In fact, it sounds so perfect that one might think managers are no longer needed in the brave new world of MMA.īut that assumes that the UFC is a support group first and a fight promotion second a contradiction in terms if there ever was one. It’s good, fair and to be honest, it realizes the idea that inspires most to become fighters in the first place: “Work hard, train hard, fight hard and be rewarded for your performance.” Men like Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones and Jose Aldo weren’t handed their mantles as top draws in MMA, they fought hard for them, and in the words of Lorenzo Fertitta: “ They simply eat what they kill.” If a fighter can make it through his or her first contract with the UFC, he or s he get’s a new contract and with it a longer timeline to achieve greatness and maximize the attention such a large spotlight can put on their career. In the world of MMA, getting signed to the biggest promotion is the goal for a fighter after that it seems the real fighting is done in maintaining their position in that company by fighting anyone put in front of them, at any time, even on short notice.Īnd this is perhaps the greatest contrast between the two sports in boxing, the fighter makes the event, while in MMA, the event makes the fighter. Gone would have been the bouts pitting him against monster heavyweights, along with the short -notice fights that were less about his chance of winning and more about using his name in order to make as much money as possible, shooting him against the wall again, and again and again. To say it would have been drastically different is an understatement. Now, try to imagine what the career of Kazushi Sakuraba would have looked like if Steward had been his trainer and the MMA landscape hadn’t been dominated by so few big promotions, leaving so few choices. And if I can find an opponent who gives the appearance of being formidable while posing no threat whatsoever to my fighter, that’s fine. Every fight requires that I be in there looking for an edge. Steward, perhaps one of the greatest managers/trainers of the past 35 years, was of a like mind on the subject. “And if you put him in a match that figures to be a war, you’d better be sure it will significantly advance his career or pay him a lot of money. "The cardinal rule of managing is never put your fighter in a match you don’t think he can win,” said Jacobs, who managed Edwin Rosario and Wilfred Benitez. In the book by Thomas Hauser called The Black Lights, the role of manager is perhaps best defined by some of the men themselves, such as Jim Jacobs and the late Emanuel Steward. The good managers-the real professionals-were trusted to negotiate the darker landscapes where the language is legalese and numbers and no small amount of double-talk.
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