MMA Journalism - Removes MMA Goon Culture Stains In Only One Application

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Hammer House: Stinger Splash Zone > MMA Journalism - Removes MMA Goon Culture Stains In Only One Application

«‹›42 »

1st AD: Dec 3, 2004; Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: sometimes passing just isn't an option.

It was pretty funny when the Edgar/Bendo card did an okay live gate and also was just as loud as any non-Brazil UFC card.

# ? Jan 20, 2014 17:11

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 30, 2024 02:39

Chrom1um: Dec 31, 2005; Come and join my doomsday cult!

david carmichael posted:

the article about how the ufc would do poorly in japan because of the inscrutable nature of the japanee was pretty useful, for me.

It was also kind of bullshit. The millions of casual fans from the PRIDE days are all gone, sure, but they still have plenty of hardcore nerds like us who are willing to buy tickets.

I actually think the UFC isn't giving Japan enough love these days and should seriously be going there more than once a year. As far as they've fallen they still have a very strong indy scene and are still producing plenty of talent. It'd be very easy to do one PPV card and two Fight Pass cards a year there.

# ? Jan 20, 2014 18:56

gimpsuitjones: Mar 27, 2007; What are you lookin at...

http://fightland.vice.com/blog/fedor-emelianenko-is-the-only-sort-of-bright-spot-in-the-Lead-up-to-sochi-olympics

Josh Rosenblatt still a talentless moron, water still wet

# ? Jan 20, 2014 19:40

DumbWhiteGuy: Jul 4, 2007; You need haters. Fellas if you got 20 haters, you need 40 of them motherfuckers. If there's any haters in here that don't have nobody to hate on, feel free to hate on me

Bean Fried posted:

It was also kind of bullshit. The millions of casual fans from the PRIDE days are all gone, sure, but they still have plenty of hardcore nerds like us who are willing to buy tickets.

I actually think the UFC isn't giving Japan enough love these days and should seriously be going there more than once a year. As far as they've fallen they still have a very strong indy scene and are still producing plenty of talent. It'd be very easy to do one PPV card and two Fight Pass cards a year there.

They are going to do a lot of cards this year so I wouldn't be surprised if Japan gets a few Fight Nights. Wouldn't count on a PPV though.

# ? Jan 20, 2014 21:01

MassRafTer: May 26, 2001; BAEST MODE!!!

1st AD posted:

It was pretty funny when the Edgar/Bendo card did an okay live gate and also was just as loud as any non-Brazil UFC card.

It wasn't just an OK live gate, I think it was the biggest UFC crowd of the year.

# ? Jan 20, 2014 21:42

Fat Twitter Man: Jan 24, 2007; by R. Guyovich

Mark Fischer said last year that they'd like to do 4+ shows a year there but don't really have the infrastructure to run and promote that many the way they do in the US and Brazil, but they're working on it. Just because the market exists doesn't mean running shows is easy.

# ? Jan 20, 2014 21:55

DekeThornton: Sep 2, 2011; Be friends!

Not purely MMA journalism, but as a fairly big Anthony Bourdain fan this long interview with him and his wife about BJJ and other things was a pretty good read.

DekeThornton fucked around with this message at 23:52 on Feb 7, 2014

# ? Jan 23, 2014 11:39

MacDeuce: Oct 23, 2010

this is my favorite MMA Journalism headline:

http://mmajunkie.com/2014/02/one-mans-worst-fighter-ever-is-another-mans-band-aid/

# ? Feb 5, 2014 05:11

Captain Log: Oct 2, 2006; Now I am become Borb,
the Destroyer of Seeb

DekeThornton posted:

Not purely MMA journalism, but as a fairly big Anthony Boourdain fan this long interview with him and his wife about BJJ and other things was a pretty good read.

Bourdain is the mother loving man. I hope when I'm 57 I'm traveling the world and still have enough energy to roll without dying.

