Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage…—The Smashing Pumpkins “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”
In Hollywood, fodder for the tabloids is more or less a good thing, as long as everyone spells your name right (Note: Crashing your car into a tree amidst rumors of infidelity and a golf club-wielding wife may bring unwanted publicity).
However, in MMA, a sport trying desperately to shake off the remains of a barbaric stigma that’s plagued it for years, beating the ever-loving crap out of EVERYONE IN PLAIN SITE at a porn star’s birthday party or verbally degrading the women of a small town crowd that graciously allowed you to perform in front of them are not ways to win over the hearts and minds of casual fans or State Athletic Commissions alike.
Yes, of course, I am referring to our good friends and former TUF Vets Jon “War Machine” Koppenhaver and Junie Browning. These two incidents, amongst the many that have made them famous outside the Octagon, should be the nail in the coffin for their careers.
For War Machine, flat out, the man should be in jail. If the reports floating around online are as accurate as they say, this is a matter of assault. No adult film companies, directors, or actors in their right mind would want to bring that kind of baggage on board. Also, a lot of younger, smaller MMA leagues have tried luring free agent fighters with some connection to larger promotions to their shows in order to help generate buzz. Should War Machine somehow avoid legal action, and it’d be absurd to think he won’t, I’d urge those fight leagues to stay away despite the press it would bring if he decides he’d rather go back to finishing fights than finishing…well, you get the picture.
I’ll confess Junie’s antics were somewhat amusing on TUF 8. There. I said it and I mean it. He hearkened back to a Chris Leben-esque erratic villain that makes for great television! The difference between he and War Machine, though, is that underneath the bourbon bravado and foul language, Junie seemed to evoke a small amount of sympathy, from me at least, by being a poor Kentucky kid trying to improve his lot in life. Despite his loss to Cole Miller on Ultimate Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann in April, there seemed to be hope from the Xtreme Couture Camp and UFC brass that he’d improve or at least make for a good ratings grabber with his personality. This past weekend’s post-fight comments, compounded with the incident that lead to a justifiable and appropriate dismissal from the UFC, show that Junie should not be allowed to fight until he’s completed a psychological evaluation, treatment, and clearance.
Are there a lot of fighters with issues to deal with? Of course. Heck, your job is to get into a confined space with the sole objective to physically beat one other person into submission. Most people would agree you need to be a few fries short of a happy meal to want that to be your profession, no matter how polished of a human being you are. However, it is this kind of press generated by War Machine and Junie that keeps the animalistic, sensationalist, No Holds Barred stigma attached to the sport from dying out completely and overshadows the positive contributions of the majority of competitive, well-behaved athletes in MMA.
After UFC 100, I did not think I’d be clamoring for Brock Lesnar to get better so quickly. Now that I’ve seen how much worse it can be? I’d gladly welcome a middle finger and a “Coooors” Light.
