Under the Bus: Separating Fact From Fiction
Published by on June 23rd, 2008 in Current Events

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By Charles Jay
Commentary on MMA history…as it’s happening

Larry Goldberg, the publisher of this website (and a very attractive website it has become, Larry), called me one day last week to give me some incredibly interesting news he read on “The Underground”. The “big” announcement that Dana White was pumping (or was it pimping?) for the UFC was NOT in fact that Floyd Mayweather was coming over from the world of boxing to compete against UFC competition, but that Vince McMahon was stepping forward to buy the organization as part of a group that included Dana White himself. Sure, maybe that’s an announcement that would “rock” the MMA world, and certainly it would change the direction the sport would go in over the course of the next five years. True, true, true. Of course, there would be instant problems with McMahon, most notably the idea that with his hands on the operation, the possibility existed for many a “worked” fight in order to steer a popular fighter closer and closer toward an ultimate goal, whatever that ultimate goal was.

I’m not saying any of that would be valid; in fact, I could believe just the opposite. As a master of marketing, McMahon definitely could have brought something to the table, although I’m not sure how much he improves upon the job White and company have done so far with the resurrection of the UFC. But the fact is, there was a stigma attached to McMahon when he established the XFL in 2001; some question as to whether games would be “on the level,” or whether the whole thing would turn into a circus act. Actually, I was a fan of the league, which put relatively competitive football on the field and was a lot of fun, if you were paying attention (and by the way, watching it on television, not in minus-10 degree weather in Chicago in February).

Still, the mainstream press never gave Vince a chance, not even after the phenomenal TV ratings in the league’s first week of actual play. For the UFC, which was been striving to get through to more and more of the mainstream press and has been making great strides toward that end, this would have been a move that risked a dangerous setback. And I couldn’t imagine White being a party to something that could have such blowback. Not that it wouldn’t have made sense for the UFC to sell, since some observers might opine that they are at a value that has plateaued (they would SEVERELY disagree with that, by the way, and perhaps with good reason). But there are competitors in this business now; entities who might grab some of the market share and have some “name” value behind them, including the likes of Marc Cuban and Donald Trump.

But using McMahon as the “go-to” guy probably wouldn’t have been the right move at this time, not on the heels of someone like Kimbo Slice being introduced to the general public as a representative of mixed martial arts. As Kimbo/Kevin has already taken the sport back some steps in terms of perception of credibility, McMahon’s presence may have dealt it a blow from which it would take much longer to recover. And I say that while recognizing that McMahon would very likely have been an innocent victim of such a perception. However, the fact remains that the UFC could have kissed goodbye any hopes of getting a favorable look from some of the members of the so-called “mainstream” sports media if he became intimately involved. And in the minds of many, he would have represented a gravitation back toward what, it seems, the UFC people were working hard to get away from, even as it was courting WWE fans – the idea that its sport was in any way an “exhibition” along the lines of professional wrestling.

I would have actually believed the Mayweather thing a little more, because as I said in a previous column, at least Mayweather, at the peak of his abilities and recognized in most circles as the pound-for-pound king of boxing, would have brought some gravitas over by virtue of his standing in another of MMA’s “rival” sports. He’d bring stuff over that you couldn’t necessarily buy or sell. Alas, that was not the announcement, and in fact I’m told Mayweather is taking the derivative route, trying to assemble a team to go into business as a promoter, a la Oscar De La Hoya, Roy Jones, et al.

Rumors are fun, but I guess I re-learned a lesson I thought I may have learned conclusively years ago – it’s not only a matter of considering the source, but considering the logic as well. Speculation is fine, but as far as reporting is concerned, I’ll stick to Joe Friday mode – “just the facts ma’am, just the facts.”

And I’m absolutely certain you’ll let me know if I don’t.