# ? Feb 5, 2014 16:48

Lord Waffle Beard: Dec 7, 2013

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/03ccce22-aebf-11e3-aaa6-00144feab7de.html#axzz2wswPmOH6

# ? Mar 25, 2014 05:20

Triticum Guzzler: Jun 16, 2002

Lord Waffle Beard posted:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/03ccce22-aebf-11e3-aaa6-00144feab7de.html#axzz2wswPmOH6

that's a handsome portrait of tito and dana's son

# ? Mar 25, 2014 09:12

mewse: May 2, 2006

Lord Waffle Beard posted:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/03ccce22-aebf-11e3-aaa6-00144feab7de.html#axzz2wswPmOH6

I like that they disclosed what they ate, and what the bill was.

# ? Mar 25, 2014 13:46

LobsterMobster: Oct 29, 2009; "I was being quiet and trying to be a good boy but he dialed the right combination to open the throw-down vault and it was on."

"Walter Foxx is ten times brighter than your bulb at the bottom of the tree merry xmas"

mewse posted:

I like that they disclosed what they ate, and what the bill was.

That's a little something called journalistic integrity :smug:

# ? Mar 25, 2014 13:47

mewse: May 2, 2006

LobsterMobster posted:

That's a little something called journalistic integrity

I wasn't really being sarcastic, it's a minor thing that they didn't have to do but it adds to the impression that the reporting of the conversation is unbiased

# ? Mar 25, 2014 13:49

Lord Waffle Beard: Dec 7, 2013

Tim Burke cares about the dumb UFC Rankings a lot, also rankings in general, and does all the updates on rankings

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/4/9/5597744/ufc-rankings-changes-divisions-machida-cormier

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/rankings

quote:

If you can't even figure out that these guys need to be dropped from the rankings in a DIVISION THEY DON'T EVEN FIGHT IN ANY MORE, then there's no need for me to criticize you for having Mike Easton ahead of Takeya Mizugaki at bantamweight, or Shogun Rua ahead of Chael Sonnen at light heavyweight. I'll start with the really simple stuff and make my way up to things like that sort of tomfoolery.

I'm 100% serious when I say he might have aspergers

# ? Apr 9, 2014 22:18

LobsterMobster: Oct 29, 2009; "I was being quiet and trying to be a good boy but he dialed the right combination to open the throw-down vault and it was on."

"Walter Foxx is ten times brighter than your bulb at the bottom of the tree merry xmas"

Lord Waffle Beard posted:

Tim Burke cares about the dumb UFC Rankings a lot, also rankings in general, and does all the updates on rankings

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/4/9/5597744/ufc-rankings-changes-divisions-machida-cormier

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/rankings

I'm 100% serious when I say he might have aspergers

Yeah, but maybe people shouldn't be trying to rank dudes in divisions they aren't in any more. We basically had a guideline on that end for the few months we tried to rank fighters (Would kind of like to see that return at some point)

# ? Apr 9, 2014 22:36

Grifter: Jul 24, 2003; I do this technique called a suplex. You probably haven't heard of it, it's pretty obscure.

Yuriy posted:

Our very own LobsterMobster did a cool article on fighter's dogs

http://www.uproxx.com/sports/2014/01/fighter-dogs-power-rankings/

Pretty neat but I feel like War Machine's snakes should be in the section w/ the bunnies and not-dogs.

Might just be me, but it looks like the links in this that are supposed to go to instagram are malformed. Also, where is Weidman's bad financial decision dog.

# ? Apr 9, 2014 22:43

Lord Waffle Beard: Dec 7, 2013

LobsterMobster posted:

Yeah, but maybe people shouldn't be trying to rank dudes in divisions they aren't in any more. We basically had a guideline on that end for the few months we tried to rank fighters (Would kind of like to see that return at some point)

That makes sense and I don't necessarily disagree with him.

I just never really cared about rankings in MMA and especially the UFC-only ones. MMA has an incredible amount of randomness to it and when you get to the most skilled guys they could fight each other 10 times and have 10 different results, and I'm sure a lot of it is based on MMA Math instead of skillsets.

