One of the big debates in the journalism wars over the last few years is over the value of bloggers measured against reporters. I see the value in each, and one of my biggest heroes is David Remnick, an incredible reporter who is now the editor of the New Yorker.
That being said, mainstream journalists do a terrible job covering MMA. They don't take the time to learn much about it, and so much of what they say comes off as embarrassing. I laughed when Michael Wilbon didn't even know there was a ground game in MMA. This would be like someone going "defense!?!?!" when an analyst talked about the Spurs' defense, as if they had never heard of the concept before. It's simply pathetic.
I want to echo Fightlinker's thoughts on Joshua Robinson "quoting" MMA Junkie:
“Way to go ‘Dirty Dan’ Miragliotta!” read one post on mmajunkie.com. “What were your instructions? If Kimbo doesn’t get knocked out, make sure he wins the fight?”
That is only an appropriate quote of the site if I can quote the New York Times for stupid things my neighbor who reads the New York Times says to me whenever I see her.
This isn't a surprise though, much of the debate about sports blogs and journalists is derailed by journalists quoting commenters, as if they are raising any kind of serious point.