The furore over footage / news articles circulating about the British children whom were involved in a grappling match inside a cage needs to be put into perspective.

As a fan of MMA, I was deeply disappointed that the match happened in the first place and knew that images and video of it would be used as propaganda pieces and sensationalist reporting by those who don't understand MMA.

However: context is everything. Professional soldiers might not think pictures from a warzone are much to talk about, but the public could.

Our experience and knowledge of MMA does not mitigate the fact that, without such knowledge, the *appearance* of the sport can easily be that of wanton brutality to those whom view it in passing. This is likely what happened when Joe Public saw those images of the kids grappling.

MMA is still very much in its early years and yearns for mainstream acceptance but, when issues such as these come up, fans far too quickly call foul on the very media they want covering the sport.

Rather than getting up in arms about how media reported on the matter, we should be putting our best foot forward to educate people about the true nature of the sport.

If all we can do is cat-call and decry the media, we may only succeed in reinforcing the larger perception of "cage fighters" and their fans as bloodthirsty, insensitive louts.

[Sidebar: why do you think that the long-standing "Gladiator Intro" was the first thing that Fox had the UFC axe from their broadcast package as part of their partnership?]

Mainstream media don't know the difference between grappling in a cage and an all-out, five round 'war'. Are they fighting? Yes. In a cage? Yes. So will they call it cage fighting? Bet your ass they will. Also, the term "mixed martial arts" makes less sense to a broad readership than "cage fighting" - not to mention that it is less emotive.

I've been involved in and with press and PR long enough to know their trigger points and this story pretty much tripped all of them. Not that it makes it *right*, but that's an issue with mainstream jounalism as a whole - not one that affects MMA alone.

If you don't like how biased Outlet X was in reporting on this matter, you can bet that their editorial opinions colour their reporting of everything else.

The desire for MMA to become more "mainstream" comes with the price that they will scrutinize all aspects of it and will sharply focus on the good, bad and ugly alike. 

Just think what will happen once investigative journalists from the Washington Post, New York Times, LA Times and other respected publications turn their keen eye to the sport we love.

Any skeletons in closets will be unearthed and stories may surface that make this one seem like minuscule ripples on a pond. I have a feeling more than a few will be unearthed that will shock even 'hardcore' fans.

In closing: stop crying foul on how mainstream media work and do what you can to educate whomever you can on the true nature of our sport without resorting to mud-slinging or woe-is-me rants. Only positive actions will enable positive changes. 

I'm posting to let you all know about a few offers that MMA Art website "Cage & Canvas" are running

• There's a prize draw running for the first 50 pre-orders of their Michael Bisping poster; one random person from the first 50 whom order this poster will win an autographed canvas print of Bisping.
• Another "first 50" offer is on for their Jacob "Stitch" Duran poster; once again a someone from the first 50 to order will get an autographed canvas print and a personalised, autographed copy of Stitch's biography.
• Their third offer is a simple straightforward twitter competition; if you're on twitter, simply follow @cageandcanvas and also tweet "Get unique #mma and #ufc artwork from @cageandcanvas - putting the ART into MMA" and you'll be in with a chance to win your choice of canvas print from their range.
• UPDATE: The UFC 100 media pack prize has been won, hence it being removed from this list. They're still going to draw another (secret) prize randomly from all orders placed before UFC 120, though, so anyone whom has bought so far is still in with a chance to get a little surprise :)

If none of the above grabs your interest, then why not tell them what would? :)

First off, apologies for ripping on the title of a western film a little - but you'll see it's with good reason.

I've gotten a new project off the ground called Cage & Canvas where I'm offering art print canvases and posters of fighters I've photographed over the course of the last three years.

Presently I have twenty four canvas prints available. I shouldn't have to tell you that more will be added every time I have fresh material available. The artwork is completely unique to the site and won't be available for purchase anywhere else.

One particular part I'd like to touch on are our "Signature Edition" poster prints. These litho print posters have the fighters autograph overprinted in metallic ink and - beyond that - each fighter gets a significant portion of the sale price paid directly to them.... so, in effect, your purchase is 'sponsoring' that fighter too.

