You can likely add CBS Sports to the growing list of media outlets on the outside looking in at the boys club that is granted media access to UFC and Strikeforce events after publishing a scathing editorial today. The piece, entitled, “Calling out UFC is a losing fight, but it’s time to step into the cage,” ironically, focused on Zuffa’s heavy-handed press bans handed out when stories such as his get published and the disparity between the company’s gross revenues and total yearly fighter salaries.
As the writer Gregg Doyel, who admits to being a relatively new fan and reporter of the sport mentions, he is hopeful that things don’t change between him and Dana since he has been approved for a press pass for the next Strikeforce show and is remaining optimistic that he’ll still receive his promised media credentials. Take it from us, it ain’t gonna happen.
Although we applaud a reporter who isn’t afraid to exercise his or her right to freedom of speech and the press at the risk of ruffling a few feathers, expecting that writing an open letter to Zuffa mostly based on hearsay and conjecture in which you chastise its business practices isn’t going to have your cageside seat to shows taken away in the future is foolhardy. Especially when posting crude snapshots of one of the company’s employees from a magazine will get you banned for life.
The rules are simple: Sites that toe the line are allowed on the court to play the game, at least until they run afoul.
The UFC is possibly the only sports league that uses a reward and punishment system to ensure that unsavory stories aren’t written about the company or its athletes, but there isn’t anything you can do when you’ve been given a yellow card by the organization, so its rare to see the Hunts, Gross’, Goldmans and Doyels who are willing to risk losing their seat at the adult table in return for sitting on their scruples, which makes it more respectable when it does happen.
Rarely will you see “mainstream” MMA outlets report on stories that may cast Zuffa in a negative light even if it is newsworthy which garners them the reputation of being Zuffa shill sites or hype machines.
For some “reporters” being granted access to an event equates to having better seats and having access to athletes and their parties during fight week. While an event is live, these “so-called MMA journalists” as they’ve been called, are nowhere to be found as they are usually off skipping the lines to get autographs and beer from the concession stands. Still, because they have written about the promotion in a positive light, they have been rewarded with a laminated golden ticket that they can hang on the wall of their office and tweet photos of to let the masses know that they know how to play the game and are a bonafide journo.
We’re not saying that the plot holes in Doyel’s murder mystery shouldn’t be addressed.
Basically he just rehashed bits of conjecture stitched together with second-hand reports of purported shady business practices perpetrated by the Zuffa machine. Old news that has likely been injected with several erroneous details as it was recuscitated and passed around. Without hard facts, legit quotes and FTC documents, the story is really just a non-story that seems more of a ,”You need to shape up or we’re through,” kind of break-up letter from a jilted lover than a report by a journalist. We’ve all seen how those have ended and it’s never good.
I can’t help but wonder if this has less to do with the author’s disappointment with Zuffa and more to do with the recent purchase of the UFC’s biggest rival by a member of CBS owner Sumner Redstone’s family of companies. Viacom purchased Bellator in October 2011. Whatever the impetus of the story was, Doyel picked a fight with Zuffa.
Unfortunately, as he pointed out with his headline before writing a single paragraph, it’s a fight you can’t win.
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commentsDon't read a book by its cover, I have never been to Orlando and live North of the Border where the laws are much stricter and real estate is a huge cash cow for everyone. No one losing their shirts here.
Besides the downturn in the economy houses are still being sold.. looking at record sales for this year. Real Estate in Canada is better and safer than Gold if you study the market.
Our banks are safe too... shame about the weather.
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Sure, it may be self-gratifying to think you're the vanguard of a new Rebel Alliance, but at the end of the day you really should just clean out your vag and call it a day. And if you want to consider yourselves journalists, then perhaps you should get back to the news... like with facts and stuff.
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I love CP, but this shit is getting old.
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QUOTE: "I hire hundreds of people annually… hundreds. I look at comparable hiring metrics daily. On average, you expect an employee for a major company to produce something equal roughly 5 times their salary, given the burden of employment, overhead costs, R&D costs, risk of investment, etc. Otherwise it just isn’t worth making the hire."
