UFC VP speaks on credential issue

Remember the whole credential flap?

Well there is a new explanation of what really happened with the UFC's change in policy and this time it doesn't feature f-bombs or gay slurs.

Vice President of Operations, Donna Marcolini, explains why the credential system was changes. According to Marcolini the change in policy was due to fighters giving credentials to get people backstage who weren't suppose to be there.

So is Loretta Hunt's reporting wrong?

Not necessarily. She simply reported a change in policy, Zuffa declined to comment, she asked managers and commission members about the change, and one manager gave her his/her honest opinion about why the change had occurred. Of course, he/her wanted to stay anonymous for fear of reprisal, and clearly they were vindicated in such actions.

MMA Payout thinks the whole thing is much ado about nothing. And the fireworks were due to petty grievances by Zuffa and Sherdog. 

Egos.

The UFC could have easily answered Loretta's query, but that would have entailed at least an implicit recognition of Hunt and Sherdog as legimiate media. That refusal was all Hunt needed to write yet another story criticizing the UFC (oddly enough her only named contributor to the article was Ken Pavia, the same individual caught abusing the old credential system).

I agree with the points laid out but it doesn't deal with the systemic issue facing UFC credentialling procedures.

The fact remains that traditional outlets are not covering the UFC and MMA. Due to that failure MMA coverage has become viral on the web. There are so many sites now that feature news, opinion, analysis and blogs that is really quite special and a possible blueprint for the evolution of new media. 

Yet despite all that the UFC refuses to acknowledge their principle source of media exposure. No, they should not give out credentials to everyone (and I am included in that list), but they should honor the most successful and largest sites that offer legitimate reporting and coverage.

For whatever reason the largest news websites are not given the time of day by the UFC. The fact that Sherdog is the leading MMA media outlet and is partnered with the leading sports outlet in the world, ESPN, and the UFC is still too stubborn to acknowledge them or give them legitimacy is a sick joke.