The UFC is a loyal organization. Chuck Liddell scampers around the Zuffa offices with his painted toenails as Vice President of Business Development. Matt Hughes bounces from one coast to the other as Vice President of Athlete Development. Mike Goldberg continues his run as lead play-by-play man in 2015, in spite of a death of talent and mysterious “illnesses.” These are made men in the UFC, and the UFC takes care of its made men.
But that mob metaphor carries forward. The UFC’s loyalty comes at a cost. Dissent is not tolerated. Insolence, perceived or otherwise, carries repercussions.