If MMA Wants to Be Mainstream It Needs To Act Like It

The UFC is leading the charge to have MMA sanctioned in every state across the country, a major foothold in making it a mainstream sport.  However to become a mainstream sport MMA must look like a mainstream sport.  Having some level of control over what is released and reported to the public as fact is a big part of this.  This past week there were a number of incidents where tighter control over fighter announcements and actions would have helped.

The first example of a fighter speaking out of turn is Tito Ortiz.  “The biggest contract in MMA history!” has yet to be inked but over a week ago Tito was declaring the deal signed, sealed, and delivered.  This news came as a surprise to both Tom Atencio and Michael Cohen, the heads of Affliction who would probably be aware of a deal being done.  Affliction might want to look into creating a company policy to release contract announcements themselves after the deals are actually done in the future.

The second offender is BJ Penn who has used every opportunity in front of a microphone and reporter to announce that he would be fighting GSP on Dec 27th.  Penn began announcing this a few weeks ago even though Jon Fitch had yet to fight GSP himself.  Dana White stated last week that, he didn’t think Penn would get the winner of Fitch and GSP, but capitulated after Penn made an appearance in the cage following GSP’s win.  Apparently in the UFC if you're loud enough you get your way.  Joe Silva might want to start looking for a job since apparently fighters can pick their own opponents nowadays.

Lastly, Brock Lesnar finally notched his first win in the octagon on Saturday night with a decisive win over Heath Herring.  While Lesnar showed that he truly belongs in the UFC by beating an experienced veteran he also showed that he is clueless when it comes to respecting an opponent after a fight.  Lesnar tried out for the Minnesota Vikings a few years ago but didn't make the team.  Apparently he was cut before they covered player conduct policies.

While I don't want organizations to censor every word their fighters utter, I do believe that these organizations need to implement some level of control over what is issued for public consumption.  The biggest step towards MMA becoming a mainstream sport is for MMA to start looking and sounding like a mainstream sport.