Do Not Pay Attention to Jerry Millen

by Luke Thomas on Nov 19, 2008 10:04 AM EST in MMA News

The M-1 statement that was released to another website ostensibly authored by Jerry Millen needs to be ignored by everyone with a mammalian brain. It's an utterly transparent attempt at a) riding the attention generated by Couture vs. Lesnar and b) trying to appear in good standing when one is clearly threatened. Nothing Millen says is of any consequence to UFC policy or what decisions will be made at any point in time. Do not be fooled into thinking Millen can goad White into doing anything he wasn't already planning on doing.

Why Fedor Emelianenko would choose to work with this type of "associate" is certainly beyond me, but there's no reason any self-respecting website should be paying any attention to this perfunctory act of self-delusion. Millen is trying to use the hardcore base to be adversarial from a disadvantageous position and it's not worth the time of anyone invested in any type of serious discussion.

This is all a cheap ploy for attention and for the aggrandizement of M-1, something Dana White is likely not the least bit interested in furthering. Ignore it, forget it and devote your attention and time to something with actual significance.

Move along, folks. There's literally nothing to see here.

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Comments

I feel like dealing with the Jerry Millen’s of the world is like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. One the one hand, you want to speak out to let everyone know not to pay any attention. On the other hand, even that admonition in itself makes people pay attention to Jerry Millen. I feel dirty even responding to this post. Such a dilemma!

by AnnieAgee on Nov 19, 2008 10:14 AM EST reply actions

Good Point Annie !

This article/statement shouldbe removed and forgotten immediately. The fact that it has been posted is a contradiction.

"Stop smiling you are about to be punched in the face !"

by Warhand on Nov 19, 2008 12:03 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah, not really.

by Luke Thomas on Nov 19, 2008 12:15 PM EST up reply actions

It seems reptilian brains have been stunned and distracted by these shiny lights and loud noises. Thank you, Luke, for contibuting a little sanity to the discussion. The only significance this has to be is that Fedor either authorized this release or didn’t give a damn how his name was used, and both make him look bad.

Good post.

by Derek Suboticki on Nov 19, 2008 10:17 AM EST reply actions

hahahaha

http://weoweoweo.deviantart.com/

by Anton Tabuena on Nov 19, 2008 10:17 AM EST reply actions

lol

I know Fedor is better than Lesnar, but the fact Millen says so makes me think otherwise. I mean what the fuck does he know about the sport? Dude’s still waiting on the response from Bas Rutten about what a kimura is.

by Sam Cupitt on Nov 19, 2008 10:20 AM EST reply actions

The only success it might have is on Lesnar himself.

by iiowyn on Nov 19, 2008 10:25 AM EST reply actions

I also read it as such

Very smart article, I agree and enjoy ingnoring Jerry Millen(aka "Gary")

by Nick Travaglini on Nov 19, 2008 10:26 AM EST reply actions

jerry millen: current attention whore, future ryan seacrest impersonator.

by woooburn on Nov 19, 2008 10:27 AM EST reply actions

I remember when Tyson/Lewis was never going to happen. That was a running joke for years. Eventually, public support grew to such levels that the networks finally had to cave in and do the show. On one hand, no one really should care what Millen thinks. On the other hand, its telling that many hardcore MMA fans simply do not care to see who is the best in the world at most weight classes. You never see sports fans elsewhere not merely resign themselves to such a fate, but openly embrace it.

by D.Capitated on Nov 19, 2008 10:35 AM EST reply actions

Then let Fedor join the UFC. The boxing model is going to hell, so the only way to see the sport grow AND see the best fight the best is in the same organization.

by iiowyn on Nov 19, 2008 10:40 AM EST up reply actions

It’s not that I or other sports fans don’t want to see Fedor fight Brock or anyone else in the UFC. It’s that nothing Millen says has bearing on whether that happens except to make things actually more difficult.

by Luke Thomas on Nov 19, 2008 10:40 AM EST up reply actions

This may get a response from Dana and the Fertittas, but the response probably wont be public. I doubt Zuffa plays fair.

by iiowyn on Nov 19, 2008 10:42 AM EST up reply actions

Maybe that guy who beat Fedor in Sambo was a secret UFC agent.

by bigweeze on Nov 19, 2008 1:29 PM EST up reply actions

This isn’t Tyson/Lewis it’s some Russian guy that the majority of casual fans still don’t know or care about wanting to fight top UFC fighters without signing with the UFC. Hell a week ago the fight was Fedor/Randy now it’s Fedor/Brock? This is M-1 wanting to coattail the UFC not them wanting to give the fans anything they want.

by who me on Nov 19, 2008 2:08 PM EST up reply actions

TYSON/LEWIS

yeah, but when it did happen, tyson was so far past his prime and needed the money so bad, the fight was a joke. i think the ufc is learning from boxings mistake.

by bdw on Nov 19, 2008 8:39 PM EST up reply actions

I agree 100%. Nice article.

That statement by Millen only left me thinking negatively toward M-1.

It served no positive purpose for them in my opinion.

