LUKE THOMAS: Is MMA Journalism Dead?
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 13. 05. 2024
- Luke Thomas asks is MMA journalism dead? Is MMA media itself dying or just changing? Luke Thomas gives perspective on how the media industry is changing and what these trade offs - good and bad - mean for consumers and the sport and the future of how we get our MMA news. It's also a question of whether we get MMA journalism at all.
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You mean asking to be branded for clout isnât journalism?!
When my dad had a stroke the 911 dispatch had him make a smile to see what side of body was effected. He looked like the thumbnail.
Omggg đđđđđđ
i enjoyed this comment more than the video
đđ
perfect lol
Lol same here, fortunately my dad made a full recovery in a few months, hope the same for yours
Luke Thomas and Jack Slack are MMA media. The rest is UFC media.
Slack gets like 5 views a month. UFC is a reality show.
People want allegiance to the brand, tier lists, and routine detours of calling female fighters men.
@@barbzchitâs wonderfully ironic that super anti-trans, âmen are menâ people also happily call a woman a man because they do something ostensibly masculine.
*MK
What about Raimundi?
@@AB-kq9xmhe works for the Atlanta Falcons now :/
MMA media is now Nelk Boys, the girl wanting to be branded, and the guy sniffing Derek Lewis' cup....we're screwed
I find the interplay between fighter pay and MMA journalism very interesting. Low MMA pay has created an era where fighters have become youtubers and compete directly with the MMA journalism outlets driving down their traffic, so media corporations cut ties with MMA departments due to lack of interest, which cyclically stops the fighter pay discussion.
They compete directly? Doubt they get the same traffic, Iâd like to say it grows the pie for dumbass lowbrow content if anything. I found a guy recently the weasel(?) guy had 380k subs and Iâd NEVER heard of him. Thereâs plenty of space out there for expansion in dumb mma content.
one guy asked dana if hes been to a certain restaurant and what he thought of it, even dana was perplexed by it. dana simultaneously needs to be challanged but deosnt want anyone there who can, so hes been getting bored for at least 6 years now.
We live in a giant safe space for billionaires. Thanks, Reagan.
Yes. The answer is yes.
Sports media not just MMA will basically be athletes and CZcamsrs in 5 years.
Luke is the man, the MMA community simply isnât worthy of quality journalism. We donât demand it, so we donât deserve it.
That female reporter did the same to masvidal in ufc 300 same question cerrone to brand her and jorge did not know how to even respond to that
Good memory! Got a clip of it?
It's like anything else in life people believe grabbing attention supersedes everything
Yes, it's dead for a while now. I've became a hard-core (every weekend) fan middle of 2020, and I have seen it so your đŻ luke
Man itâs tough. I got out of the hard news business hoping to find work in MMA media. Tough times to find the right spot.
I think MMA just isn't anywhere near as interesting as it was 10 years ago. Whatever Dana is doing has driven me to be a casual who barely watches these days. The storytelling sucks now, the fighters are boring or aren't allowed to tell their stories, the UFC doesn't care to develop fighters as characters (maybe due to fear of the next Conor McGregor being able to call their shots and a lack of control over their fighters? Idk).
I just know it isn't anywhere near as engaging as it was 10 years ago.
I for one am glad. I used to spend every weekend watching fights and now I only have to watch a few times a year. Iâve gotten so much time back since the Apex started.
sounds like u prefer wwe and it's pretty clear u don't keep up with the sport as much, the ufc practically does documentaries on some fighters like zhang,phyfer and suarez, ufc 300 was headlined by guy who wears tribal face paint to weigh in's and is the definition of a stoic who has a beyond inspiring story but yeah there wasn't stone cold so bad storytelling, just bc u don't watch ufc connected or countdowns doesn't mean fighters stories aren't told (which again if that's why u follow the sport you're not a real fan) and people activly complain about certain fighters getting pushed and overpromoted ie o'malley, paddy, phyfer, barber and khamzat but hey wouldn't ufc be cooler if jon jones crawled out from under the cage while aspinall and pav fought and rko'd both
I think you are missing the point. But to your point, your description really makes it sound like the contemporary UFC is an extension of WWE. Imagine if the same company owned both WWE and the UFC. Such a situation would suggest that the marketing and brand-orientation would be targeting consumers seeking ENTERTAINMENT, rather than wanting to watch the best combat sports athletes match one another. Lucky that has not happened!
