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UFC: Fighters’ Behavior a Potential Deterrent to Future Success

While the UFC has been taking large steps toward becoming an established global sport, its fighters have been acting as if no one’s watching. But people have been, and UFC president Dana White stated recently that he would address this problem du…

While the UFC has been taking large steps toward becoming an established global sport, its fighters have been acting as if no one’s watching.

But people have been, and UFC president Dana White stated recently that he would address this problem during an upcoming summit. After a recent press conference, White explained that fighters need to watch themselves when using any medium of communication—namely Twitter—that places them in the public’s eye: “There’s only so many characters on Twitter, and you can’t explain the context in which you sent the text. You just have to use common sense.”

White’s reaction speaks to derogatory comments made by a number of fighters using the social medium, including Rashad Evans’ allusion to the Penn State scandal, Miguel Torres’ tweet about rape, and Forrest Griffin’s tweets about rape, which became a lead story around the internet on many non-MMA related news sites.

The tweets became such a problem that one of the UFC’s major sponsors, Anheuser-Busch, promised to act against the UFC if its fighters continued this unbridled vulgar speech.

White admitted he, too, is certainly guilty of making poor decisions when using the medium. However, he seemed a little less apologetic, saying, “Listen, if you ever watched the sport, you knew what you were getting into with me. It’s not like I all of a sudden lost my mind and started saying stupid [expletive]. I’ve been doing it for 11 years.”

And so the UFC finds itself at a crossroads, a place where the organization we once knew, one that marketed itself to “mature audiences only,” is edging into a more global arena. White himself compared this problem to the same shared by the other major American sports organizations, including the NBA and the NFL: “Same stuff that all the other organizations go through. NBA, NFL—they all go through the same thing.”

At first, this seems like great company for an organization that has taken huge strides this year to gain a more worldwide presence. The UFC has hosted some of its greatest cards this year, and some of the most exciting will happen before year’s end, including UFC 148. The UFC has been getting results and building an audience like it never has before.

But with all of these advancements comes a delicate benefit that can quickly become a problem: people are watching, and people are listening.

Honestly, I’ve got no problem with the banter of White and his fighters on Twitter, during interviews, or wherever else they decide to broadcast their innermost thoughts (White calls this a “personal relationship with the fans”). It likely doesn’t take long for new fans to get used to these various personalities, and there’s no doubt that fans relating to fighters’ humor or hating them enhances their relationship to the sport. And yes, this does happen in all sports.

The caveat is simple: jokes about rape, pedophilia, and other similar subjects are offensive, and they mark the UFC with a personality it can’t have if it wants to be taken seriously as a sport.

Yes, other professional sports organizations are facing similar problems. Regardless, the reality is that the UFC doesn’t have the image that the NFL or NBA does yet, and it never will if White continues to act insouciant toward these offenses. These organizations can deal with their problems as they have because they’ve earned national and global recognition beyond the limitations of a grassroots audience.

It seems to me, however, that White and his organization plan to make MMA more popular on an international level than these other sports. Sure, most of us enjoy the UFC as it is and happily dismiss the quirks and offenses of its fighters. Nevertheless, even the most nostalgic fan has to understand that the sport is growing rapidly in both viewership and legitimacy.

The good news, which is part of the same reality, is that the UFC absolutely can become as popular as it wants. To do this, though, White and the UFC will have to start dealing with various offenses—from some fighters’ behavior on Twitter to others’ use of PEDs—more critically.

When the public sees that both the UFC and its fans are taking the presence of MMA as a sport seriously on all accounts, they’ll do the same.

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UFC on Fox 3: Bantamweight Nick Denis Taking It One Fight at a Time in the UFC

Canadian bantamweight Nick Denis makes his return to the Octagon at UFC on Fox 3: Diaz vs. Miller this Saturday. In his last appearance he won the Knockout of the Night award with his impressive win over Joseph Sandoval. Denis hasn’t fought to a d…

Denis hasn’t fought to a decision once yet in his 11-2-0 (1-0-0, UFC) career and he is looking to improve as a mixed martial artist every time he sets foot in the cage.

