Within hours of Rampage’s latest tragedy, the MMA world was abuzz, discussing the largest victim of all – itself. Once everyone knew that Rampage wasn’t hurt nor did he hurt anyone else, the discussion inevitably turned to the unwanted publicity’s effect on the sport. Chris Leben had been sentenced to 90 days in jail, but he’s what Evan Williams is to Jack Daniels. Leben drew a blog post here and there, but there was no media firestorm and non-MMA outlets weren’t covering the story. But this is (was) MMA biggest star, its biggest mouth, and its biggest champion. When the biggest mouth goes down for the count, you can expect to hear something.
The actual effect on Rampage will be little, if anything. Early reports had Dana White posting bail for ‘page, so you know he can’t be too mad. You can expect that Rampage will be downplayed as the legitimate star that he is while all of the legal stuff gets settled out, but when he’s cleared, expect to see his “troubles” included in the hype video for his next fight. In his absence, pending a win at UFC 88, you can plan to see Liddell like you saw him before he lost the belt to Rampage. On every billboard, on every magazine, and on every special. It’ll be like he never left. Forrest should also get a nice opportunity to continue his rise to stardom, and it should be easier without the immediate rematch.
Now, onto the real question: what does this do for MMA? Hopefully, not much. And since Rampage didn’t injure anyone, wasn’t drunk or high, and didn’t run once he stopped the car, it might be able to be parlayed into more of a misunderstanding. Without a doubt, there will be those who denounce MMA and its stars, suggesting that this is the kind of behavior the company promotes. However, I don’t expect that attitude to grab any sure foothold. Other stars like Liddell and Forrest will shine in Rampage’s absence, showing the true colors of the sport and its fighters. The key for the UFC, and really MMA in general, is to show that this was an isolated incident.
If Gary Shaw and other promoters use Rampage’s difficulties to help draw negative attention to the UFC, they will only be hurting themselves. For the majority of fans, the UFC is MMA, and if you can convince them that the UFC isn’t a good product due to its sometimes-criminal stars, then you’ll be pushing them away from the product entirely. Other promotions need the UFC to do well in order for them to have a chance to do well, if that makes sense.
It’s unclear exactly how this will affect the sport as a whole, but one point is certain: we don’t need this type of attention again.