Itâs a sport not a drama. Go watch pro wrestling
WhooooshâŠ
Still one of my favourite personalities to listen to after all these years. Stay frosty!
Mma journalists in press conferences are terrible. We know, by and large, most fighters are terrible at media and oppressively uninteresting outside the cage. It then becomes incumbent upon the journalist to ask interesting open-ended questions to force the fighter outside their shell. They donât. âHow are you feeling?â
I totally tuned out of MMA/UFC late last year, the level of media had a big part in it. Couldn't stand it anymore!
If MMA media dies like we suspect, youâre more than welcome to come join Just Bleed Radio, Luke.
Just stop bro
â@@b.h.7430 do something about it.
Dying cause itâs produces some of the most stale reporting
Bro looking like two faced Harvey in the thumbnailđ
Good topic! đđ„ł
It's dead. I laugh at how little follow up there is. For example... Khamzat seemingly cannot fight in the USA. Why? Is anybody digging?
It probably wouldnât take all that much digging to find out, but nobody is willing to do it. How about the UFC cutting ties with USADA because USADA refused to let McGregor cheat? The USADA president came out with a statement saying thatâs exactly what happened, and this has been universally ignored among MMA media.
It was based on the sanctions on russia and russian affliated politicians thats khamzat is connected to. Thats why he fights out of uae instead of checnya
Iâm sure I saw a video about this recently⊠I mean Khamzat
Of course only Bloody Elbow had the balls to report on the fighter pay figures that were coming out of the lawsuit. And no one was willing to ask the UFC or any of the fighters about it.
@@drewfromyay882 Bloody Elbow (ie Karim Zidan) reported on Khamzat's visa issues which likely are linked to sanctions against Kadyrov
i honestly dont think MMA is a place for journalism. Our fan base is mainly complete meatheads and actual, real, productive, news worthy, discussion-heavy journalism is dead to them. We have the worst fan base in the world and the vast majority just dont have the brain power to process actual journalism. Yes i am judging the vast majority because that's exactly what the vast, vocal majority are like. It's the nature of our sport and the type of folks the intrinsic nature of it attracts.
it's reporting, not journalism. it's basically a private sport.
I was just listening to that part of the podcast when this dropped
Thank you Luke đđŒTotally precise analysis
I mean the UFCâs leadership are so shady in every aspect of the industry so itâs not surprising.
If at least one person could ask a meaningful question at a press conference that would be nice. We already know itâs special to fight on a PPV event and youâre confident youâre gonna beat your opponent. We also donât give a fuck about future events, weâll see that on Instagram eventually.
Yes, yes it is. Not just because I tend to agree with you on these issues, but because I've seen the fall off within my own relatively brief time in the sport.
The answer is yes
Well said, Luke. I do not understand why this is a confusing or unusual statement to make. Thank you for clarifying the situation, as it has been evident for quite some time now.đ„đ„đ„
I fucking love these essay-type videos you do. Informative, engaging...I feel a little less dumb. So thank you. Reminds me of your "Mea Culpa" video, which has been de-listed, hoping to see that again one day on here.
Apparently removed due to CZcams damaging account health with low views.
@@Theredbastard2023 That makes sense
Luke, Thank you for your continued professionalism while covering the beautiful sport of mixed martial arts.
Good follow up to the MK segment.
Agreed with everything here!
