Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalib Starnes
I don't have your number I only have Mauro Ranallo's number, I called him repeatedly and asked to speak to you. Are you saying that you never got the message? That he never told you? That you didn't report a conversation we had in which I stated repeatedly that, "I would rather wait and speak with Mauro", "this is off the record"? I agreed to answer a few questions about the Yahoo article as a favor to him, and you ran with our conversation, a conversation which you agreed was off the record. Are you denying that? Get my number or my email from him and call me, I'd love to have a face to face with you about it. You pretend like you would rather have dealt with this privately and then you never got back to me Mike. I love your "The first rule of PR is there is no such thing as "off the record" statement, which pretty much lets me know where you stand on the issue, and yes I made that point to you repeatedly and you played along and then ran with the entire story exactly like I said you did. Only one other journalist treated me the way that you did, and yes there's people who have enough journalistic integrity to have an "off the record" conversation with you and not report everything that you say. Lets discuss this like men, get my number from Mauro or PM me yours and I'll call you. Acting like I made no effort to contact you is bullshit! Ask Mauro, ask Mauro how many times I called him concerning you, better yet ask him publicly.
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I never got any messages from Mauro. Like I stated before, Mauro told me NOT to call you. You didn't mention Mauro's name once in the entire conversation nor did you say that you wanted to wait to talk to him about anything. Like I said, I have the tape. You said "Off the record" ONCE when referring to a specific point you made. Then you went back to your original statement about what transpired with Joe Silva and your comments about how you felt Dana White had acted inappropriately. I contacted you independently of Mauro so saying you agreed to talk to me as a favor to him is misleading.
You did not make a point of repeatedly telling me anything was off the record and as far as me "playing along", listening to the tape again today the only playing along I did was listening as you went on a diatribe.
My reference to the first rule of PR was meant more as a word of advice for you for future interviews. PR reps prime their reps that deal with the media about perception and the images they convey to the media. Body language, tone and the words used or not used by individuals like "Off the record" can be of dire consequence to the reputation of an individual or company if used incorrectly. The UFC invited all contracted fighters to a PR/media primer session last year to explain all of this. Where I "stand on the issue" is that there is no issue. I was asked to leave out a portion of our conversation that I did. Everything else was fair game. I am not your PR rep or your babysitter. If you say something in an interview that I didn't think was right, I can't subjectively edit what you say.
I have never written a slanderous or damaging article in my life. I have developed friendships with the majority of the fighters that I write about and take pride in being fair and honest. I challenge you to find another fighter who has an issue with anything I've written about them. I could write a book about all of the insider info I have stored away that was deemed "off the record" by fighters, promoters or managers I have spoken to over the past few years.
You can accuse me all you want but, like I said numerous times, I have the complete tape of our conversation. If that is what it is going to take to protect my reputation, I will release it publicly. This is the route this is heading as it is the way you have chosen to slanderously accuse me of being in the wrong -- on a public forum.
If you have an issue with Mauro, take it up with him. I did not get a single message to call you. If I had of I would have called immediately. I'm not afraid of you, or your veiled threat that you want to meet for a face to face nor have I been avoiding you.
I stand by my article and by my journalistic integrity.
No one has ever questioned my integrity.
BTW, my email address is at the top of the article in question.
gfn@thefightnetwork.com
