Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 129, plus Mike Goldberg's ex-NFL gig
Oct 22, 2014 - 12:05:44 PM HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from Bellator 129, plus Mike Goldberg's ex-NFL gig

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

Bellator 129 took place this past weekend. Here's my rundown.

Bellator 129

GOOD/BAD: Joe Vedepo stops Davin Clark

It would be a little harsh to go full BAD with this fight, but it wasn't very exciting. It went into the third round before Vedepo got the stoppage. The fight itself was just okay.

GOOD/BAD: Andre Santos vs. James Terry

This was pretty entertaining, though light on technique. This was your typical barroom brawl. Santos won the decision, though you could argue for a draw because the ref should taken a point away from Santos due to low blows. Santos hit Terry low once in the first round and again in the third round. It's not a big deal, but I think a draw is more appropriate in this case.

GOOD/BAD: Houston Alexander vs. Virgil Zwicker

This was another fight that was both GOOD and BAD. The effort was fine, both guys tried hard though it wasn't a great fight by any means. The bad comes from the two headbutts that cost Alexander a point. Unlike the previous fight, though, a guy lost a point for illegal blows. Thus this fight was a majority draw.

BAD: Josh Neer vs. Paul Bradley

This time I don't have conflicted feeling about the fight. This was just boring. The referee was asking for more action throughout the fight, and he didn't get it. Bradley won the decision, but Neer was very upset even before the decision was announced. A win's a win so I guess Bradley can't be upset with his performance, but I would hope that he wants to improve his next time out.

*************

The weekend before last, UFC announcer Mike Goldberg tried his hand at announcing a NFL game for FOX. I won't be as blunt as others have been, but he wasn't good. At all. He misidentified players, got the down and distance wrong, and just generally did a bad job. The mistakes he made were ones that you wouldn't expect someone to make unless they hadn't prepared. To be honest, it sounded like Goldberg had never seen a game before in his life. I know this isn't true, so I don't know why he did such a bad job.

Sports announcers do a bad job all the time, though. Hell, Goldberg and Joe Rogan routinely do a bad job on UFC shows. This kind of stuff usually isn't news, so that tells you how bad Goldberg was in this role. If this was the whole story, it would have been just another chapter in the Bad Announcer book. What happened after the game, though, is what makes this story relevant to the UFC, and is something they should try to learn from.

There was a lot of hate directed towards Goldberg on Twitter for his bad job announcing. It's the kind of stuff that happens all the time with public figures. I'm sure it sucks for them, but it's part of the price they pay for their fame. The best way to handle it is to ignore it, or to address it if it's civil. Instead, Goldberg opted to utilize the UFC method for handling dissenters, and he cursed them out. He came off like a real jerk in his replies to the haters. The stuff those guys said to Goldberg wasn't even that bad to begin with, but he chose to respond with the f-bomb and other insults. He also used that patented Dana White technique of making fun of the lack of followers the guys had, as if that somehow invalidated their complaints.

The NFL and FOX weren't having any of that, and promptly removed Goldberg from his position. He was only scheduled to announce one more game anyway, but the message was clear. They weren't going to let him insult fans on Twitter. That's just bad business. The fact that the UFC and Goldberg routinely engage in this practice shows you where they stand in relation to other sports leagues. It should be common sense that you don't insult fans. You won't see other talking heads from sports leagues acting this way, and especially the high-ranking guys in the company.

The UFC has a hard enough time trying to convince some close-minded people that MMA isn't a bloodsport filled with immoral jerks without behavior like this from people within the company. Any little misstep or mistake from the company, or those associated with it, can and likely will be used to try to stop the sport from becoming more mainstream. The last thing the UFC should do is encourage insulting potential customers. They've done that because Goldberg, and others in the company, have insulted fans on Twitter for years. You can't do that without repercussions. In this case, it cost Goldberg a side job for him. In the future, it might cost him or the company something bigger.


Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank