Its been over a week since UFC 100 and the antics that followed and I really didn’t think Lesnar’s post fight interview deserved too much attention. Attention is in fact what makes it significant after all. However, since fighters and analysts can’t seem to shake the implications of Brock being the most marketable and attention grabbing fighter in MMA today, I decided to throw my two cents in.
Lets get a few things strait right off the bat.
1) Yes, there is a double standard at work here that Brock is on the short end of.
2) Brock calling out the sponsor was the main reason Zuffa and Dana addressed this as such a serious issue.
3) Its impossible to determine weather this is overall good or bad for the sport just yet.
I can address these briefly in order.
The double standard that allows guys like Cole Miller to stand over downed opponents and mock them and let Tito Ortiz dig graves after fights but forbade Brock Lesnar from getting in the face of Frank Mir and actively embracing the boos he received is circumstantial. It is not something that manifest itself from some cultural bias within MMA, nor was it brought to fruition by Dana White, Zuffa, or any other powers that be. It has everything to do with him being a former pro wrestler, the current HW champion, main eventing the UFC’s centennial event, and generally speaking a charismatic guy. These sorts of double standards exist everywhere because with great power, fame, or success comes great responsibility. Since Brock is the most marketable fighter in MMA (possibly in MMA history), everything he does will be under the microscope. I would make the argument that if he had done this at UFC 101 instead of UFC 100 the backlash would not have been as strong. Had he not called out the sponsor, the backlash would not have been as strong. If Frank Mir did the exact same thing, guess what… the backlash would not have been as strong. Brock winning at UFC 100 brought about the perfect storm for media attention to MMA and he acted up in the spotlight. I only say this because of all the bellyaching and crying about double standards in MMA when everyone should have seen this coming, most notably BROCK!
You don’t bite the hand that feeds, at least not if you want to keep getting fed. I can only imagine Dana White’s face moving from eye rolling and smirking to complete terror as Brock moved from flipping off fans and talking trash to bashing Bud Light. It was so funny to see the open Bud Light bottle in front of him at the presser afterwards. I have some serious issues with the hyper capitalist nature of MMA that I have spoke about in my other blog on myspace so it’s sort of sad in one regard. In another it’s amusing. Its not like Brock was calling them out for being the UFC’s pimp, he was just mad they wouldn’t plaster their logo on his ass. However, no one is allowed to bark at big sponsors so no matter how big Brock gets in this sport… don’t expect him to keep this up.
The jury is still out on weather this is good or bad for MMA. Attention wise it is short term good. It could be long term bad if Brock proves to be a flash in the pan product of match making and loses with little fan fair. As I will write about later, Fedor is the man that NEEDS to beat Lesnar to make this the best possible scenario. The UFC has always done well turning individual success into company success so I suspect more of the same here. Even if Brock does lose, the UFC will make its money, make its name stronger, and Brock will be to blame for some sort of eventual disappointment, not the company. Mainstream sports analysts question weather Brocks antics will turn off fans but its likely that every fan that tried MMA out for one night only and got turned off is canceled out and then some by the ones who didn’t try MMA out but heard the buzz about the show and might give ‘er a whirl down the road.
I guess maybe my point is, this doesn’t really matter that much. It brought a good bit of attention, most of it negative in tone but likely positive in actual result. Brock is a money making machine for the UFC and lets face it… he is a serious fighter now. You can make arguments that his match-ups were favorable but he has three wins in a row against serious names in the business. No one else in the division has three quality wins in a row like that so I guess he earned it. So here it is. We have our super villain champion. He is the golden goose because of this mess, now Zuffa has to use him right.
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