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By Zach Arnold | July 31, 2009

When I wrote an article a couple of days ago stating the intentions of what a lot of MMA writers and media types displayed in regards to getting Fedor into UFC, I pointed out statements that displayed what their admitted intentions were. Remember this quote?

I’m more than willing to be a pawn in this negotiations if it means we see Fedor vs. Brock in the UFC.

The intentions were made very clear here.

Now there’s an attempt to shift the focus using a sleight-of-hand, hoping you don’t catch the difference.

Facing heat both online and during a radio interview, Carmichael Dave of KHTK 1140 Hot Talk in Sacramento is on the defensive. It was Dave’s ‘report’ on what UFC allegedly offered Fedor that helped various activists claim that they would put pressure on Fedor to sign with the UFC and that if he didn’t sign that there would be ‘pure viciousness’ from online fans towards him.

Carmichael Dave went on Sherdog to answer questions from fans online since he basically took the bait from a UFC source to push the ‘contract rumors’ that the company had allegedly offered Fedor. A forum member asked:

“Lets stop beating around the bush here Mr. Dave. Was you source UFC ‘management’ or not? And do you believe you were used as a tool to carry out their propoganda? The fans deserve an answer.”

Here is how Dave responded:

“I will answer your second question, I cannot answer your first. Of course there was a bit of “using” and propoganda involved. The info put out there was not an accident. No one got high on drugs and fed me the info. They knew who I was, and it was very clear what I would do with the info when I got it. My concern isnt their agenda. My concern is their credibility and involvement in the procedures, and whether the info leaked merits reporting or not.”

Then, Carmichael Dave did an interview with ESPN 1100 Las Vegas (audio here).

”Are we pawns in this game? Of course. Even if the information is 100-percent right all the time it still doesn’t mean we’re not being used. It’s politics of sport. Of course you can be a pawn.”

Anyone who has ever worked in media understands that sources are trying to work over writers. It’s been a part of the business forever. Just ask any baseball, football, or basketball writer about what GMs and teams try to do to use writers when trading deadlines occur each season. No one is arguing that sources try to work over writers like ‘pawns.’

This line of argument is a sleight-of-hand. What the activists don’t want the focus to be on is the fact that they publicly admitted that they purposely wanted to be a pawn in order to advance a personal agenda and that personal agenda was to see one of their favorite fighters fight in the UFC. Whatever it was going to take to get it done was their motto.

Now that it’s clear that a deal between Fedor’s camp and UFC will not go through, watch for some of these activists to start backpedalling in the media. Watch for them to try to blur the lines and confuse readers. “Well, we’re all pawns, that’s how it works in the media.” Watch for an attempt to put the focus somewhere else and distract away from the true focus on what their motives were for their attempted activism and why it was being done.

Several people this week took big credibility hits and they’re trying to figure out a way to recover from it and repair their image. Who knows if they will be successful at undoing their own self-inflicted damage.

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 55 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |