MMA and marijuana

BodogNation tackles the topic and gives this blog some credit...sort of.

UPDATE: Sprawl N' Brawl gets in on the marijuana action, too. Notable quote:

I'm not saying all fighters smoke. But some obviously do. And it seems that if Sam Sheridan can identify that at least in Brazil, smoking weed is a clear part of the jiu jitsu culture, then it must have some influence on the American MMA culture, which incorporates Brazilian jiu-jitsu and its culture into its sport. And people like Nick Diaz and Diego Sanchez are clear cases of this.

So why are we testing fighters for it?

Excellent question. And to the previous point, fighters wouldn't even need to import cultural practices related to jiu-jitsu in Brazil to figure out marijuana has a lot to offer. The best argument I ever heard in favor of marijuana turned a major argument against the drug on its head: if pot is so great, why does it cause people to not engage life? The obvious response - to anyone who's ever used pot - is that, on the contrary, marijuana is known to enhance the enjoyment of all sorts of activitives such as watching a movie, listening to music, eating food, enjoying the weather, helping with sleep, alleviating hangovers, inducing appetite, among dozens of others. So is it really any wonder why people choose to use the plant?

A short talk with the man behind Bodog

Over at BloodyElbow, I've got a short interview up with CEO and founder of Bodog, Calvin Ayre.

Snapshot of the Day

Fedor Emelinaneko and Calvin Ayre, CEO of Bodog.

Hat tip: Lay and Pray

Grading Sherdog's Report Cards

Jake Rossen's recent grading of the 6 major MMA promotions (UFC, IFL, PRIDE, K-1, Bodog, and Elite XC) needs some revising in both content and attitude. The piece is unnecessarily harsh and fails to grasp the significance of the information it evaluates.

The grades are as follows:

UFC: B
IFL: B-
PRIDE: B
K-1: C
Bodog: C-
Elite XC: B-

This isn't to say his observations are trenchant nowhere. For example, I agree there is a problem when every promotion employs different rules, judging, and scoring criteria. The lack of any kind of coherent rules - in a sport where rules and scoring are already hard to determine because MMA is essentially a combination of other sports that have their own rules - is a serious problem. And when promotions with unique rules, e.g. PRIDE allows knees and kicks to a downed opponent, only to change them when the fights they produce change locations merely exacerbates the already confusing issue.

But Jake, unless your writing heavily reliant upon shtick (and his comment that "unfair generalizations" are contained in the article indicate he probably is), you need to back off just a tad. Don't miss the forest for the trees. The point is obvious, but worth reminding. That we're grading not one or two but 6 major promotions most of which either have television or PPV coverage is nothing short of fantastic, yet your piece employed a tone of cynicism and bitterness as if the sport were in regress. No, I don't think growth or the sport's infancy render concerns null and void, but they should give pause and more importantly, the benefit of doubt for up-and-coming or even established promoters . You're seriously jumping the gun in expectations.

The criteria used in the article are decent, but a better way to assess the sport vis-a-vis any promotion is by judging what they were doing at this point last year and then determing what kind of an effort they should put out in the next year. Since the sport is new and is growing, shouldn't we be asking how they've improved (or worsened) over the course of specified period of time? And isn't it a little early to be giving a report card to Elite XC since their entire grade is predicated on ONE measely event? Judging them in "realtime" will only serve to couch the promotions' achievements as shortcomings at best and outright failures at worst.

Lighten up a little, Francis.