# ? Apr 9, 2014 23:04

Tacky-Ass Rococco: Sep 7, 2010; by R. Guyovich

Lord Waffle Beard posted:

That makes sense and I don't necessarily disagree with him.

I just never really cared about rankings in MMA and especially the UFC-only ones. MMA has an incredible amount of randomness to it and when you get to the most skilled guys they could fight each other 10 times and have 10 different results, and I'm sure a lot of it is based on MMA Math instead of skillsets.

Please name those 10 different results.

# ? Apr 9, 2014 23:27

Lord Waffle Beard: Dec 7, 2013

Jack of Hearts posted:

Please name those 10 different results.

I could easily name 10 different ways a hypothetical MMA fight could end, but what would be the point?

# ? Apr 9, 2014 23:31

1st AD: Dec 3, 2004; Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: sometimes passing just isn't an option.

Rankings don't work like that

# ? Apr 10, 2014 01:33

Bundt Cake: Aug 17, 2003; ;(

Just say no to rankings

# ? Apr 10, 2014 05:33

Bluedeanie: Jul 20, 2008; It's no longer a blue world, Max. Where could we go?

I have just joined the illustrious and smelly ranks of MMA journalism! Kind of.

A kid who attended a local high school and worked nearby for a while has been a pro fighter and just signed a UFC contract to take on Estevan Payan after Mike Brown got injured. He's relatively unknown but is 9-0 and even won a category in the inaugural PSP MMA Awards! It was worst ref decision for that time the ref stood over his unconscious opponent and didn't call the fight :ssh:

Since I work for a community newspaper that covers the high school he graduated from and his dad still lives in town, I did a profile story on him. Our primary demographic is 'Central Missouri Grandparents' so it was kind of necessary to assume our readers don't know what the hell MMA is, so that's why it reads a lot more like a feature story and stops to explain things like BJJ a few times throughout. But I think he has a cool story and seemed like a very nice guy, so in case you want to read up on that guy you haven't heard of who's replacing that guy you have, I figured I'd post.

Bluedeanie posted:

South Callaway grad, MMA fighter signs UFC contract
Alex White takes on Estevan Payan in short-notice televised bout April 19

Pretty much everyone who remembers Alex White from the time he attended South Callaway High School before graduating in 2007 described him the same way: a quiet kid who kept to himself.

They probably wouldn�t recognize White when the cage door shuts behind him and he goes to work as Alex �The Spartan� White, a 9-0 mixed martial arts fighter known for his brawling style and submission wins.

Since 2008, when he trained at what is now Universal Fitness in Park Hills while working at McDonald�s and living in a friend�s camper, White has made his living fighting across Missouri and the world in smaller MMA promotions. He always had aspirations as a fighter to perform on the biggest stage in his sport, the Ultimate Fighting Championship�s renowned Octagon, but that opportunity came sooner than he thought.

White�s management received the call last week for him to join the UFC�s featherweight roster in a bout against Estevan Payan on April 19, after veteran fighter and former WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown was forced off the card with an injury.

The bout airs Saturday on the FOX Sports 1 preliminary card of UFC on FOX 11. The prelims begin at 4 p.m.

Although many people from high school and his hometown of Arcadia aren�t always familiar with MMA � a sport in which fighters use a combination of striking and grappling disciplines to beat their opponent by knockout, submission or judges� decision � White said he usually gets a positive reaction when people who knew him find out what he does for a living.

�They�re kind of proud of me. I went from shy little me who stuck to himself, to doing something big like this, and I never would have guessed it,� White said. �I encourage them to do the same thing for whatever they want to do.�

White said much of his shyness came from a childhood incident in which he nearly died after he accidentally drank gasoline his father had put in a cup when their car broke down on a road trip. White survived the ordeal, but the accident burned his vocal chords and left him with a speech impediment that became a target of bullying.

He continued attending school in Arcadia until his freshman year when he got in a fight at school. White then moved to live with his father, Bob, in Fulton, attending South Callaway and running on the school�s cross country team.

�I was made fun of and all that, so of course you keep to yourself,� Alex White said. �I made myself go out and see what this gym was about to begin with, and develop confidence and believe in myself more. I�m more outgoing now, more outspoken. I don�t stay in my inner circle, I go out a bit, just go do whatever.�

After high school, Bob White got his son a job with ABB in Jefferson City, but after he was laid off there and his mother was ailing, Alex returned home and eventually wound up in Farmington.

Though he had no prior martial arts training, White�s history with bullies and an affinity for martial arts movies made him decide to stop in for a class when a gym that offered training geared toward MMA opened across from the fast food restaurant where he was working. His future coach, United States Martial Arts Hall of Fame honoree Joe Worden, put him with a fellow beginner, but Worden soon realized White excelled far quicker than his partner.

�They always say there�s that one diamond in the rough out there for MMA, and when he walked in I realized he was a natural athlete and coming to it pretty naturally, so it sparked there,� Worden said. �I started working with him a little more, he got a couple fights and you could tell he was a little different.�

White joined Worden�s MMA team, Team Destruction, and soon developed his skills in the 145-pound featherweight division as a striker and in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, one of the most common bases for submission grappling in MMA. Of White�s nine opponents to date, he has finished five by submission and three by knockout.

White has developed a fanbase throughout the Midwest, but one of his most longstanding fans is his father. Bob White said he is proud of his son, but it doesn�t always make it easy to watch him fight.

�I�m always shaking, I�m always worried about him,� Bob White said. �He�s never been (seriously) hurt, he got eight stitches in his head once from an elbow, but every one of his fights he�s won.�

After going 15-0 as an amateur and 9-0 as a professional, Alex White caught the eye of the UFC�s lighter-weight matchmaker, Sean Shelby. The UFC and White�s management were in talks for White to join the promotion�s roster later this spring, but the opportunity came early when Brown withdrew from his bout against Payan and Shelby needed a short-notice replacement. White got the call at 7 a.m. April 2, and by 2:30 p.m. he had a four-fight contract in hand, ready to sign.

White�s opponent, Payan (14-5-1 in MMA), has yet to find his stride in the UFC, going 0-2 in the organization since his debut bout in 2013. White said that was all the more reason to respect him coming into the fight.

�First of all you�ve got to be tough just to get into the UFC itself, he�s off of a two-loss streak, so he�s going to be training his butt off in this fight just to win and stay in the UFC,� White said. �So they�ve been pushing me pretty good, I�m doing CrossFit in mornings, I train at least two times a day, watch what I eat, just trying to get ready for this guy.

�I�m not taking anything away from him, he�s a tough guy and I�m going to try to go in there and be just as tough.�

White continues to train in Park Hills, where he lives with his wife and almost 2-year-old daughter. His father still describes him as quiet and humble, and White made a point to thank his friends, family and South Callaway school friends who have traveled to see him fight as he climbed the ranks to join the UFC.

Though he�s ready to join the big leagues of MMA in less than a week, his coach said White still hasn�t forgotten his roots.

�I think he�s a good fighter, and he�s just a good guy overall,� Worden said. �He gets lots of support here, he had an autograph signing yesterday (Sunday), and 99 percent of the people here were kids, he had a huge turnout for kids. He�s like all the kids� role models and heroes here � they were all here to get his autographs and pictures. It�s like a Cinderella story. If he can make it on a dream those kids can, too.�

Bluedeanie fucked around with this message at 19:49 on Apr 16, 2014

# ? Apr 16, 2014 15:52

Opal: May 10, 2005; some by their splendor rival the colors of the painters, others the flame of burning sulphur or of fire quickened by oil.

That was pretty good. At the very least it made me interested in the fight.

# ? Apr 16, 2014 16:24

Eat This Glob: Jan 14, 2008; God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. Who will wipe this blood off us? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent?

