SB Nation User Blog: dropkick101

Another view on the Great Vlog Debacle

dropkick101 — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:49:34 -0000

I originally wrote this at Fightlinker.com. As this topic has been covered in detail at this web site, I thought it would be beneficial to post it here as well to get a sort of different view on the matter.

Dana White’s rant against Sherdog’s Loretta Hunt has been all the talk of the MMA community as of late. Since the video was posted, seemingly everyone within earshot has written an angry internet post bashing White for his supposed anti-gay and anti-female comments. Whether you think White went too far or whether you think someone of his stature shouldn’t be making comments like that in public is irrelevant. I am writing this simply to say that the criticism and backlash has been over the top.

Put as delicately as possible, people need to lighten up and cut the politically correct bullshit. Were White’s comments harsh? Yes, without a doubt. Were they meant to be hurtful to the gay community or to women? Absolutely not. They were meant to be insulting to Loretta Hunt and to whomever offered her the anonymous comment. Whether you or I agree with White’s sentiment does not matter; the man was expressing his anger towards a few select individuals, not towards two huge portions of the population who no doubt make up a percentage of his company’s fan base.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am not attempting to make this point because of any insensitivity. I have never and will never be personally subject to the social problems that females and members of the gay community endure on a daily basis; I am a straight white male. But at the same time I have been around long enough to see legitimate instances of discriminatory hatred as well as instances of “bad words” getting misconstrued as discriminatory hatred. This is the latter.

The fact of the matter is that White referred to Loretta Hunt as a “dumb bitch” because he felt as though she made him and his company look very bad with some “creative” reporting. Whether or not that was actually the case is irrelevant — that is simply what caused his anger. If a male member of the Sherdog staff was the object of White’s ire and White called that male writer a “dickhead” or an “asshole” there would have been no uproar. While women are a big part of this sport as fighters, fans, and journalists, the fact is that the fight world is and has always been a male dominated place. And when we men get angry, we tend to express ourselves in different ways than women do. It’s not sexist; it’s simply a fact of biology that men and women are wired differently and respond to stimulants in our environment in different ways.

For example, if a young boy falls off of his bike and scrapes his knee, the first reaction of the majority of females — but not all — would be to help him up, clean his wounds, and tell him it will all be all right. A large portion of men — but not all — might instead help him up, tell him to tough out the pain, and get back on the bike. Both reactions serve their parental purpose in different but beneficial ways. This is simply an example of how the sexes are different, despite the fact that many people would like to say we are all the same. We are not. Being “equal” does not mean that we have to be exactly the “same.”

My point is that Loretta is a successful journalist in a male dominated industry and she received the same backlash from White that a male writer would have received — nothing more, nothing less. If we are to live in a society where we are all truly treated equally, double standards like this need to be limited. Again, I am not advocating the unbridled rage White delivered; I am leaving my opinion out of it. What I am advocating is the deterioration of the political correctness currently seen in this country. It seems any time that someone makes an off-color remark they are labeled a “racist” or a “sexist” when, in many cases, it’s simply not the case. Frankly, it’s bullshit.

There also exists a contingent of critics out there who understand exactly what I am saying but still think it’s somehow “bad for the sport” when the face of the largest organization makes such comments. You are completely entitled to your opinion, but I would have to say I think you are wrong. The comparisons to the commissioners of the NFL, NBA, or MLB need to stop. This sport — and the UFC specifically — has always run differently than those other leagues and for good reason. People who are going to tune in to MMA are going to watch no matter what. No one is going to ban it because the president of the company used some offensive language on an internet video. (Hell, the President of the country just made a joke about retarded kids. It wasn’t done in bad taste and it was actually pretty funny.) Big time sponsors will simply say “offer an apology and try not to let it happen again” because its all about the money. If Don Imus was pulling in UFC ratings on his MSNBC show he would have never been cancelled.

On top of that, how often do we see news headlines about powerful politicians involved in extremely hairy situations — Rod Blagojevich and Larry Craig come to mind. These are the people running our country who are doing things behind the scenes that wouldn’t be shown on Cinemax at three in the morning. Love him or hate him, Dana White doesn’t try to hide who he is. Even if you don’t agree with his opinions, you have to respect a guy whose not afraid to tell you what he thinks.

As for the “faggot” comment, I’ll let the best stand-up comic working today, Louis C.K., make my point for me:

Louis C.K. on the word "faggot"

Again, this is simply a plea to the society we live in to lighten up and cut the politically correct bullshit. Hateful language aimed at a person or persons for the purpose of spewing hate based on sex, race, or religion is and always will be wrong (except against the Scientologists; Fuck them).

Plus, its not as though White was appearing on Dateline or ESPN or 20/20 or any legitimate media outlet. He was posting a video on goddamn YouTube.

Affliction 2 Buyrate (Possibly) Between 150k-200k

dropkick101 — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:26:53 -0000

There was a lot of talk involving the potential buyrate of Affliction: Day of Reckoning. Most gave the company little chance of success based on the fact that the show was sandwiched in between a hefty serving of Zuffa fight cards, among other things. While there are no official numbers yet, we do have some ballpark figures from those close to the company:

Published reports citing Golden Boy CEO Richard Schafer have put the figure between 150,000-200,000 buys, giving the promotion a low estimate--at $44.95 a pop--of between $6,742,500 and $8,990,000 in net revenue.

Atencio, citing his company's desire not to discuss money a la the UFC, put it this way: "We did 50% better than our last event."

Whether or not these numbers get the organization out of the red remains to be seen, but it is definitely positive information for Tom Atencio and friends. For the record, this writer said a few months back that the show could "potentially do 200k buys or more" and was verbally assaulted by many of the readers of this blog. With three UFC events in a row setting records, it looks like Affliction has been able to ride the growing success of MMA.

The Bright Side of Josh Barnett vs Gilbert Yvel at Affliction: Day of Reckoning

dropkick101 — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:46:50 -0000

Promoted from the FanPosts by Kid Nate.

Since the day Affliction announced Gilbert Yvel as Josh Barnett's opponent at Day of Reckoning, the reaction has been pretty similar across the board: WTF?

The problems with the match-up have been pounded to death:

Barnett is top five in the world;
Yvel isn't even ranked;
This fight would have had relevance five years ago;
The athletic commission shouldn't even sanction Yvel based on his past actions.

Despite these criticisms, I submit that this is one of the better opponents Affliction could have given Barnett. And, before anyone asks, I am not actually Gilbert Yvel nor am I related to him in any way. Nor am I working for Affliction. Simply put, for an organization that has made many misguided decisions, Affliction has done a few things that don't warrant the extreme criticism the internet MMA community has blasted it for.

While Yvel isn't a world beater, the guy has won his past 7 fights, all by stoppage and Affliction's audience of hardcore fans all know who he is. He's also, seriously, one of MMA's "bad boys" since he likes biting his opponents, beating up refs, and overall just causing more mischief than Amy Winehouse on a whiskey-and-coke bender. Match a guy like that up with an All-American boy like Barnett and you have a story; a contrived story, but a story nonetheless. We must also not forget that he has "all those tattoos" (thanks for that sound bite, Tom). In the full entry let's take a look at Affliction's other potential opponents for Barnett.

(1) Brett Rogers. Rogers was rumored to be Barnett's opponent before the Yvel signing broke. This seemed almost like a match made in heaven. Barnett needed a quality opponent and Rogers was in need of that top 10 match up that would finally allow him to become a "top fighter." While that fight made a lot of sense, let's not forget that Rogers is mixed up in the fiasco that is the EliteXC contract situation. If somebody presents you with two options for dinner, with one being obviously more delicious but potentially containing a stomach virus that won't go away, you tell them you'll go with the other one. Every time.

(2) Dave Herman. Same situation as above only the dish comes with a special white coating this time.

(3) Ben Rothwell. Depending on who you ask, Rothwell is a top ten fighter. Even those who don't concede him as a top ten guy just yet will admit that he has the ability to do so. The guy is a beast - plain and simple. There are two reasons Rothwell isn't facing off with Barnett. One is, plain and simple, money. As a community, we haven't stopped bitching about Affliction's payouts since they were released. Rothwell made a quarter million dollars when, realistically, he wasn't worth a quarter of that to the promotion. Barnett needed an opponent - not a sub-prime mortgage. Second is that Rothwell was just KOed by Arlovski in his last outing - the guy in the main event of this show. If he were to become victorious over Barnett and Arlovski over Fedor, there's no reason to re-hash that again. Let's give Big Ben one or two fights to work his way back to contender status.