Ariel with one hand is trying to defend fighter pay, healthcare fighter safety etc and with the other hand is promoting an event with a 57 year old boxer. Saying new Media is there for clicks and clout
Ariels an OG but man what happened to him at UFC 199 i can imagine the man underwent a transformation after that.
That said that dude has carved out a space for himself in whatever we call this combat space we are living through. Guy has really built his brand and followed Pro Wrestling into MMA into whatever this fusion of things is. Dudes working for everybody. And aint a damn thing Dana or anyone else can do about it.
In Danaâs view, his relationship with the media should be a win-win. He gives the media access, they grow their audiences, the audience consumes more UFC content.
When journalists started acting against the UFCâs interests by pre-announcing fights they wanted to market a certain way, digging into issues like fighter pay, drug-use, and monopoly, it changed his relationship to the old media. From his perspective, why should he give access to people that are harming his business?
The guy promotes cage fighting. He couldnât care less about lofty ideals like the role of the media in a free and democratic society, holding truth to power, etc, etc. He only cares about his bottom line.
Thatâs why heâs transitioned to giving more access to new media. He gives them access, they promote their brands, grow their audiences, and draw attention to his product without the added inconvenience of asking tough questions or digging for skeletons.
Frankly, investigative journalism related to MMA should be performed by non-MMA journalists when thereâs a relevant story. MMA media should focus on the fighters, fight narratives, and fight analysis.
Itâs not dying itâs just devolving or evolving depending on how you see it.
I think in part, for morning Kombat , weâre hoping that it would be you to maybe shade away some of the bad feelings with the industry. Everything that we like about you isnât only about this issue. Weâd love to see da smile and better attitude every once in a while. Your mood is spilling into your work
I don't get how this is even a discussion. What she said was objectively fucking weird, and her response video to Helwani was even worse
Been listening to Luke since 2018. MK and BYM is the only mma media worth listening too.
People like Luke and Ariel are hyper critical of the biggest promoter, Dana is the kind of person who takes that personally. Being critical of fighters is also perilous because they are hyper sensitive. The guys who call themselves real journalists are dying and being replaced by people like Nina drama
Did you just refer to Ariel as a "real journalist"? A real journalist would not have backdoored the UFC like he did with that "scoop" a few years back. He's also nothing more than a tabloid reporter looking for the weakest, clickbait "he said, she said" dogshit making him anything but a "real journalist."
@@bruisersdilemma354Danaâs burner account identified đđđ
The Pig is King
đ·đ
Kyle Mee wont be covering MMA in 5 years đđđ
I love and hate new media, love it cause its accessible to anyone with a camera and internet but I hate it cause it's super saturated with poor journalism. Love it or hate it, at the end of the day it's a good thing.
Where's that ESPN video?
It comes out to everyone on Thursday
â@Kikibrat2 the one he mentioned on today's live chat, it drops tomorrow morning!đ
It does feel like there is something in the air lacking enthusiasm about the sport as of late.
The fights themselves are great but I don't know..
dead? first you have to be alive. Luke you the only one doing it for real.
As long as Brendan Schaub is around, MMA journalism will be alive and kicking in every facet.
Why *should* the UFC give actual journalists access when he can get as much exposure to through sycophant influencers. Same thing has been happening with journalism in other parts of entertainment
Yes. Next question
last couple years boxing has taken over for big fights. the boxers have stepped up and made the big fights ppl want to see. I love both boxing and mma but boxing has stepped up and mma/ ufc has gone somewhat stale .
Yea boii have a nice day everyone!
Yes
đŻ
You can't manufacture consent with adversarial journalism.
It was a joke of a question, I wish we didn't even have to give it air (and Luke is right).
MMA media is dying for the ones that dont have Dana's favor
MMA media is not dying. It is ufc media is dying. Because it is a bunch of youtubers/yes men..
CZcamsr - hey Dana I have a youtube page, I like watching ufc. I am big fan
.
Dana - youtube page you say? How big of a fan are you.