Currently the signature edition prints only feature Michael Bisping - though I have several more fighters set to come on board shortly. We're also running a few competitions and special offers that will tie in with UFC 120 and other upcoming MMA events.

So: tell everyone about Cage & Canvas, follow us on Twitter and we'll naturally have a Facebook page soon too but, perhaps most importantly of all, buy some art! :)

There's been a fair bit of complaining going on about the UFC 120 card, with one commenter in particular constantly bemoaning the fact that the October 16 show is without a main event worthy of purchasing a ticket for, let alone watching from the comfort of your sofa.

A specific criticism was that the card lacked fighters whom were in "Top 10" class - something I myself place relatively little stock in but, hey, this is the internet and we've all got a Berners-Lee given right to measure and compare things :)

So: I decided to plunder the USAT/SBN rankings, strip out all the non-UFC talent and take a look at how not only UFC 120 fared, but also how other upcoming cards are shaping up. Data is after the jump

Continue reading this post »

Seething: that's how she put it. My good lady was seething after watching the UFC 117 post-fight presser, hearing Dana White say that Anderson Silva's ability to turn the tables in the last two minutes was "the stuff that makes legends"... making a statement that, on the face of it, flew contra to his willingness to consider rematching Sonnen against the man whom had just clearly beaten him.

How could you declare a fight to be legendary and yet be willing to tarnish that legend with an immediate re-run? It's a situation almost unheard of in other sports: "You don't see a world cup soccer match being replayed because the winning goal was scored in the 89th minute - the result stands. I know it wouldn't be the same fight, but I don't want to see that **** again", she said.

The logic was unassailable.

Continue reading this post »

If you're a UFC fan and/or gamer this might be right up your street:

THQ and the UFC's UK office are doing a promotion / autograph signing session where some of the British fight talent will be appearing at GameStation's stores throughout August.

At each session, two people will be randomly selected to receive a pair of tickets to UFC 120. Starting at the Metrocenter in Newcastle tomorrow between 5pm - 7pm, the full list of dates, times and fighters in attendance can be found at this site (or after the jump if you're too lazy to click through)

(DISCLAIMER: I don't work for the UFC or THQ - I'm merely going to be at one of these events in a media capacity.)

Continue reading this post »

With the news of UFC 121 in Anaheim hitting BE and the wider web, it seems that all mention of the planned card in Germany has gone out of the window.

I can tell you that this event has always been pencilled in as UFC 122; back in early June, a source of mine asked whether I would be attending UFC 122 on the weekend of November 13.

Already knowing that UFC 120 was set for London on October 16,  that logically left a narrow three week window for UFC 121 to happen. When I asked my source if he knew when or where UFC 121 was going down, I got no response.

The only other information that I have on UFC 122 is that Vitor Belfort is supposedly on tap to fight the winner of Silva vs. Sonnen at this event - a statement I had previously made in this thread.

If this goes ahead, it'll be an exciting few months for UFC title holders

• August 7 - Middleweight Title
• August 28 - Lightweight Title
• October 23 - Heavyweight Title
• November 13  - Middleweight Title
• December 18 or January 1 - Welterweight Title

1. A return to Australia in February
2. A return to Ireland in March (Likely March 19)
3. A return to Abu Dhabi in April

That just about wraps up all the info that I have to date.

In rooting around the web a bit following on from UFC 116, I've noticed that Getty Images is now the distributor of Zuffa LLC's photography from UFC / WEC events and more. (Edit: another search only showed one set of WEC photos currently on Getty and it did not have the Zuffa LLC byline)

From a preliminary search, the Getty archive now appears to have available images going as far back as UFC 67, which was Zuffa's first PPV show of 2007, headlined by Anderson Silva vs. Travis Lutter.

This is a small change that might well have a big impact on select MMA media outlets. Why? I'll post my initial thoughts and opinions after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

First off, for the sake of honesty I will say that I've not been a fan of Brock Lesnar's performances in the Octagon to date. As an MMA fan, his battles have been lacking in the "mixed" and "art" department in my opinion.

Last night, his display of fortitude and heart didn't quite make me a fan - but he did earn my respect.

