THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of UFC 106: Ortiz vs. Griffin 2 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV. This event will be headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin in their long awaited rematch– Join us for the best live fight narrative in the world November 21, 2009 7 PM Pacific /10 PM Eastern.
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Here’s the Countdown to UFC 106 preview video:
Great PPV showing for the Miguel Cotto/Manny Pacquiao fight with 1.25 million PPV buys. ESPN’s Dan Raphael puts in perspective:
Combined with the approximately 1.05 million buys generated by Floyd Mayweather’s dominant decision victory against Juan Manuel Marquez on Sept. 19, it was the first time since 1999 — when Felix Trinidad claimed a decision against Oscar De La Hoya in a welterweight unification fight and Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield fought to a highly controversial draw for the undisputed heavyweight championship — that two pay-per-view fights have generated at least 1 million buys in the same calendar year.
It was also the first time that back-to-back pay-per-views have reached seven figures.
Here’s Karo Parisyan’s comments on his UFC 106 withdrawal:
“There’s a lot of problems going on. They won’t re-license me unless I (expletive) pay them,” Parisyan told MMAWeekly.com. “I had to pay the $32,000 fine in order to fight. I never paid because I never had the money. I don’t know if I’ll be able to come back.”
“Everything is over bro. I’m just going to go home. Everything is (expletive) up. I’ve got to think about what I’m going to do for my career,” added 27-year old Parisyan. “I’ve got to think about what I want to do as far as fighting goes.”
Karo Parisyan out of UFC 106 @ MMA Weekly
While some have taken Karo’s comments as a lack of “desire”, this sort of inability to process what needs to be done to deal with external problems–or even day to day pressures of life–is a classic component of panic and/or anxiety disorder. These conditions are often accompanied by other mental health issues (depression, for example) and are no laughing matter. People suffering from these conditions find even simple actions overwhelming–as if they know what needs to be done to deal with a particular circumstance but can’t cognitively ‘connect the dots’ to initiate and complete the action.
There’s a lot of ‘worm cans’ that could potentially be opened with this story, and Zuffa needs to play it right to avoid a PR nightmare. This has a lot of elements that could easily cause it to cross over into the mainstream media–many whom already buy into the old ‘human cockfighting’ canard. It doesn’t take a media genius to spin this into the UFC using and discarding a fighter with psychological problems–its got all of the soap opera elements that the mainstream press loves. The various mental help non profits could also jump on the bandwagon, and further fan the flames making Parisyan an example of employer insensitivity to mental health issues. The smart way to play it would have been to say something like ‘At this point, Karo Parisyan has no business fighting in the UFC or anywhere else. He’s got a lot of problems, and we’re going to see that he gets the help he needs. Until he does, any question of his future as a professional fighter is irrelevant.’
As we noted in our earlier post, hopefully Dana White will have a more appropriate response after some reflection. It would go a long way to preempting what could be a lot of bad PR in the mainstream sports and general media that could cause a lot of headaches and potentially bigger problems. In addition, it would be the decent thing to do.
ESPN’s MMA Live for 11/19/09
Former NFL great Herschel Walker will make his MMA debut on a January 30th Strikeforce card in Florida. No opponent has been named.
Here’s NSAC Chairman Keith Kizer talking about the Parisyan situation:
Karo Parisyan has pulled out of Saturday’s UFC 106 match against Dustin Hazlett. No official reason has been given yet, but Parisyan has suffered from panic attacks in the past as well as pain killer addiction. There’s been some speculation that this current setback is due to his bout with painkiller addiction. Other reports suggest that he didn’t have the money to pay his fine from a previous suspension, and as a result couldn’t get a license to fight. As always, Dana White was quick to respond:
“Karo Parisyan has f*cked over the UFC, the fans and his opponent again!!! He will not be fighting Saturday or ever again in the UFC!!”
Whether the real reason for his withdrawal is his painkiller issues, panic attack issues, or his financial problems–or most likely some combination of the three–its evident that Karo Parisyan is a person with serious problems that go well beyond his career as a fighter. While we can understand Dana being upset at the loss of another PPV event at the last minute with so many of his fighters lately suffering from injury or illness, his response is contemptible. Consider Brett Favre’s well documented bout with painkillers. We’re not saying that Karo is of the same stature in his sport as Favre is in his, but we’re talking reaction of management to a similar problem. What if then NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue had responded to Favre’s bout with painkiller addiction in a similar manner:
“Brett Favre has f*cked over the NFL, the fans and his opponents again!!! He will not be playing quarterback Sunday or ever again in the NFL!!”
If Dana White wants to swear like a junior high school student and put the buyrate of a single PPV over the psychological well being of a fighter, that’s his business. For him to publicly react in such a callous, childish and insensitive manner is about all you need to know about why the UFC is having problems lately growing beyond its niche audience of 500,000 buys per PPV unless some big mainstream crossover curiosity like Brock Lensar is on the card. It’s why mainstream sports media treats MMA with far less seriousness than it deserves. Even Vince McMahon has behaved in a more forthright and compassionate manner when faced with similar situations, at least in public. Granted, he did so under some degree of duress after a number of ugly situations (particularly the Chris Benoit murder/suicide and aftermath) but he’s aware that saying the right things in public is good for business. The message that Dana’s reaction sends is clear–Karo Parisyan isn’t a big enough star for them to treat with kid gloves like Rampage or Lesnar, so we’ll cut him loose, insult him and publicly bury him. Who cares about his obvious serious psychological and emotional issues?
