Hyden's Take
HYDEN BLOG: On the UFC mishandling Jose Aldo not fighting at UFC 189, and the ugly Reebook debut
Jul 8, 2015 - 12:15:09 PM HYDEN BLOG: On the UFC mishandling Jose Aldo not fighting at UFC 189, and the ugly Reebook debut

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By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch contributor

There are two big stories in MMA right now, and they both involve the UFC botching something. There's some relation between the two, but they've been negative stories for their own reasons.

The UFC mishandles Jose Aldo not being able to fight at UFC 189

UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo had to pull out of his fight with Conor McGregor at UFC 189 and Chad Mendes is taking his place. I'm in the camp who thinks that Frankie Edgar should be the one to fight McGregor, not Mendes, but that's not really relevant here, and it's also not the problem.

The problem is the way the UFC has handled this change. It's one thing for McGregor to accuse Aldo of ducking him, you expect that from a fighter. All this stuff is done in the name of selling fights. It's a totally different thing, though, for the UFC to criticize Aldo and make references to him pulling out of previous title fights. They've to paint him as the type of fighter who looks for the easy way out.

Aldo has a legitimate injury. It sucks, it's horrible, and it's the kind of thing that make you swear when you hear it, but it happens. The UFC's job is to try to make the best of any situation. Imagine if LeBron James or Tom Brady had to pull out of a big game because of an injury. Would the NBA or NFL criticize them or make note of how many games they've missed? No, they would try to shine things up nice and bright to keep you excited for what's to come.

What the UFC has done is very petty. Aldo is still the UFC Featherweight Champion, and will be until someone beats him in the cage. Making the McGregor-Mendes fight for an interim belt is ridiculous as well, adding to the pettiness being shown towards Aldo. That's nothing new, but it makes you shake your head when it happens.

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The Reebok debut lands with a thud

The compensation for the Reebok uniform deal is a topic that I've discussed before, and has been written about by numerous others in great detail, so I'll forgo that other than to say that it needs to be much higher than it currently is.

With that out of the way, I'll move to the unveiling last week. The UFC insists on calling them "kits" because using the word "uniform" would be putting too fine a point on them. These are uniforms in every sense of the word. What little graphics there are on them are a cut-and-paste job that show little imagination. The uniforms are bland, and despite claims to the contrary, they don't allow for much personalization.

The biggest problem is that the UFC is taking a team-sport approach to an individual sport. Most fans have teams that they root for, or against. No matter who's on that team, they'll root for or against them. Every sport has guys that you can't stand... until they're on your team. Then, suddenly, that guy becomes "scrappy" and "a hard-worker." Whereas you used to want the guy thrown out of the league for dirty play, now you celebrate his hustle and willingness to sacrifice his body for the team.

MMA doesn't have any of that. There are no "teams" in that sense. There's no uniform or colors that you root for above all else. It's one guy. The closest thing you'd get is fans from foreign countries rooting for their fellow countrymen, and these uniforms aren't going to make a bit of difference with regards to that. Another issue is that, quite simply, these uniforms aren't cool. They're generic. Even worse, everybody is going to be wearing the same damn clothes. It's also ridiculous to have the initials "UFC" plastered right across the front in 200 point font.

I know this isn't as big of a deal as the compensation issue, but some of the compensation for the fighters comes from the sale of these uniforms as well. When you have bland and generic clothes that are wildly overpriced, they're not going to sell as well. Team sport uniforms sell well because you're still rooting for your team even if the guy whose jersey you're wearing isn't playing. The team is playing every week or every few days. Guys in the UFC don't generally fight more than a few times per year.

All in all, I think this whole deal has been mishandled. The compensation, the look, it's all a big mess that the UFC has laid out. And in the heat of summer, it's really going to start to stink.


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