The UFC is a loyal organization. Chuck Liddell scampers around the Zuffa offices with his painted toenails as Vice President of Business Development. Matt Hughes bounces from one coast to the other as Vice President of Athlete Development. Mike Goldberg continues his run as lead play-by-play man in 2015, in spite of a dearth of talent and mysterious “illnesses.” These are made men in the UFC, and the UFC takes care of its made men.
But that mob metaphor carries forward. The UFC’s loyalty comes at a cost. Dissent is not tolerated. Insolence, perceived or otherwise, carries repercussions. The message is clear: fall in line or fall out.
That message has been sent loud and clear in 2015. Reebok, a fresh drug policy, and redoubled efforts to improve on a stagnant 2014 have already made this year one of transition. Personnel decisions have reinforced that.
Executive Mike Mersch, who had been with the company since 2007, was quietly dismissed back in March. “Babysitter to the stars” Burt Watson left the company after 14 years on the job. Most recently, the UFC parted ways with Jacob ‘Stitch’ Duran, who had worked as a cut man for the promotion for 14 years himself.
The situations with Mersch and Watson are mired in secrecy. They both left around the same time in March. Next to nothing has been said publicly about Mersch. Watson has alluded to an interaction with a “high-level executive” in which he felt disrespected. Little is known beyond that.
Meanwhile, the Duran situation has largely played out in public. On Monday, Duran gave an interview criticizing the UFC for removing sponsorship opportunities for cut men without compensation. Twenty-four hours later, the UFC decided they weren’t in the ‘Stitch’ Duran business anymore, and Duran relayed this was due to the comments he made about the Reebok deal’s consequences.
The Duran episode has led to an ugly situation for the UFC and Reebok with fans peltering each on social media. This led to Reebok’s social media person throwing up a white flag, and Dana White going on a Twitter bender in which he may have revealed that his company pays USA Today for coverage.
This hostile behavior isn’t limited to non-fighters. Dana White, after all, has a history of burying his own fighters when things don’t go his way.
His most recent target – and one he’s targeted before – was Jose Aldo. Aldo’s misstep? Coming down with an injury in training two weeks before a fight. In a baffling display of PR, White and the UFC got involved in a petulant (and public) back-and-forth with their long-running featherweight champion about the exact nature of his injury. Aldo claimed a fractured rib; the UFC claimed a bruise. The spat makes even less sense (and perhaps more sinister) when one understands the complications of an injured rib, no matter the severity.
The list of fighters who have been at odds with the UFC runs deep. There’s Aldo, Tito Ortiz, Quinton Jackson, Randy Couture, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Cung Le, Matt Lindland, both Diaz brothers, Anderson Silva, to name a few. These are not scrubs. With the exception of Cung Le (who was a champion in Strikeforce), every single fighter on this list fought for a UFC title. Seven of them held a UFC title. Jones, St-Pierre, and Silva are widely regarded as the best fighters in the history of the company.
It’s a pattern of behavior that began over ten years ago, and has flourished as the UFC has increased its market power. The difference between the ‘Stitch’ Durans and Jose Aldos of the world is that one is expendable. There may be real, tangible effects felt in Duran’s absence, but it’s unlikely to cut into the bottom line. The UFC can’t cut Jose Aldo without hurting their own credibility and helping its competition. Instead, they’ll drag his name through the mud in public, because what else is he going to do? Sue?
