It's Okay To Ignore The Delivery Device

Or Please Don't Treat A Sexist And Exploitative Video As News

Welcome to the latest C’Mon Now, a newsletter focused on mixed martial arts. 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 into why MMA media shouldn’t do free PR work for knuckleheads who release awful videos. Yes, it’s about Henry Cejudo.

Before we dig into things, please subscribe to the newsletter if you haven’t done so. If you have subscribed, please share it with someone who you think might enjoy reading my ramblings.

The photos I use for the newsletter are things that catch my eye on the Library of Congress site.

Oh, I’m Trent Reinsmith, you can follow me on Twitter.

(Open sewer back of a garage, Hamilton County, Ohio)

---

I had a brief temper tantrum this afternoon, which is not rare. I've been at a roiling boil since Jr. high school, and let's say, I'm not a young man. 

The reason for my brief conniption was Henry Cejudo's stupid, unintelligible, nonsensical, sexist, homophobic and well, just plain boring attempt at cutting a promo on "Dominque" Cruz (dumb, and extra dumb when you consider that Dominque can be a man's name, see NBA Hall of Famer Dominque Wilkins), and Jose Waldo ( which…yeah, I don't know). Cejudo fumbled his way through the scripted take while three women, two with UFC title belts and one with a palm frond, sat around Cejudo. The three women refused to participate in the video until after the checks cleared from whoever was goofy enough to bankroll this sub-60-second nonsense. 

Some folks Tweeted about how the video is sexist, which, yeah, it is and how the clip contributed to the objectification of women in the MMA world, which yeah again. 

I added that the MMA media was at least partially to blame for the type of video Cejudo and Colby Covington before him, released because the media treats this trash as newsworthy. 

Yes, snippets of the content are news, like when Cejudo calls out Jose Aldo, but the MMA media isn't reporting just that news. It is using the video to generate clicks, which is the name of the game, but at what price? 

If you don't believe the video is solely included in these stories as a way to garner clicks, ask yourself, what's the news to garner from the video? 

That news, if Cejudo is truthful, is that he is backing away from a fight against Dominick Cruz and toward a matchup with Jose Aldo. Is the video itself needed to report that news? Nope, reporters can just link the video to something along the lines of "Henry Cejudo released (an awful) video." Instead, the entire clip is included;  because clicks, clicks and more clicks. 

If MMA media reports the news and ignores Cejudo's half-assed attempt at cutting a promo, sooner or later, the fighters might get the message that these dopey videos are a waste of their time and money. Instead, MMA media does PR work for these knuckleheads for free, which only encourages them to cobble together more inane content. That, in turn, encourages the fighters to ramp up the level of sexism. 

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.

What bothers me the most about the fact that "news" like this gets reported is that it gets jumped on so fast and spreads so quickly. 

While Cejudo's video is everywhere within hours of its posting, something important could sit, molder and grow unimportant before the access media even thinks about asking Dana White about it. 

A perfect example of this was the New York Times report that Conor McGregor was under investigation for the first of two unrelated reported sexual assaults. The Times revealed the first of those investigations, which are still active (but that's a whole other can of worms), in March. The first time someone among the MMA access media broached that subject with White came in late August. 

White delivered a reply the media in attendance could have and should have pounced on. 

"I know zero about that," White said. "To be honest with you, the back-and-forth that I've had with him about that (is) that it's not him, that it's somebody else. You know? So I don't know."

Instead of diving to pick up that chunk of red meat White dropped at the media's feet, White scuttled away from the media without a challenger. I'm assuming the folks who heard White's answer were to stunned to follow up as to how he didn't know about the reports, but had also spoken to McGregor about the situation.

As I said before, I'm writing this newsletter with the hopes that we can all do better and improve the state of MMA media and reporting. Sure, it's critical, but (I hope) in a constructive way.

If a video like Cejudo's does contain news, I would encourage MMA media to report the news and ignore the video. Like a Limp Bizkit comeback, there's no reason to encourage Cejudo to keep producing content. 

---

Hey, Read This:

I was interviewed by Chad Dundas for this story on MMA newsletters. You should read the story.

Are MMA newsletters back? New creators and platforms give life to an old-school format