CZcamsr - I think you are right about Ariel helwani being a piece of garbage.
Dana - I like you. You deserve some media credentials we used to give to journalists.
CZcamsr - these journalists do not know what they are talking about.
Dana - someone give this person some front row seats.
MMA Media is not Dead just Diluted with Gossip and Rumors, and UFC ME!dia is just WWE promos with âProfessional Slappingâ
What actually is the major problem with media going away? Could someone give a non biased, straightforward answer?
If Luke could talk straight without parsing every thought like a ginso chef we might have some sense of an answer. After so many words the mind just goes numb.
MMA youtube trumps "MMA Journalism" Journalists just refuse to put fighters feet to the fire for being shit, or questioning the UFC properly.
Youâve literally got that inverted
@@Theredbastard2023 yeah thats why fighters are threatening youtubers and not journos anymore. get your head out of the sand
Sick thumbnail
Andy grove wrote about Strategic Inflection Points.. when industries fundamentally change.. usually happens over time and most resist⊠the winners are the ones who adapt successfully
Problem is that week in and week out it gets repetitive.
Even a fan like me who's been watching an extremely long time has to take breaks from your show, The MMA hour and the various other quality shows that are out there.
After a while, analysis becomes redundant and no one's really figured out a way to add modern overlays, sfx.
Things that makes shows work good, especially shows like urs is when you can tell that people are having fun.
Kind of like when you were younger and would go out to a club. You didn't have to be the tough guy or the best looking guy. If you and your buddies were having fun, your level of attractiveness to ladies went up a bunch of levels.
Different circumstance but why do you think *It is what it is* does so well. Mace has good takes. The cams usually has pretty terrible takes. It's the Camaraderie, them laughing and having a good time.
The simplest way to put this. You and Bryan need to transfer your private conversations about Athletics and sports to the show.
(I don't feel like either of you are being disingenuous) However, there is a tidbit, A. Morsel of openness that we're not getting.
You two need to let each other 's jokes, breathe (and on Campbell side knowing when to chill) and get the timing down. (I still like it but it should have already been there. Yous r a few years in)
My beef is people are just copy pasting other podcasters/journalist opinions instead of having a mind of their own like Luke, Hawani, Joe Rogan, Laura Sanko, ect ect... To many casuals are starting their own youtube channel with little to no knowledge of the fighters or mma. Like you said, its saturated with the same dumbed down opinion video after video. Half the time, people don't even understand scoring, it's embarrassing to those who dedicate their lives to covering the sport. I miss journalist at least trying to be original, ofc nothing is original but as close to orig as a journalist can be is all I want.
@@RurouniKenshinShinta I'm not saying that ppl don't C&P opinions, but our very modest little show at JustBleedRadio goes out before MK and most other shows and it's amazing how close our content is the theirs. We make very similar points, catch a lot of the same things. We often joke about them stealing OUR content.
Get yourself over to JustBleedRadio MFG, if you're not already subbed. Show a fellow P1 MK donk some love lol
@@dangermouse9348I'm mostly targeting people who very clearly don't have any business covering MMA. I could mention a few names but don't want to throw shade toward specific journalist. I'll have to check your stuff out cause I do like Lukes style of journalism, he isn't afraid to tell it as it is, kind of like his own version of Chael Sonnen.
@@dangermouse9348 yo what up đ.
I don't know if you've noticed but I've taken a break from all the chats.
It's just gone a bit too repetitive across the board.
I'm going to see if I can find it.
I'd also be interested in chiming in on the occasion and would love to talk about that.
đđŒ Tips up & Tips out đđŒ
Mma journalism was never alive.
Some content creators are dieing, because they are not connecting with the fans
Imagine profiting from covering and participating in "sanctioned" physical and mental abuse! We're barely out of the jungle on this planet!
Quality media is dying. This gimmick media that relies on short viral clips is taking over
I just pissed myself when I saw this thumbnail
I think alot of carriers are just melting right now.