(4) Roy Nelson. Same as above only the dish has lots and lots of unnecessary gravy. Also, I think there's a quota on how often you can show "Big Country's" gut on national TV before the censors start getting ornery.

(5) Aleksander Emelianenko. Aleks is equally dangerous as he is menacing-looking. If you take his prior loss to Barnett and couple that with the fact that he's Fedor's brother, you've got a built in storyline that is something Affliction doesn't know how to deal with: marketable. Sounds easy enough. Oh wait - Aleks has ghonna-sypha-lytus and no athletic commission will sanction him to fight. Maybe we can blame Fedor for allowing him to spend his down time in the red light district when he should've been training him some sambo but that's an argument for another day.

(6) Antonio Silva. Suspended for looking like he probably does steroids, maybe.

(7) Cro Cop. He has dominated Barnett on three separate occasions - do we need to see this one again? On top of that, his price tag is probably out of Affliction's range if they're listening to common sense and trying to cut down on fighter contracts.

(8) Kimbo Slice. Same EliteXC bullshit as Rogers and Herman, plus he most recently was knocked out by a guy with pink hair and a testosterone deficiency - on national television. Needless to say, a victory over Kimbo by a guy like Barnett wouldn't mean much.

(9) Tim Sylvia. Money. First and foremost. Big Tim just made $800,000 for his fight against Fedor and is probably picking his next opponent carefully (see: Shamrock, Ken). On top of that, even if he took a pay cut from his previous salary to fight Barnett, he just got KOed badly by Fedor and has fought Arlovski three times previously. Is anybody really clamoring to see Timmay fight either of those two guys again any time soon? Seriously. If you are, start taking your multivitamins. You have a chmical deficiency in your brain.

(10) Fabricio Werdum. He's a top 10 fighter and he just got released from the UFC after two very high profile victories coming between two very high profile losses. Honestly, despite his KO loss to Octagon newbie Junior Dos Santos, I think Werdum would have been the best choice as an opponent. I am assuming it had something to do with his management not being to come to terms with Affliction. Either that or Atencio had "badass tattoos" in mind instead of "fat beer-gut-looking Brazilian dude."

Playing Devil's Advocate for Junie Browning

dropkick101 — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:49:01 -0000

Disclaimer: Junie Browning's antics this season were childish and inappropriate. There is never any excuse to throw glass at somebody, especially for the trivial disagreements that caused Junie's outbursts. That is, unless they do something to piss you off and you're on a reality show that stipulates no fist fighting in the house. Then how are you going to express your anger if you don't heave glass at their face? Just kidding.

With that out of the way, I feel the need to give the devil his due. Junie is a talented prospect and that is about as far as it goes. We have seen many other fighters at his level simply fade away after a stint on TUF. Junie showed up at the TUF house with nothing really to separate himself from the pack. He was surrounded by guys with legitimate college wrestling accomplishments and unparallelled jiu-jitsu accolades. On paper, as a kid from Kentucky who barely finished high school, he had nothing on some of these guys. This was his one opportunity to make something of himself.

While Junie was in a mixed martial arts competition and labeled by the UFC president as a very talented fighter, a lot of his potential opponents were just as, if not more, talented. It was very likely that he could have lost and shattered any hopes he had of making this a career. As much as a competition this was, it was also a reality show. Junie decided to turn himself into a character that people would not soon forget. There's an old saying that the only bad attention is no attention at all. Guys like George Roop and Roli Delgado will be forgotten very quickly but fans and fighters alike will not soon get the taste of Junie's antics out of their mouths.

A lot of what Browning did was tasteless and downright dumb. At the same time, it was no doubt a smart move in order to separate himself from his competitors. He saw a flaw in the machine he could take advantage of and he did it to a tee. He could push the envelope to a certain limit and basically guarantee attention and a spot on live TV as long as he was mildly successful within the cage. After the show he used his notoriety to gain a spot at Xtreme Couture with some of the best fighters in the world in order to to turn his mid-level talents into upper level fighting skills. Has anybody heard of Jules Bruchez or John Polakowski signing up with a top level fight team?

