Yahoo Sports... UFC discredits the sport

Everyday more of the bigger sports media organizations are losing their fear of speaking out and challenging Zuffa on stuff that would never fly in real big time competitive sports. Not only is this happening in the media.... more than one or two UFC fans are questioning the credibility of something they been spending $60 a pop for PPV's for.

Hats off to Yahoo Sports for refusing to be as intimidated as the rest of the MMA media is. Interestingly enough many of us here have been trying to expose these exact same things for years and years only to be ridiculed.



https://twitter.com/joejnapoli

UFC Cuts Okami, Discredits Own Ranking System
Yahoo Sports - 09.30.13

RY | The UFC implemented a ranking system for its weight divisions in Jan. 2013, but that hasn't stopped the company from releasing fighters who were ranked highly in its own system. Yushin Okami became the second mixed martial artist, the first being Jon Fitch, to lose his job with the UFC despite being considered one of the company's ten best fighters in his weight class.


There are some important similarities between Fitch and Okami at the time of their releases. Both had a grinding style that many casual fans didn't appreciate; neither was a big draw; they each won fights at a high percentage rate; they had fallen to the champion of their weight class, and were unlikely to ever battle for the belt again.

Okami, a longtime middleweight standout, went 13-5 in his UFC run, and 3-1 in his last four fights with the company. UFC president Dana White explained the release as necessary due to a limited roster, and Okami's lack of a signature win.

The UFC middleweight division has never been viewed as particularly stacked, and the company's desire to part with a top ten fighter seems questionable for a number of reasons. This release directly contradicts its own ranking system, and is in opposition to the UFC gathering all of the best fighters in the world in one organization.

The reality is Okami, as well as Fitch, were not valuable enough to put in feature spots, where they would have the opportunity to eliminate potential title contenders. Their contracts were also probably a lot higher than other fighters who had stronger drawing power. Business is business, but MMA is also a sport.

No legitimate professional sports league would release top talent because they weren't marketable. This is essentially what the UFC did. It wasn't a cost cutting measure necessary like when an NFL veteran is cut by a cash strapped team. The move eliminated one of the company's better fighters pretty much because he wasn't best for business, with no regard for what was best for the sport. The UFC's own ranking system tells its fans that he deserves to be with the company.

The UFC has increasingly been blurring the line between sport and entertainment, Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen being the biggest recent example. Moves like this make one question why they even have a ranking system if they're not going to adhere to it when making decisions. There's a line between sports and entertainment, and the UFC sent a message with this move that they're willing to cross it.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ufc-cuts-okami-discredits-own-ranking-system-140800943--mma.html



Check out the discussion on Zuffaville. Er... I mean .

http://forums.sherdog.com/forums/f2/yahoo-sports-ufc-discredits-sport-2572025/

Good to see. Yahoo has been a notorious Zuffa shill in the past. Hopefully more people continue to WAKE UP to this bullshit.

Yep.

Glad to finally see a mainstream news outlet do what's right and criticize the UFC on making dumb decisions.

adam wrote:Yep.

Glad to finally see a mainstream news outlet do what's right and criticize the UFC on making dumb decisions.

It's a little more than dumb decisions. He is questioning the legitimacy of the UFC itself and whether what they do is good for the sport of MMA. That is a huge shift.

Eddie Goldman was doing this in way back 2001. He got a threatening phone call from Dana and he told him he knew just "who" they (Fertittas & front boy) were. They were more than a little concerned that Eddie might bring up questions about their operation & the Fertitta family itself at press conferences so he was ground zero for media being banned from their events.

There are some big cracks now showing for the UFC now in the media and among fans. This is also pretty evident form all of the chatter over a top rated fighter being dropped from the organization without it being other fighters knocking him out of the organization.

Dagwood wrote:

adam wrote:Yep.

Glad to finally see a mainstream news outlet do what's right and criticize the UFC on making dumb decisions.

It's a little more than dumb decisions. He is questioning the legitimacy of the UFC itself and whether what they do is good for the sport of MMA. That is a huge shift.

Eddie Goldman was doing this in way back 2001. He got a threatening phone call from Dana and he told him he knew just "who" they (Fertittas & front boy) were. They were more than a little concerned that Eddie might bring up questions about their operation & the Fertitta family itself at press conferences so he was ground zero for media being banned from their events.

There are some big cracks now showing for the UFC now in the media and among fans. This is also pretty evident form all of the chatter over a top rated fighter being dropped from the organization without it being other fighters knocking him out of the organization.

Are you serious? Wow. Why doesn't that surprise me.

Dana is a crook and I'm glad mainstream media is finally starting to step up and criticize them over issues like this and fighter pay.

Nice to see that some media is starting to smell the BS from Dana.
Cutting Okami is really showing what UFC is about..
Its not a sport is all about entertainment to make some dollar to buy ferraris and tiger sculls..

Okami got cut because he is a threat to Zuffas money machine.
He it too good. He simply would beat the contenders of so Zuffa could not hype and promote money making "exciting" fights to the fans.
Okami did not do the bosses work and lose or step back so he paid the price..
How ever its great for global MMA to get such a warrior as Okami to their ranks.
Okami will make any org stronger and will make real mma grow.
The mma that is about being the best you can be and prove your self as a fighter and a man.. Not who can win in a exciting way or troll on twitter.