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I am currently in a class titled PME_602 Skills Management (Human Resource Management) and could have used some advice and help on the direction of several papers I've been writing and the analysis that came from.
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Having a valuable resource, is like the goose that laid the golden egg. A little late now, as the finals are next week.
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Thanks a fucken lot Wilson, next time quit being so god dammed tight lipped - at least now I know you do know something about the labor laws from postings past.
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Do you just say that, it "... really bothers me living off of the misery of others and making stories up just to get some ..."
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Interesting that you are a marketing professional in the real estate industry?
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You know, I am guessing that even around here there are quite a lot of people who listened to real estate marketing professionals...the same ones who made their living off the misery of others and made up stories just to get their pockets lined with some of that commission grease.
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Did I just pull that out of my ass, or is there some truth to anything I said?
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Especially in a economy that is full of crooks who ran off with all the money. The loud mouth make the best fall guys - and Dana just like Dillinger can go from folk hero, to public enemy #1 in a snap.
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In this case Dana is just like the CEO of a public company. If shit gets fucked up, he gets shit canned fast. Also, you like many others believe that Dana runs the show. False. The majority shareholders call all the shots. Its easy to understand every share is one vote.
That's the Fertitta family with at least 81% control. Zuffa is co-owned by Fertitta brothers (40.5% each), Dana White (9%) and Sheik Tahnoon of Abu Dhabi (Flash Entertainment) (10%)
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The Sheik is actually holding the best card, has 1% more than Dana. He and Dana are both minority share holders and get all kinds of protections, but the Sheik and only one brother can out vote Dana and the second brother.
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Fucking Arabs are equally as shrewd as Jewish and Persians. And like in the movie the Godfather, son's of mob bosses have been known to take separate paths, right. That is just not a Hollywood script, it happens in real life all the fucking time.
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Here is something to watch for, for anyone on the inside.
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The Fertitta brother, the one the Sheik made the deal with, is not the brother he is seen with most often. It should be crystal clear to all - by now - which Fertitta would throw the other under the bus ...
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Don't let this bias the article, not everyone is the Scoop Jackson of leading big opinion, surely not me.
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Yet I pause at what was written, the writer left some great insight, not yet realized by all. Was the entire ESPN expose a mere ploy?
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If I wanted to distance myself from a unfriendly group like Zuffa, the first very thing I would do would call them out publicly, then let the public witness their knee-jerk reaction in zealous fashion.
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That is exactly what ESPN did to Zuffa. And Zuffa reacted as predictable, just like that bus you wait for every day Karma.
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ESPN has a rival, its a big fucking rival, they are FOX sports.
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My guess is there are some big decisions being made inside ESPN as we speak. The question had to have arisen inside ESPN, "Can we work with these guys?"
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If you are a budding ESPN executive, say just like the ESPN guy that told Dana "...those questions are above my pay grade..." Your interview team might have a strategy of your own.
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I am sure there are groups inside ESPN that want MMA, and there are other up and coming ESPN executives who are promoting to their bosses that ESPN enter MMA in a BIG way, but that way need NOT include the seemingly tyrannical cast at Zuffa.
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And why would you want to work with Zuffa...they are not sophisticated. We at CP know this, as the "Zuffa Gaggle" plays on raw emotion at the individual level. Why so raw and aggressive from Dana and the Fertittas, well the Zuffites have much to fear.
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Even Dana erroneously coughed up when put on the spot during the interview that the UFC is not ready for prime time...he could have said Yes, or sure, but he said NO. Best guess is he is getting fast money now, and he still gets a wide berth at FOX for making some decisions in their co-productions. Why would he want to scurry away from a prime time offer? Easy, prime time equates with a loss of control. And he my friends is a pathetic control freak - no doubt there.
