Nick Diaz thread

[rovert]

Was there a lot of crying by the MMA=Pro Wrestling Brigade? Nick is really screwing up their dreams.

 

John

Not really I think the drug fail is the tipping point for most people that yep everyone's favourite little scamp has serious problems.

 

There is actually a bit of a backlash to the degree it has been covered and talked about on F4W from people who still like Wrestling and/or the people who see as just another drug suspension.

[rovert]

Dave with an elbow from the sky:

 

 

 

Let's try again.

 

On Thursday morning I did another show for a national media outlet, we were limited to 20 minutes, we covered about half of what Bryan and I covered, and at that point the exact same "none of the facts were in" as when Bryan and I taped.

 

You couldn't do it in 20. I can tell you that factually. If you said you could cut 30 to 25, maybe you're right, but I do know 20 was not enough because when limited to that time, we didn't come close to what Bryan and I did.

 

And of those "none of the facts were in" these facts were in

 

--The most talked about judging of a main event in a long time, where every round had been dissected over and over within MMA and it was still a major topic of discussion even days later even though it was not the most egregious decision of that night

--The aspect of the scorecards of two of the three judges in the fight

--The preliminary buy rate was in, way above expectations, why this was the case for a company with declining numbers and two guys who had never drawn a big buy rate in their lives

--FX number was in, nearly double of the FX number just a few weeks earlier

--All indicators on interest were far higher than expectations

--There becomes the question as to why this happened and why, kind of like the whole business analysis deal

--These facts indicate Diaz is now a genuine draw and a numbers mover, a stratosphere that maybe 5 people in pro wrestling and MMA are currently at and of those five maybe one is new to that club in the last year. Why is this. Quite frankly, when it comes to significance, we still didn't come close to covering this aspect well because of so many other aspects to the story

--Dana went from no way a rematch to negotiating one

--I was in contact with Dana through this ordeal so probably had an insight into it that is unique

--Condit's manager went from no rematch and sitting out to agreeing to do the match

--White confirms the match on Tuesday night

--Condit's manager confirms the match on Tuesday night

--Diaz's manager gives confusing and contradictory statements

--Wednesday morning rumors started flying that the match had fallen apart with clearly obvious reasons likely as to why

--It's all over the Internet that Diaz has failed a drug test and the match is off

--All key parties who would know that suddenly become quiet

--There is the aspect of giving people what the fans want vs. fairness in sports because had the roles been reversed and Diaz had won the close decision, there would be clamor for a rematch and we wouldn't be talking about any of this. This to me is actually a huge issue because it affects the sport and the business of MMA going forward decisions like this.

--The GSP aspect, and the fact that the buy rate here shows that GSP vs Diaz would likely be the biggest PPV of the year including Mania if it would or could happen and how that applies to the previous point. Plus, there's how GSP himself, the biggest star in the sport, had a hand in this,

--And there is my opinion and Bryan's opinion on this subject.

--And every aspect of this in some form had changed since the last time we did a show together

--And it was the biggest Wednesday for the site as far as traffic went, at least based on the several times during each day that I check. This gives the indication there is something that has a lot of interest, and you'd be a fool to suggest it was anything but updating the Diaz-Condit story given the day of previous Diaz stories have seen spikes in traffic, and Diaz is now, based on the buy rate info, a significantly bigger star than he was a few months ago. And likely a significantly bigger star than he was two weeks ago.

 

In actuality, every fact was in except one was out. That was why the match had fallen apart and that it was a drug test failure, and what specific drug it was. And if you listened with even the slightest bit of perception you could tell we both knew, and we could hint about it and the repercussions, but in fairness to all the principles involved, we had to wait to discuss that aspect in full detail since it was coming out the next day and we knew at that time we'd be talking about it.

 

As it turns out, there are many Raw TV shows which when it comes to interest and long-term news value we go just as long on and which are, what would you say, 5% as important long-term and have nothing to do with the biggest match of the year, nor any different from any other Monday night. We've gone longer on TNA PPV shows covering a show that does less than 10,000 buys.

 

This is the MMA equivalent to if Rock tomorrow pulled out of the John Cena match, and there were a similar number of factors involved as listed above that occurred over a two day period. You can bet we'd do 30 minutes on that as well.

 

Again, if you're not interested in MMA, that's fine. Just keep in mind that WWE & UFC carry the site and doing a half-ass job on a major story from either group isn't in our best interest.

 

There are days when complaining I can look at and use as constructive criticism. This is one where my reaction to complaining about covering this story, and time of this story, to me indicates names who are so out of the loop when it comes to this web site, and comes to story judgment and understanding the big picture, that pretty much any complaint in the future would be dismissed.

 

Like I said, don't cry wolf at the wrong time.

[kjh]

--I was in contact with Dana through this ordeal so probably had an insight into it that is unique

I expect Dana is in contact with more than one reporter than just Dave. But otherwise he's right.

[jdw]

See below.

[jdw]

Okay... I see that Dave was responding to people complaining about him covering MMA, and how he did it, relative to covering Pro Wrestling. And I've always been fine with Dave devoting time and space to MMA.

 

Never mind.

 

 

John