Not too long ago, the only way to contact your favorite athlete was to either wait outside the arena after a game or send a letter to the team and hope for a response. Fast forward to 2014 and fans are as close to the action as they can be – with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter you are only a mouse-click away from being able to converse with your favorite star.
The fighting side of social media
The UFC has gone a step further and offers monetary bonuses to their fighters for adding Twitter followers and writing creative tweets.
Don’t get that mixed up though — fighters have often found themselves in the heat of the moment and that has turned out to hurt them in the end.
After bantamweight fighter Miguel Torres tweeted, “If a rape van was called a surprise van more women wouldn’t mind going for rides in them,” the organization fired him.
This wasn’t the first disrespectful tweet that a UFC employee had made, former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans just one day prior sent the following tweet to Phil Davis, “I bet you won’t put your hands on me. I bet you’ll be the first one to take a shot — (because) I’m going to put those hands on you worse than that dude (former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky) did them other kids at Penn State.” Even though Evans was not fired for his wrongdoing, UFC President Dana White was less than pleased with him.
Another former light heavyweight champion and currently retired fighter, Forrest Griffin, won $5,000 for having the most creative tweets thanks to the UFC. However shortly after winning he took to Twitter and made this comment, “Rape is the new missionary.” Fans did not take kindly to it and Griffin decided to take a week away from the social media site on what he called a “Twitter Restriction.”
For some fighters and coaches, the rewards of social media outreach outweigh the risks. “Social Media is a double edged sword that has its pros and cons. Its a great way to get your message out as fast as possible,” Professor Lloyd Irvin said. “On the other end as a coach it is another way for the athletes to get bothered and distracted. It give people that formerly had no voice the ability to appear that they have a voice. But its a great way to communicate with your followers.”
UFC fighters have a chance to catch up with fans, but the haters always come out to play as well. “Some fans step over the edge with comments,” lightweight Mitch Clarke stated. “After my fight with Anton Kuivanen someone’s exact tweet to me was “fuck you and your gay broken knee” , makes no sense to me. You’re always going to be hated, no matter what you do so it doesn’t make sense to get upset.”
Social media isn’t just a great tool for coaches and fighters, but also for media members to break stories and interact with their readership. One man who is not necessarily known as a media member, but has broken a ton of stories is Front Row Brian. I had the chance to catch up with him and ask him a few questions about how social media has influenced him.
1. You have broken stories and said some pretty crazy things on Twitter. Unlike fighters there is no real backlash towards you from an organization. Do you ever worry about what you say?
I’ve never said anything crazy that wasn’t true. My mentors have told me you can’t turn it on and off. You always have to be who you are or else it’s not authentic. There’s enough canned bullsh*t out there. For every creative genius like FRB, you got 25 Wal-Mart rejects with a GED education and “MMA” attached to their twitter handle pretending they know something. Do I ever worry about what I say? No. Truth is the only defense that prevails each and every time. No backlash? I get more than my fair share and don’t mind it a single damn bit.
2. Have fighters ever contacted you behind the scenes because of what you say?
Absolutely. Most ask where is this info coming from? Did my team sell me out? What did UFC say about me? Can you get me into this training camp? What do you think of this manager? What is this fighter getting paid? What should I ask for? Will you be my friend? Can you lay off the criticism a little bit? My response varies depending on the situation and who is asking.
3. Do you feel that UFC fighters are using social media properly? Or could they be doing things differently?
There’s a few who are doing it right. The obvious ones being Chael [Sonnen], Ben Askren, Conor McGregor and a few others. A lot are letting a golden opportunity pass them by. It’s a big fu*king deal to be able to put “UFC FIGHTER” in your twitter bio. Take advantage of the audience they have brought to you. Stick in a finger in someone’s chest and start a fight. Fans don’t watch fights just to watch fights. They watch fights you’ve convinced them to invest in emotionally to some degree.
When a fighters signs a contract with the UFC they are given a code of conduct, however it begins even before that. The minute a fighter signs on with a management team they are putting themselves in the spotlight and they need to know what they can say and can not say on social media. Iridium Sports Agency founder Jason House says that educating fighters is the key.
“Educating fighters on the importance of choosing their words wisely when promoting on social media is very important to our agency. We go over social media conduct with them in person, and explain examples of things to avoid (i.e. Going on social media when emotional, angry, etc).”
TUF Nations contestant Tyler Manawaroa has been blacklisted from the UFC over a racial photo that he posted on his Instagram account almost two-years ago. This goes to show that even if you are not with the big show, that you have to be careful with what you are posting. Manawaroa could ultimately make it to the finals and still not win a contract with the organization.
No matter which organization or how long a fighter has been fighting, their actions on social media sites will always be present. If the ultimate goal is to eventually get to the UFC then one must be careful about their social media life right from the very beginning.
