Does Social Media Help Determine Fight Match-ups? Or Have We Forgotten What Competitive Fighting Is?

I think most Mixed Martial Arts fans would agree that without Dana White the UFC would not be where it is today.  Some would even argue that the organization would not exist without him. I happen to be one of those people.

So how could he drop the ball so badly with CM Punk?

Signing a guy who had no prior fighting background or mixed martial arts training at the age of 37 sounds pretty foolish right? So why would White allow this to happen?

Prior to UFC 225, I took to Twitter to voice my frustrations about putting Punk on the card.

“With a stacked card coming up this weekend I’m not sure how two 0-1 fighters managed to have there fight placed just a few fights from the main event. Hate to be a downer but neither of these guys are any good. #DanaWhite #UFC225 #CMPunk #bathroomBreak?”

Shortly after the post, former UFC lightweight fighter Chris Wade decided to comment on my tweet.

“Because fight worthiness doesn’t matter but rather social media following that translates into PPV buys and dollars in their pockets does”

So is he right? Is it really more about social media popularity rather than skill level? It’s hard to argue with Wade’s point considering the fact that UFC 225 had ten fighters on the card that had either held a world title at one point or competed for one in the past. So it’s difficult to process that someone as smart as White could think to put two 0-1 fighters on the pay-per-view card.

As suspected the fight between Punk and Mike Jackson was less than impressive. Despite winning the fight by a unanimous decision victory, Jackson still lost any chance of ever competing in the UFC again.

“Michael Jackson I’m not happy with. This guy was acting like a goofball tonight,” White said during the press conference following UFC 225. “You get this opportunity to come in and fight CM Punk and you’re doing like bolo punches to the body on top? Never looked like he was trying to finish the fight, ever, right? Looked like he could have finished the fight a few times, never tried.”

White didn’t even mention the fact that Jackson actually tickled Punk during the fight. That’s what you want for a pay-per-view fight right? A tickle fight?

White later said that he regretted not putting the fight on fight pass rather than the paper view card.

“I don’t know what that guy did for a living before we gave him the shot, but whatever it was, he needs to go back and do that again. He’s 0-2 as far as I’m concerned.”

I’m not quite sure how someone who knows as much about fighting as White does, could not predict that this was going to be a horrible fight. I mean the tickling was a surprise, and quite possibly the most entertaining part of the fight simply because it was unexpected, but White should have known what this fight was going to be.

Giving Punk an opportunity to jump into the UFC right away is as bad as if Joe Girardi called me up and said “hey man! I heard you played a little JV baseball back in the day; Want to come to play for the Yankees?” As funny and crazy as that sounds, that really is how crazy signing Punk to the UFC was.

Between Joe Rogan’s podcast and interviews with White, one thing is certain; Punk is a really nice guy and he works really hard.

This made me laugh. I get it, your trying to let the guy down easy and not sound too critical or insensitive. However, working really hard and being a nice guy doesn’t mean anything inside the cage if you have zero skill level to go with it; which happens to be the case with Punk.

At the end of the day I suppose I don’t have the right to tell people what they should find entertaining and what they shouldn’t, but for the people who continue to support and ask to see Punk fight, I’ll ask you this question; do you like to see competitive fights that are technical and engaging? If the answer is yes, then why would you want to watch this old man continue to take unnecessary damage?

Twitter Handle: telliertales10

Work cited:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bloodyelbow.com/platform/amp/2018/6/10/17445854/ufc-225-dana-white-blasts-goofball-mike-jackson-for-not-finishing-cm-punk-mma-news