“Just keep improving all-around everywhere and hopefully just keep posting wins,” Denis told Bleacher Report in reference to what he wants next. “In general just improving my wrestling and specific things for each fight and opponent.”

Johnny Bedford, Denis’ original opponent for Saturday night’s fight, had to pull out and was replaced by fellow Canadian and Ultimate Fighter alum Roland Delorme. Late opponent changes are never a welcome thing, but for Denis, he doesn’t see the switch from Bedford to Delorme as being too much of a game changer.

“I don’t have to adjust it [camp] much, you know, basically neither guy is for the striking. Bedford likes to strike more, Delorme doesn’t really have too many striking battles, he’s a Judo black belt, they’re both brown belts in BJJ (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu),” Denis said. “They obviously would both be looking to take the fight to the ground, so it’s not so much of a different style of opponent; they are both similar.”

Denis is preparing for Delorme at Tristar gym in Montreal and this is his second stint in the city known for its “joie de vie” and quite different in a sense from his hometown of Ottawa.

“I’m much more well adjusted this time around. Things are a lot better here training and outside of the gym, but yeah, I am really enjoying it here in Montreal now,” Denis said.

One thing he’s missing is a little something called Ottawa Shawarma. You can get the full scoop on that in Denis’ blog over at Top MMA News. Basically, Shawarma is like fast food, Middle East style, and in Ottawa you see more Shawarma places than McDonald’s or Burger King. Montreal has great cusine, but they just don’t compete in terms of Shawarma.

“I’ve had Amir’s a couple of times and it doesn’t even compare, it’s not even close to Ottawa Shawarma so sadly, I have to live without it,” he said.

Denis didn’t go to Montreal to eat Shawarma though, he went to train with the best in the business. Tristar gym is known for Georges St-Pierre, but it’s a camp that acts as a training ground for rising stars and champions alike.

Denis worked with fellow bantamweight Miguel Torres prior to his showdown against Michael McDonald at UFC 145. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned for Torres, but that seems to be the case for most of McDonald’s opponents. Denis gave his overall opinion on the young fighter who might also be a possible opponent down the road.

“Obviously, he’s pretty good; he has good knockout power,” Denis said. “He’s got good finishing instincts, he goes after it and he’s pretty impressive.”

In addition to Torres, another Tristar member, Rory MacDonald continued his assault on the UFC welterweight division with a second-round TKO of Che Mills at UFC 145.

“He was great,” Denis said. “I was super happy for him, definitely a good performance.”

Denis wants to pick up right where MacDonald left off for UFC on Fox 3: Diaz vs. Miller this Saturday night.

Despite fighting on the undercard for a Fox event, Denis doesn’t really feel different about it. There is more hype and media surrounding the event, but Denis doesn’t care too much.

“My friends and family seem to get more excited,” Denis said. “It doesn’t really matter, I mean I guess I’m not watching myself, so it doesn’t really matter. It’s just like another fight, like any other event, I don’t get too excited about it.”

“For my first UFC fight, I was excited obviously for my first fight. I really noticed when I was there, specifically in the fight, in the cage and all the events leading up to it and after, it really just felt like any other fight. When you are in there, you don’t notice any of the lights or cameras.”

The fights feel the same, which is good considering things have worked out for Denis so far, but he is already starting to feel the media pressures and added hype that comes with being in the UFC despite only being one fight in.

“I get a lot of interviews, podcasts and all these other strange requests, so I mean there’s that,” he said. “Obviously, I don’t have to say yes to any of them, but it’s good for me and good for them and it only takes up a little bit of my time.

“It definitely has increased [..] there are some days where I’ll get a text asking if I’m ready for the interview and I’m really not in the mood for it, but that’s just part of it, it’s not the worst thing in the world so far.”

Talking with the media involves talking about fighting for Denis, but for him that’s not all he’s about. For example, he posts on Top MMA News as noted earlier and will blog about things like Shawarma, not necessarily the last UFC event.

“I pretty much don’t plan on ever writing much about fighting and if I do it will be a different spin,” he said. “To be honest, my day is filled with training, thinking about training, thinking about this and that and technique and whatever. When I’m not training, I don’t want to talk about my fights or UFC, I just like being a regular person. Anyone else I don’t think likes to talk about their jobs when they get home, you know.”

