Are some members of the MMA Media too critical?
by Decado on Jun 3, 2011 9:31 AM EDT
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First up a warning: This will be quite long and a little on the rambling side at times. apologies in advance. TL;DR at the bottom.
Over the past few weeks we've seen certain members and sections of the MMA media go pretty crazy with the whole 'This is why MMA isn't seen as a legitimate sport!' and 'Thank god we don't get mainstream media attention or MMA would be finished!'
Bull.
What Rampage does is wildly inappropriate at times and is absolutely not something to be condoned or encouraged, but to act like the media reaction has been proportionate; that it's some kind of act that would get people kicked out of other sports is ridiculous. Examples of WHY that's the case after the jump.
First lets take a real quick look at boxing. Is boxing a mainstream sport? I'm pretty sure more or less everyone would say yes, so lets take a look at some of the things that have happened in boxing over the past couple of decades that didn't see guys kicked out of the sport, or "kill" boxing.
Mike Tyson: For those of you who DON'T know, Mike Tyson was several times worse than rampage in interviews, going so far as to say "I normally don't do interviews with women unless I fornicate with them. So you shouldn't talk anymore ... Unless you want to, you know." He was deadly serious and sexually aggressive and threatening as well. He also beat up his wife Robin Givens and made jokes about it - oh and he was convicted of rape.
After all of that he STILL had a career.
Floyd Mayweather: How about the fact that, among various other warrants and charges over the year, Mayweather has EIGHT felony charges in the last 18 months or so. Take a minute to let that sink in.
For anyone who doesn't follow boxing, Those 2 guys are quite possibly the biggest names in boxing over the past 20 years. They're not just some top 5 or 10 in a weightclass guys like Rampage, They have been the face of the entire sport at times.
Now lets go back to MMA for a minute. The outrage over Rampage has been HUGE among certain sections of the MMA media who seem to revel in the fact they can put themselves on a pedestal and look down on the MMA fans. I've seen posts from journalists saying things along the lines of 'MMA fans are morons, 9/10 of them don't see this as a big deal.' They are actually suggesting that because MMA fans don't see this as a huge thing, the MMA fans are idiots.
I'm going to take a moment here to reiterate that in no way am i suggesting Rampage's various idiotic acts bordering on sexual harassment are acceptable, what I AM suggesting is various members of the MMA media have taken the opportunity to jump on the very high and mighty bandwagon and blow the latest incident WAY out of proportion. The fact Rampage MIMED motorboating a journalist has had more criticism thrown at it that when Cesar Gracie's camp ASSAULTED a man on live TV.
I'm going to repeat that to let it sink in. A crime committed live that could result in a jail term for the people involved had less outrage from the MMA media that some quasi-offensive interview that could be construed as *POSSIBLY* being borderline sexual harassment.
Go see if you can find any pieces by Maggie Hendricks on THAT.
Do you think that maybe - just maybe, MMA fans don't really care about it because, well, it's not a huge deal? Am I alone in thinking that some of this "outrage" is manufactured to drive up site traffic? Or that some sections of the MMA media take opportunities like this to position themselves above the fans? How about some of them trying so damn hard to be taken seriously as journalists that they will take every and any opportunity to relentlessly crap on the smallest mistake by anyone, from rampage air motorboating, to Joe Rogan daring to call a woman c*nty as if that legitimizes them as "professionals".
Who knows, maybe i'm wrong. Maybe i'm out of touch and if a boxer did flirt with a reporter and pretend to motorboat her the sky would fall. Maybe that genuinely is the most horrendous thing some people have ever seen. Maybe its a huge deal and i'm the idiot for not seeing it, so lets put it to the public:
Is the Rampage "incident" being overblown by 'journalists' for their own gain, or am I just a clueless neanderthal misogynist?
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"Thats great but who are the Chefs?"
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by Matthew Roth on Jun 3, 2011 10:15 AM EDT up reply actions
Speaking of snickers
Amazing!
It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.
by Jesse Holland on Jun 3, 2011 10:25 AM EDT up reply actions
Technically, I think what Rampage did can be construed as “assault” in many states…
But overall I think you’re right. Coming off of a very weak event without many storylines, this landed in the lap of many bloggers. The days of journalism are over… the days of “hey look at that!” youtube-linking bloggers are upon us.
Getting bent out of shape over a fight promoter lying is like getting upset that a hooker won't kiss you. It betrays a deep lack of understanding of the nature of the profession.
