Congrats Sherdog on being re credentialed for the UFC

[aduriz]

the one where the UFC banned all MMA media as they thought they were genuinely mainstream and going to have constant front page updates going on all the newspaper and sports channel sites?

LOL ?details please ?

 

[MMA_PHYSICS]

Why? 90% of posters are idiots why in the hell would an organization like the UFC want to be affiliated with Sherdog? Oh wait stupidity sells.

 

[Chuck Bass**]

kickboxing > boxing. Cain proved
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f2/cain-jds-showed-us-good-kickboxing-great-boxing-2344273/


JDS would still beat Klitschko
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f2/wladamir-klitschko-says-lol-2343827/

 

[zuffa zack**]

Why? 90% of posters are idiots why in the hell would an organization like the UFC want to be affiliated with Sherdog? Oh wait stupidity sells.

.com =/= .net

 

[consortium11]

LOL ?details please ?

It's all a bit vague in my memory (and there have been so many blow ups between the UFC and MMA media over the years that I may have got this one mixed up).

But post-TUF 1 when the UFC was first gaining major traction there were several reports on the em... shall we say... "enthusiastic" nature of MMA reporters from websites when they had credentials. Getting blind drunk, standing up and cheering during bouts etc etc. In some ways its understandable as these guys weren't professional journalists or reporters (and to this day there's still a pretty big gap where real journalism should be with regards to MMA, despite there being the good odd piece), they were generally fans who were willing to write on websites at a time when getting 20,000 viewers was pretty damn impressive.

Now, having reporters get blind drunk and clearly favour one fighter or the other isn't really an issue when they're the only ones who are there and/or care. But with TUF's success in the bag Dana had ideas of mainstream media wanting to come down... and he thought (and not necessarily wrongly) that if a professional reporter more used to NFL, boxing, basketball or any of a host of other sports came to a show and saw a guy in the press area downing shots and screaming for Chuck Liddell to knock someone out it wouldn't leave a good impression and would colour their whole view of the event (and the sport as a whole).

So he took all their credentials away. Sherdog, MMAWeekly, a host of others...

In the end it was fairly meaningless. When the major parties did get involved they generally just hired MMA writers and let them loose anyway (see Josh Gross and Loretta Hunt being employed.

That said, my memory of all the hissy fits is pretty poor. Sherdog's had the brunt of it between Gross (and the TUF spoilers although it had already had its credentials taken away by then), Hunt, selling DVD's and reporting on non-UFC events but in all honesty, Sherdog.com's journalist side has never been a strong point. It's a fansite made by an enthusiastic amateur done-good... and despite the improvements it still shows.