I think Denis was OK talking to me about his fight and the UFC though, but I think everyone can relate to the idea of preferring to leave work at work.

“I’m a human being first and a fighter second, if I get cut from the UFC, if tomorrow I tripped and broke an arm, it couldn’t be replaced and I could never fight again I wouldn’t be heartbroken. There’s more to life than fighting, I appreciate and I enjoy what I am doing right now, but it doesn’t define me, so it’s another little h.”

At the end of that quote you maybe wondering what the heck a little h is. It’s actually a part of Denis’ philosophy on life and one of his blog topics if you care to read up more on this simple yet satisfying way to live life.

Getting back to fighting for now, Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber are coaching The Ultimate Fighter this season and these are two guys at the top of Denis’ division, guys he could very well face at some point in his career. Cruz and Faber are slated to face off against one another for the third time in a rubber match and Denis gives his thoughts on the fight.

“I think Faber is going to have come up with a different game plan,” Denis said. “Cruz is like a magician, he’s disappearing and reappearing all over the place, he’s constantly moving around so Faber is going to have to come up with something else. I don’t know how it’s going to go this time, I mean I really don’t know, I wouldn’t bet on either person.”

In terms of getting an eventual title shot and maybe matching up against Cruz or Faber down the road, Denis doesn’t know how far off that is and he isn’t one to get too caught up thinking about it, either.

“I really don’t know, I really have no idea. I mean it’s really hard to say,” Denis said. “I think the important thing especially for the UFC is you’ve got to keep winning and you’ve got to be impressive. The more momentum you build, the more attention you get and the easier it is for the UFC to sell the fight.

“What they want to do is they want to sell the best fight possible. They don’t want to have someone who ekes out boring decisions and who has a seven-fight win streak in the UFC, they might give him a shot at the title, but they won’t do it happily.”

I’m sure fans can appreciate Denis’ philosophy on moving up the ladder, anybody who wants to and does put on exciting shows earns a lot of credibility with the UFC and their fans.

He got a great start with the Knockout of the Night over Sandoval a short time ago and it will be interesting to see if Denis can follow it up with another great performance this Saturday night against Delorme.

You can follow Denis’ Twitter @theninjaoflove, I think you’ll find it interesting, especially if you’re in to the world of science and technology.

Leon Horne is a writer for Bleacher Report and is part of the B/R MMA interview team, Follow @Leon_Horne

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UFC on FOX 3: Josh Koscheck and Fighters Guaranteed to Steal the Show

Although UFC on FOX 3 will be headlined by a dynamite lightweight bout between Nate Diaz and Jim Miller, there are plenty of other fights on the card to get excited about as well. There may not be a ton of star power to behold, but if you’re looking fo…

Most probably believe the winner of Diaz vs. Miller will own the night, but the rest of the main card on FOX will feature plenty of exciting competitors as well. As is often the case with UFC and boxing events, most fans will tune in for the main event, but it will be somebody else who ultimately catches their eye and grabs the spotlight.

Here are three fighters who are sure to steal the show on Saturday night.

Josh Koscheck

Perhaps Josh Koscheck isn’t the greatest fighter in UFC, but when it comes to talking trash and making himself visible, there are few better than him. Koscheck will have a tough test on Saturday against Johny Hendricks in a welterweight bout, but he has scored some big wins over the course of his career and will be out to prove himself yet again and to earn another title shot down the line.

Koscheck matches rarely end quietly as he is equally adept at knocking out or submitting his opponent, so Hendricks will have to be quite wary. Whether Koscheck wins or loses, though, you never know what type of theatrics he might come up with. UFC is always looking for guys with personality and character, and there is no doubt that Koscheck fits the bill.

Lavar Johnson

In 21 career professional fights, 34-year-old Lavar Johnson has never once gone the distance, so if you’re looking for fireworks, you’ll want to watch his heavyweight bout with Pat Barry. Fourteen of Johnson’s 16 wins have come by way of knockout and he’ll likely be looking to do the same against Barry. At 6’4″ and 252 lbs., Johnson isn’t built for distance, but he can pack a serious punch over the short term.

