Or was Chuck Liddell debating who would win a fight between a gladiator and an Apache warrior really that important? Maybe not in a direct sense, but the freedom that fighters have had to be themselves while talking to the media has been part of the appeal of being an MMA fan for me. I doubt I’m in the minority here.

This isn’t to say that Dana White had no reason to be upset with Matt Mitrione for his over-the-top comments, but rather, that blaming the timing of the interview is not the right solution. Restricting when fighters can give interviews simply because one fighter said something really stupid is no different than the knee-jerk “Let’s create a law to regulate _______” discussions you’ll hear after a tragic news story. Hopefully the UFC does not crack down on when and where fighters can give interviews.

And if they do, well, we haven’t pissed off Bjorn Rebney yet.

@SethFalvo

Is Junior dos Santos Looking Past Cain Velasquez?

(Caution: This conference call was apparently recorded in a tin can headed straight for Pluto. Adjust speakers accordingly.)

For a guy who is supposed to be defending his title against Cain Velasquez in just over a week at UFC 155, heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos still seems awfully focused on Alistair Overeem, the man he was set to face back at UFC 146 before…well, you know. During the UFC 155 media call (full audio above), dos Santos touched on the respect he had for Velasquez as a professional, but not without taking a dig at Overeem in the process:

I prefer to fight against clean athletes and real professionals. Cain Velasquez is one of these guys. He’s a real professional fighter and that’s a good challenge for me. I know he’s very tough and I know how hard I have to train to face him. And the OTHER GUYS, they just say things, but there’s nothing behind the words. Guys like me and Cain Velasquez, we are made at the gym. Guys like the OTHER GUY there, they are made in the laboratory.

Ahh…the Lord Voldemort approach of anonymity. Touche, Junior.


(Caution: This conference call was apparently recorded in a tin can headed straight for Pluto. Adjust speakers accordingly.)

For a guy who is supposed to be defending his title against Cain Velasquez in just over a week at UFC 155, heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos still seems awfully focused on Alistair Overeem, the man he was set to face back at UFC 146 before…well, you know. During the UFC 155 media call (full audio above), dos Santos touched on the respect he had for Velasquez as a professional, but not without taking a dig at Overeem in the process:

I prefer to fight against clean athletes and real professionals. Cain Velasquez is one of these guys. He’s a real professional fighter and that’s a good challenge for me. I know he’s very tough and I know how hard I have to train to face him. And the OTHER GUYS, they just say things, but there’s nothing behind the words. Guys like me and Cain Velasquez, we are made at the gym. Guys like the OTHER GUY there, they are made in the laboratory.

Ahh…the Lord Voldemort approach of anonymity. Touche, Junior.

All kidding aside, Junior has repeatedly stated that he would have preferred to face Overeem next instead of rematching Velasquez, even begging Dana White for the fight at one point. And while he was able to dispatch Velasquez with ease the first time around, does anyone think he might be looking past Cain here?

And while we’re talking UFC 155, we’d like to throw a little feeler out there for you guys to stew over. Greater chance of ending in a knockout: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez or Leben vs. Brunson?

–J. Jones

ESPN Host’s Remark That UFC is Starting Its Own TV Network Fuels Speculation That Announcement is Imminent

It may have been a speculative remark fueled by an interview Dana White did with Broadcasting Cable this week in which the UFC president intimated that his promotion was considering starting its own television network, but to many MMA news sites…

It may have been a speculative remark fueled by an interview Dana White did with Broadcasting Cable this week in which the UFC president intimated that his promotion was considering starting its own television network, but to many MMA news sites, an eight-second conversation the hosts of ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption show had on the subject yesterday was enough to prompt speculation that this is the major announcement that will be made during today’s media conference call.

Here’s what White told BC’s Ben Grossman:

"A lot of people don’t realize we are in a half a billion homes around the world. You know all the things we’ve been through in the United States, but this sport travels well. Cricket will never be big here and the NFL will never be big around the world. But we are all human beings and fighting is in our DNA. We get it and we like it. So we are working on a couple moves now and should be in a billion homes around the world in the next couple months. Sports Business Journal just came out with a survey asking big names in the industry which sport could start its own network and 4 out of 5 said us. They are right. I agree. That will happen within the next couple years.You are starting to see now ESPN is starting to cover us more. I think this is one of those things ESPN will probably kick themselves in 10 years saying, ‘We could have fucking had that.’"

It is possible that if it is true that ESPN got wind of the news, considering they have a deal to broadcast UFC events and to produce satellite pre and post-event MMA Live programs, but it’s more likely that PTI is just throwing the scenario out there to create dialogue on the possibility.

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