This will divide the opinion of some readers but a lot of people seem to be discussing the release of Stitch from the UFC. So I think I will give my side and try to sway some opinions. You should know right away, I am on the side of the UFC. Not because they give me free lunches when I work with them and a backpack full of granola bars, but because I believe he was terminated for a legit reason and that’s that. Here is a little politics for people who like to shout it in public. When someone says, “I’ll kill you, I’ll beat you up, I’m going to invent a time machine and kill your great, great, great, great, great, great grand father so you’ll never be born and I won’t have to have this conversation.”
People believe they can say that, or, things such as when a guy works at McDonald’s telling to everyone while working and on his blog at home. “I like to spit in burgers, when your not looking I fart on them.” And people constantly think they can do that because, well, Freedom of Speech, first amendment, I can say what I want and you can’t stop me.
Well, no. You can’t. I don’t think people know what the First Amendment actually is. What it was made for, is the freedom to say that the American President sucks, that the school systems suck, that the post office sucks, that the government sucks, that they should all be fired, that I am going to stand outside of the White House with a sign that says, “I’ve been STD free since 1983 even if the government has been raping us since 1776”.
That’s it. That is the limit of the freedom of speech (we won’t touch on religion and press right now so, just, push those aside for now). The other stuff falls under what is called “Hate Speech” and I’m not lying when I say this, something that can be constituted as “Fighting words” which you can be held accountable for if you really wanted to drag someone to court for it.
The first Amendment enables a citizen the ability to protest or petition a government without fear of reprimand. That is freedom of speech. It is different in say, Tibet where you can’t worship the Dali Lama or Russia where you can’t say, “Hey Putin, you’re a Czar and the amount of people who have been mysteriously poisoned since you took office is insane.” See, I can say that here in my comfy chair because in the United States I have freedom of speech. If I were in Russia or somewhere else, it might not fly. Could be a ticket or prison. I don’t know, someone go try it and let me know how it goes. But, free speech extends to government and government run institutions. That’s it.
Let’s go back to the McDonald’s reference. If the company (not a government entity) found out about what that employee were saying. They’re fired. That’s it. If I sell jeans and I tell everyone how much our store sucks and tell customers to go somewhere else, again, I can be fired. So, when an employee who is a cut man says, “I don’t like what this company is doing, they are ripping me and everyone else off, it’s unfair and I want change.” The UFC has two options. Listen to him and agree and lose out on money OR say, well, you fix cuts and we have thirty other people just like you and this company is brining us hundreds of millions of dollars and you are bringing in zero dollars, well, then, guess who they choose. Wouldn’t you do the same?
Why does the UFC need millions of dollars. Simple. To pay for the fighters to fight. They are a promotion after all. They make more then a little more could trickle down. Want to know what happens when a company doesn’t have money? It’s called bankrupt. They didn’t have a Reebok deal. They didn’t have millions of dollars. When Jon Jones backed out of UFC 151, they cancelled the card and had a fight a week or two later. When Affliction canceled a card. They went out of business. They don’t exist anymore.
I am all for fighters making as much as possible. I am all for shoe salesman and whoever made the guacamole I ate yesterday making as much as possible. But this sponsorship thing has gotten out of hand. How many jobs let you put a Polo shirt on and then say, well, I’m wearing your shirt, so give me money. Look at the clothes you are wearing now, how much is that company paying you to wear them? Did you pay THEM to wear THEIR clothes? Me too. Weird huh. So in what world does the McDonald’s employee get to slap a Burger King logo on their apron and say, well, they owe me $5000 now, we made a deal? There is no world where that happens. So, if your employer says, from now on, this is what we are doing and this is the logo in what other world can employee’s say, “No, this is garbage, this is unfair, I don’t have to listen to you.” If this were any other place every single person would be fired. Again, I’m all for people making their money. It sucks that some people have to take a pay cut, it really does. But you are a fighter who is making extra money as an advertiser. If you want to make money in advertising then go do that. But if you want to make money in fighting, I’d say make money at that. If my next book sucks (it doesn’t) and no one buys it, it’s because I didn’t do my job. I can’t put a McDonald’s sticker on it and suddenly it’s a better book. If it sucks it sucks. If I lose a fight I lose a fight. I need to get better or do something else.
So, Stitch I’m sorry you lost out on some money, but you are a cut man. You get paid to be a cut man. While you also made money with ad’s, your main job is as a cut man. He lost extra money as a walking billboard, but welcome to life. When I need extra money I pick up extra work. This is the world of the normal. But by complaining that the world isn’t fair and you want the extra money that 99% of other working people don’t see, well, now you are an unemployed cut man. Problem solved. When I take a job, I say, how much are you giving me. If it’s not enough, I don’t take it. If I can make extra money doing other stuff on the side, I do it. But I don’t try to wrestle in 4 other ways to make money at the one job. That’s not how business works. And the UFC is a business. It’s called a conflict of interest. I can’t cover one event and then use the same interviews somewhere else with a different logo or say, this is Derek with mmanytt and sherdog and espn and combate and so on…
People can agree or disagree but it comes down to an episode of breaking bad. Jessie got mad because Gus was making 200 million and they were only making 2 million. I’d be happy with the 2 million. That show would have been way different had they shut up and took the 2 million. But nope, had to have more. Keep in mind, Gus is making 200. 4 goes to the cooks, probably 10 for trucks, 2 for transportation, 10 for borders and customs, 100 for supplies and 20 for equipment and security. So, correction. You are making 2 million you keep. He is making 200 and keeping 54. It’s still more than you, but you wouldn’t have a job without him.
If you’ve never seen the show, just…. Take everything I just said, where the UFC is Gus and everyone complaining is Jesse.