Barry has only gone all three rounds once in his own right, so I wouldn’t anticipate this one lasting too long after the initial bell rings. Not every UFC fan enjoys a short slugfest, but there will be plenty of technical endeavors in other matches throughout the night. Johnson is either going to win or lose in a blaze of glory, and that makes him exciting to watch.

Rousimar Palhares

As one of the preeminent submission specialists in UFC today, you never know what Rousimar Palhares has under his sleeve. He has won 14 fights as a professional and 10 of them have come via submission, so his opponents always have to be wary of what he might do during mat-based grapples. His patented heel hook has left many capable fighters in his wake, and he will likely try to utilize it against Alan Belcher on Saturday night.

Belcher is a talented fighter in his own right and he has only been submitted once in his career, so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top in this test of wills. Palhares is as ruthless and dominant as they come on the mat, so I have to believe that there is a good chance he will have Belcher in a precarious position at some point.

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UFC on FOX 3: Should the Winner of Nate Diaz vs. Jim Miller Get a Title Shot?

At UFC on FOX 3, Nate Diaz and Jim Miller are slated to lock horns for a chance to move further up the lightweight rankings. However, neither fighter deserves a shot at UFC gold, even with this win on his record. That honor should be bestowed upon Anth…

That said, with UFC President Dana White recently suggesting a title tilt is in the offing should Diaz triumph, that just might be the case; however, that’s not so for Miller, as one or two more wins is the requisite number to challenge for the 155-pound crown.

Still, regardless of what the promotion’s supremo has voiced, the Diaz thumbs up is the wrong decision to make.

Miller (21-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) for sure shouldn’t even get a sniff at the title right now—he had the opportunity to vie for the belt, but came unstuck against current 155-pound title-holder Benson Henderson, thus scuppering his immediate championship aspirations. And despite defeating Melvin Guillard, succeeding in derailing Diaz, too, still doesn’t justify a title shot.

Conversely, I believe if Diaz (15-7 MMA, 10-5 UFC), who is currently riding a two-fight win streak with victories over Takanori Gomi and Donald Cerrone, defeats Miller, one more win will suffice for the lightweight Holy Grail.

Prior to the aforementioned successes, the Stockton, Calif., native was 0-2, losing to Kim Dong-Hyun and Rory McDonald.

Now, Pettis (15 -2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) defeated Henderson to capture the WEC lightweight title, and even though he lost on his UFC debut to Clay Guida, he quickly rectified that with wins against Jeremy Stephens and Joe Lauzon.

If any of the top-10-ranked fighters in that weight class deserve a shot at the winner of Henderson vs. Frankie Edgar, Showtime is the man.

Diaz or Miller for the championship is a non-starter.

For additional information, follow Nedu Obi on Twitter.

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Why a Subscription PPV Model Makes Sense for the UFC and Its Fans

Being an MMA fan is not cheap. It’s not like football or baseball, where the price of a basic cable package pretty much covers the season. And for the hardcore fans, there is always the deluxe package available for a couple of hundred bucks extra…

Due to the amount of numbered UFC events put on in the last few years, MMA fans are asked to plunk down about $800 a year for pay per views (PPV), and an additional $100 or so for a Showtime subscription so we can watch Strikeforce.

True, for that $100 you can also watch Dexter, but how many seasons can we bear of everyone’s favorite serial killer narrowly evading detection?

In an average household budget, $900 pays for a year’s worth of car insurance, or a year of cell phone service, or a year of Tiger Schulman’s for the kiddies.

Basically, it’s a household expense; not a major one, but enough of an expense that it needs to be factored into the monthly budget. And with the price tag of cable already quite high, most households simply cannot justify adding an additional $50 to that for a PPV event, at least not regularly.

Many would-be UFC fans do not watch solely due to the price of the PPV. And because they’re out of the loop for the major events, they don’t follow up with the smaller ones.

It’s mind-boggling that so many casual fans have no clue that there’s a free event this weekend on Fox. There it is, a quality event, readily available at no additional cost, and these fight fans don’t even know it’s on.

