Dann Stupp Defends Sean Salmon's Admission
by Luke Thomas on Sep 8, 2009 9:20 AM EDT
in MMA News
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Salmon quit, plain and simple. Self-preservation and financial well-being trumped his competitive drive. But he didn’t "throw a fight" as so many have alleged.
At any MMA event, especially amateur and small regional shows, you’ll see at least a fighter or two who simply breaks mentally. He’ll stop fighting off a submission attempt, will quit fighting and cover up, or will simply tap-out. Like Salmon, they just don’t have the heart to continue that night.
Criticize them all you want. But suggesting someone "threw a fight" — that he or she went into a contest with the intention of losing — is a whole different matter. Unfortunately, some otherwise intelligent and well-informed MMA insiders have significantly and sadly confused the two in Salmon’s case.
The outrage has already cost Salmon two future fights, and the Ohio State Athletic Commission has told him he must attend a hearing next month to discuss the situation.
Salmon may be guilty of bad judgment. Perhaps he’s open and honest to a fault. But he’s definitely not guilty of throwing a fight.
Respected, tenured athletic commission officials like Bernie Profato and Nick Lembo are deciding to investigate Salmon's statement not because they have reading comprehension skills but because the media enticed them to circumvent good judgment? Oh, come on, Dann. I confess that I'd like to believe Salmon and do wonder whether or not he simply misspoke. If he did that's a colossal error. For purposes of clarity, let's review what Salmon said again:
In the second round, I took him down again. He went for an armbar, I defended it (only to prove to myself that he couldn't get it), and then I put my arm back in to give him the win so that I could return to England, healthy. Just so you all know, that is the most embarrassing thing that I have ever admitted out loud.
Emphasis mine. In my judgment, not risking injury by quitting early is categorically different than not risking injury by aiding your opposition. So even if Salmon spoke clumsily and he's entirely innocent, it's not as if the statement is so innocuous that it renders Profato's and Lembo's concerns over the top. The one thing we know for sure is that candor isn't Salmon's only problem.
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To play devil’s advocate (which is hard considering both sides are being presented here, so I guess I’m more playing the humans’ neutral bystander but anyhoo) perhaps one could interpret Salmon’s statement “then I put my arm back in to give him the win” as just the same as Brock Lesnar saying “I gave that kneebar to Frank Mir”.
I mean with the context of the article it paints a meek portrait but maybe Salmon’s communication skills in the written word aren’t all that flash.
This shirt is "dry clean only", which means it's dirty.
That’s completely different, Brock’s statement means he made an amateur mistake and fucked up. Salmon admitted to letting his opponent win so he could get out of the fight uninjured. There’s a pretty big difference there.
Walla walla walla I'm an idiot.
by ufc4 on Sep 8, 2009 9:31 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Even if that’s the case (and given the tone of the entire article, it is quite a stretch) his editors/agents/managers/whoever is supervising and advising him should have been able to read that sentence and expect the blowback that was going to happen.
I find it interesting how Stupp is defending him, yet they could have avoided all of this if they simply emailed him and said… “Hey, is this what you want posted?” But hey, it drives hits like crazy.
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Sep 8, 2009 9:39 AM EDT up reply actions
He’s in a tough spot here.
I don’t know if he individually edits every article on junkie, but he is the EIC, so he is ultimately responsible for everything on the site. If he let someone who is so close to the site hang themselves on his pages, other people should be careful with what they say to him, because what they say to him/junkie could get them in trouble.
In my mind there were 2 good paths to take, 1 would be to be Salmon’s friend and convince him not to write what he did, because it could have negative repercussions, the other would be to let him right it than put on the journalist/angry columnist hat and blast him.
To let it be published then start with the backtracking and defending seems like the worst possible option.
but the way blogging works
is that each writer hits “publish” without anyone else reviewing it first.
Here at BE we sometimes have editorial review first if it’s a big enough story or we have concerns going in, but most times we don’t have that luxury.
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
I get that, but the EIC is still responsible (in my head anyway) and if Salmon has those capabilities on mmajunkie without oversight from somebody, that’s a lot of responsibility and something he should be taking a little more seriously.
You guys are all semi-professional writers. It’s a big deal to be writing without a net. I don’t think any good agent/manager should be letting a “full time fighter” do that.
by Phildo on Sep 8, 2009 10:36 AM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
rec’d
there had to be at least SOMEONE who proof read this and said Sean it might not be a good idea to admit you gave up in the fight
by Austin Martin on Sep 8, 2009 10:42 AM EDT up reply actions
Honestly, the backpedaling was a monumental fail.
He went from basically saying he “threw the fight” to saying he misspoke and saying that he was just mentally done. I’m sorry, but I’ll go with my gut here and say that Salmon was looking out for his financial interests.
He probably was being paid very little to take the fight, and he was probably getting a bit more money to train in England at Wolfslair helping Bisping and Kongo. That’s the facts. I’m not going to throw Salmon under the bus in the whole betting scheme, but I will say that he probably made more money as a training partner for those two than that fight, and he needed money.
An impending divorce and all the mental baggage that comes with that along with his personal situation… I feel bad for the guy, but he gave his arm so he could keep himself financially stable. The interview with Rossen was badly spoken on Salmon’s part regardless, and it sounded like he was making excuses the entire interview to make it look like it wasn’t a throwing of a fight. He did it.
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Props for admitting quitting, less props for giving the impression you threw a fight. He has disappointed the fans, the promoters, the sport. Give him 3/6 month suspension and be done with it, I don’t think he had really bad intentions, but those are things you just can’t do.
You don't look like a Tanaka.
After the event, my brother (who gambles often) told me that he thought Salmon threw the fight. I told him that if he did then he did a really good job because he won the first round and didn’t appear to be holding back at all. Though, the armbar did look like he should have been able to escape… it was pretty basic and it didn’t look that deep.
I can’t believe that he would openly admit it afterwards… it’s very strange. He was a heavy favorite against a game opponent. It was the perfect fight to throw if you’re going to do that kind of thing.
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