The Media: We’re Here to Help

Confession time: I’m something of a Twitter addict. So, as such, I see a lot of fighters beefing, nerding it up, trying to self-promote, and trying to get attention when something bad goes down. Twitter is a great tool for the first three, don’t get me wrong, but if you really have something to say, it’s the not the place to do it. If someone isn’t paying you, if somebody has wronged you, then you need to take it the media. They have a far greater reach than any Twitter or Facebook fanpage, and the innate ability to increase the gravity of a situation. Once “the media” gets involved, doesn’t it seem like things have gotten bigger?

(More after the jump)

Felice Herrig Vs. Michelle Gutierrez: A Lesson In How to Look Bad on Social Media

At Bellator 84 on December 14th, Felice Herrig and Michelle Gutierrez were scheduled to meet in an ire-filled rematch of their November 2009, which Herrig won by submission. Then, December 1st hit and everything pretty much went to Hell. On December 1st, Gutierrez announced that she had injured her hand and would be unable to compete. Herrig, understandably, was angry, and accused of “La Diablita” of faking the injury, and her manager, Brian Butler of Suckerpunch Entertainment, made allusions to “the truth coming out soon.” Sure enough, screen captures of Michelle’s twitter direct messages with her teammates were released via a Twitter account credited to “Bill Butcher.”  These screen captures (verified as legitimate by Michelle through Twitter journalist @FrontRowBrian) contained messages from Gutierrez to teammates Erin Beach and Brandon Vera that she was 22 pounds overweight, could not make the cut, and was stating that she would be claiming a hand injury was the reason she would be pulling out of her upcoming fight. This led to much sniping between Gutierrez, Herrig, Butler, and the TalkMMA Podcast’s Dizz (who joined in the discourse in an attempt to defend Gutierrez) that went on for the next 36 hours. Those 36 hours, however, were a lesson in how not to handle a bad situation, and we’ll look at it after the jump.