Cool story, Bluedeanie. As a fellow Midwesterner who writes primarily for grandparents at a community paper, I thought you did a great job explaining some of the elementary stuff. While you say it's central MO, living in a camper while working at McDonald's and drinking gas as a kid sounds like straight up Ozarks to me. Hope your local boy does well! Shame the only "local" guys we have are Cain and Bones by virtue of the juco they attended. They usually get a write-up when they fight by the local daily.

# ? Apr 16, 2014 18:55

DumbWhiteGuy: Jul 4, 2007; You need haters. Fellas if you got 20 haters, you need 40 of them motherfuckers. If there's any haters in here that don't have nobody to hate on, feel free to hate on me

More Zach Arnold poo poo.

He's trying to layout the relationship between WSOF and Zuffa, and he may very well be on to something, but then he's gotta make it about himself too

quote:

And yet if you point out the obvious personal & past/current business/political connections between Rogich, Ratner, and Lorenzo you are labeled a conspiracy theorist by those who bother to speak up. Meanwhile, the majority of writers who could be discussing the obvious won�t. There�s no upside to doing so. Not only would it piss off allies in Zuffa and WSOF to start blathering about Rogich, it would also require an admission that I�m right. And if there�s one thing I�ve learned � from the testosterone issue to the PRIDE yakuza scandal to athletic commission scandals � it�s that many media writers would rather pass a kidney stone than admit that I�m on the right side of a touchy subject in the fight business.

Also you can check out the comments for a thrilling conversation between Snowden and Zach Arnold

I need to stop reading these articles.

# ? Apr 26, 2014 20:45

fatherdog: Feb 16, 2005

DumbWhiteGuy posted:

he may very well be on to something, but then he's gotta make it about himself too

Congratulations, you've summarized Zach Arnold in less than twenty words.

# ? Apr 26, 2014 21:12

Triticum Guzzler: Jun 16, 2002

DumbWhiteGuy posted:

More Zach Arnold poo poo.

He's trying to layout the relationship between WSOF and Zuffa, and he may very well be on to something, but then he's gotta make it about himself too

Also you can check out the comments for a thrilling conversation between Snowden and Zach Arnold

I need to stop reading these articles.

hahahaha i love the part where he asks to "explain in unambiguous terms" the connection between rogich and fertitta and he's completely unable to deviate from the conspiracy theory house style

# ? Apr 26, 2014 22:18

MassRafTer: May 26, 2001; BAEST MODE!!!

I just want UFC to do another Japanese show so he can tell me why it is going to fail before it sells out.

# ? Apr 26, 2014 22:24

fatherdog: Feb 16, 2005

My favorite Zach Arnold thing is how he gave absolutely zero shits about TRT but spent pages and pages of posts talking about what a terrible person Chael Sonnen was and how his pro-wrestling style promos were bad for mma, and then when Sonnen got involved in TRT immediately he started a crusade against it.

# ? Apr 26, 2014 23:00

Triticum Guzzler: Jun 16, 2002

I like when he posts results and just says x beat y via submission unless it was an RNC then he makes sure to mention it was a choke sleeper hold

# ? Apr 26, 2014 23:17

Keven. Just. Keven: May 25, 2010; MY GOD. THE WILL... THE FIGHTING SPIRIT... JUST WHEN YOU THINK IT'S OVER, TSM COMES BACK STRONGER THAN EVER.

I also like all of those things except if you guys are joking and using sarcasm, in which case I also dislike those things.

# ? Apr 27, 2014 00:18

Bundt Cake: Aug 17, 2003; ;(

Of all the things Zach Arnold makes fussy self-congratulating posts about, hating Jon Jones is my favorite

# ? Apr 27, 2014 18:04

Fat Twitter Man: Jan 24, 2007; by R. Guyovich

Bundt Cake posted:

Of all the things Zach Arnold makes fussy self-congratulating posts about, hating Jon Jones is my favorite

His article "UFC can�t ignore the public relations nightmare with Jon Jones any longer" was just him copying a bunch of tweets as an excuse to post one of his own which was about how Jon Jones probably talks to a lot of hot girls on instagram.

