One of the things fans and MMA companies always want to talk about the sport being the next big thing in the American sports landscape. To go from being banned from cable to being on ESPN’s Sportscenter sporadically within a decade, as well as having a weekly show on the World Wide Leader in Sports, is an accomplishment that Dana White ought to be credited more for than he is. Without the UFC and the Fertittas at the helm of the organization that started it all MMA would most likely still be a small niche sport as opposed to one of the fastest growing ones in the world. And after a while it’s hard to see why not considering that the average MMA card is a better investment for entertainment value than nearly any other pay per view event out there. But there’s one major thing keeping the UFC from joining the ranks of the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, professional boxing and MLS in terms of true respectability and acceptance as more than just a niche combat sport: professionalism.
For those who haven’t been following the fight game recently, an interview from UFC 130 headliner Quinton “Rampage” Jackson came into some controversy. While it’s nothing remarkable in what he said, it’s what he did that merits note. See below.
Yeah…Rampage opted to “motorboat” a female reporter he found attractive and it was as noteworthy as him questioning Ariel Helwani’s sexuality in another post-fight interview.
Jackson is admittedly not the classiest gentleman in the game, nor will he ever be, but the reaction to everything involved in the former is remarkable in that apparently being a boorish imbecile to a reporter makes you the good guy. UFC color commentator Joe Rogan even came out swinging, using some foul & sexist language on an internet forum, and ended up apologizing for it. What’s remarkable is that he complains about “gotcha” journalism of the online variety when it was his own words, which he sat down and typed out before clicking on ‘submit,’ that some are holding him accountable for. And while we can talk all we want about the state of MMA and how it handles things like racism, sexism and homophobia one thing is clearly standing out to me.
Dana White and the UFC need to act like Roger Goodell and the NFL, post haste, if they want to ever get a seat at the table of established, mainstream sports.
It’s one thing for Dana and company to be colorful with their language, etc, because it’s part of White’s unique appeal as a commissioner figure (of sorts). Every high profile head of a sport has a unique personality and appeal. Roger Goodell is a Stetson away from imitating Timothy Olyphant in “Justified” and David Stern is about 100 pounds away from being able to be Marlon Brando in “The Godfather” with the way he keeps the league afloat. Cursing a lot isn’t that big of a deal these days; it’s unprofessional, admittedly, but there isn’t as much of a taboo to it as there was 20-30 years ago.
But it’s another to try and proclaim the UFC seeking mainstream accessibility while maintaining the same outlaw style of sport that keeps MMA from growing as fast as it could.
The one thing that Roger Goodell, for sake of argument, would never put up with is one of his high profile commentators going on a message board and using all sorts of internet flame war language against a reporter or columnist. You don’t see Al Michaels going to the NFL forums and hashing it out against some fanatic from Cleveland, Ohio, or taking issue with Chris Mortensen’s “Mort Report” in the same way Rogan went after Tomas Rios. Imagine the outrage if Troy Aikman did something similar. One can rightly perceive that his employers wouldn’t handle it without any sort of punishment.
During last year’s NFL season the New York Jets got into a massive amount of trouble for some general tomfoolery involving a reporter (Inez Sainz) wearing woefully inappropriate clothing to the point where the organization went through some sexual-harassment training, amongst other things. It may have been overkill on Goodell’s part but one can’t condone that behavior in any aspect because of the appearance of impropriety. The NFL is a professional organization and as such its members are expected to act accordingly. You’d never see an incident like what Jackson did from an NFL player go without any sort of public rebuke from the commissioner’s office as well as a fine, et al.
One of the beauties of seeing all seven UFC champions on the same stage at the same time in Toronto was that they looked like how you would present the sport’s elite. They were in suit and tie, an image for the ages, and seemed like an ideal point for the sport to boom. You would never see this in boxing and it felt as epic as the Toronto event, which sold over 50,000 tickets, was intended to. The UFC clearly wanted to put its best foot forward and present its champions, the elite of the elite, in a way that the assembled press could look on and accept. It was a statement from the UFC to everyone that the time for MMA was here.
There was an ideal being set forward, that this wasn’t a freak show but professional athletes engaging in the highest of athletics. If they want to embrace that ideal it’s time that the company acts like it and demands its employees & independent contractors do the same.
