Media Spotlight: Sherdog's Zuffa Centric Bias Exposed

Glad to here there is stil some sanity out there - also 100% agree RE: A.Emelianenko.

 

I totally agree with you. Its a blatant bias and clear to all that Zuffadog favours fighters coming from the UFC. Even fighters with next to no ground game and substandard striking gets ranked so highly while more deserving fighters who have worked their asses off NEVER get a mention. THIS IS WRONG AND UNFAIR TO OTHER FIGHTERS WHO WORKED THEIR WAY THROUGH BY FIGHTING, not by hitching a ride on the golden elevator.

 

I agree the bias has become laughable obviously. We had the whole situation where Sherdog and its supporters had to cook up convoluted reasons why for example Lesnar became number 1 before he'd even faced Carwin. I don't think Lesnar above Werdum can be intelligently defended though, a guy coming off a loss to an opponant ranked below Werdum stays above him dispite Werdum having beaten the previous #1?

If your looking for the most obvious reason for this bias then look no further than Sherdog doing the rankings for ESPN, the same ESPN that has exclusive rights to the UFC here in the UK.

Sadly I think were seeing the downside of the MMA media's amaturish nature these days. Obviously it helped keep the sport alive in the dark days when nobody else was interested but its also made it an easy target for promoter influence. Guys without any real expereince of serious jurnolism working for websites that depend almost totally on MMA(rather than a range of sports) are much more likely to bend to the biggest promoters wishes/threats.

Things are no better in the mainstream outlets though where ignornace(either from the jurnos or the viewers/readers) has allowed promoters to have a much larger influence than they do in boxing.

 

Sherdog needed to start sucking up to the UFC in order to get their media credentials back after Dana banned them. If Zuffa doesn't like the stories they put up, they can deny them access to the biggest MMA organisation in the world and all it's talent. Sherdog needs the UFC far more than the UFC needs Sherdog, and it shows in their coverage.

As regards Aleksander Emelianenko, he might be on an eight fight win streak, but he's hardly been fighting ranked competition. I'd love to see him have a run in the UFC or Strikeforce, but he certainly hasn't done anything to gain a top ten ranking so far. Ibragim Magomedov is the best opponent he's fought since PRIDE and he probably wouldn't have made a top 25 heavyweight list at the time.

 

They've started dropping lil gems like this aswell Since the Dana/Frank debate
'']Frank Shamrock was notoriously unreliable: prior to the Tito Ortiz fight in 1999, he said he was “going on a run”; instead, he fought only twice in the proceeding six years. Later, he said he’d be fighting for another decade; he retired over the summer. Now you see why managers are so pervasive''

And Im sure Fantana couldve done a better job with the Lesnar v Lesnar article

 

I don't have a problem with who they have on that list. 40% of the fighters included are out of the UFC. 40% of the top 5 fight outside the UFC. Their top 10 includes the same 10 fighters that I have in mine. I do have a different order. I have Lesnar at 5 after his loss to Cain. I have Werdum above Fedor after his win, but I have JDS above Werdum. I also have Overeem and Nog switched. Overeem has tons of potential, and may prove to be better than fighters ranked above him on that list. Overeem has yet to prove it.

1. Cain
2. JDS
3. Werdum
4. Fedor
5. Lesnar
6. Carwin
7. Mir
8. Big Nog
9. Overeem
10. Antonio Silva

 

I dont pay any attention to Sherdog. Their journalism is garbage. The forum is worthless. And the UFC influence is akin to what Warren/Sports Network did to Boxrec.
Sherdog doesnt care about credibility. If they did they wouldnt write the rubbish they do.
Good to see that the same politics that's infested boxing throughout its history is firmly here to stay with the UFC flexing its might.

 

Your list is even worse.

 

The names on the list are mostly correct, its the order there in thats questionable.

Sherdog don't seem to keep to the same standards, earlier this year Edgar beat BJ and became the #1 even before Aoki/Melendez happened if I remember correctly. Werdum was in a pretty dam similar position to Edgar, both ranked low end up top 10, both with an unavenged recent loss, both beat the previous #1(I'd argue Fedor was a stronger #1 than BJ given that he'd only come out ontop vs UFC based LWs). Somehow though Werdum doesnt get the #1 spot and instead a guy with a 4-1 record who hadnt fought almost a year gets the spot instead.

We've had a ton of excuses why situations like that or BJ hanging onto a top 3 spot after losing back to back fights were justifed but I think Lesnar over Werdum right now really exposes them as BS. The fact that again and again these situations benefited Zuffa based fighters should have been a giveaway but now the bias is clear.

One thing that really highlights the change thats happened recently for me is the difference between Sherdog an MMA weekly. For years argeubley the two biggest MMA sites on the net and by en large there rankings were pretty similar, the low end of the 10's was maybe a bit different but general agreement towards the top. This year though clear differences have started to appear

Sherdog HW

1- Cain Velasquez
2- Brock Lesnar
3- Fabricio Werdum
4- Fedor Emelianenko
5- Junior Dos Santos
6- Shane Carwin
7- Frank Mir
8- Alistair Overeem
9- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
10- Antonio Silva

MMA weekly HW

1. Cain Velasquez
2. Fabricio Werdum
3. Fedor Emelianenko
4. Brock Lesnar
5. Junior Dos Santos
6. Shane Carwin
7. Alistair Overeem
8. Frank Mir
9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
10. Brett Rogers

Sherdog LW

1. Frankie Edgar
2. Gilbert Melendez
3. BJ Penn
4. Gray Maynard
5. Shinya Aoki
6. Eddie Alvarez
7. Kenny Florian
8. Tatsuya Kawajiri
9. Sean Sherk
10. Evan Dunham

MMA weekly LW

1. Frankie Edgar
2. Gilbert Melendez
3. Shinya Aoki
4. Gray Maynard
5. B.J. Penn
6. Eddie Alvarez
7. Tatsuya Kawajiri
8. Kenny Florian
9. Ben Henderson
10. Jim Miller

You see, small differences at the bottom as ever but big UFC names kept higher in Sherdogs rankings. I think its pretty clear that MMA weeklys rankings are closer to being the correct ones aswell, BJ and Aoki were pretty much level pegging, BJ goes 0-2 this year and Aoki goes 3-1 including beating a top 10 Kawajiri and he's lower on Sherdog?

 

I took you to school on this in another thread. You want to put up your list so we can tear it apart?

 

It's hard to rank a division basically split between two companies.

Also you have the whole performance vs potential argument personified by Overeem.

 

Suuuuuuuuuure you did Pinky.

 

that a boy Dana

 

Let's unravel Bloodstaine's argument in one sentence: Fedor passed on his chance to contend for the UFC title instead choosing to fight UFC castoffs (ie: fighters that were soundly defeated by the top UFC fighters) until he eventually lost to one.

And as formidable as he might be - Alistair Overeem has yet to solidify his standing as a top heavyweight by actually defeating a top ranked heavyweight. At present his stiffest heavyweight challenge to date remains Brett Rogers - a part time fighter, full time tire changer.