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[Cat--Smasher]

Miletich: Only fans that pay their cable bills have the right to criticize a fighter’s performance

Appearing on a recent edition of The MMA Hour, former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Champion and current Strikeforce broadcast announcer Pat Miletich says that only fans who pay their cable bills and shell out the coin to purchase the mixed martial arts (MMA) pay-per-views (PPV) have the right to criticize a fighter's performance and that media members should choose their words more carefully.

"I made a point to watch that fight live because I was really excited about it. Douglas Lima, Ben Askren arguably the most boring title fight of the last three, four years. Boring. And what bothers me most about Ben Askren, he was on the show and he wasn't a particularly good guest, but he was on the show last week, and here's the thing, to come out there and say, 'Hey, this is MMA, if you want to go see striking go watch kickboxing or boxing,' no, actually, this isn't wrestling, Ben, that's the thing. This isn't MMA, what you're doing is wrestling. What guys like Jon Jones, even guys like Georges St. Pierre and guys like Frankie Edgar, they use MMA. But, when you're just going down there to take the guy down and to not do much, I mean, I know he is going for some submissions and he's throwing some punches, but he is really not doing much to try and finish the fight. To me, it's not exciting and Bellator, in my opinion, needs to have at least a talk, they can't do anything, but come on, you're just eliminating these guys and you're not really doing anyone any favors here."

"The fans who pay for the right to watch, they pay their cable bills, they pay their pay-per-views have the right to criticize an athlete because they pay money, on the other hand, and I do understand your point, but at the same time, I was a fighter once and I was a coach for a long time and I understand that the media, you (Helwani) included and me included, make money off of those athletes. So at the same time, you know, I think it is important to remember you can say, and there are ways of wording things, where you can say his style is not aesthetically pleasing to me personally. Although at the same time you can give a lot of credit where credit is due. The fact that he has a limited skill set, he has been working on his striking and obviously working on his jiu-jitsu because he is able to get out of submissions with some very, very technical grapplers. And, you can also point out at the same time, that the level of wrestling in mixed martial arts needs to improve in order to stop a guy like Ben Aksren from controlling them and putting them on their back. I think there needs to be a more well-rounded view."

Pat Miletich: Only fans that pay their cable bills have the right to criticize a fighter

[Pasha K]

I pay for the Internet so I also have the right to criticize a fighter's performance XD

[Sniggles]

Derp. First Amendment.

[goodtimes]

I think Askren realizes he's not making too many fans fighting the way he fights, but at the same time it's the only way he can fight. I was really hating on wrestlers for a while, but I've come to appreciate the guys who can work out of these bad positions and avoid getting taken down more because of it.

I do not agree with Militech at all saying it was the worst title fight in 3-4 years, it wasn't great but it also had its moments. Imo watching Evans afraid to pull the trigger in the second half of the fight and just eat pot shots for almost 15 minutes was just as bad as Lima having no answers for Askren's takedowns.

[Happypants]

Yo dawg, if I could get UFC cards (aside from free cards on fox) on cable then maybe I would have cable.

[beau420]

I disagree with Militech, but I also agree with him.

I did watch the last 2 rounds of the Askren fight on 1.5 speed on my PS3. Bellator fights are delayed a day or 2 in Canada and I didn't want to wait (even though the fight took place in Canada)

Not that entertaining compared to the rest of the fights on the card. And doesn't want to make me tune in to watch Ben fight. And that is what it comes down to.

I do like Pat for criticizing the media. They deserve to be criticized more....especially in MMA reporting.

[kingrobert]

Originally Posted by goodtimes

I think Askren realizes he's not making too many fans fighting the way he fights, but at the same time it's the only way he can fight. I was really hating on wrestlers for a while, but I've come to appreciate the guys who can work out of these bad positions and avoid getting taken down more because of it.

I do not agree with Militech at all saying it was the worst title fight in 3-4 years, it wasn't great but it also had its moments. Imo watching Evans afraid to pull the trigger in the second half of the fight and just eat pot shots for almost 15 minutes was just as bad as Lima having no answers for Askren's takedowns.

Im not a fan of Askren by any means. Why is it that he does the same thing as GSP and no one hates on GSP? GSP takes no risks anymore. All he cares about is keeping the belt no matter what. Just look at the Shields fight and Kos fight. When he fights Condit all he is going to do is hold him down the entire fight

[RearNakedStroke]

Originally Posted by kingrobert

Im not a fan of Askren by any means. Why is it that he does the same thing as GSP and no one hates on GSP? GSP takes no risks anymore. All he cares about is keeping the belt no matter what. Just look at the Shields fight and Kos fight. When he fights Condit all he is going to do is hold him down the entire fight

I pay for every PPV, and GSP has not let me down yet.

[The Donosaur]

Saying that askren isn't doing mma & is just wrestling is dumb. Is anderson silva not a mixed martial artist because he doesn't go for takedowns? Is pujols not a baseball player because he doesn't pitch?

[Buffalo Soldier]

Well it seems Pujols doesnt hit homeruns anymore either. At least Anderson gets subs.