From Rampage to Role Model: Finding Best Practices

More to the point, the current UFC ownership has been in business less than a decade and the sport itself is younger than the vast majority of its fans. It is simply unreasonable to expect the UFC to have appropriately developed a similar level of machinery and nuance within its bylaws to be able to address player misconduct or dilemmas as efficiently or effectively as other major sports leagues. In fact, without the presence of some sort of legitimate fighters union, the idea of even a uniform, mutually agreeable employee-employer labor contract existing is fantasy.

And there are other clear differences as well, most notably the team-based sports league. Rather than working “directly” for the UFC, players in the NBA or NFL work first for the team. The league will get involved with habitual offenders or truly large issues, but generally team management is in charge of corralling players. The league can and will add another level of punishment, but those punishments more often than not are softer as the team represents distance between the player and the league.

In the UFC, by contrast, fighters often self-select themselves into “teams,” but those groups generally hold little or no significance within the UFC organization (battles between Dana White and American Kickboxing Academy notwithstanding). And to the extent that a fighter’s personal choices affect his abilities as a teammate or sparring partner, the UFC generally looks to the team or fighter to resolve any disputes.

If any finger is to be pointed at the UFC, it is not for failing to be ahead of its time in working out the kinks of procedure. But where they are culpable is demanding more of their fighters and themselves.

None of the sports leagues are perfect in application of professionalism, and within the MMA community, the UFC has done more than any other league to legitimize the sport bar none. But the UFC falls uniquely short in terms of promoting modern conceptions of professional sporting conduct as compared to the other sports leagues.

In a league where the president uses the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. to issue epithet-ridden tirades toward fighters and teams unwilling to sign off on lifetime rights at the drop of a hat, how can one expect management to either censure or assist a fighter who is a friend of management and whose repeated behavior has endangered the lives of both others and himself? To be sure, management isn’t even in a position to ask fighters to uphold a magnified level of professionalism if any of them watched season eight of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Yes, the UFC has reprimanded errant fighters and has facilitated sanctioning efforts in countless states by promoting the more middle-ground friendly aspects of the fighters themselves. But, at best, the UFC remains inconsistent in its adherence to the highest standards of professional athletics insofar as other sports leagues are concerned and seems willing to jettison even its own standards if it deems them expedient for outside purposes like television ratings.

Those shortcomings, however, can be corrected over time with consistent pressure from the fan base and other stakeholders. The chief worry at this stage should not be the alleged lack of stewardship on the UFC’s part to monitor every fighter’s behavior. Rather, the predominant concern is that there is absolutely no apparatus in place to arbitrate disputes and render reasonable judgment beyond the whims of management’s immediate discretion.

Critics may point to White’s impotent response in the wake of Jackson’s grossly negligent behavior, but without any contractual underpinning to help navigate a response, UFC management is forced into ad hoc decision making. Ultimately, such immediacy may suffice for the time being, but as time passes and more fighters become involved in increasingly different and difficult circumstances, the ability to apply consistent pressure across a broad spectrum of circumstances will become exceptionally difficult. And that reality will not be without consequence.

Luke Thomas is the Editor-in-Chief of the MMA blog BloodyElbow.com.