All Purpose UFC/MMA/That Kind Of Thing Thread

Chuck Liddell on the cover of ESPN magazine.

ESPN has also announced it will now be fully covering MMA as a professional sport. They have joined up with the reporters of Sherdog.com to launch head first into becoming the premier provider of all things MMA.

There are, also, rumours that Randy Couture will be on the cover of a forth coming issue of Sports Illustrated, which is also jumping on board with full MMA coverage.

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Also a humorous note regarding hypercritical press coverage.

This is from a Meltzer update. It is regardarding the UFC's recent show in the UK.

As a preface, for those who don't know, "Private Eye" is a British satirical magazine/newspaper. The "Daily Star is one of the British national tabloids. It sells less than, "The Sun" (Britain's best selling newspaper) and "The Daily Mirror" but it is still a national newspaper.

Also, describing, "Cage Rage" a local promotion is deceptive. Cage Rage is London based, it's Europe's biggest MMA promotion, it has run venues like Wembley Arena and its' last show, which occurred on the same night as the UFC, aired live on Sky Sports.

 

What, exactly, does "full coverage" by ESPN and SI mean?

Is ESPN News going to be giving round-by-round updates of MMA matches as it did for Mayweather-De la Hoya? Will SI do much more than an occasional one-page MMA notebook like it does for horse racing, soccer, cycling and track-and-field?

 

It, probably, means that the UFC (as it was after the Serra/GSP PPV) will get coverage on Sports Centre. From reports ESPN have also made some noises about wanting to televise some UFC programming.

De Lay Hoya/Mayweather was the biggest fight (of any kind) since Lewis/Tyson. The coverage it received is nowhere near indicative of the coverage ESPN normally gives boxing. It's also nowhere near indicative of the coverage that ESPN will give MMA.

Basically, ESPN are going to cover MMA (well, the UFC at least) as a sport. In some respects that is a big step forward. While the UFC may be popular it is still on the periphery of the mainstream in the way that it is regarded by the media.

To quote from a piece Dave Meltzer did on the boxing vs mma debate for the LA Times. I know, I always quote Meltzer but, in some ways, he's the best guy covering MMA.

If you're interested the full article can be read at the LA Times website. It's in the archives now so you need to have registered. Registration is free.

http://www.latimes.com/services/site/premium/access-registered.intercept

It has also made the rounds on some boxing fourms, such as this one...

http://www.boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=62497&highlight=ufc

 

7134, ESPN News also gives round by round updates on other fights such as the Taylor-Hopkins bouts and several Winky Wright fights.

And, again, how much coverage are we talking about? You used the phrase "fully covering." What does that mean? The deal with Sherdog appears to be just for ESPN.com. Does giving five minutes per week (not per day) in the hundreds of hours of ESPN TV programming equate to "fully covering" the UFC?

And, again, what does "full coverage" by SI mean? A feature story on Couture? Congrats, Hulk Hogan appeared on the cover of SI.

 

I used the wrong words.

What I meant is that ESPN is covering the UFC as a sport. For me, as someone who remembers watching the first UFCs, albeit a few years after the fact (I was 11 when UFC 1 occurred), the fact that MMA is being covered as a sport is the big thing. By fully I mean being covered as real live sport. That is it. I don't mean being covered like the NFL.

Time will tell what kind of coverage ESPN choose to give the UFC. However, the fact that they are going to cover it as a real sport is the important thing for me. For me that's a big deal.

 

ESPN also covers competitive eating as a real, live sport. So I don't know just how big of a deal it is.

 

That is probably true.

I dunno. I live in Europe.

However, have the results of competitive eating ever been featured on, "Sports Centre"?

I honestly don't know.

As far as I know, ESPN are going to cover the UFC results on, “Sports Centre” and such. That has already happened with the GSP/Serra deal. More than that I have no idea.

Time will tell.

I think the basics are that ESPN are going to show highlights (and such) on, "Sports Centre" etc.

I don't really know though, and time will tell.

 

Yes, ESPN has shown "highlights" of the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog eating contest on "SportsCenter" the past few years. It really kicked in once ESPN2 starting airing the event live on July 4.

Perhaps you won't know, since you live in Europe, but did ESPN have video of the GSP-Serra bout or did they just give the result? The video deal is what kills boxing coverage. The PPV rights holders (HBO or Showtime) don't want to give away any of the video for free immediately after the fight. So you wind up with TV networks showing stills of the bout.

 

They showed a brief clip of the finish of the fight. It was up on "You Tube" for a while till it got pulled down for violating copyright.

 

The "Sports Illustrated" cover story on the UFC...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/05/22/ultimate0528/index.html

 

I think the point here, and as a subscriber to Private Eye for many, many years, is that the Daily Star is being entirely hypocritical in criticizing UFC, and the soccer players who attended it since they themselves are in bed with another MMA organization. They even included a photo in that edition of two Daily Star Page 3 girls with fighters at the pre-fight promo.

That's generally what P-Eye does, point out hypocrisy in the British press and government. I didn't feel like there was anything in the story that was critical of MMA in itself, just in the way the Star was covering it.

 

I found this link online.

Some background...

A week, or so, prior to UFC 70 Joe Rogan, who is the UFC's colour commentator, did a radio show on Sirius. During the show he was asked about Fedor Emelianenko.

Fedor is the Pride FC Heavyweight champion. He is considered to be the greatest MMA heavyweight currently active, the greatest heavyweight MMA fighter of all time and, perhaps, the greatest MMA fighter of all time.

Cro-Cop might show up in the UFC and assume he's going to win the belt. Cro Cop might not even bother even training in a cage even though he's never fought in one. Fedor on the other hand would be a different story.

Cro Cop might be a member of parliament in Croatia. Cro Cop might have played, at one time that coincided with his MMA career, second division professional soccer in Croatia. Cro-Cop might have been a member of the most elite Police unit Croatia has ever produced. Cro Cop is one of those people who has been cursed to live in interesting times.

Fedor is different though, and not just because he was born in the Ukraine. Fedor is Fedor. He fights. That it's it. I mean, Fedor is Fedor. He's the GOAT (Greatest of all Time)

Fedor is the rare combination of physical ability and Michael Jordan style obsessive focus. Once, he was asked by a reporter what he focuses on in training. He replied that he focuses on everything because there is no limit to perfection.

Anyway, here's what Joe Rogan had to say about Fedor...

http://www.zshare.net/audio/1934703c77f4c6/

The audio streams.