I do not know about most states, but I do know in my state his motor boating or the fake humping are not assault or sexual assault. If it caused an uproar it could MAYBE be disorderly conduct.
This is not me approving of or disapproving of his actions. Just stating the legal status of them in my state.
So, what Rampage did was okay because Tyson did worse things? Well, that makes sense. That’s like saying it’s okay to kill one person because there’s a serial killer that’s murdered 15 people the other day.
No it’s not. Tyson and Rampage did not do the same act to a different level, they did two entirely different things. Rampage was innapropriate with a member of the media who has stated that she was OK with it (which does not excuse his behavior). Tyson raped a woman. Those are apples and orangutans.
You retired from kick boxing in 2006. If you had to do it all over again, would you have tried fighting in MMA?
Jean-Charles Skarbowsky: No.
Sure, which was my point. I meant to say that what Rampage did was nowhere near what Tyson did, but even then, that doesn’t excuse what Rampage did. He shouldn’t have done it, and in any other professional sports league would’ve taken care of it instead of finding it funny as I suspect Dana did.
Hmm, I think you’re missing the point of the post entirely.
It’s not about whether what rampage done is “ok” (I think most people agree it was, at the very least, ill advised) It’s about whether or not the medias reaction to it has been proportionate to what ACTUALLY happened.
Flirting and pretending – this is important, PRETENDING to motorboat the interviewer, not actually physically touching her, should not get several frontpage articles on various MMA sites.
Fair enough. I disagree, I think it’s a problem. You don’t see Tom Brady or Sidney Crosby disrespect female reporters. And when there is someone who disrespects a female reporter like some players of a NFL team did last season (can’t remember which team it was), the league steps in and reprimands them.
The Jets, I think.
"So even though it’s the gayest sport ever, MMA is still the best sport ever. I love my gay sport." - Wrestling Uber Alles
"Ellismania is, along with the black President, a symbol of the future." - Mayhem Miller
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The league did not reprimand them.
You retired from kick boxing in 2006. If you had to do it all over again, would you have tried fighting in MMA?
Jean-Charles Skarbowsky: No.
Well, they investigated it and didn’t laugh it off.
Similar thing happened with Clinton Portis:
article
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league condemns Portis’ remarks.
“The comments are clearly inappropriate, offensive, and have no place in the NFL,” Aiello said. “We have contacted the Redskins and they will discuss the matter directly with Mr. Portis.”
I could be wrong..
I don’t follow football much, but i don’t remember the Portis comments being front page news for almost a week on NFL sites?
p.s I think it’s important to point out theres a big difference between 50 something guys making comments to a female reporter who then files a COMPLAINT about it, and a one on one interview where the guy is flirting and the interviewer DOESN’T complain.
Sure, there is a difference. But the point is that he shouldn’t be doing it, at all. Nobody should be. And unfortunately, Jackson will keep doing this stupid crap until someone actually files a harrassment suit against him, or that Dana White realizes disrespecting media members (regardless of sex) isn’t good for business and talks to Jackson.
More than anything, Dana White’s the one to blame here. He shouldn’t handled it as soon as it happened. It took him about an hour to talk Lesnar for disrespecting a UFC sponsor, but still hasn’t addressed Jackson’s disrespect of a female reporter. That really shows Dana’s values.
At no point did the piece suggest that in the slightest.
The Tyson example was used to counter the claims that what rampage done would somehow kill MMA, or that what he done would get him thrown out of a mainstream sport.
By showing examples from mainstream sports which were several times worse I was showing that this fear is pretty much unfounded.
The difference is,...
…by the time you had Tyson/Mayweather, boxing was established. MMA is not.
"So even though it’s the gayest sport ever, MMA is still the best sport ever. I love my gay sport." - Wrestling Uber Alles
"Ellismania is, along with the black President, a symbol of the future." - Mayhem Miller
Tweeter!
This lets me reply to both of these comments at once
Theres an example of someone saying that because MMA isn’t established something like the Rampage incident could get blown up and “kill” mma. Please note the " ". I don’t mean people think it will literally make MMA dead, just that it could have a serious impact on it in some way.
I agree to a point.
I don’t think it’ll have a serious impact in that it’ll make MMA go away, but I do think it restricts future growth a little.
"So even though it’s the gayest sport ever, MMA is still the best sport ever. I love my gay sport." - Wrestling Uber Alles
"Ellismania is, along with the black President, a symbol of the future." - Mayhem Miller
Tweeter!
meh
its rampage, but i thought it was unusual.
on the media’s part, its something to talk about, its been a slow mma month..
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