You Mad? - A Recap Of This Week’s Beefs, Twitter Beefs, Squabbles, Rants, Wars Of Words And Other Assorted Drama In MMA

by KatGirl on Jan 30, 2012 11:00 AM EST in You Mad?

Welcome to another week of the best in MMA drama and silliness. This week, of course, we had a big showdown in the Octagon at UFC on Fox 2 between Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping, two fighters known for their trash talk, but they were so cordial to each other that I don't even really have anything to write about. Rashad Evans and Phil Davis were also fighting and they each got in a few zingers but, really, it was pretty tame. Fortunately, in addition to all this UFC on Fox fun, there was also some other bickering and complaining happening in the MMA world so I actually do have something to report. Let's get to it!

Nick Diaz vs. Georges St. Pierre: We will finally see Nick Diaz in action again next weekend when he faces Carlos Condit at UFC 143. Of course, Diaz was initially supposed to face Georges St. Pierre at this event before St. Pierre suffered an ACL tear that will keep him sidelined for 10 months or so. Still, Diaz has not completely forgotten about GSP. In fact, when speaking recently about Condit (transcribed by MMA Mania), Diaz made a comparison between Condit and GSP:

"I think I'm the most well rounded fighter in the world. I deserve a spot in the pound-for-pound rankings. And that's what I'm fighting for.... This is my lifestyle, this is what I do. I'm going to be ready to fight Carlos Condit -- he's the best fighter out there. He's winning his fights, he looks good. He's beat everybody, he fights better than everybody. In my eyes, he's better than Georges St. Pierre.... I respect his style of fighting.... I just try and keep it real -- I'm not going to put a fake on you, put on a show and pretend I'm someone I'm not. I have no idea when it comes anything else. I just fight."

It doesn't sound like he really respects Georges St. Pierre yet. Oh, well. In the meantime, we all get to see the Diaz vs. Condit fight which should be bananas! Lucky us.

Status: Diaz may come to respect GSP some day but with GSP out after knee surgery, it could still be awhile. And, Diaz has to get through Condit first so let's see what happens.

More after the jump!

Carlo Prater vs. Joe Rogan: When Carlo Prater beat Erick Silva at UFC 142 in Rio after Silva was disqualified for illegal strikes to the back of the head, the crowd was not very happy because it turned a fabulous knockout victory for Silva into an unspectacular DQ loss. After the fight was finished and the result announced, Joe Rogan entered the Octagon and decided to interview referee Mario Yamasaki (who made the DQ decision) to question him on the call. Rogan clearly was on Silva's side in thinking the DQ was not justified. In the week after the fight, Carlo Prater decided to speak up about the call and about Joe Rogan's behavior. Prater wasn't too pleased with any of it:

"I think in the end I was made out as a villain. I wasn't laying on the octagon for nothing after the fight. I want that to be clear. I had to stay in the hospital until Monday. They (UFC) asked me not to go public because, indeed, that wouldn't do any good for me or Eric. In my opinion, Mario did the right thing. It's been a long time since rules have been implemented. You are not allowed to do anything you want inside the cage. Watching the fight video I could see at least 9 blows to the back of the head. I think the way Joe Rogan behaved was completely unethical. He went with the crowd. A real professional doesn't do that. He was acting like a fan when he should be acting as a shout caster. Mario is a million time more competent than him. He's been living off this for 20 years. Joe Rogan is just a swagger, someone who walks amongst fighters but isn't really a fighter himself. He doesn't understand. Whatever... human beings make mistakes and I am not going to be holding grudges against him."

I have not seen a response from Rogan but I definitely think that Prater has a reason to be upset.

Status: I don't think anything is going to change on this but I think it's good that Prater expressed his feelings on the topic.

Diego Sanchez vs. Nick Diaz: Nearly seven years ago, Diego Sanchez and Nick Diaz faced off at The Ultimate Fighter 2 finale which ended with Sanchez beating Diaz in a hard-fought unanimous decision victory. Nick Diaz had a rough streak of losses following that fight which resulting in him getting cut by the UFC, then coming back, then getting cut again before fighting his way back once again, via Strikeforce and other promotions. Now Diaz is fighting for the UFC interim welterweight championship and receiving considerable hype and attention. It seems Sanchez does not care for this (as transcribed by MMA Mania):

"Man, everybody out there, straight up, I don't like to hear this crap about Nick Diaz. I'm hearing this stuff on Sherdog, 'Oh Diego Sanchez and Nick Diaz...gotta pick Nick Diaz, that was a long time ago and he's gotten so much better.' You know what man, we've all gotten better. Styles make fights! I'm still a guy that's gonna take down Nick Diaz, I'm still a guy that's gonna push the pace on Nick Diaz, I'm still the guy that's tough enough to take Nick Diaz's little pitter-patter punches. Styles make fights. Nick Diaz has this grappling that's on point and so do I. We get back in there again, I'm going to kick his ass again."

