So, boss, what's it like to constantly be pestered and harassed by a bunch of people on the internet about your decisions for the site?
Depends on why. Booking is more complicated than anyone here sees or knows. Staying motivated after 5+ years can sometimes be a little trying too. When people are pestering me to sim, or post a card because they are excited, it can be very invigorating and motivating. If people are pestering me about why Machida cannot drop a belt he JUST won so he can particpate in the Grand Prix, that gets annoying fast. There is a very well-crafted, fine-tuned schedule to a ManMMA season, and it can be complicated to change on short notice. With notice, I can do almost anything. But this whole "Drop the belt and have 2 new guys fighting for it at Zenith" would create more problems then I feel like explaining. So that can get annoying.
Your team is really good, why do you think you're only in second place behind Bullies?
"Only" in second place? Like, meaning I should be in worse place? I don't even know how I am in second. I am guessing Anderson, Gina, and Cro Cop carry this team. Johnson kinda holds his own. Or he should. Outside of that, I gathered together a bunch of legend prospects and tried to work on them. I carry a couple of decent people I don't really want (Like Faber. I wanted to trade Faber.) Outside of that, I should be a 500 team. But I guess the legits keep up in the mix.
Do you think Bullies is better than you?
Yes.
At the end of last season you made some big trades, trading away Ben Askren and Shinya Aoki. Do you plan on making similar blockbuster moves at the end of this season?
Faber. I would like to get rid of Faber. Outside of that, those moves were for talent sharing. Giving legit guys to teams who needed them. The only guys I have left I think of at that level are the 2 I won't trade (Gina or Anderson), and someone like Cro Cop, who has site-history value I don't think many others would really respect as much as I do. So to be more specific, no, I don't see the same type of blockbuster going down this season.
What do you think your team needs to do to be even better?
I'm never concerned about how good my team is doing. I don't try to win or be the best. I try to legitimize fighters who, based on their names, should be better here then they are. People tend to get in a huff if I am too good (since I am also the simmer) and I understand that, so I don't really mind sending off my good fighters when I find something else to do in their stead. I mean, I liked having Aoki, he was a bonus machine, but other teams needed his skills more than I needed his racking up the bonuses for The Sandmen.
How do you feel when people constantly accuse you of cheating when you win more than anyone else?
Nothing makes me want to just shut down the entire site more then that. The amount of work I have put into checks and balances to ensure I have absolutely no advantage over anyone else is unreal. It's one of those things that I, and I alone, have to just sit and respect, because no one else will ever really know the amount of work I have and do put into that. Perhaps that is why it's one of the more insulting things people can say on the site.
But it's not just that, either. It's a problem that is more complicated that people know. As admin, I am constantly on the look out for new members. If the site is plastered with accusations of cheating, it makes getting new members near-impossible. I mean, would you sign up for a site that had constant posts from people saying there was cheating everywhere? Who wants to play a broken or rigged game?
Furthermore, something
Ferocity pointed out a while back when
xx - Former Phoenix Fight Club was on his accuse-a-thon witch-hunt....the people who are here, and hwo have been here for 5+ yerars with me...those people are investing their time into the site. They also have eyes, and a brain, and, despite what a particular member says about them all the time, they are able to think for themselves and come to their own conclusions. It is very disrespectful, she said, to everyone to imply that the whole site is a bunch of sheep who cannot decide for themselves that what they are spending their time doing is pre-meditated, or rigged in any way. That took the accusations to another level for me.
Shit on me, I can take it, but insulting I members I take personally.
How do you feel when people constantly accuse you of cheating when you win more than anyone else? Has that ever made you want to trade your team away and just sim?
From day 1, I always said I would be just as happy being JUST the simmer/booker of this site. That is probably what I get the most enjoyment out of, especially at this point. Objectively, I have pretty much done everything here there is to do, from a team-success perceptive. Basically the only thing I have not done that I would like to do is acquire Fedor and make him a monster. I have tried for several seasons, but
xx - Team GAP likes him, so I have not been able to pry him from his grasp.
