It’s 49 degrees today in NYC following our first snowstorm of the year. It leads me to believe that Al Gore had the wrong impression about global warming all along. If I can put on a t-shirt in January and walk to the nearest bodega for a bag of plantain chips, losing the polar ice caps seem like a fair sacrifice. In congested cities like Rio, those people see the sun almost every day, and the bi-product is some of the most beautifully tanned women in the Southern hemisphere. In fact, the only people complaining in Rio were the folks who weren’t keen on Eric Silva’s controversial disqualification over Carlo Prater, a decision the majority of MMA fans and media disagreed with.
It’s been several weeks since the fight, and Carlo Prater is finally speaking about how he felt about it in this interview with Brazil’s Sportv.globo.com.
“I think in the end I was made out as a villain. I wasn’t laying on the octagon for nothing after the fight. I want that to be clear. I had to stay in the hospital until Monday. They (UFC) asked me not to go public because, indeed, that wouldn’t do any good for me or Eric. IMO, Mario did the right thing. It’s been a long time since rules have been implemented. You are not allowed to do anything you want inside the cage. Watching the fight video I could see at least 9 blows to the back of the head. I think the way Joe Rogan behaved was completely unethical. He went with the crowd. A real professional doesn’t do that. He was acting like a fan when he should be acting as a shout caster. Mario is a million time more competent than him. He’s been living off this for 20 years. Joe Rogan is just a swagger, someone who walks amongst fighters but isn’t really a fighter himself. He doesn’t understand. Whatever… human beings make mistakes and I am not going to be holding grudges against him”
This isn’t the first time someone has criticized Joe Rogan; but it is the first time that Joe Rogan took a position on a controversial stoppage and declared that the referee was wrong inside the octagon. While that kind of personal engagement to the sport might not be something we’re used to, I feel it’s exactly what’s missing in other sports. So often we find commentators sitting monotonous in a press booths, summing up what they see and offering little to no constructive interpretation outside of a fact sheet that’s handed to them, while Rogan lets his passion for the sport transcend the broadcast. Hopefully Carlo Prater and Joe Rogan can make amends before their next event together. Maybe they too can hug it out over a bag of plantain chips. [Source]
