Tim Kennedy: MMA media a bunch of yes men
Luke Thomas: Let me throw you a curveball, Tim, out of nowhere, and be completely honest, I’m just curious to…
Luke Thomas: Let me throw you a curveball, Tim, out of nowhere, and be completely honest, I’m just curious to hear how you think about it. What is your opinion of the MMA media?
Tim Kennedy: MMA media…
LT: You totally have the floor. Whatever you feel like, say it.
TK: I think you guys are mostly yes-men. You kinda cover the stories that you think every– Like, I can only hear about Brock Lesnar so many times, and I don’t care. The guy has six fights. I want to hear about the real down-and-dirty stories that are really plaguing the industry, like how guys have to go down to Mexico to get knee surgery, or how 65 to 70% of MMA athletes don’t even have insurance, or how some boxer is about to make $24-30 million for a fight and we have fighters that make, on average, $2-3,000 a fight. Those are things that not many people talk about, but, in my opinion, are like the relevant, disgusting, black-eye issues of the sport. And, I don’t know, we’re just kind of soft. We like to print things that most people like to read, but we’d never really get down to some of the things that should be improved.
LT: I’m curious about the term “yes-men.” What does that mean exactly? Help me understand that, because I don’t disagree with it, actually. I think I know what you’re trying to say. If you’re asking “why do they cover Brock Lesnar so much?” and not these issues that you bring up — and the fighter who went to Mexico, for the folks who are listening over the radio, was Joe Stevenson; he had to go to Tijuana, Mexico, to get X-rays on his knee — why that impulse? Why do they gravitate toward Brock Lesnar and not stories like that, in your mind? What is the cause of that?
TK: I think for the same reasons that certain places– you know, the Top 10 in each respective weight class is like UFC fighter, UFC fighter, UFC fighter, because they don’t want to get blacklisted by Dana White. So they kinda play the yes-man, they kind of do the stuff to get appreciated or known. You know, Gilbert Melendez and Nick Diaz – just recently has Nick started being in the Top 10 of the 170 weight class, and Gilbert Melendez in the Top 10 of the 155 weight class. Those guys have been at the top for years, but they’ve been in Strikeforce, so who knows about those guys? It’s just a tragedy that– you know, are we really having promotions that are dictating how journalism in a sport is? I think right now it kinda is, and I’m just hoping that someday it won’t be that way.