⊠or non-existent?
Journalism has been dying in general with click baits before 2020 now itâs even slimmer and it seems like everyoneâs fine with click bait and itâs just normal now but MMA media or journalism has always been a joke I mean the Weasel Ariel is the standard?! Like cmon now he has biases and has shown to stir the pot with fighters for clicks whether it pays him indirectly or not he does well financially if his content does well and he race baited DDP.
MMA journalism is dead in the same way boxing journalism has been dead for years.
MMA Media: âIs Luke Thomas dead?â
MMA journalism is corny. Fighters have nothing to say.
Anything or anyone in a UFC press conference? Dont expect any serious questions or answers from Dana or the UFC lol
Nina Drama murdered you guys, and she doesn't even claim to be a reporter/journalist. She's a bad stand up comedian (no offense to nina). It's over, Luke. Time to write some jokes, ask silly questions and show off some skin at future UFC events.
I demand Luke's cleavage interview thirst traps.
Do you know what standup comedy is?
Imagine going to see Louis CK and he says âhow would you rate meâ
With people like Nina Drama I would say so đźâđš
Luke dying his mustache
Lol brand me ⊠Wild
They self immolated crying about pay and head trauma all the time
the journalists all say the same thing and afraid to say what it wants to ask. I know the questions in advance. Thats why Nina stands outđ
Luke, the thumbnail is FIRE đ„đ
Lukasz Thomasz is also playing a part in whats wrong with mma media đ
They must be idiots if they don't understand what you said
This is not "old guy yells at cloud." Sure, we're old guys in the space, but this is an insightful analysis of the entire landscape of the MMA "newsroom."
Thank you for including VICE in there. We definitely pushed to have real angles and tell real stories that had journalistic cred during the blog boom that bridged traditional media to what we have now with social media.
Truth is, if you look at the older heads in the newsroom, most of us have some journalism background, whether it be a degree or experience at print publications. Most of us were as old, or older, than the fighers themselves, so there was no jockeying to be friends or be cool with certain athletes. We were just there to tell the story and do our job. And we learned how to draw these lines based on education and work experience.
Nowadays, the newsroom is chock-full of gen z dipshits who have a DSLR and a TikTok page. They never had to work their way up the media ladder and they take the seriousness of the business for granted.
It's been downhill for quite sometime.
Not blaming the Schmo because I like him personally, and what he does, but I feel like he became the tipping point where "fan journalism" and unconditional reverence for the fighters became commonplace.
Truth is, if you're not personally more interesting than the fighters themselves, you probably don't have much perspective to tell the story correctly.
I think Robbie Barstool filming himself fanboying for McGregor at the media tables at an event, was the tipping point, IMHO. I think that predates the Schmoâs popularity
@@WMMASceneNow I don't know the timeline, or this exact scenario. But Robbie is a total douche. He's phenomenally uncool and not bright. Also, his band sucks.
If you arent doing UFC fluff pieces, you have no career in the current MMA media space.
jesus christ why do you needed speeding it up
This isn't particularly fun. đź Please more angry rants!
Luke lifting the lid off mma media... Personally I believe Dana White invented capitalism, the internet and mma, and he is to blame for most things.
can't stand Brian he's such a snowflake Dana did not say let me see what I can do this is that BS
changing the narrative
Nina drama taking over
đȘŠ
MMA journalism suckđ
CAN COWBOY CERRONE BRAND ME???
yes itâs boring
First!
Dang this comment didn't age well
People just don't like you, Luke. You let your meager success go to your head and became overtly arrogant, now your views get lower and lower. Here's an idea, try changing your stance and get back to what made you popular to begin with.
Iâll save you 20 minutes. The answer is yes. No one cares
Who cares
Why can't you keep a job is the real question seems like every job u have had throughout ur career in media ended badly
Luke, I love your content. But we're donks. You lost me at homogeneity.... the 1st time you said it đ«