Why is ESPN Afraid of MMA?

[Charismatic Edge]

I suppose I should be happy that they started acknowledging its existence at all. Still, they overhype fuckin golf! GOLF!! But nary a word on a real man's sport. All the college god damn basketball you can stomach for 2 hours and not a mention of the upcoming fight. Maybe something on the ticker at the bottom of the screen.

To me, ESPN has been to sports what MTV is to music. That's not a compliment either.

 

[Wordlife]

They had a UFC 111 preview on the bottom ticker last night actually during the Spurs game.

 

[Charismatic Edge]

^^^That's part of my point. Why don't they have the little panel and talk about it. I don't want to hear Dick Vitale drool over young male bodies all the time.

 

[Wordlife]

Hahaha :rotflmao:

They should do a short segment on P.T.I. imo

They did one on Royal Rumble and WM last year, UFC is getting more popular, where is there feed in the sports world today??

 

[Charismatic Edge]

^^^I wish I knew. There's no burbs in the sports pages either. USA Today mentions it I think. It's almost like if they pretend it's not there it'll go away. Like it's still 1993.

 

[Wordlife]

The only other media source that has been promoting it a lot is youtube/google.

Every 6 videos, when you have an ad by google on a video, each one so far has been UFC 111. AT least they got one promo

 

[EnterTamed]

dont they run Bellator events on ESPN Deportes? not to mention that your arguements against golf and college basketball are weak as to march madness is probably the biggest gambling time of the year and tiger woods is the most famous athlete in the world

 

[gatesoftanhauser]

ESPN is fucking GARBAGE.

Overhype the Yankees, Red Sox, and Patriots and then fellatio fest people like Tom Brady. They gave round the clock coverage to Tony Parker and Eva Longoria's wedding, for fuck's sake. They barely cover hockey and treat baseball and golf as if they matter.

Don't watch ESPN. It's that simple. Fox sports is much better.

 

[straight_edge76]

I believe that from time to time they talk about it on First Take and PIT. I know Lesnar, and Fedor have been interviewed and I think GSP has also. I think that they also show results/previews of the PPV's on the bottom thing.

I personally would love a weekly/daily MMA show kind of like NFL Live, Baseball Tonight and shit like that, but with just how MMA is structured idk if a daily show would work. But I think that a weekly/bi-weekly show would be nice. Also, if Dana White didn't have such a fucking stranglehold on the MMA promotions/companies or whatever the fuck they are called they should play some fights. That shit would be awesome.

 

[hndsmepete]

I believe that from time to time they talk about it on First Take and PIT. I know Lesnar, and Fedor have been interviewed and I think GSP has also. I think that they also show results/previews of the PPV's on the bottom thing.

I personally would love a weekly/daily MMA show kind of like NFL Live, Baseball Tonight and shit like that, but with just how MMA is structured idk if a daily show would work. But I think that a weekly/bi-weekly show would be nice. Also, if Dana White didn't have such a fucking stranglehold on the MMA promotions/companies or whatever the fuck they are called they should play some fights. That shit would be awesome.

A weekly MMA show would work exactly the same as the other shows ESPN does devoted to a specific sport. I think Dana White would allow UFC clips to be used in an MMA show on ESPN, but the problem is that ESPN is incredibly biased towards Boxing. Pretty much every time ESPN has had an MMA fighter on its been a biased interview, kind of like they are looking down on MMA as a sport, probably because they televise boxing cards every so often (10-12 years ago it was weekly live cards). Boxing is not legitimate by any means, the majority of a boxer's career is spent fighting cans to get a good record so they can contend for one of the 500 titles they have per weight class. In MMA, especially UFC, newer fighters are thrown to the wolves and expected to prove themselves against experienced opponents. The only thing that boxers and promoters can say is that its "human cockfighting", instead of addressing why their own sport is dying, which makes it ridiculous that the mass media chooses them over MMA. I have only seen a few ESPN highlights of MMA. Liddell/Rampage, Lesnar/Mir 1, Lesnar/Couture, Lesnar/Mir 2 are the fights I can recall seeing clips of on ESPN.