# ? Apr 27, 2014 23:16

Triticum Guzzler: Jun 16, 2002

# ? May 18, 2014 19:46

henkman: Oct 8, 2008

lol

# ? May 18, 2014 19:54

Fat Twitter Man: Jan 24, 2007; by R. Guyovich

Fat Twitter Man posted:

His article "UFC can�t ignore the public relations nightmare with Jon Jones any longer" was just him copying a bunch of tweets as an excuse to post one of his own which was about how Jon Jones probably talks to a lot of hot girls on instagram.

Zach Arnold Sexual Frustration Update: He captioned a photo of a girl posing with Herb Dean "Herb Dean winning at life"

# ? May 18, 2014 20:03

colonel_korn: May 16, 2003

Re: the video of Henderson teasing Cormier by bringing him fried chicken while he's cutting weight

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2014/5/22/5742238/ufc-173-embedded-dan-henderson-popeyes-prank-daniel-cormier-harmless-looks-racist-mma-news

quote:

UPDATE FROM KID NATE: There have been some questions about why we posted this and I just wanted to give some context as to why I assigned Zane to write this story.

First my background. I have 15 years of high level experience in politics, public affairs, advertising and public relations. At one point I was a director in a major public affairs firm and reported directly to this man who reported directly to this man. I have been chewed out personally by the late Ann Richards who worked two doors down the hall while we both worked for that firm.

While I worked there we ran campaigns that convinced voters that they should pay for this thing, and this thing and this thing. We ran the campaign that got home equity loans legalized in Texas. We helped save Firestone Tires. And that was just a fraction of the stuff we did. We advised the winner of this foreign election. I didn't personally work on all those campaigns but I watched them all closely from right up close.

From there I was an activist and Democratic political operative. I'm not a Democrat and wasn't that committed to the party per se but was very opposed to George W. Bush because two of my former bosses were among his highest level advisers and I knew how screwed up that whole deal was going to be.

I worked for Senator John Kerry (I once had a 1 on 1 meeting with him in the basement of his Georgetown mansion). I worked for Senator Mark Warner as Director of Online Communications of his national PAC. I was the top consultant for the campaign that helped bring down Tom DeLay (the most powerful and most corrupt Majority Leader in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives).

I've worked on campaigns from every level from local judge to the president of the United States. I've done this stuff in 34 states and four countries. So believe me, I am qualified to tell you whether or not something is a potential PR problem. In fact Fortune 500 CEOs have paid thousands of dollars an hour for my advice. Politicians paid much much less. Lol.

If you don't think a fried chicken joke between friends can ruin public reputations, ask Fuzzy Zoeller how he feels about that. An off the cuff remark he made about his friend Tiger Woods is now way above his entire golfing career on his wikipedia page.

As far as the complaint that if we didn't make a big deal of this it wouldn't be a story. Here's the deal, the UFC released the video. It's already gotten lots of face-value coverage. The Culinary Union has seen it. They pay people to scour the MMA sites for things like this.

The idea of this guy being a high powered PR consultant is so surreal to me. Love all that name-dropping though :allears:

# ? May 23, 2014 05:54

maffew buildings: Apr 29, 2009; too dumb to be probated; not too dumb to be autobanned

wait so he has been paid a few grand an hour by fortune 500 ceo's but now writes for bloody elbow? what a liar and failure

# ? May 23, 2014 06:30

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 30, 2024 02:39

mewse: May 2, 2006

Him laying out all of his credentials and how he had a one-on-one with john kerry one time is an appeal to authority, a logical fallacy that you think he would've studied if he's the educated bastard he's trying to claim he is

# ? May 23, 2014 06:58

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Sports Argument Stadium > The Hammer House: Stinger Splash Zone > MMA Journalism - Removes MMA Goon Culture Stains In Only One Application

«‹›42 »