When Carwin connected with the upprecut that sent Lesnar scrambling for cover, I thought we were scant minutes from the end of the fight. Lesnar was stunned and his fight-or-flight switch tripped to the latter.

Achieving mount, I thought that each blow Shane rained down would be the last... after all, Carwin had despatched the likes of Frank Mir and Gabriel Gonzaga with his lunchbox fists in short order - yet Brock weathered the storm.

I've seen criticism of Josh Rosenthal's decision to let Carwin's GnP go on for so long; doubtless there will be a few people arguing that, had it not been Lesnar with his back to the canvas, the fight would have been stopped.

Lesnar, however, was biding his time - deflecting most of the shots, absorbing some of the others yet all the while he was intelligently defending himself... one of the key criteria that Rosenthal would have used to assess whether a stoppage was needed.

Unfortunately for Carwin, all that energy expended in trying to finish Brock came with a price - lactic acid build-up in his muscle fibres that would have brought with it pain-laced lethargy and a rawness to each breath. Watching Shane sat on his stool between rounds, I knew his body was working against him.

Brock fought a smart fight . He kept his composure when mounted in the first round and then went on to utilise his key asset - his sheer bulk and weight - to neutralise Shane in the second round and work towards the submission.

In winning, Lesnar has got me wondering whom from the UFC's heavyweight roster has the tools to take his title. I know that Cain Velasquez is next in line for a shot so I guess we'll find out soon.

Perhaps Frank Mir will work his way up the ladder to earn a rubber match... or hell might freeze over and we'll see Fedor sign on with the UFC and notch up a few wins en route to challenging for the title.

Still: that's all in the future. For now, I shall tip my hat to Lesnar and congratulate him on his win - showing courage in the face of adversity that few fighters would have been able to muster.

while back, I asked the community here to back me in an issue against clothing company "The Fight Mafia"; that little headache is nearing resolution (perhaps about a few weeks away) but - like a nightmare game of Whack-A-Mole - another, near identical issue has reared it's ugly head... and I need some assistance in gathering 'evidence' :/

More after the jump, if you're so inclined

Continue reading this post »

My editors choice from the 3,035 frames I shot at UFC 112: "Invincible" this past weekend are now available to view online at this link ; I hope you enjoy viewing these photographs as much as I did taking them. For anyone interested, my own top ten selects can be viewed on my SportsShooter.com member page here. Later in the week I'll put up a little blog piece on my experiences over in the UAE. Enjoy!

In the spirit of fairness and to keep this visible, Noel Books of The Fight Mafia has posted a response on my blog comments section

For those who'd rather read it here on BE, I've copied his comment and it's readable after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Taking a leaf out of Nate "The Rock" Quarry's book, I'm finding myself in a spat with the Fight Mafia in an effort to get paid for their commercial use of a photograph I took - one they used without a licensing arrangement or consent to do so - details are here

It took Nate several months to get paid the nearly $8000 he was owed by Noel Brooks' company; I'm not seeking nearly that much from him - all I'm asking is that his company respects my copyrights and compensate me for work of mine which they've already used. 

Please feel free to pass this message along in the creative and MMA communities out there. Who's in my corner for this one??

UPDATE: April 4, 2010

Between Twitter, BE, Facebook and my blog, Noel Books has responded here and also by (a slightly less lengthy) email to me directly.

Noel's request that I furnish him with hard-copy proof is a reasonable one; the proof of ownership resides in the NEF file that was recorded by one of my Nikon D3 camera at the time of caputre. Embedded in this RAW image will be the date and time of capture along with the serial number of the camera that was used, along with all the camera control settings, what type of lens was used etc. - this is, in essence, a "Digital Negative" and an original print (full resolution TIFF or JPG) made from such a "negative" will also contain the same information.

All going well, I hope to have this issue resolved in a few weeks - there's the small matter of me heading out to UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi first but, as soon as I get back from that trip, I'll access my image archives and get the ball rolling to have this matter settled.

I'd like to thank everyone in the BE community for your continued support - I can't adequately put into words what this means to me. Naturally I'll keep everyone in the loop as to the progress and eventual outcome/resolution of this issue.

