Friday, June 4 6:49 am PT: In a blog post appearing on the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s (GLAAD) web site, Director of Entertainment Media Taj Paxton takes Quinton Jackson to task for comments Jackson made to The Los Angeles Times about acting “being kind of gay.” Jackson also expressed concern that Vancouver, where he shot “The A-Team,” was a “San Francisco kind of place” and that he didn’t want “motherf-ckers getting ideas about me.” Mr. Jackson is the reason many publicists suffer from heart attack and stroke above the norm.
“Equating gay with soft is an antiquated stereotype,” Paxton wrote. ”In an era where gay servicemen risk their lives daily, Jackson’s implication that being gay means you can’t be tough is particularly harmful…GLAAD has reached out to Twentieth Century Fox about Jackson’s defamatory comments.”
The trend for mixed martial artists in the past several years has been to handle mainstream media exposure with all the grace of a church fart.
Friday, June 4 6:28 am PT: There is no emulating the success of the UFC. The 17-year old brand is insurmountable, and no financier has the patience or capital to develop a roster of 200-plus fighters or pay headliners double the seven-figure paydays they’re already getting. There will never be a promotion with the substance or success of Rorion Gracie and Art Davie’s creation, just as there will never be any competition for the NFL beyond other sports.
Promotions that reject this wind up losing money, usually bleeding out slowly. In other cases, possessing at least a fraction of self-awareness, they take a different route. They go for the gimmick.
Friday, June 4 1:26 am PT: MMA Live closes the book on UFC 114 with highlights and analysis. What does the result mean for both Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson? Brad Tavares breaks down a big week in The Ultimate Fighter house and Dan Hornbuckle checks in before his Bellator welterweight final.
