What happened to MMA journalism?

[MustangSally]

Seems to me like 90% of MMA journalism these days is taking a quote from a post-fight UFC press conference, an MMAhour interview or a fighter's twitter account and then making a whole article based on said quote.

Surely we deserve better?

 

[Haj01]

Don't see as many one on one interviews with fighters no more. Not as much personality in fighters anyway apart for a select few.

 

[Bowel-forged Stool]

Nina Drama is the only one I see bringing it to the people..

 

[Substance Abuse]

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Nearly all journalism these days seems to be shithouse anyway, not limited to MMA that’s for sure

 

[Lee Danger]

Nearly all journalism these days seems to be shithouse anyway, not limited to MMA that’s for sure

this

 

[wildchild88]

Ariel has his flaws but he's the only real mainstream journalist around. He can talk about things holistically, with actual opinions on the sport/ industry within a historical context as well.

The rest are all Dana's bitches / lap-dogs, they fear him like the candy man, it's pathetic. They talk about mma history like it started with Brock Lesnar, and quiver at the idea of mentioning Randy Couture or Pride.

Dana is a genius, he literally has everyone by the balls, simply amazing.

 

[moreorless87]

It was never very strong but the UFC's attacks on critical jurnos in the past have made sure its almost entirely just stenographers now. Even MMA coverage in mainstream media tends to follow that, far far less critical analysis than say boxing.

 

[Carrotman23]

Seems to me like 90% of MMA journalism these days is taking a quote from a post-fight UFC press conference, an MMAhour interview or a fighter's twitter account and then making a whole article based on said quote.

Surely we deserve better?

Yes, sadly "MMA journalism" has become "MMA media" , (in so much as "MMA journalism" ever actually existed) the UFC and specifically Dana White are so averse to any probing question from the media that they ban anyone from press events who asks mildly critical questions.

Bloody Elbow dying out was the last nail in the coffin for anything critical about the UFC, now its just Endeavor clout merchants and Youtuber trash.

Its a shame, because there's all kinds of bizarre characters from elite businessmen, to kooks and spooks involved in the UFC and various fight camps. There's obviously so much boiling under the surface for an investigative journalist to dreg up.

Sadly whenever some one try's they are shunned an have little to no ways of making a career out of it, and cucked fans shit on them. And there's always been very few people involved in MMA media who have the kind of mental compass and world view that it takes to do proper reporting.

 

[Poirierfan]

Dana's the Kim Jong Un of the UFC, there's no real questions directed at the emperor.

 

[ExitLUPin]

Josh Gross was the last time MMA had legitimacy in journalism and he was banned from UFC in like 05. It's not like it's an MMA only thing do every major sport I know has shit journalism and puppets at the top

 

[kingmob6]

was there mma journalism to begin with?

there are like 2 journalists worth a shit in the whole sport, and a few online podcasters that know how evaluate fights.

 

[GSP_37]

First thing a dictator does is demonize and discredit the media and destroy them.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Sports journalism is largely a joke.

Say what you will about his politics, but Karim Zidan does real journalism.

 

[Thy]

kids be clickin on things like puppets

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

the new journalists are random youtubers and twitter accounts. you know it's true when a youtuber named "Coffeezilla" is doing way better investigative journalism then the actual journalists

 

[chinarice]

Ariel has his flaws but he's the only real mainstream journalist around. He can talk about things holistically, with actual opinions on the sport/ industry within a historical context as well.

The rest are all Dana's bitches / lap-dogs, they fear him like the candy man, it's pathetic. They talk about mma history like it started with Brock Lesnar, and quiver at the idea of mentioning Randy Couture or Pride.

Dana is a genius, he literally he has everyone by the balls, simply amazing.

Except for GOATwani. He is the only real one out of all of them

He will never bow down to that bum Dana White

 

[TheChance]

It was worse when Josh Gross was about the biggest name in MMA journalism.

 

[Spiderbite]

Ariel has his flaws but he's the only real mainstream journalist around. He can talk about things holistically, with actual opinions on the sport/ industry within a historical context as well.

The rest are all Dana's bitches / lap-dogs, they fear him like the candy man, it's pathetic. They talk about mma history like it started with Brock Lesnar, and quiver at the idea of mentioning Randy Couture or Pride.

Dana is a genius, he literally he has everyone by the balls, simply amazing.

This is it.

Ariel actually managed to break free and create something for himself outside of the UFC, while remaining a fan and not being bitter.... About the UFC. I'm sure he feels some kind of way about Dana.

 

[jx820]

For starts, MMA coverage has never been very good.

When MMA was a fringe sport for weirdos it was covered almost exclusively by independent outlets (sherdog, bloody elbow, etc...).

Now it's covered in major outlets, but treated as a 2nd tier sport. It's not prioritized, it's largely fill and fluff pieces, and often covered by "journalists" with no actual knowledge of the sport. The best people are just carried over from the smaller indie outlets.

"Access journalism" is stifling scrutiny. "Journalists" who glowingly cover the UFC and reprint press releases nearly verbatim are granted access and given better info. Jornalists who ask hard questions, dig out stories the UFC doesn't want fans to know or doesn't want them to know yet, critically cover things... they are going to farce barriers trying to access fighters, execs, events, and info. So most will go along to get along.

Then there are the conflicts of interest. A number of large outlets have financial ties to the TKO/UFC/Endeavor/Ari Emanuel. Outlets will catch and kill stories that conflict with their financial interests even if it's in the interest of their audience to know.

Lastly, low information fans who don't understand the difference between editorial content and journalism can make it easy to bury an actual story. If a journalist talks about something the UFC doesn't like they don't need to counter the story, they just need a dozen talking heads to spout nonsense that kind of bury the story. Make opinions sound like facts, facts sound like opinions, make the opinions the story itself.