Leading up to Canadian Georges St-Pierre’s announcement of his impending retirement, I wrote about how the UFC has to rely more on light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. With UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez out for a year, GSP retired and lighter-weight fighters not drawing, it really does look like Jon Jones will be forced to carry the brunt of duties as Zuffa’s point man.
Georges St-Pierre’s tremendous desire for public validation of his talents was both his greatest strength as a fighter and his greatest weakness in terms of his personal health. He put it on the line for fans, media, and a promoter who were all just as likely to offer scathing criticism as they were to give him praise.
Finally, Kid Nate from BloodyElbow.com scheduled an MMA Tete-a-Tete with myself and former USA Today reporter Beau Dure as guests. See video embedded below.
Ideally, the relationship between professional sports organizations like the UFC and media members should be about interdependence, where both parties rely equally upon each other. In practice, many MMA media members and outlets often exist as the clingy, powerless co-dependent partners that put the needs of the UFC before the need for factual and accurate sports journalism…
The reaction was almost unanimously positive. Those who cover boxing noted the similarities in promoter’s attempts to control the media. However, it should be said that boxing writers have tremendously more freedom to point out conflict-of-interests.
MaxBoxing.com writer Gabriel Montoya, for instance, was banned from Goldenboy boxing matches for composing satirical tweets. The term of his ban? Just two cards. MMA writers can measure their banishment from fights, PR lists, conference calls and other events over the span of multiple years.
Did two radio interviews to comment on the piece. One for Sportsnet 960 in Calgary with Peter Klein; the other for SiriusXM’s Fight Club (available to listen here).
There will be a part three to this series, so stay tuned!
Thanks to Kid Nate from BloodyElbow.com for this stellar review of the book:
I just finished reading Brian J. D’Souza’s Pound for Pound: The Modern Gladiators of Mixed Martial Arts and have to strongly recommend it for anyone wanting to learn more about what goes on backstage in the lives and careers of MMA’s top athletes.
The book focuses on five of the greatest martial artists in the sport’s history including UFC champs B.J. Penn, Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua as well as Pride legend Fedor Emelianenko. I consider myself someone who follows the sport extremely closely and has since its inception in the early 1990s but this book had a TON of new facts, new stories and new insights into what really happens in the MMA business…
Also check out the MMA Tete-a-tete that I did with Kid Nate in the video below discussing the sorry state of MMA management, which fighters will end up broke and other topics:
NATE WILCOX: “Do you think we’ve seen the end of BJ Penn?”
BRIAN J. D’SOUZA: “He’s got some kind of surgery for his cataracts or something and apparently there is something put into his eye. He probably can’t spar safely or he’s taking a risk, he’ll be out a year or two while he’s having this surgery done. Fighters don’t want to retire. In the back of his mind, he’s looking at these new Lightweights and he’s saying to himself, “I can kick every one of their asses.” That’s the dialogue I think he’s having in his head. You hear Larry Holmes say this all the time, “the new Heavyweights ain’t shit, I can kick this guy’s ass.” Larry Holmes comes back when he’s old to beat up Butterbean and he does it. He does it. I wouldn’t count a comeback like that out of BJ. So, within a couple of years maybe, yeah, we’ll probably see it. I really believe it, surgery or not.”
NATE WILCOX: “BJ’s done pretty well for himself financially in his MMA career. He’s also got some inherited wealth. What’s your bet for the Joe Louis %, any chance, what’s the odds BJ Penn ends up in the men’s room handing out mints?”
BRIAN J. D’SOUZA: “Zero percent, zero percent, and the reason this is is because his Dad is a smart man and his brothers are smart men. BJ has his own web site. When you read BJ Penn’s book, OK, I remember when I met Georges (St. Pierre) I started talking about Larry Holmes but when I met Jon Jones I think I mentioned BJ’s book and, “hey, have you read his book, do you know what’s in there?” because BJ really is a smart guy, OK? He has got some good net wealth. He even has a deal with the UFC for the UFC gyms, so he’s making money from them with the UFC gym in Hawaii and this came about after Weintraub was thrown over the boat. So, you see, BJ’s not… whatever you think of his fighting, he’s the winner in my mind because I believe behind the scenes he’s done all the right things. Zero percent chance he’s broke. *laughs*”
Pound for Pound: 