Dana White has refused to issue press credentials to some MMA journalists

Media rights, broadcasting and press credentials can be unpredictable subjects. Not only do you have to go through many different mediums to gain the rights for all three but some come with heavy legal liabilities. In sports everybody is trying to gain admission to events or properly portray and broadcast their own clubs/teams.

On April 10, 2011 two notably reporters, Loretta Hunt of CBS and Josh Gross of ESPN and Jeff Sherwood of Sherdog.com were denied credentials for an MMA event. They were denied press credentials and have been refused access to all UFC events in recent years. This occurred after some written stories President Dana White seemingly consider not worthy of his company's PR clip file ruled out their appearance. According to Sports Illustrated the media members were required to fill out an application to receive media access for the Strikeforce event and theirs were rejected.

This stunt by the MMA may have impacted the future broadcasting of MMA events through CBS and Showtime networks. Although owner Dana White has issues with some reporters of the press it does not mean that they should be ruled out for coverage of the event. The crazy part about the situation is that CBS shares ownership with Showtime, which televised the event. One of the reporters represented the network and couldn’t cover the event. That’s bound to create some division between the MMA and the network. It seems that the relationship with ESPN is still in tact; ESPN still had coverage of the event through MMA lives Franklin McNiel. A word to the owner of the MMA, don’t allow you emotions and dislike for an individual affect your business.

http://mmapayout.com/2011/04/zuffa-media-policy-excludes-notable-mma-journalists-for-strikeforce-event/

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/jeff_wagenheim/04/13/credentials/index.html