Whether or not this type of behavior will be "rewarded" in the future by allowing guys to stay on the show remains to be seen. But, like it or not, Browning took advantage of the circumstances and put himself on the map in this sport. Based on his comments at the finale, it looks as though he succesfully used the show as a springboard to get his name out there and now that it is, he can focus on becoming a succesful mixed martial artist. While his offbeat shenanigans deserve no respect, there's no doubt he does deserve a certain level of respect simply for being an opportunist.

Randy Couture to star in The Expendables

dropkick101 — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 17:31:49 -0000

The Expendables is a new movie being written and directed by Sylvester Stallone. Stallone will also star. From Ain't It Cool News:

Randy Couture has been added to the movie's cast, joining the already announced Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Dolph Lundgren. Sly's hoping he'll be able to give Couture an excellent boost towards big screen action stardom.

In the movie, a group of mercenaries infiltrate a South American country to overthrow its dictator and free the population. Oscar winner Forest Whitaker is also attached to play an important role, which will no doubt bring a certain level of credibility to the film.

This is absolutely outstanding for Randy. If he's going to do anything of note with an acting career, starring alongside names like Stallone, Statham, Li, and Lundgren is the best way to start. Stallone and Lundgren appeared in some of the definitive action movies of the 80s and 90s and the same can be said for Statham and Li for the present day.

Derailment of the Rashad Evans Hype Train

dropkick101 — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:10:23 -0000

Rashad Evans is a good fighter. Any athlete able to go 12 contests in a row without a loss - or 16 according to the UFC - is above average. Disclaimer out of the way, the only major accomplishment in Rashad's career has been knocking out Chuck Liddell, whose skills and reaction time has been declining anyway.

Throughout his UFC career, Evans has been on the winning side of too many fights that were incredibly close, against a number of opponents who probably shouldn't have been in the UFC in the first place. Evans still can't seem to understand why the fans don't take too kindly to him, even after he proved himself as more than legitimate with the Liddell victory. The reason being, one big win after a slew of unimpressive performances where he seemed to always have luck or the judges on his side isn't going to turn haters into fans.

Let's take a quick career retrospective, looking at the quality of "Sugar's" opponents.

(1) At the TUF2 finale, Rashad won the contract by defeating Brad Imes via close split decision. The Hillbilly Heart Throb wound up getting armbarred in his very next fight by middling Dan Christison. Imes is tough but he is mid level at best.

(2) After that, Rashad took another split decision over Sam Hoger. Hoger went on to suffer defeats to Lyoto Machida (which is respectable) and Vernon White (which is not). Hoger is a part-time mid level fighter.

(3) In his third UFC appearance, Rashad took a close majority decision over Stephan Bonnar. The fight could have gone either way but Rasad wrestled his way to a victory. Bonnar is an above average fighter with a quality Gracie jiu-jitsu pedigree and golden gloves level stand up. Rashad wrestled him to eek out a majority decision. Unimpressive.

(4) Evans then TKOed Jason Lambert. "The Punisher" was on an impressive 8 fight win streak at the time, including 3 stoppage wins in the UFC. Since losing to Evans, Lambert has dropped 3 of 4 bouts in the organization. The victory was impressive at the time but looking back, not so much.

(5) Next was the highlight reel head kick over Sean Salmon. While there is no denying the deciveness of the victory, it is readily apparent that, to put it bluntly, Sean Salmon sucks. Since the brutal knockout, Salmon has been stopped by Alan Belcher, Travis Wiuff, Jorge Santiago, and Josh Haynes - who sports an 11-10 record.

(6) Tito Ortiz was next for Rashad to see if he could hang with the big boys. Tito would have had the victory if not for a point deduction. Rashad proved here that he could compete with the top guys but not to the point where he could win. It was counted as a draw nonetheless.

(7) Rashad then entered his first main event fight against Michael Bisping. Rashad previously fought at heavyweight while Bisping has since moved to middleweight. Needless to say, Rashad had a distinct size advantage yet still only eeked out a split decision in a fight that could have gone either way, once again.

