A Bit More On UFC 246, Conor McGregor, ESPN And The UFC Press Conference
Or man did people have some feelings about that one
Welcome to the latest C’mon Now newsletter. This is the place where I’ll share my thoughts on all the goings-on in MMA. Those thoughts could range from media criticism to advice for folks looking to get into MMA writing to why certain fighters or managers are not good for the sport.
Today, I look at the fall out over a blog I wrote on Bloody Elbow about the ESPN interview with Conor McGregor. From the comments, the blog hit some nerves.
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As I predicted, the UFC used ESPN to set up Conor McGregor for a smooth and easy lead in to UFC 246. I will not brag about this, because, shit, everyone should have seen this coming. However, I got two things wrong with my prediction. The first is I thought the UFC would use Brett Okamoto to handle the interview because I think he is the most respected MMA journalist on ESPN. The second, and this is the one I took a lot of heat on, was I thought ESPN would ask McGregor about the two open investigations in Ireland regarding two alleged sexual assaults.
Instead of Okamoto, the UFC gave Ariel Helwani the opportunity to sit down with McGregor. If you recall, Helwani took some justified heat back in August when he did the UFC’s PR work by giving McGregor a softball interview where he never asked McGregor about the one sexual assault he had been accused of. Another thing Helwani did was seem almost apologetic in his questioning.
Helwani’s phrasing about the time McGregor punched a man in the bar was, let’s say light. “You appeared to get into an altercation with another man,” Helwani began. I mean, if you’re generous, there was an altercation shown in that video, but it was a one-sided one where McGregor socked the man in the head.
So, the expectations of Helwani delivering a hard-hitting grilling of McGregor were low. He didn’t disappoint.
When Helwani breached the subject of the sexual assault allegations, he soft played the subject, using the much more vague term, “allegations.” Helwani never mentioned sexual assault. That’s what gave me a case of the red ass.
I pointed this out in my recent piece for Bloody Elbow after hearing and seeing others giving Helwani a tip of the hat for bring up the subject of the sexual assault allegations. My point was he didn’t. When he said “allegations” instead of “sexual assault allegations,” he did so with a purpose. That purpose was to obfuscate what McGregor had been accused of. An “allegation” could be anything. A “sexual assault” allegation is what he is under investigation for and that is what Helwani should have asked McGregor about.
Now, some comments on my blog defended Helwani, saying he asked about the sexual assault allegations, but I’m sorry, he didn’t. No matter how loud those people yell or repeat their “facts” that he asked McGregor about the “sexual assault” allegations won’t make it a fact.
On a subject as important and potentially damning as two sexual assaults, Helwani should have been specific, especially when working for ESPN, which is not a strictly MMA outlet and thus not an outlet where a journalist can assume that everyone knows what those “allegations” are.
Enough about that. For something that was so obvious, it was nearly impossible to convince anyone Helwani had not asked about the “sexual assault” allegations.
The second issue I had with the interview was White used it to shut down any questioning of McGregor about the sexual assault allegations during Wednesday’s pre-fight press conference. Morgan Campbell raised that question, specifically asking about sexual assaults. More than once, White told Campbell that McGregor had answered the question during the ESPN interview, while the fans the UFC likes to have at its PR events, press conferences, booed the Canadian journalist. Helwani’s soft sell of the “allegations” allowed White to make the false claim that McGregor had addressed the issue. He hadn’t and a few journalists like Campbell saw right through White’s false claims.
Do you know something about UFC, USADA, an MMA manager or a fighter, that I should know? You can email me at trent.reinsmith@gmail.com or contact me via secure messaging on Telegram at trentreinsmith.
Off topic, it was a bit strange to see White not lose his cool with Campbell and shout him down. Perhaps White didn’t know if he could intimidate Campbell and so he played it low key.
In the comments to my blog I read that press conferences are not media events, but a place to promote the fighters and the fights. There were also the comments which said it was inappropriate for Campbell to ask such as a question, which is a horribly weak take considering the UFC labels these events as “press conferences.” I also read Campbell asked about the alleged sexual assaults to make the press conference about himself. If you read Campbell’s Twitter bio, you’ll see he is a former National Newspaper Award winner and an ex-employee of the Toronto Star. I will guess getting noticed at a UFC presser was not, and is not, high on his to-do list. There were also the claims that my blog was biased, which it was an opinion piece, so of course, it took a stance on a subject.
The blog reminded when you take on sacred cows such as McGregor, ESPN, UFC, White and Helwani, you’re going to run into some extreme blind allegiance.