That could be fun and exciting to see again but I really wonder if he's right and if it would be as great a match-up today. Perhaps we'll find out.

Status: Diaz has a potential title shot in front of him and Sanchez has to get past Jake Ellenberger first. But, I guess a rematch could happen.

Dana White vs. Showtime: When Zuffa acquired Strikeforce, Dana White announced that everything with Strikeforce would be "business as usual". I don't really know what that means but it seems to indicate a lack of change. The UFC has continued to pillage Strikeforce for talent but Strikeforce seems to be continuing on after inking a new deal with Showtime. But, Dana White now sounds pretty unhappy with Showtime:

"Let's just say the first Strikeforce fight didn't go the way I wanted it to go," White said. "When you get into a deal where the network controls what goes on, controls the production, controls everything - I'm working on that. I'm working on that as we speak. When these guys hand over the reigns and let me run that [expletive] thing, it will change."

"I've got to get my hands on that thing," White said. "I've got to get my hands on the production and start controlling that show. If I don't, then it is what it is.

"We've got two years with these guys, but Showtime will run it (if I can't get control). We'll let Showtime run it on their own."

Interesting. That doesn't really sound like my interpretation of "business as usual".

Status: They do still have two more years with Showtime but I think we were all just pleased to hear they had a deal with them at all. I guess we'll have to see what happens.

Gregg Doyel vs. The UFC: CBS Sports columnist Gregg Doyel has proclaimed himself to be someone who loves the UFC, even in a column he wrote this week calling out the UFC for bullying the media and for taking advantage of its fighters. Doyel explains that he has not taken on the UFC on these points until now because of how they bully the media and because he was afraid, but he feels the time has come to express his feelings. Here are some of Doyel's thoughts about the UFC:

For years I've loved the UFC enough to leave it alone, let it do its bullying thing, with the tradeoff being that the UFC would love me back. And it has, up to a point. The UFC has given me credentials to every fight card I've asked to cover, and the UFC has put Dana White on the phone with me. Neither of those is as simple as you might think, because the UFC doesn't treat the media like the other major sports leagues in America treat the media. It's not a collaboration -- it's an intimidation.

Point blank, the UFC bullies the media, holds a grudge, uses access to its events as the carrot to keep us media folk in line. Write the wrong thing about the UFC or its leadership, and the UFC makes you pay -- rips you in public comments, denies your access as a journalist to events, encourages other folks inside the business to keep you there on the outside.

That's a fact, and the UFC knows which MMA writers I'm talking about. The hardest-core MMA fans know their names as well. Some of them work for established mainstream media outlets. Others work for niche MMA sites like Sherdog.com. This stuff isn't a secret.

Neither is the UFC's use of strong-arm tactics. A secret? No, not at all. One of the UFC's best fighters -- best in every way, from his fight record to his image to the way he represents the sport at fan-friendly events -- was fired from the organization a few years ago because, basically, he stood up for himself. Welterweight contender Jon Fitch was allowed back, but only after he caved and gave the UFC what it wanted.

...

The UFC leverages that power to get whatever it wants from fighters. That includes their signature on a contract relinquishing their lifetime rights to their video-game likeness, as well as forcing businesses that sponsor UFC fighters to pay the UFC a surcharge to be allowed into the Octagon. It also includes fighter contracts, which are as one-sided now as baseball contracts were before the advent of MLB free agency in 1975. Fighters typically sign a three-fight contract, terms imposed by the UFC, and often are left dangling before their final fight, when they are given another contract offer -- terms imposed by the UFC -- and told to (A) sign it or (B) never fight in the UFC again. Fighters that choose (B) are banished for their final fight to the untelevised undercard, as happened in 2008 to popular former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski.

The purses can be insulting for UFC fighters, especially its newest fighters. A fighter who competes three times in a year, and wins two of them, could earn between $40,000 and $50,000 for the year. That's a respectable wage in many lines of work, but not for a professional athlete on multiple fight cards that generate millions in PPV and ticket sales for a promotion said to be worth more close to $2 billion.

That's a rip-off.

Wow. He totally went there. Doyel also explains that he was finally prompted to write the column because of the ESPN Outside the Lines story about fighter pay that aired a few weeks ago (and stirred up all sorts of trouble). Doyel also says that he is planning to cover the Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey event on March 3 and that he has his confirmation letter that he will be credentialed, but that if we don't see anything from him from the event, we will know why.

Status: It remains to be seen if the UFC/Zuffa will react but it's a good column and worth checking out, in any case.

Miscellaneous Trash Talk:

Miesha Tate (on Ronda Rousey):