We need investigation of Lappen, Shaw, others
Published by Charles Jay on December 4th, 2008 in Operation Cleanup

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Commentary on MMA history….as it’s happening

WE NEED A REAL INVESTIGATION OF LAPPEN, SHAW, OTHERS

I’m not satisfied enough has been done about the circumstances that surrounded Kimbo Slice’s fight against Seth Petruzelli, from the perspective of inquiry and discipline. The problem is, I don’t really know who to blame for it.

The Florida State Athletic Commission did an “investigation” of the fight and decided that there was not any wrongdoing, or at least enough to incur any discipline. Of course, something was very, very fishy, but the question is, where does the commission’s responsibility begin and end? And who should they feel responsibility for? After all, if the fight was not really a fix, in the strictest sense, should they be concerned about what went on behind closed doors?

I accessed the opinions of a couple of athletic commission officials, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, since they did not want to be known as being judgmental of a colleague (the commission in Florida).

“I can tell you that they (Elite XC) have tried to dictate the referees that were used in the fights,” said one of the officials, “because they just about acknowledged they wanted the fight to go a certain way, in order to have more action or be more fan-friendly. But that’s a manipulation. We can’t allow these promoters to bring or hire their own officials.”

“When you are pre-arranging anything about a fight,” said the other official, “what you’ve got is simply something that is a falsehood. If you want to award fighters who give the fans more action, that’s one thing. But when you meet with them, in a manner that is secret, and you are telling them that in terms of style, they have to fight this way or that way, in order to favor a particular kind of fight or a particular style of fighter, you’re putting something forward that is kind of phony, and it’s not fair to the fans because they don’t even know what you’ve done.”

The official added, “Yes, I do fault the commission, because it is their job not only to protect the fighters from a safety standpoint, but to protect the fans as well.”

I guess I would tend to agree with that. I’m a “hands off” person, generally, when it comes to private business and its dealings with the public. But this is an extenuating circumstance. What this comes down to is a kind of fraud, where fans are not getting the kind of spontaneous event that was advertised. The second you start orchestrating things, what you’re doing is turning it into something other than a legitimate athletic competition, and gravitating toward something that is moke akin to what fans may see from the WWE. And I say that without disparaging Vince McMahon’s organization at all. What I’m contending is that in the MMA milieu, fans didn’t buy that kind of thing.

This might be “60 Minutes” material, but I doubt that the network that had so much “integrity” that it questioned the wisdom of airing MMA in the first place would do anything about it, much like HBO’s “Real Sports,” an investigative show, wouldn’t think of reporting about its own incestuous relationships with boxers that often create conflicts of interest.

If you want to put something into your agreements, that’s one thing. Then it’s there for all to see and all to know, especially in a state whose regulatory standards dictate that contracts are a matter of public record. There is nothign wrong with legal contracts between two individual entities. However, when you make an agreement that a fight is only going to be conducted in stand-up mode, then you’ve got something that might be boxing or kick-boxing, but it not necessarily mixed martial arts, and I imagine some athletic commissions would want to be heard on that.

They should want to hear everyone associated with that Elite XC promotion – under oath.

Sometimes people don’t even realize what they are saying. Here is an excerpt from a Los Angeles Times article in which Gary Shaw, who was stil closely associated with the Elite XC promotion, shines light as to whether affecting the nature of the fight was the intention.

But Elite XC consultant Gary Shaw said he wouldn’t hesitate to “go to a fighter and say, ‘We’re looking for a stand-up fight.’ You’re not asking him to throw a fight. You’re talking about a fan-friendly fight, not about protecting Kimbo.”

Shaw said he has urged MMA fighters in the past to maximize the action, to avoid an abundance of yawn-inspiring wrestling.

“Do I think that’s unethical? No,” Shaw said. “Because in MMA, you get bonus money for a knockout. I don’t see it as unethical . . . asking him to be TV and fan friendly.”

Quick tip: To mislead the fan isn’t “friendly” in the least.

I would hope that there would be someone who would revisit this matter, whether it be the Florida commission ot the attorney general. Fraud is no laughing matter.