So from that perspective, I have always felt that for a site like this to be the best it can be, the booker/simmer should not have a team. But the only reason I took a team to begin with was we did not have enough people, and it was very clear from the start that I was one of the most enthusiastic about the whole thing. So it seemed silly to step back at that time and not dive into the fun.
Looking back on the past 5 years of ManMMA, with all you know now, what, if anything, would you do differently?
1) Stricter standards on who could be here from the start. If you look at the first draft, I made it possible for people to draft Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali if they wanted to. Thankfully nobody did, but since I was more concerned about members then MMA authenticity, i left them WIDE open.
2) MAYBE done weekly points earlier. PPP (Points per posts) was a great incentive program, but it created 2 classes of people on the site. It made it difficult for people to be casual ManMMAers. The problem is that it worked. And it worked very well. With PPP, activity was constant. Some people posted on every fight, then people would reply to that, etc. Sure, half of it was forced, but sometimes that forced dialogue got us places, or turned funny, or what have you.
3) Anderson Silva would not have vacated the MW title. I am now curious how far then-Anderson would have gone. I felt uncomfortable that my fighter was so dominant at the time, and wanted to give people a chance at the belt. I overlooked the value of a dominant champion that people are striving and struggling to beat. I think having a goal that difficult can be very motivating. Like now, whoever beats JJ will be a big deal. That loss is coming, and the one who delivers it will get mad props. Also, the fallout is neat too. Look at Aoki. He was one of our most dominant champions. Lost the belt. Has not got it back in a while. Will JJ be the same? You don't get all that from vacating. I did not know that then, and thought I was doing the right thing.
4) I would not have traded
xx - Former Phoenix Fight Club Brock Lesnar.
5) I would have made the first-ever fighter draft a serpentine draft, rather than a fixed draft.
6) I would have turned my computer's UAC off from the start.
7) I would have brought fighter caps in a little bit sooner.
What about ManMMA makes you the most proud.
Two completely different, probably unrelated things.
First and foremost, this community. The people here, and many of the people who have since left ManMMA, have made this such a super-cool project. When I created ManMMA, I honestly did not know if I would just be simming it for me, Mike, and maybe Norm. I set a goal for myself at the start, that I would sim the site for as long as it was fun for me, even if I was literally just simming for my own team. The fact that everyone here, new and old, has made this thing last for more than 5 years makes me happier than words can describe.
The second thing, which is of far less significance, is more technical. I am legitimately proud of our relationship with the program. I am proud that I was able to work out a system where members have SO MUCH control over their fighters, but at the same time, I was able to make it impossible for anyone to fully clone their fighters for the purposes of cheating. When I announced the site, Cannon told me straight-up he was going to download the program himself and take all the best fighters, or the guys who were hardest to beat. I am proud that, without breaking the game, I was able to make that task impossible for anyone, while at the same time, not limiting your potential to create a champion and make them your own.
And tying in with that, I am incredibly proud that even after 5 years, I can say, under oath, lie detector, or to the eyes of God, that I have never once, in the history of ManMMA, cheated. Every accomplishment I have here, I earned. Every accomplishment you have here, you earned. I did not give anyone a belt, I did not take anyone's belt. At no time did I give anyone an unfair advantage, even if I hated the fighter or had beef with the member (these two points come together a lot with
xx - Former Phoenix Fight Club and his team of "WTF"s, lol).
But that's the big thing. Everything here is legit, and I think having been part of the sim community for, what, 9 years now, I really see how big of an accomplishment that is, and that makes me proud.
So from that perspective, I have always felt that for a site like this to be the best it can be, the booker/simmer should not have a team. But the only reason I took a team to begin with was we did not have enough people, and it was very clear from the start that I was one of the most enthusiastic about the whole thing. So it seemed silly to step back at that time and not dive into the fun. 
