How scared is the UFC of the WFA?
I got a call this afternoon from an MMA insider who told me that the UFC kicked Jeremy Lappen, the CEO of the World Fighting Alliance, out of last night's show. So, I decided to call Lappen to get confirmation and find out what he did to get kicked out.
“I had just sat down in the front row seats given to me by Ken Shamrock and security told me I had to leave,” Lappen told me. “I showed them my ticket and asked why I was being kicked out. They said it was because I did not have a credential. I told them that nobody in that section had a credential, but a UFC official and 3 security guards escorted me out of the venue, out of the casino and into the cab line. They put me in a cab and made me leave the casino.”
That’s it. According to Lappen, he did not do anything other than use a ticket given to him by a headliner.
Well, actually, Lappen did do something else. He signed Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Bas Rutten, Matt Lindland, Kimo Loeplodo, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Lyoto Machida, Ricco Rodriguez, Ron Waterman, Vernon White and "Razor" Rob McCollough to fight in the WFA’s July 22nd card. Plus, the WFA has the nerve to be on the verge of signing a deal with Showtime to air its fights.
In light of this incident and the UFC’s lawsuit trying to shut down the IFL, it seems painfully clear that the UFC is deathly afraid of competition. Not surprisingly, Lappen agrees.
“I have been told that [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva is calling our fighters telling them to leave us," Lappen said. "They are so scared of the WFA, they are so freaked out by what we are doing that they can’t have me in their venue. Look at the Wanderlei/Chuck announcement. That would never have happened if the WFA was not around. We have caused Pride and the UFC to work together to stop us.”
When I asked Lappen if any of this has put a dent in the WFA's upcoming show he replied, “No, the preparation is going real well. We are gearing up for the final two weeks of promotion, we have the count-down show on Showtime and it's going to be a great event.”
So, it looks like the UFC topped off last night's poor show with continued poor management style. Poorer than most people know since Lappen is not the only ticket holder rudely booted out of last night’s UFC show.
The UFC better hope that it becomes a raging, unstoppable success becase this kind of arrogant managment style will only be successful for as long as the UFC remains close enough to a monopoly that people have to accept its bullying. But, at some point you have to believe that the competition will catch up enough that the UFC will be able to use a helping hand from the same people it is stepping on right now. Will it get that helping hand? It remains to be seen what will happen, but I would not expect to see the MMA community go too far out if its way to help the UFC.
del.icio.us tags: wfa, ufc, jeremy, lappen, whaledog
|
|
|
“I had just sat down in the front row seats given to me by Ken Shamrock and security told me I had to leave,” Lappen told me. “I showed them my ticket and asked why I was being kicked out. They said it was because I did not have a credential. I told them that nobody in that section had a credential, but a UFC official and 3 security guards escorted me out of the venue, out of the casino and into the cab line. They put me in a cab and made me leave the casino.”
That’s it. According to Lappen, he did not do anything other than use a ticket given to him by a headliner.
Well, actually, Lappen did do something else. He signed Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Bas Rutten, Matt Lindland, Kimo Loeplodo, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, Lyoto Machida, Ricco Rodriguez, Ron Waterman, Vernon White and "Razor" Rob McCollough to fight in the WFA’s July 22nd card. Plus, the WFA has the nerve to be on the verge of signing a deal with Showtime to air its fights.
In light of this incident and the UFC’s lawsuit trying to shut down the IFL, it seems painfully clear that the UFC is deathly afraid of competition. Not surprisingly, Lappen agrees.
“I have been told that [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva is calling our fighters telling them to leave us," Lappen said. "They are so scared of the WFA, they are so freaked out by what we are doing that they can’t have me in their venue. Look at the Wanderlei/Chuck announcement. That would never have happened if the WFA was not around. We have caused Pride and the UFC to work together to stop us.”
When I asked Lappen if any of this has put a dent in the WFA's upcoming show he replied, “No, the preparation is going real well. We are gearing up for the final two weeks of promotion, we have the count-down show on Showtime and it's going to be a great event.”
So, it looks like the UFC topped off last night's poor show with continued poor management style. Poorer than most people know since Lappen is not the only ticket holder rudely booted out of last night’s UFC show.
The UFC better hope that it becomes a raging, unstoppable success becase this kind of arrogant managment style will only be successful for as long as the UFC remains close enough to a monopoly that people have to accept its bullying. But, at some point you have to believe that the competition will catch up enough that the UFC will be able to use a helping hand from the same people it is stepping on right now. Will it get that helping hand? It remains to be seen what will happen, but I would not expect to see the MMA community go too far out if its way to help the UFC.
del.icio.us tags: wfa, ufc, jeremy, lappen, whaledog
Paranoia. Thuggishness. UFC seems to react to competitors with maximum brutality no matter the level of "threat." See, e.g., suing the IFL, this move, the tough talk to Pat Miletich. Indeed, evicting Lappen seems of a piece with the man/organization who threatened Miletich and vowed to "fucking crush" the IFL.
Then again, there's this new cooperative venture with PRIDE, which remains inexplicable so far.
Posted by jalapeño | 7/09/2006 8:11 PM
With these guys like Zuffa and DSE, it's just business. How many fingers does Dana White have?
Posted by Eddie Goldman | 7/09/2006 9:00 PM
>since Lappen is not the only ticket holder >rudely booted out of last night’s UFC show
who else? could you please explain?
Posted by Anonymous | 7/10/2006 11:33 AM
I am a little bewildered by a couple of things:
The WFA has been promoting it's fighters as having beaten the UFC champions, this is indeed true. However, after using this type of hype, they are confused that Zuffa told them to piss off? If I were in their(the UFC) shoes, I would have sent him packing. He had a promotional ticket, not a purchased ticket.
Would he have been asked to leave if he was not sitting in the promotional seating? Likely not. I would guess they had little interest in him sitting with their invited guests.
I have been at concerts that were sponsored by one radio station. The sponsering stations would often refuse to allow people from other stations to enter the hospitatily area.
It really does not look too different to me.
Second: WFA is taking credit for Pride and The UFC working together.
Lappen "It’s so silly, but I think they’re freaked out. I think they’re freaked out by the WFA, so they threw me out of their event. If you look at what happened at the event, how they had the Wanderlei [Silva] against Chuck [Liddell] announcement, to me that’s UFC and Pride being scared of the WFA. I guarantee that would have never happened if the WFA wasn’t around."
Yes, the two biggest MMA companies are afraid of a company that has not even held it's first card. A card that, with 9 days left, still has ringside seats available.
That surely must be why they are working together.
It seems like Lappen and the WFA will take media coverage anyway they can get it.
Posted by MysterLynch | 7/12/2006 11:26 PM