MMA HQ – Mixed Martial Arts News and Analysis

I’m just going to post a few links to other sites with good coverage of today’s news concerning Jon Fitch and other AKA fighters being dropped from the UFC roster.

• FightOpinion.com has a great write-up with links an audio interview with Dana White last night. Zach Arnold also gives good insight into the UFC’s past battles with “agents” and “managers”.
• FiveOuncesOfPain.com has a good piece on how the UFC is trying to “send a message” to other fight camps and how the UFC promised rights they did not own to THQ when they negotiated the terms of the upcoming UFC Undisputed video game.
• Ivan Trembow uses this opportunity to once again raise the issue of fighters needing a union like other professional sports.
• Here is the Dana White radio interview on “The Carmichael Dave” show. Listen to the pompous idiot yourself:

• For anyone who wants to downplay this as “not a big deal,” turn on your TV and flip over to ESPN and watch the news ticker at the bottom. Yeah, its big news…
• As a reader pointed out, the Madden series of video games had the same problem with player exclusivity licenses in the past. The key difference is the NFL Players Association gets paid a licensing fee that gets paid out to the players. MMA fighters have no union or association and will get nothing but “promotional value” for their likeness for the rest of eternity.
• Here is a link to a YouTube video that contains an interview the guys from BloodyElbow.com did with Jon Fitch today regarding his dismissal from the UFC.
• Sherdog.com is now reporting that talks between the UFC and Bob Cook and Zinkin Entertainment have resumed but no details regarding the nature of those discussions is known at this time.