They should be letting the media bring up such things to them and then take the high road in answering the question. That is what will make them look good.

by mattman73 on Nov 19, 2008 10:39 AM EST reply actions

Firing Gary Millen would be a good start as well.

by iiowyn on Nov 19, 2008 10:40 AM EST up reply actions

Hate to post yet again…but this needs to be Rec’d.

by iiowyn on Nov 19, 2008 10:43 AM EST reply actions

I think it a bit of a pre-emptive strike. He is trying to make sure it doesn’t look as if Fedor is avoiding Lesnar. Conversely he is intimating that White and the UFC are unreasonable and robbing fans of a fight they want to see because of their own financial interests and also protecting their new prized asset.

Maybe I give Millen too much credit. Either way I agree with the overall tone above, generally what comes out of Millen’s mouth is drivel

by nidge on Nov 19, 2008 10:50 AM EST reply actions

I don’t know Millen, other than this now, but I took it as a taunt – just the latest shell in the artillery of words that the UFC and Fedors camp have flung back and forth. “You think you have the best? ha, we do!” and so on.

by mythbuster on Nov 19, 2008 10:54 AM EST up reply actions

This is a good article to start with finding out about one of the most hated men in the sport:

http://www.mmaontap.com/mma/entry/bas-rutten-exposes-gary-jerry-millen/

He’s also the guy who said that Pride wasn’t sold to Zuffa and that they were making “ground breaking deals to make Pride stronger than ever” days before it was announced that Zuffa had purchased Pride (odd that the so called vice President of Pride didn’t know about that).

http://mmajunkie.com/news/2094/pride-usa-vp-jerry-millen-no-truth-to-rumors.mma

by who me on Nov 19, 2008 2:32 PM EST up reply actions

Thanks for providing those for everyone who hasn’t read them. The fight game – boxing or MMA – is filled with questionable characters looking to make a buck off the many honest, hardworking people involved in the sports. Millen is Exhibit B (behind Don King), and if you don’t know about him, you should, and so should everyone else who cares about the sport and the people involved with it.

by AJB on Nov 19, 2008 7:09 PM EST up reply actions

Thanks who_me. Haven’t have a chance to read them yet, but hard to imagine someone worse than either Gary Shaw or Todd Beard. :)

by mythbuster on Nov 19, 2008 8:02 PM EST up reply actions

Jerry Millen was making MMA fans roll their eyes before Shaw or Beard ever hit the scene. It’s good to know what kind of person is saying these things when you read them, be it Shaw or White or Millen (I’ve got a feeling we won’t be hearing from Beard anymore).

by who me on Nov 19, 2008 8:37 PM EST up reply actions

I agree that it’s an obvious cry for attention, riding the coattails of the biggest fight of the year. But, there is a little truth in the fact that Dana has consistently said that Fedor not only isn’t the top pound-for-pound but not even the top heavyweight. While pound for pound is a toss up between Fedor, Silva, GSP, and Penn depending on who you ask, there is no question as to Fedor’s heavyweight dominance.

Either way, I wish Jeremy Millen would sail his ship off the edge of the world. Good ol’ Jerry seems so out of the loop that he is probably still under the impression that the world is flat.

by dropkick101 on Nov 19, 2008 11:08 AM EST reply actions

“But, there is a little truth in the fact that Dana has consistently said that Fedor not only isn’t the top pound-for-pound but not even the top heavyweight.”

While this is true…and I do have Fedor as the #1 HW in the world…I do see Dana’s side in that he needs to do it in the UFC. Because frankly one could point to Shogun and/or Cro Cop in supporting Dana’s argument.

http://mma4real.net/

by Tha Realness on Nov 19, 2008 11:26 AM EST reply actions

Dana is a promoter, I don’t see why people get so upset about the statement. Everyone who gets upset about it knows it’s false.

But you don’t hear him calling out Fedor’s management for being the leeches they are. So it’s even.

by bigweeze on Nov 19, 2008 1:31 PM EST up reply actions

On the other hand

Fedor is the one, true heavyweight champion of the world, and Dana White/The UFC consistently go out of their way to taunt, mock and otherwise sling poo at their competition. If they’re in a position to give the UFC a little of their own rhetorical medicine, why not?

by smoogy on Nov 19, 2008 11:53 AM EST reply actions

Maybe, but the involvement of Millen really debases any point they could be trying to make. He’s like the rhetorical equivalent landing on the “Go To Jail” space in Monopoly.

by Rundownloser on Nov 19, 2008 12:45 PM EST up reply actions

It’s stupid of them to call out the UFC for doing this while they are in fact doing it.

This would have been a fine piece of rhetoric, promotional bluster, whatever if they just said their piece and left out the part about what the UFC says about Anderson and Fedor.

by Phildo on Nov 19, 2008 12:46 PM EST up reply actions

Never trust an executive who plucks his eyebrows.

by Ubernoober on Nov 19, 2008 12:13 PM EST reply actions

Desperation...

I think this is a pretty good indication that the M-1/Affliction campaign is barely treading water. It’s one thing to do interviews talking up your fighters but to release this statement in hopes of causing a stir is really sad. It saddens me to see Fedor associate himself with people like this.

by Pete Smart on Nov 19, 2008 1:00 PM EST reply actions

I think the UFC is perfectly happy to allow Affliction to run its course and go under in early 2009.

Their only show has been built on the backs of the UFC banning their brand, another has been cancelled since fans didn’t seem interested. They really need some of the UFC’s attention again to build up another show and Dana should just give them the ignore treatment.

It’s like allowing someone to drown instead of trying to bury them in the press.

by bigweeze on Nov 19, 2008 1:34 PM EST up reply actions