I'll admit it, I don't know squat about Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), International Fight League (IFL) and other Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) leagues. However, I am interested in learning about them. I was listening to Lance McAlister's sports show on 1530Homer in Cincinnati one afternoon when he mentioned that UFC received better TV ratings than the NBA playoffs. Therefore, I wanted do some research to see which sports leagues were getting the most online buzz. UFC surpassed the NBA in buzz over Memorial Day weekend 2007. This was a total shocker to me. It got me interested in MMA leagues. I posted the messages over the past week.
I received some good feedback from Adam Morgan at Sprawlnbrawl and Zach Arnold at Fightopinion.com. Also, Cyphron who posts at UFCjunkie.com said "Marketrman, I think your blog is great. I’m actually studying a marketing class right now, so it’s nice to see the UFC and marketing concepts put together. However, why do you keep calling the UFC fighters as “wrestlers?” Please refer to them as fighters instead." [He's right, they're not wrestlers. I have much to learn]!
Unfortunately, I have received some very negative comments from one Dy-no-mite3000. He said "the blog sucks, a non fan trying to sound like he knows how to revolutionize the UFC, however he talks more about the IFL." He left some additional commentary under my post titled "Things IFL Should Do To Create More Buzz." Personally, I'm glad Dy-no-mite3000 commented on my blog. However, he needs to get his facts straight. I don't think he read any of my other posts, or else he would know that I talk a lot about UFC. He's right, I'm a "non-fan" commenting on UFC. But why is he upset over a "non-fan" talking about his sport? He should embrace "non-fans" who talk about MMA and teach them about it. I think having "non-fans" talking about MMA leagues is a fine as long as they are converted into "real-fans" eventually (i.e. sooner than later). I'm not upset with Dy-no-mite3000. He is obviously very passionate about his sport and that's a good thing. I'm not going to remove his comments because his views differ from mine. That is what blogging is about. People post things that others will criticize from time-to-time. However, I don't like it when other blogs remove comments that don't favor their opinions. That is not what blogging is supposed to be about.
I received some good feedback from other UFC fans regarding my data, so I tried to get the word out. I posted a few comments over at UFCJunkie.com. Yeah, I put my link in a few of the comments I left. I got some positive feedback (See Cyphron's comments above) from those who understand marketing. I received some negative feedback. However, I'm really peeved that the moderator removed the majority of my messages (I'm ok with the fact that the moderator removed my comments with links to my site, but the rest of them? Come on!). I called a few of the people out on that blog who were against me because I'm a "non-fan" according to them. Removing comments goes against everything blogging is about. True bloggers embrace criticism and use it to make their blogs better. Personally, UFCJunkie.com isn't doing their part to help MMA leagues grow. They are simply going chase to every "non-fan" away with their close mindedness. True bloggers look at all available data before taking a side. Good luck growing a fan base without current "non-fans!" Also, UFCJunkie.com seems to feel information on my blog isn't good enough for them. I'm sorry to hear that. However, I don't think they are going to find as much in-depth analysis regarding online buzz of UFC and other MMA leagues anywhere else right now. They should let me know otherwise if they do.
Also, I don't understand how UFCJunkie can say "Please help spread word of our arrivial and encourage your friends to send us an "Add Friend" request. Luckily, we're not very picky about the company we keep, so delinquents and ill-breds are not only welcome, but eagerly anticipated" on its Myspace page, but remove my posts for being a "non-fan." This seems a bit hypocritical to me.
I'm not going to tell anyone where to go to get their MMA leagues fix. But there are better blogs than UFCJunkie.com. I know of two blogs that I will be visiting on a regular basis as I convert from a "non-fan" to a "true-fan" of MMA. Make sure to check out Adam Morgan over at Sprawlnbrawl and Zach Arnold at Fightopinion.com.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Amen, man. The graphs and marketing research you provided were incredible to look at. People who say the sport itself is growing are not looking at the bigger picture. It is the UFC that is growing astronomically and not ANY of the other leagues.
Also, UFCjunkie.com is a valuable source for UFC related information and not any of the other leagues.
There will ALWAYS be haters, especially in this sport where there is a huge online community. Keyboard warriors are willing to trade any day.
Marketrman,
You originally posted messages in two separate threads on UFCjunkie.com. Both messages were completely off-topic to the discussion at hand, and both contained two links back to your blog here.
I (correctly in my opinion) flagged your two posts as spam.
This also means with our spam filtering that anything you had to post following would be labeled as spam until it was manually cleared from the queue.
Your subsequent posts were also not on topic to the discussions and as such were not removed from the spam filter.
I understand you wanted to promote your website and your blog and the articles you wrote. It is the general policy of UFCjunkie.com to not allow owners of other sites to directly promote their sites through our comments, and especially so when the comments being made are entirely off-topic to the discussion at hand.
As I wrote back to you on the site, the correct way to get your article featured on our site would have been to email us (through the contact UFCjunkie.com link at the top of every page) and we would have made a determination if it was worth posting and potentially would have given you your own story, where you could have had a discussion freely with our readers and would have been on topic.
I should also add - the removal of your posts had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with your status as a fan (or lack thereof).
Dyno3000 is not a representative of UFCjunkie.com, he is a reader. Anything he said you're free to take however you want but should not be taken as the official position of UFCjunkie.com.
Your initial posts were removed for the sole reason that they were spam posts and for no other reason. Your subsequent posts were then automatically flagged as spam, and when I manually checked the spam queue you were still trying to talk about your blog and your posts which was still off-topic discussion to our threads, and such was left as spam.
You're certainly welcome to post on our site if you want. You can even include your URL in your name, which is generally allowed. However, trying to promote specific articles you write in a completely off-topic post will be regarded as spam, and will continue to be flagged as such.
Thank you,
Performify
UFCjunkie.com
Performify...Thaks for the quick response. I will retract some of my previous statements. I just want to note that I wasn't trying to promote my blog per se. I look to attract marketing minded individuals, not MMA , UFC and IFL fans in particular. I was merely trying to provide proof of the recent success of MMA compared to other leagues (i.e. NFL, NBA and MLB). I'll make sure not to put my links in future posts. Again, thanks for clearing things up.
Post a Comment