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HENDERSON: MMA journalism and the Yves Lavigne-Josh Koscheck situation
Sep 6, 2010 - 4:08:32 PM HENDERSON: MMA journalism and the Yves Lavigne-Josh Koscheck situation

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By: Brent Henderson, MMATorch Contributor

DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK, I BEEN HERE FOR YEARS

Hello valued readers of MMATorch.com! Some of you may remember me from my “aMMAzing Week in Review” column from last year, but for those of you who may be new to the site allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brent Henderson, and I’m quite possibly the coolest guy you’ll ever meet. I know what you’re thinking, “This guy does sound awesome, but he needs to stop being so humble about how great he is, and just embrace his God-given talent of putting his truly genius thoughts into text.” I have heard your cries, and now, for your reading enjoyment, I submit my first, slightly abbreviated, thoughts on one, single topic from the wonderful world of Mixed Martial Arts.

YOU CALL YOURSELF A MIXED MARTIAL ARTS JOURNALIST?!

If you’ve visited any Mixed Martial Arts website, including this one, in the past week you’re sure to have at least skimmed an article or two regarding an interview Yves Lavigne allegedly gave referencing the Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley fight. The writer, Mr. Vincent Morin (pronounced Moron... okay, so maybe I made that up), made numerous claims in his article, everything from Kos not wanting to stand with Daley to Kos just laying on Semtex and stalling, all of which he attributed to Lavigne. Ordinarily, there would be no problem in transcribing an interview and sticking it on a website, but it appears Yves never participated in said interview. Josh Koscheck, who had recently been voted “Brent Henderson’s Least Favorite Fighter - Ever,” stayed classy, as always, by immediately posting a Blog on his website (which I will not promote here) calling for Yves’ employment termination.

If Koscheck, along with mainstream MMA outlets, had done a little research on Vincent Morin before crucifying Lavigne, they would’ve quickly realized he was the same “journalist” who just so happens to be a registered sex offender, and is being sued by David “The Crow” Loiseau for another completely fabricated story (only one of those two statements is true, but made up stories don’t hurt anyone, right Vincent?). Morin linked Loiseau to organized crime in an April 28, 2010 article, which cost him a spot on the UFC 113 roster. I’m not saying Yves is completely innocent, because it could be argued that Lavigne deserves to be crucified for some of his horrendous calls inside the Octagon, such as during the Wiman vs. Danzig and Pete Sell vs. Matt Brown fights, but not for a non-existent interview.

I’m not here to bash Morin, erroneous MMA websites, or Koscheck (okay, maybe Koscheck... a little bit) because I do have the benefit of hindsight as I’m typing. My goal in writing this is to point out the responsibility all of us who call ourselves journalists have in making sure what we type, and submit for public consumption, is one hundred percent accurate. Not only do we want, but we also need everyone who reads our work to be able to trust the information we put forth. Mixed Martial Arts is widely considered the fastest growing sport in the world, which is great, but lately it seems there has been an influx of MMA websites, who give unqualified writers who want to make a quick name for themselves the go-ahead to publish whatever they like, no questions asked. No one wins in this scenario. The obvious question we have to ask ourselves, keeping you, our beloved readers, in mind, is do we want to be the New York Times level journalist (think Ariel Helwani), or do we want to be the National Enquirer (Vincent Morin) joke of the MMA world? The choice in how we reach our individual, journalistic goals rests solely on each of our shoulders. Do we take the easy way out, or do we work our asses off to prove we belong here? I plan to do the latter.

I’d like to say a special thank you to Wade Keller for believing in me, and for giving me the opportunity to continue writing for MMATorch. I’d also like to say thank you to Crooklyn from TapouT Radio for allowing me to come on the TapouT Post-Fight show to breakdown fights from time to time, and for her continued support following a medical emergency I recently experienced.

Be sure to follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bighurtrocks
To contact me directly, send an email to: brentmmatorch@gmail.com