But who’s really taking it in the shorts here? The simple answer is the athletes. The short term gain from being publicly antagonizing is never worth the long term damage to their reputation and ultimately their wallets. The “press releases” written by Rogers and his camp are petty and will only alienate the few fans he has. Remember this is MMA, a sport where most of its athletes and fans have a background in the martial arts and therefore learn respect from an early age. Using childish, boxing-style antics is a sure way to get yourself booed out of any arena and become the whipping boy of an organization. Rogers’ tirade has had the side-effect of taking the pressure off of Nick Diaz, who now doesn’t seem like such a bad guy. At least he can intelligently respond to accusations made by his rival.

Speaking of whom…before this episode I’d heard nothing bad about KJ Noons and Sam Caplan at Fiveouncesofpain.com even referred to him as a stand up guy-a credible recommendation. Now it will take years for him to get back to that level of respect among the press and even longer among the fans. While writing my book (Title Shot) I learned firsthand that MMA fans will not tolerate weakness in any form. Biting, fish hooking, and eye gouging are all banned in MMA because the fans see it as dirty and underhanded. Refusing to fight is barely above these egregious violations of the cage code of conduct and even if Mr. Dion negotiates a better fight or more money for Noons, he will find himself fighting in front of a half full parking lot of haters. Just ask baseball.

In 1994 baseball fans suffered through a lengthy strike that ended ten months later, but impacted the game for the next ten years. Attendance levels at MLB games sunk to record lows for many seasons, one team (the Montreal Expos) completely folded, and the sport lost it’s heralded anti-trust law exemption when the Senate repealed it.

In Las Vegas Dana White’s amusement at the EliteXC circus is only matched by his rage at them out for making a farce of the sport he established and jacking up all the legitimacy he spent years building. For fifteen years Mixed Martial Arts has struggled to be recognized by the mainstream sports fan and is just now finally getting the attention it deserves. But for all the wrong reasons.

Kelly Crigger is a freelance MMA writer and author of the book "Title Shot: Into the Shark Tank of Mixed Martial Arts" which you can purchase by clicking here. Contact him through his website at IntoTheSharkTank.com