It's Not Just The UFC Making Bad Decisions
Or Let's All Be Better Than This, Okay?
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’s post looks at a few promotions other than the UFC and the bad decisions they have made as of late.
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Disqualified
I focus on the UFC for many reasons. One of those reasons is because it is the biggest and most powerful MMA promotion in the world. With that, the UFC should be a standard bearer for other promotions. Sometimes the standards it sets are low. For example, employing fighters such as Greg Hardy.
Which leads us to Josh Grispi.
The UFC released Grispi in 2013 following a four-fight losing streak. In August 2014, Grispi was arrested twice. The second arrest, which came shortly after Grispi was released after his first arrest, was for what the Taunton Daily Gazette described as the “vicious beating” of his wife, Kaitlyn Grispi. One of the police officers involved in that case said, “It’s the worst case of domestic abuse I’ve ever seen.”
Grispi was eventually convicted on 25 counts. Judge Richard Chin sentenced Josh to 5-1/2 years in prison. Grispi was also given five years' probation.
Unsurprisingly, a promotion gave Grispi a contract after his release from prison. That promotion was New England Fights. Not only did that promotion give Grispi a fight, but it gave him a title fight and it promoted that bout as “The biggest fight in NEF history.”
That fight fell through in January. If you think NEF found being in bed with someone like Grispi distasteful, well, you better think again. The bout was scrapped because, according to a press release, “Grispi was forced to bow out of the main event due to legal complications unforeseen at the time of the bout’s signing.”
Those legal complications, according to MMA Junkie were, Grispi couldn’t leave the state because of his parole.
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When NEF booked the fight in November, NEF co-owner and Massachusetts attorney Nick DiSalvo, told MMA Junkie, “Domestic abuse is an epidemic in our country. There is no excuse for it. It is a horrific crime. Josh was convicted and did his time in prison. There is nothing that would make us believe he has not been rehabilitated and ready to become a productive member of society. If Massachusetts courts determined he was still a threat to anyone, he would not be walking the streets right now.”
“There is never an excuse for subjecting a loved one to physical or emotional abuse. Josh was convicted and did his time in prison. He is out now and deserves the opportunity to make a living to support his children.”
Excuse me while I call bullshit on this weak defense.
Yes, Grispi deserves to make a living, but my feeling is there is no way a professional fighter who has been convicted of violence against another person should be allowed to make that living in a violent sport. If you put your hands on someone outside of the cage or ring and are convicted of those charges you disqualify yourself from making a living as a professional fighter.
That goes for Grispi and that goes for Greg Hardy and the countless other fighters who could be included on this list.
No one will ever convince me otherwise.
NEF should be ashamed and embarrassed, but when the UFC sets the example that it’s cool to set up fights for individuals who have been convicted of domestic violence, well, why shouldn’t they do the same?
Two Promotions Try To Book A Fighter Awaiting Trial
Let’s move on to Desmond Green.
If you don’t recall, Green is waiting to go to trial on a long list of charges. At the top of that list are four charges of DUI manslaughter.
That didn’t stop Valor from trying to book Green in a bare knuckle boxing match.
Green attempted to get the court to clear him to travel for that fight, but that request was denied. The Valor card was eventually scrapped. Not long after that, Absolute Championship Akhmat (ACA) announced it had signed Green. Now, if Green couldn’t get the court to approve him for travel in Florida, how in the hell did ACA expect Green to get approved to travel for one of its events, which mostly take place in Russia?
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My guess is ACA never expected Green to fight for them and that it was just a way to say it had signed a former UFC fighter. As far as PR moves go, signing a fighter who is awaiting manslaughter charges is pretty craven.
In the end, the motives of ACA won’t matter, Green was charged with felony driving without a license on January 22. With that, he was booked into jail to await his next hearing.
The reason Green was stopped was because he was driving with an expired tag.
Weird Choice Of Attire
If you watched the LFA card over the weekend, which was on UFC Fight Pass, you saw one Jacob Rosales walk out in fight shorts adorned with the faces of serial killers including Ted Bundy and Richard Ramirez. The shorts caused a bit of an uproar on social media and frankly they should have. Why? Well, because they were dumb, disrespectful and dumb.
Look, fighters should be able to wear whatever they want to the cage, but they should also be ready to accept any blowback they get for those choices. When you’re more or less celebrating serial killers who preyed on innocent people, don’t be surprised if people think that maybe you’re a kind of a bad person.
I want to be shocked that LFA and UFC Fight Pass didn’t tell Rosales it was a no go on his shorts, but they didn’t and so he scored the edgelord points he wanted and got the press he desired and the promotion tacitly opened the door for Rosales to take things to the next level if he fights again for the promotion, which I assume he will since he won.