(8) Then Rashad highlight reeled the shit out of The Iceman. Hats off to him.

UFC 95: Conundrum

dropkick101 — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 09:04:58 -0000

The UFC has blown up to the point where every card is a supercard. For every event with a marquee attraction of Franklin v. Okami or Bisping v. Leben, there are ten cards with stellar main events. Last month, at UFC 91, we saw Lesnar v. Couture - one of the biggest fights in company history. UFC 92 has three blockbuster main events. UFC 93 is going to feature both Franklin v. Henderson and the Shogun v. Coleman rematch. UFC 94 has GSP v. Penn II - nothing more needs to be said about the magnitude of that fight.

This leaves a slight problem. As MMA fans we are going to be oversaturated with blockbuster UFC fights for the next few months. While the UFC has built up the greatest pool of talent on the planet, it can only be spread so thin. Neither Randy or Chuck will be ready to go by February. Anderson Silva has already said he's not fighting until April. Brock Lesnar is fighting the winner of the Nog/Mir match and that won't happen until April at the earliest. Needless to say, the UFC has no major talent available to headline the February show.

Frankly, with Anderson Silva absent from the card, I can't imagine what the main event at UFC 95 in London might be. Every single title is tied up and every major name is involved in something. Silva's manager has come out and said that he won't be returning until April but that is likely due to the UFC's failure to find an adequate opponent.

Without Anderson Silva in the main event at UFC 95, there is no other option. Even Michael Bisping, who has been involved in two sub-par main events, is being held off for TUF9. Diego Sanchez v. Sean Sherk seems likely as an upcoming lightweight fight but that would only be adequate as a co-main event, not enough to carry an entire show. Hughes v. Serra is going to be a big fight but both competitors have said they won't be physically ready until April due to nagging injuries.

Anderson Silva appears to be the only option. While he apparently wants big fights, there are only so many available - specifically, the superstars of the light heavyweight division and Bisping, should he be victorious in his next outing. Right now, all of those options are on hold. Silva has earned the moniker of pound for pound best and has the right to be involved in "big" fights.

Silva and the UFC are going to have to meet somewhere in the middle. The company needs him at the top of this card and he wants a better opponent than Thales Leites. While a fight with Yushin Okami is not a "mega fight" by any means, it could be marketed as such. Okami is the last man Silva suffered a lost to, albeit via DQ but a loss nonetheless. On top of that, Okami also seems to be the last top contender Silva has yet to beat at middleweight. Leites, Bisping, and Demian Maia all seem primed to one day fill that void but none are at that point yet. The problem is that Okami is fighting Dean Lister at The Ultimate 2008. It would be a quick turn around but it would still be at least 8 weeks in between fights. An opportunity to fight for the belt would give incentive to Okami to fight again so quickly. This would all be contingent on "Thunder" actually winning in the Lister fight.

If the Okami situation fails to pan out, a legitimate offer would have to be made to either Liddell or Couture to step in the octagon against Silva. Neither man has expressed huge interest in the fight but if the UFC made a convinving pitch to either fighter - an opportunity to best the top fighter in the world (with lots of money involved) - it doesn't seem likely that either would turn it down. This is simply the best option. Liddell and Couture both need big fights at this point in their respective careers and aren't too keen on fighting each other for a fourth time. Silva needs a big fight and both Couture and Liddell would provide that.

Anderson Silva v. Chuck Liddell Still Possible?

dropkick101 — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:39:59 -0000

Anderson Silva's manager, Ed Soares, was asked about the middleweight champion's change of heart concerning a fight at UFC 95 in February. From CagePotato.com:

"With our timing and our scheduling, it just makes more sense to come back [in April]," Soares said."As of right now, nothing has been 100 percent decided yet," Soares said. "It looks like we're looking to fight in April. We don't know what can happen, but as of right now, I think we're going to be fighting in April."

Anderson's comments after his fight at UFC 90 gave the impression that he wanted to get back in the cage as soon as possible. This was coupled with the fact that he (and Soares) had previously stated they wanted "big fights."

With Silva still planning to retire within the next year or two, he wants to get the biggest bang for his buck with his current moniker of "pound for pound" king - and rightfully so. The message to UFC brass was cut and dry: Silva wants big fights and he wants them often. Then Dana came out and said that Thales Leites was at the top of the contenders list. It sounds as though the thought of stepping into the octagon with Leities didn't cause Silva to start salivating.

