LAS VEGAS – All over this unceasing city, men on cranes winched up onto billboard railings and the side of buildings and the rafters of casinos to rip down posters and montages and assorted pieces of advertising material.
The biggest was the enormous sticker outside the flashy new T-Mobile Arena, where a sweating worker kicked in anger the discarded decal he’d just unpeeled, not appreciating such sweltering toil, just because some guy couldn’t or wouldn’t keep banned products out of his body.
That guy was Jon Jones, the UFC’s pound-for-pound No.1 fighter, the revelation of whose positive drug test sample late Wednesday night unleashed a frantic state of affairs that provided as much entertainment as Saturday’s combat in the octagon.
Fighting sports have always had a circus-type element, yet never so much as this wild Thursday, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s grandest event spun fascinating cycles of administrative carnage.
Nothing attracts a crowd like chaos, and here it was, laid bare, each unmissable episode of the UFC 200 saga coming at regular intervals.
First there was the sobbing Jones at a hasty press conference, leaving the room in tears before returning to give an unconvincing and contradictory commentary on his misery.
He indicated the issue was related to supplements rather than, say, steroids, but wouldn’t name the product he got busted for, said he hadn’t changed his dietary preparation, then later admitted he might have ingested some new stuff.
He was flanked by his publicist, crisis management expert Denise White, who will soon be played by Jennifer Aniston in a movie about her life called “The Fixer.”
White gave an odd address once Jones was done, telling the assembled media that “you probably know who I am,” though plenty didn’t, and missing the point that if they did, it was because her client has a history of screw-ups.
Neither Denise White nor Dana White could fix this, though the latter tried manfully. The UFC president carved a multi-billion dollar product out of throwing punches at adversity and came out swinging as the clock ticked towards Saturday’s pay-per-view.
White was everywhere, orchestrating new signage, staying abreast of the doping findings, salvaging credibility, trying to arrange a new opponent for light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier – whose career-best payday evaporated when his Jones showdown was shelved.
As noon came, White’s next task was refereeing a deliciously bizarre press conference for UFC 202 in August, where Conor McGregor will attempt revenge on Nate Diaz.
Insert McGregor into any scene and fireworks will ensue. The Irishman, perhaps the UFC’s most famous fighter, could not resist a jab at the company. It was he and Diaz originally to headline this weekend, before McGregor balked at what he thought were excessive media demands.
The UFC didn’t want to cede power so it played hardball, kicked him from the card, gambling that Cormier-Jones would go ahead seamlessly.
They rolled snake eyes.
“I wish everyone backstage well,” McGregor said. “I know they are all running around like headless chickens. All I missed was a press conference.”
White, alongside him, could not hear what was being said. Diaz, barely coherent at the best of times, mumbled his way through some non-answers, attempted a wisecrack by stating “everyone is on steroids” and added plenty to the farcical nature of the whole thing.
White seethed, a man who a day earlier could scarcely believe how smoothly everything was going, now trying to control the mayhem.
Withdrawals of fighters, through injury or drug-related idiocy, are nothing new. Neither are they terminal to a card, provided there’s some prior notice.
Three days is insufficient to avoid a mad scrabble and that in itself, in a very macabre way, provided part of the scene. The face of White, who seems to have started gritting his teeth when he got the Jones news at dinner Wednesday and may not have unclenched them since, was a picture.
Yet here is the thing - no one was turning away, because it was all so darn compelling.
The upshot is that this is a very different kind of event to what it might have been. For a while the UFC looked in contention, or in danger, of being seriously mainstream.
UFC 200 will be attended by plenty of proper celebrities, not a bunch of reality show nobodies. The pay-per-view numbers will still be high, but previously looked certain to blow by the two million buy mark. Two of the company’s best athletes were headlining. Stories have surfaced about White and the Fertitta brothers considering selling for as much as $4 billion.
Many of those things may still happen, except that now the seminal card in UFC history will be fronted by a WWE wrestler against a fat guy.
Yes, that is the most unkind assessment possible. Brock Lesnar’s popularity is truly crossover, and his addition was a major coup. His opponent Mark Hunt is No. 8 in the heavyweight ratings but is a brawler whose bouts always entertain.
The funny thing is, perhaps it doesn’t matter. Part of the reason UFC is attractive is because it leaves little to the imagination. Its flaws and problems and headaches and crises are on view, and the audience laps it up.
Mixed martial arts became part of the sports landscape by being warts-and-all, take-or-it-leave-it. There will be plenty of takers on Saturday, despite the main event meltdown.
And then, into the late afternoon, came another spellbinder. Brazilian outlet Globo reported that MMA legend Anderson Silva had signed to challenge Cormier in a non-title contest.
While White issued repeated denials, Silva chimed in with an Instagram post that seemed to indicate he was about to fight.
What a revival that would be. The Silva story seemed to remain in limbo but it would be no surprise if it happened, or that White could somehow magic another rabbit from the hat.
For that is what the UFC and White does, an ability forged from years of being an underdog sport battling for recognition. There is not room for every sport to be a soap opera but it is at those times when this one is at its best.
Somewhere amid it all, fights started on Thursday evening, the first of three consecutive nights of action. Iconic announcer Bruce Buffer was there as always, albeit hobbling badly on a leg he injured during a lip sync battle at a fan event. You couldn’t make it up.
The drama rolls on incessantly.
Stay tuned.
