Jake Yono

7/31/23

JY Journalism

The Cultural Difference between the NFL and UFC

In this article, I will cover the difference in seriousness between the NFL and UFC. I believe some professional sports leagues have a more business and professional atmosphere compared to the UFC mostly which is more of a let loose and entertainment atmosphere. I think this topic is really interesting in terms of fan enjoyment, and how their leaders and commissions deal with topics and issues. I will be talking about the NFL, the serious and more professional, then I will talk about the UFC, the fun and entertaining organization, and how they run and manage things. 

The NFL is the most popular and highest-grossing professional sports league in the world. This means on a worldwide stage so they need to show that they do not mess around. They do this by holding each teams players, staff, and front office accountable by having strict protocols and keeping everybody involved in the organization on a 

“tight leash”. The sport that is played in the NFL (American Football) is supposed to be a rough and violent sport but I respect the NFL and the NFLPA for having a strict protocol on what their players can and cannot do. For Example, the whole Chad Johnson and his celebrations. His fines for celebrating include using a dollar bill on the field, (to be funny of course) using a pylon as a golf club when he scored, and he got fined 30k dollars for wearing a poncho and sombrero on the sideline. (Ochocinco) In this article, Ochocinco said, “I play to have fun”. Chad Johnson wants the NFL to be more open to celebrations but the NFL has not bought into it. In 2009 he simply set aside 100k dollars for celebrations. “That's OK," said Ochocinco, who confirmed that he has set aside $100,000 to pay fines this season. "They keep jacking them up, I'll keep jacking up the celebrations (Ochocinco). I agree with Chad here, I think the NFL should take a step back on their rules and protocols because I think their viewership will go up if the game was more entertaining to a reasonable extent. Here are some more Ridiculous NFL fines in this article (10 Ridiculous NFL FInes).

Now let's get into the high-flying action of the UFC. I love the UFC because it’s energy-filled events all year round and it is way less serious than the NFL in terms of what people can say and do. The president Dana White can say whatever he wants, the fighters do crazy celebrations, and after having crazy interviews with Joe Rogan and the fans love it with a passion. For Example, Derrick Lewis saying his balls were hot, Paddy the Baddy teabagging his opponent, Tai Tuivasa chugging beer out of shoes, Conor Mcgregor’s whole persona and Israel Adesanya walking into the octagon at UFC 290 and dropping some N-Words on Dricus-Du-Pleases after he won. Every single one of these innocents would be unheard of and major fines and suspensions in the NFL. The comments from Dana White after the UFC 290 Innocent just proved my point here. After the Israel and Du-Plessis moment Dana White said “This is the fight business he (Israel) can say whatever he wants' ' (Dana White Reacts To UFC 290). Also in the interview, Dana said he talked with Israel and he promised Dana he wasn't going to touch him or anything violent like that which means it is ok for Israel Adesanya to step in the octagon. One situation where the tension and trash talk went too far was at UFC 229 between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor Mcgregor. All week Conor Mcgregor was trash-talking Khabib, he even threw a chair at him and went to jail. After the fight when Khabib won, he threw his mouthguard at Connor's corner man and things escalated. Although the fight was the biggest PPV seller in UFC history, (Biggest PPV Sellers in UFC History) A huge fight broke out and both of the fighters received fines and suspensions (UFC 229 Aftermath).  I love how the UFC and its supporting commissions realized that this innocent was way more serious and that they had to file and suspend the fighters and this is exactly what they should have done. 

In conclusion, I think the NFL needs to step back on its protocols and procedures as it will make the game more enjoyable to viewers and fans because now fans just laugh at articles that reveal a player has a ridiculous fine. The UFC to me is currently running the operation well as they let everyone do their thing but step in when it matters most (UFC 229 Aftermath). You could expect the UFC to be looser as it is fighting inside of a cage, you could also expect that out of the NFL also but since they are the best sports league in the world they set high expectations for everyone involved and discipline their employees if they do not follow these protocols.