Chael Sonnen file photo: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com
“Is it just me that was irritated hearing Dana White praise Sonnen for all his trash talk?...With White cheering on 'professional wrestling'-style 'drama,' now we're going to see all young fighters running their mouths…Sad to see a single idiot turn a sport that for centuries has incorporated respect for others into the new WWF.”
-- Reader Ed M.
Chael Sonnen: the blogging gift that could keep on giving.
Promoting fights can be made to be complicated, but it really comes down to a simple premise: make the audience care about the two guys fighting. This is best accomplished by having them be a relative. When that’s not feasible, it’s helpful to have at least one strong personality.
Some guys can get by on their own running narrative. Randy Couture is an attraction not because he’s particularly charismatic -- he’s not -- but because there’s appeal in seeing how a man flirting with 50 contends in a brutal fight sport. Brock Lesnar doubles up by being a curiosity -- witness the giant man-beast! -- and having the ability to swallow microphones with his verbal promotion. The guys that can do this without sounding forced or affected often make lots of money.
Take away all of Sonnen’s bizarre hype and you’re left with a fight between a hot-and-cold contender who doesn’t have a particularly exciting style against a champion who tries to get away with not fighting whenever possible. That’s ticket death. Sonnen stepped up and got people excited.
Is it too much? Maybe: by the time event week came, his rants were becoming white noise. And there’s real justification in the concern that Sonnen could be responsible for an army of fighters who try to sell fights based on dopey, manufactured rivalries and lame insults. Some guys can pull it off; most can’t. If the day comes when fighters have staff writers, let’s remember whom we can blame.
Tuesday, August 10 11:13 am PT: Bruce Buffer will be joined by model Sammy Phillips and dating expert Hunter Jones on Tuesday’s “IT’S TIME!” program on the Sherdog Radio Network at 5 p.m. ET.
Buffer will discuss sex and relationships with two beautiful women. Don’t miss it!
Proving once again that the sharks in MMA swim mostly outside of the ring, Bloodyelbow.com and GotMMA.com have unearthed that Yoshihiro Akiyama once accused his (obviously former) manager of embezzlement. Writing in his autobiography, “Two Souls,” Akiyama claims the unnamed party stole anywhere from hundreds of thousands to a million, representing nearly all of his career earnings. That’s bleak stuff.
As is usual whenever a tragic story is brought up, it’s probably valuable to take a lesson from it. Akiyama allegedly wrote that the manager was a “friend” who he had “become acquainted with” during Judo practice. In other words, it’s unlikely the man had an existing role as an adviser. This is standard Velcro-relations, where predators circle what they perceive as a lotto ticket and exploit them however they can. (Mike Tyson got so abused in this manner he should have bruises from his court cases.)
Mismanagement is an unfortunate side effect of MMA’s growth. Good fighters sit on the sidelines for over a year while someone whispers in their ear about better deals; aging fighters take horrible, sadistic fights when it’s perverse for any other reason but financially. An actual advocate for a fighter’s best interests is harder to come by: while it’s difficult to know about any unspoken friction behind the scenes, a guy like Ed Soares manages to keep his stable of fighters active, happy, and with none of the absurd stonewalling seen in other cases. Hope that MC Hammer can continue that proud tradition.
Anderson Silva file photo: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com
Chael Sonnen’s performance against Anderson Silva Saturday may have helped the event exceed business expectations: Dana White hinted to reporters that projections signaled a big pay-per-view number. Short-term gain is great, but you have to wonder what Sonnen may have done to Silva’s potential as an attraction down the line.
Prior to the Sonnen fight, both Silva and the UFC often spoke of hypothetical plans involving bouts at light heavyweight, heavyweight, and potentially against Georges St. Pierre. Now that Sonnen has proven Silva isn’t made of metal, those fights have lost a good deal of their appeal. There’s intrigue in watching an unstoppable 185-pound fighter try to compete in a heavier class, but little point in watching it after he’s been through what can legitimately be described as a beating.
Granted, certain fights wouldn’t have much opportunity to go the same way: Mauricio Rua isn’t likely to lay on Silva for five rounds, and St. Pierre may not necessarily have the size or power to do what Sonnen did. But that’s beside the point: in dominating Silva for so long, Sonnen calls into question Silva’s previously unquestioned dominance. You move up a class when you’ve steamrolled yours.