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Now denying access to reporters with a blacklist is a sign of just a piece of some of that fear. In this case, it has become obvious another fear is not disclosing total income and future revenue streams of the 4 each Zuffa shareholders.
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All in all, good article...
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@ Skeletor & thehonorablereese - well said.
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@ edhedicus - very well said. Nothing is more annoying than self-righteous simpletons without any ability to create anything on their own... only to criticize others. Pretty much everyone in the media fits this bill. The crap Doyel was spewing about his bravery for standing up to big bad Zuffa, trying to disguise it in self-deprecation saying he was a coward for not speaking out previously, is a little much to take seriously. 'Brave', 'coward'... these words shouldn't even apply to someone who makes their living peddling shitty online articles. Not disrespecting anyone who does that for a living... I love a lot of the guys who write for CP, especially that Fowlkes guy. But the self-righteousness is just intolerable. You want to pretend to be brave, do more than write a shitty article about Zuffa.
Grumbling reporters implying that they are journalists and deserve rights. This was a very biased report by clearly someone who drank the Sherdog punch, it was biased from the start and ended up like projectile.
It has been reported many times of the UFC's short-comings but this is not a perfect world. Boxing was much less perfect with felons in charge and in that business you wait 5 to 6 years to see the fight you want.
The UFC has to be about the League and not about the fighters to not only be successful but to also be profitable. The hack was quick to point out that the UFC bought out their competitors and closed many others but what they forgot is that those businesses because they were run poorly bled like a sieve, hence failure.. look at Affliction for example who paid their fighters more.. in and out in less than two years. Did the bleeding heart fans show up to help finance that Utopian league of fighters.. NO!!
The UFC is a private business as a very astute poster before me stated, I am a marketing professional in the real estate industry.. of course my boss does not want me freelancing for other Real Estate companies, and he keeps my wages affordable so everyone can get paid tomorrow, they also profit largely with their pay being lower than I would like (I feel I deserve more for my blood sweat and tears), but if I don't like it the door is right there and I could leave at any time.
Not that easy to find good paying jobs nowadays.. even when you are very talented and a leader in my field... they can outsource me to India, China, and a hundred other countries.. in the process slitting their own throats.
This hack who has CBS backing is confused by the treatment his company has condoned and maintained for half a century. The BIG Networks monopolize their reports favourably to their sponsors and then build tabloid stories to attract viewers that are less than fair at times just to gain viewership. They get awfully upset if you use their own tactics of control against them.
The best quote from this article was the comments about the hack from CP:
"Basically he just rehashed bits of conjecture stitched together with second-hand reports of purported shady business practices perpetrated by the Zuffa machine. Old news that has likely been injected with several erroneous details as it was recuscitated and passed around. Without hard facts, legit quotes and FTC documents, the story is really just a non-story that seems more of a ,”You need to shape up or we’re through,” kind of break-up letter from a jilted lover than a report by a journalist."
It says it all.
A hack with big credentials from a big media outlet is trying to out muscle the UFC, they will claim freedom of the press and all sorts of other nonsense that does not apply to them.
Why is it that just because tabloid journalism is popular with drama queens does it make it right. The Paparazzi Press really bothers me living off of the misery of others and making stories up just to get some headlines.
The UFC shouldn't be forced to have to carry these hacks.. who are looking for the down and dirty.. if they want to report like that then they can work themselves to uncover it.
Problem is with stories like this and the recent hatchet job by ESPN it is clear that they are only seeking attention and have axes that are clearly grinding.
The hack at OTL (ESPN) said the UFC has to learn to take criticism even though his half hour special was full of people with an agenda against the UFC, and the reporter argued about the criticism he was receiving.
If you can't take it don't dish it out.
Quite amusing to see that Boxing Promoters on ESPN cards pay their fighters much less but no one cared to do a story on that, because firstly no one cares and second of all they would be fired internally for making the company look bad. Yet they cry rivers for disgruntled fighters like Fitch and any other that thinks they are above the league.