Joe Rogan Owns Boxing Promoter Lou Dibella
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[He who knows more than Nation]

"Oh, boo hoo, hoo, ESPN doesn't respect MMA." God damn, ya'll cry for the sake of crying. Be fucking men, since youse guise claim to be fans of manly sports. For one, they DO have MMA coverage, on the web site, in the form of an internet show, MMA Live. Fuck. And secondly, they will have that shit airing on ESPN 2 starting May 6th. I mean for some diehard MMA fans taht some of youse claims to be, ya'll are out of the loop on some shit, I don't even watch too much MMA but I know/knew this.

Funny how some people claim to like "manly sports" yet post about being ashamed of Sheamus body and sad that a 50 year old man won't be sporting pink tights at WrestleMania. MMA is the biggest facade wannabe toughs put on. MMA ain't got shit on boxing, and that's just being real.

 

[Kizza]

As a casual viewer of both MMA and boxing, i am excited a lot more by MMA. However, boxing is much tougher.

 

[He who knows more than Nation]

^^^Indeed.
That's why so many MMA fighters are dudes who couldn't hack it as boxers.

 

[phantomgerald]

MMA Live is actually a quality show and they pay good money to bring in the best fighters to talk on the show.

 

[xtremebadass]

They barely cover hockey and treat baseball and golf as if they matter.

How true this statement is.

Here this was posted two days ago:

"MMA Live" debuts May 6 on ESPN2, future placement could depend on May ratings
by Dann Stupp on Mar 25, 2010 at 9:30 pm ET

Jon Anik and Co. are moving from an Internet-only show to ESPN's cable lineup.

As a trial run in the month of May, the sports giant's weekly MMA show, "MMA Live," will expand from ESPN.com to an additional spot on ESPN2.

Sources close to the popular MMA news program shared with MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) an aggressive month-long schedule that includes a May 6 cable-TV debut, a weekly spot on ESPN's No. 2 channel, and a couple major fight-week specials.

Beginning May 6, the weekly news show – hosted by Anik, UFC fighter Kenny Florian and Newark Star Ledger combat-sports reporter Franklin McNeil – airs in a normal 1 a.m. ET (10 p.m. ET) timeslot early on Thursday mornings.

In addition to those normal weekly shows – which contain event recaps and previews, a news round-up, fighter interviews and analysis – "MMA Live" hosts a UFC 113 preview special (May 8, 9 p.m. ET) and a post-UFC 114 show (May 30, 1 a.m. ET).

An official announcement of the show's move to cable is expected in the next few days. And though sources tell MMAjunkie.com that ESPN executives have not committed to "MMA Live" on ESPN2 past May, strong ratings could earn the show a permanent spot on the cable station.

"MMA Live," a finalist for "Best Media Coverage" in the 2009 World MMA Awards, debuted on ESPN.com and ESPN Mobile TV in May 2008. ESPN staffers Kieren Portley and Anthony Mormile, longtime MMA fans from the early UFC and PRIDE days, conceived the idea and quickly garnered additional support from the ESPN brass, especially when MMA stars such as Florian, Frank Mir and Stephan Bonnar pledged their involvement.

As with most of the sport's Web properties, "MMA Live" proved a hit with MMA fans. Executives especially took note in early 2009 when the show delivered more than 750,000 views during its three-pronged coverage of UFC 94 and the supremely anticipated rematch between B.J. Penn and Georges St-Pierre. Completion rates, the study of fans that stay tuned for the duration of the show, checked in at more than 65 percent.

That, of course, led MMA fans to wonder when the show would finally make the move to ESPN's regular lineup of cable stations, which includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and others. Company executives, though, continually squelched rumors of a move.

Now, though, the show heads to ESPN2, which is available in approximately 99 million homes.

While focused on MMA's biggest promotion, the UFC (which grants the show the rights to video highlights), "MMA Live" also covers other major organizations such as Strikeforce, the WEC, DREAM, Bellator and World Victory Road.