Sometimes covering MMA is like covering pro wrestling, only sleazier. There’s plenty of the usual overgrown adolescents who think that Dana can do no wrong already writing insulting articles and comments about Parisyan elsewhere and will no doubt do so here as well. I have no issue about the UFC not wanting to use Parisyan in the future and, frankly, until he gets a grip on his problems he has no business fighting in the first place. He’s dealing with a combination of issues in panic attacks and painkiller addiction that are certainly not conducive to a fighting career, but more significantly not conducive to a viable life. People die with great regularity from painkiller addiction and regardless of what Dana thinks about Parisyan personally, to react in such a manner is a textbook example of kicking a man when he’s down. It’s not only an embarrassment to the sport, the fighters and those of us who care about it but its an anathema to how any decent human being would react to the situation.
Creating an environment where fighters think they have to ignore or hide serious psychological, emotional or mental issues lest they cross Dana and lose their livelihood is a bad precedent and not much different than the one that has existed in pro wrestling for years. That’s why pro wrestling has such a well documented rate of chemical addiction and corresponding body count, and certainly not something that MMA would even want to risk emulating. Whether they’re a huge superstar like Brock Lesnar, an aspiring young fighter or a veteran who has suffered ups and downs like Parisyan the health, well being and safety of the fighters needs to be made the first, second and third priorities above everything else.
I’m not saying that Dana White is a bad person, nor would I make that judgment based on an individual incident. I’ve read many accounts that he is a complex and at times asymmetrical person, who is capable of extreme generosity and compassion as well as tirades like this. Still, there are plenty of people that have no problems making snap judgments of a person and this reflects very poorly on a sport that all of us–from Dana on down–have had to defend from mischaracterization and baseless attack at one point or another. This very well could be a case where Dana engaged his mouth before his brain–a problem that he’s repeatedly admitted to having as do many people, myself included–and will have a more measured and appropriate response based on reflection.
The problem is that when you’re in a high profile position, you’ll never get as much ‘run’ dealing with your ‘measured response based on reflection’ as you will for your off the cuff rant. For MMA fans, here’s a classic case in point–John McCain has long ago qualified and softened his ‘human cockfighting’ stance on MMA. How often do you hear his subsequent comments relative to his original critique?
Ultimately, the issue isn’t that Karo Parisyan is an employee of Dana White who has ’screwed up’, or a fighter facing at least a couple of psychological and emotional issues significant enough that he has no business in the cage at this point. The issue is that he’s a human being facing potentially life threatening problems, and deserves a measure of compassion and support–particularly from those who understand the challenges of his chosen vocation.
Here’s the latest on Brock Lesnar–according to Dana White he had a ‘hole in his intestine’ which is known as a ‘perforation’ in medical terms. Dana still had no real take on Lesnar’s future in the sport:
White cautioned that things could still go either way. He could fight. He could not. No one knows at this point. Lesnar was resting Wednesday at his home in Alexandria, Minn. and was scheduled to visit the famed Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. early next week for a battery of tests.
“He had a hole in his intestine,” White said. “The (stuff) was leaking into his stomach. That’s what was causing him so much pain. That and he had abscesses.
“The doctor told him he hasn’t been right for a year. His immune system has been trying to fight this thing and that’s why he was susceptible to getting sick.”
That likely explains Lesnar’s original diagnosis of mono. He had been weakened to the point that he was unable to train for the Carwin fight for much of October. That prompted the original delay in the fight. Then last week, the intestinal problem flamed up and Lesnar was hospitalized.
Obviously the next question doctors will try to figure out is how Lesnar developed a hole in his intestine. Still a lot of medical questions that need to be answered before he can think about returning to action.
It’s been confirmed by a number of sources including Shane Carwin that the UFC is working on an interim heavyweight title. Obviously its hard for the UFC to work out all the details with so much uncertainty surrounding Brock Lesnar’s future, so in the short term this is probably the best move they can make. More info as we get it…
There’s an action sports documentary forthcoming called ‘The Mind of the Demon’ that’s getting rave reviews. Here’s an ESPN piece interviewing some of the principles including skateboard legend Duane Peters. Here’s the plot synopsis followed by the interview video:
Mind of the Demon: the Larry Linkogle Story is a dark, analytical look into the psyche of one of the most brilliantly talented, yet aggressively self-destructive minds of our generation. Larry Linkogle is a world-record holding dirt bike legend and a man battling his inner demons as he struggles to maintain structure, sobriety and self-control. Incredible archival footage, colorful characters and interviews with the industry’s top names rebuild the thrilling story of the birth of freestyle motocross. Past and present story lines intertwine to drive the film toward one of only two possible conclusions: a nose dive straight into a black hole or one of the best comeback stories of all time.
