MMA embraces social media craze
One inevitably sunny Las Vegas week early in the year, the UFC sequesters all of its fighters in a hotel…
One inevitably sunny Las Vegas week early in the year, the UFC sequesters all of its fighters in a hotel and gives them the need-to-knows of working for the biggest MMA promotion. At some point in the gathering, as the world’s toughest men do their best impression of conventioneers, there’s a section on self-promotion, and social networking comes to the fore.
This discussion is led by UFC president Dana White, a staunch devotee of Twitter and a popular presence with nearly 1.4 million followers. Build your brand, he tells the guys. You can increase your worth without the UFC’s help. Twitter, in all its textual freedom, is your friend. So much space to promote, interact and inform.
While most tweets add to the static of daily life, some carry a message. In fact, many fighters have taken the social networking tool and turned it into a career forum. More than ever, they’re starting their own storylines by insulting this guy or calling out that guy. They’re making respectful agreements to fight each other, and they’re beseeching fans to Twitter-bomb White.
It seems everywhere you turn these days, someone’s hustling. Dan Hardy wants a standup war with Chris Lytle. Anthony Johnson and John Howard hate on each other every time they get behind a keyboard. Everyone wants to fight Michael Bisping after he spat at or in the direction of Jorge Rivera’s cornerman at UFC 127 (ballistics tests have yet to be made available).
Now, everybody’s a matchmaker. What happened to the days when fighters trained, got a call from a manager and went to work? Is it now about who types the loudest?
Some managers, like veteran Monte Cox, wish clients would pipe down.
“Maybe I’m too old, or to old-school,” he said. “When Tito [Ortiz] fought Chuck [Liddell], you didn’t have to do any hype on the fight. Everyone wanted to see that fight. Nowadays, it’s more, ‘He did this to him at the press conference.’ Maybe it works, but I’m not a big fan of it.”
Another manager thinks tweet-outs are a measure of desperation, a sure sign that a fighter is trying get opportunities he wouldn’t have received unless he made a stink online.
“It probably means that you didn’t deserve the matchup,” Gary Ibarra said.
Manager Mike Roberts looks on the sunny side. He said online campaigns can help open the door to pairings that may not have been on the UFC’s radar but make sense in a particular division