But if not Leites in February, who could Silva face in April? Well, a guy by the name of Chuck Liddell has been going around saying that he's not looking to fight again until April. He also stated in an interview that no one had talked to him about a potential bout with Silva - but this doesn't mean he wouldn't be up for it. The only person that seems against the fight at this point is Dana White, but that might be based more on his desire to see his old friend Chuck get back in the win column rather than suffer another potential loss. In the end, the interests of good business will trump any personal feelings.

It looks as though Anderson Silva is gunning for a fight with the Iceman. Chuck needs a big time opponent, as does Silva, and neither are currently booked for a fight. No matter the outcome, it would be a win-win for the UFC and the fans alike. If Anderson Silva wins, and does so decisively, he finally crosses over and becomes the big draw he should be. If Chuck is able to pull out the upset, he's back on top after his recent string of losses. Either way, we get a superfight between two living legends - what more could you want? Announcing this fight just in time for the holidays would be the perfect gift for the MMA fan base from the Zuffa brass.

More Fun Quotes from Justin McCully

dropkick101 — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:19:17 -0000

This is a follow up to a previous post.

From an interview at UFC.com:

You know I never graduated high school. Actually, I didn’t graduate elementary school, I didn’t graduate junior high school and I didn’t graduate high school. I was usually either ditching class or just not there, going surfing with my buddies or whatever it was; just trying to find a little bit of trouble to keep myself entertained. But high school football was probably the thing that kept me out of juvenile hall and in a good light.

I don't know how it was where McCully grew up, but where I'm from you don't go to junior high until you graduate elementary school. Similarly, they don't let you into high school until you graduate junior high. If he didn't graduate those two, how did he make it to high school? And if he never went to class or graduated anything, how did he play football for the high school team? I'm so confused.

I’ve talked with my family and my coaches, and I’ve thought about maybe making this my retirement fight. Even though maybe I’m not competing anymore, I’ll definitely do some commentary, I’ll write articles, and politically I’ll try to get involved with the sport to help it grow and get better. I don’t know what my legacy will be - I guess I’ll leave that up to the future.

I don't even know. First off, commentary requires the ability to say intelligent and insightful things in rapid succession. As for a legacy - Can we have an ounce of self-realization here? I think something like "big guy who fought in the UFC a few times" is about as far as that one is going to go.

As for McCully's thoughts on his upcoming opponent:

Eddie Sanchez, I think he’s a beautiful fighter.

Eddie Sanchez is an ugly man. And if you're talking about his fighting style, it could be described as an all over the place brawling type. His style occasionally knocks people out and in that way is effective, but it's overall pretty sloppy and ugly - not beautiful. I'd like to think McCully fashions Sanchez as a beautiful looking man.

Out of Touch with Reality: Justin McCully Edition

dropkick101 — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:03:18 -0000

From MMAJunkie.com:

For me going from Antoni Hardonk to Gabriel Gonzaga, that's probably the two toughest fights I've ever seen anybody have in the UFC.

There's no doubt Hardonk is a good striker but at the same time he is nothing more than a B-level fighter, a guy on the lower level of the heavyweight ladder. Gonzaga is a legitimate contender. Are those the toughest fights anybody has had in the UFC? Absolutely not. That is an absolutely ludicrous statement.

Dan Henderson came in and fought Rampage Jackson and Anderson Silva in a row. Brock Lesnar fought Frank Mir, Heath Herring, and Randy Couture in his first three fights with the company. Clay Guida had four fights in a row against upper quality ligthweights - Din Thomas, Tyson Griffin, Marcus Aurelio, and Roger Huerta. I could go on for days.

There are no easy fights in the UFC. There are no gimmes. Every fight is going to be tough. McCully fought a B-level guy and then a contender. That sounds pretty normal. Every fighter has to self-promote in interviews but to come out with completely nonsensical statements just makes you look out of touch with reality.

McCully, I will take this one as a slip of the tongue, a mistatement. If it happens again, I'm going to start believing that the moniker of "The Insane One" is more than just a silly nickname.