The reason is because there’s a lack of continuity when someone misses so many important fights. There’s no incentive for them to make the effort to follow the sport. Most casual fans are also fans of the stick and ball sports.

Why should they scour the Internet to find out there’s a UFC card on Saturday night when they know there’s a baseball game on? They just want to get lost in the wonderment of passion that a few hours of sporting brings into our lives; could be baseball, football, fighting, whatever.

The UFC has tapped out the pay-per-view market. A new model, a subscription-based pay-per-view model, would not only benefit the fans, but UFC as well.

The UFC would benefit in that their fan base would grow. They’d pull in less revenue at first, but as time went on and the model caught on, their revenue would rise to comparable or even greater levels.

Offer a product at a high price and some will always buy. Offer it at a low price and you entice more consumers into the market.

The UFC is not subject to the same market forces as other products. There is a demand for fights, but they have a set price of $45-$50, regardless of the quality of event.

A Ford Focus costs less that a Ford Avalanche even though they’re both part of the Ford brand. A UFC PPV is always the same price regardless of whether it’s headlined by Georges St. Pierre or Frankie Edgar. Thus, consumers are forced to make decisions.

Having all the events available to the subscription buying public would negate the decision making process for consumers.

If every PPV event now carries a total cost of $800, they can offer a package subscription deal for $400. They would draw many new fans into the sport.

A UFC subscription would become a Christmas gift favorite wives buy for their husbands. Just as when the “NFL Package” came out, guys would brag about it to their friends.

The goal should be to draw new fans into the sport, fans that after being able to follow the fights for a while will become loyal fans.

What end does it serve, other than a little entertainment, for a guy to happen upon this Saturday’s fights if he has absolutely no clue what’s going on in the sport other than that he gets to sit there for a couple of hours and watch guys punch each other in the face?

They’ll watch, and that’s great, but then they’ll go about their business and put it out of their minds because they know the next one costs $50.

By fostering an environment where fans could easily and affordably follow the sport, the UFC would be creating new fans…fans who aren’t in it for just two hours, but who will develop an emotional stake in the sport and its fighters.

Basically, they will be creating long-term, loyal fans who will not only know that there is simply a fight on this weekend, they’ll know who’s fighting, how they got there, if they’re sniffing a title shot, the injuries that they’re battling, and they’ll be hooked because they’ll then be armed with the knowledge required to develop a passion.

And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Having that passion is what drives us fight freaks to buy every single PPV.

The PPV model is stale. Even the UFC knows that. Dana White has even stated his intention of eventually getting away from PPV.

PPV currently accounts for the great majority of the UFC’s revenue, however, so it’s not likely a vision that is anywhere near fruition.

They’d need to firmly establish themselves on network television, and with the FOX deal in its infancy, the prospect of moving away from the PPV model is a long way off.

They need to draw new fans into the sport. The Fox deal was a huge step in that direction, but it’s going to take time.

For MMA to become a mainstream sporting commodity, they would need to be able to generate enough advertising revenue via television to split with the PPV base they’ve used since their creation almost two decades ago.

It’s great that that’s their goal, but it’s a long-term goal. In the short term, loyal fans are struggling to keep up with the sport and its costly price tag.

A subscription-based PPV model would serve all interested parties greatly.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

5 Fights for Nick Diaz If He Comes Back

Nick Diaz may be on his way back to the Octagon sooner rather than later.How? B/R’s Jeremy Botter noted how last week.Essentially, Nick Diaz is suing the Nevada State Athletic Commission for a violation of his constitutional rights to due process. If D…

Nick Diaz may be on his way back to the Octagon sooner rather than later.

How? B/R’s Jeremy Botter noted how last week.

Essentially, Nick Diaz is suing the Nevada State Athletic Commission for a violation of his constitutional rights to due process. If Diaz wins this case, then it is likely we will see the fighter who represents the 209 more proudly than anyone else step back inside the cage in 2012.

But who are the likely opponents? Which opponents make the most sense for Diaz? Nick is a top five welterweight and he is coming off of a narrow defeat that was debated among MMA fans worldwide.

Let’s take a look at the five best fights for the welterweight contender.

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