Thursday, June 19, 2008

Another MMA Update

Two days ago we took a look at some rumors flying around about the UFC. Sad to say, I was wrong about Dana White's announcement. I thought it would be about a tv or merchandising deal. It wasn't. Instead Dana announced that Lorenzo Fertitta, one of the co-owners of the UFC is going leaving the family casino business to devote his full attention to the UFC. To the average fan that announcement was a big yawn.

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I also speculated that the big surprise on the last episode of The Ultimate Fighter was that Jesse Taylor would do something stupid to get booted out of the finals. Sure enough, Jesse got drunk, kicked out the windows of a limo and then went into one of the Vegas hotels and created more havoc. Dana White said that Jesse's behavior was unacceptable and therefore Jesse, despite being undefeated and winning his way into the finals, would be replaced by one of the fighters who had already been beaten.

Was Jesse's behavior wrong? Absolutely. It was deplorable. Did it warrant him being kicked out of the finals? Possibly. Obviously Dana White thought so. Dana seemed angry and
embarrassed. He said that kind of behavior is not what he wants from UFC fighters. Of course, Dana had no problems with Jesse and other fighters' drunken antics on the show. In fact getting wasted and destroying the UFC house has become one of the cliches of the series. They not only give the drunken destruction plenty of air time, but even make the antics part of the promos.

Jesse doesn't come across as the sharpest crayon in the box. So he goes out and celebrates making the finals by doing the exact same things that gave him plenty of additional face time on the series and finds himself kicked out of the UFC. Hey, so be it. I was pulling for Amir to win it all anyway, But if I was Dana White, I think I'd reconsider my tolerance for the drunken destruction that is encouraged at the house.

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Tito Ortiz has a pretty interesting interview HERE. I think that Ortiz still has some good fights in him. I'd love to see him take on Anderson Silva or Dana White.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

thanx 4 the newz craig!

makaveli