In all the other major sports I hear fans whining about how much the athletes make.. yet in the UFC they cry rivers.. facts are they pay the best money in the industry.
Would you rather go fight for Bellator.. where your career can end in one fight.. where you are paid less than the UFC, and you are forced to fight through injuries just to get to the finale?
CBS (Viacom) was so happy with that system of slave labour that they bought the company. Haven't seen that cutting news report yet. Not too mention that they low balled Strikeforce to a point where it was not profitable and had to be sold against Scott Coker's wishes to the Big Bad Wolf.
Roger Huerta who had a great run in the UFC and had a huge name behind him managed to get more than one loss on his record before Bellator cut him , unfortunately the little people there do not get two losses.
as for Lorretta Hunt she is not a journalist she worked for a rogue website that had an axe to grind with Dana over a cut in profits over the UFC videos they sold. It is common knowledge. Yet they repeatedly index her as some sort of mistake. If not for the poor choice in words.. Dana was absolutely right on that occasion.
Besides you can't really claim to have journalistic integrity when you are running a cash business like Sherdog is, most real news agencies get paid for the material. Big Networks lose money on their news departments.. but do it for a good purpose.
In CBS' case they are definitely losing money with this guy, he is an over privileged hack who just because some HR person made a mistake, thinks he deserves more than he is worth.
The UFC is a big event.. you want to Paparazzi then hang with your long lenses on public property with the other leeches.
Ben Fowlkes critiques the UFC and last time I checked he still had a press pass to events. It is in the method.. if you know someone is trying to shoot you.. would you not wear a bullet proof vest while they are around you? Would you not take safety measures to protect yourself from their attacks?
I personally hate some of the accredited sports reporters I see running around.. chasing headlines.. always negative articles. It is not fair to fighters on fight weeks to fight that type of media as well as prepare mentally for their opponents, who sometimes is trash talking him.
If you report properly like Ariel Helwani and share respect with your hard questions then people will appreciate you for the work you do. You will get to still ask all the hard questions you want.. and they will still like and respect you unless your name is Rampage & Chute Boxe has caved in your dome too many times. This type of reporting leads to bigger jobs and more respect.
But of course to some here at CP & to this hack from CBS they are just shills...
unfortunately it is those so-called shills that everyone wants to hear from.
Like fighters that make excuses after losing.. sour grape reports lack integrity and leave a bad taste in everyones mouth.
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If a fighter works and then trains or vice versa 5 days a week, is this going to make him/her/Cyborg the best fighter they can be?
I do not think there should be any fighters in the UFC who have other daily work fulfillments. I do not think a fighter at the highest level in the sport should have to focus on anything other than family, fighting and friends.
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The UFC increases pay today and as early as tomorrow we will begin to see improvement in the sports athletes. Money is a motivator, you can only get so much out a fighter after continually dangling the carrot in front of them.
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If every fighter who has at least two UFC victories was able to train all day, I guarantee you we would see much better takedown defense across the board, crisper striking, slicker subs and simply a better end product. No need to make millionaires out of everybody.
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And the whole sponsor thing...how much do you think Rivera and Schafer got combined from sponsors last week?
- It's very serious, but doesn't introduce anything new that I haven't heard before. (In contrast, Slack Jack's striking write-up was completely serious, but he had interesting insights.)
- At no point is there any humor or style or flair. Wait, at no point is there enjoyment of writing. It's just bitter. In contrast, Ben Fowlkes does mostly serious writing these days, but there's personality and humor sprinkled throughout. Basically, there's enjoyment of the act of writing.
- There's good photoshop work.
Mike - lighten up. We all know about this press pass BS that the UFC pulls. We all know about the fighter pay problems, and the sponsorship censorship, and we know that Anderson should move up a weight class but probably won't (that one was a tedious read too). Can we throw you and Danga into the teleportation device from The Fly and just morph you two into eachother? This writer's too serious; this writer's not serious enough; and this porridge is juuuuuust right.
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IS
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OVER!
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