"I went to a hockey game, a (San Jose) Sharks game last week; there were three fights where the teams were fighting each other," he said. "That was at a hockey game where there are supposed to be no fights.
"So a fight broke out at a fight. That's not a good thing, and I'm not condoning it … but a lot of people are jumping on this because they're babies. The same night, they had an NBA fight. They want to talk about a fight at an MMA fight between MMA fighters."
Gracie disagreed with fans and pundits who said the incident could turn public perception against MMA.
"How would it be damaging?" he said. "If you're a sports fan, you're used to seeing fights all the time. It's really, seriously, a bunch of pussies latching on to this and trying to make it a bigger deal than it is. Is it a good thing? It's not a good thing. We're sorry. Everybody involved has apologized.
"But you've got a lot of crybabies that are going to latch on to this to the bitter end, but they're not going to say anything when a hockey game has fights every night. Young sport, old sport people are making a much bigger deal than this. It's hype; it's all hype."
UFC president Dana White today blasted Showtime, Strikeforce's broadcast partner, for their handling of the matter. He said he spoke to Nate Diaz, though he did not disclose the nature of the conversation, and said the UFC has no plans to discipline the fighter.
Gracie hopes the incident's fallout will steer the sport in a more positive direction.
"Let the dust settle a little bit," he said. "This stuff happens. Let's grow from it and not do it again."
(some information taken from yahoo sports & mma junkieeeeeeeeeeeee)
No comments:
Post a Comment