Having just gotten confirmation from ESPN that I'll be shooting UFC 111 for them (and word that my flights are booked), I was wondering who else from the land of BloodyElbow will be heading in to NY/NJ for the fights?

My plans are to stay with relations in Madsion, NJ (a short drive from the Prudential Center) but with a lot of the fight week press activities happening in Manhattan, I expect to be in NY as well for a good portion of my time.

I'm just spitballing here but perhaps a pre-fight meet-up might be an idea... maybe on the Friday following the weigh-ins? I could always use an opportunity to sell some autographed prints (haha!) 

Anyways, add your name to the list with some of your '111 plans and hopefully I'll see you around!

It's been something I harboured mixed feelings about for quite some time; the MMA picture that I'm most well known for is one of a fighter's utter defeat - yet in many ways it 'put me on the map', so to speak, and opened quite a few doors for me. I'd always wanted to thank Joe Stevenson... but how? 

 (more after the jump)

Continue reading this post »

Just announced a short while ago over on UFC.com, the second UFC Fan Expo will take place on May 28-29, 2010 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. For those who aren't au fait with diary dates, that's Memorial Day weekend (which I've always thought is an odd way to put it)

As rough around the edges as the first Fan Expo was, it was still a good experience for me and one I'd gladly look forward to attending again.

Naturally it helps that the Expo weekend will be anchored with a marquee UFC fight card - likely featuring the return of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, if rumours are to be believed - but I'd say it's way too far in the future to even speculate about what fights may be on this card. We've got two Vegas fights, Australia, New Jersey and Abu Dhabi happening before then so only time (and fighter injuries) will tell what's in store.

Anyways that's enough chatter. I'm off to see how much a room at the Mandalay costs for this weekend; perhaps I'll see some of you there?

Tweeted not that long ago, Machida has confirmed a Saturday, May 1st date will be his rematch against Mauricio "Shogun" Hua. We've got the when, now all we need to know is where;  any takers on the location for this fight? I had thought the May show was going to be Montreal.

FYI at the moment I'll treat this as 99% confirmed - if I get word from Shogun's manager to verify, I'll post an update.

UPDATE: I asked Shogun's manager if he could confirm and got this response

I guess he's just being appropriately cautious until the UFC make this bout official :)

From MMA Unlimited mag via mma.tv

Hardest hit is Aaron Riley who has a mandatory 60 days no contact after getting roughed up by Ross Pearson; the only suspensions that would run longer were if Swick, Kelly, Brown, Wilks and Hamman don't get favourable news from their doctors, in which case each could be out as long as 180 days - ouch!

Full list after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Promoted from the Fan Posts by Kid Nate.

Well I haven't had this much fun since... well, UFC 99; this past weekend in Manchester saw an action packed card full of surprise and thrills and luckily I managed to capture some of those moments from my viewpoint that I can share with you. I'll likely blog about my experience in a day or two but, for now, I'll let the pictures do the talking

First up, Andre Winner lives up to his name with an early stoppage of Rolando Delgado

 Ten more images (in the same, new format) after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

The first of my UFC 105 fight week blogs is up at http://bit.ly/31Y4xv - I'll be posting regular updates as the week progresses, sometimes at my blog, sometimes via my Twitter account (just follow @TheMadScot to find me)

It should be an interesting week if all the advance planning I've done pays off - stay tuned to find out more as and when it happens.

Oh, and if you're in town - give me a shout!

Hopefully I'm not re-hashing old news but, from the depths of twitter, it looks like Kimbo Slice is being lined up to face Houston Alexander at either UFC 107 or the TUF 10 finalé

First, Mr. Ferguson tweeted His first mistake was saying "I Accept" and then just about half an hour ago, we see HOUSTON WE HAVE A PROBLEM posted as a ReTweet on Kimbo's twitter feed.

If true, Houston is no joke for Kimbo, and we'll get to see what Mr. Ferguson's time in ATT has provided him in the way of new skills.

Conversely this is also a dangerous match for Houston; he's 0 - 3 in his last three fights so a loss to Kimbo might see him handed his hat as he leaves the octagon.