Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 229: Orientalism vs. Occidentalism in the Media

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript analyzes the representation of Dagistanian-Muslim MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov related to his fight with and win over Irish-Christian fighter Conor McGregor in N=19 Eastern and N=38 Western online newspaper/blog/web articles. The manuscript pushes the thesis that Eastern media demonize the Western world (Occidentalism) while Western media demonize the Muslim world (Orientalism) – supposedly an indicator of a clash of cultures.

 

While the topic is interesting and relevant, the manuscript comes with a variety of problems.

• Title is too vague and does not explain what was analyzed how
• Abstract does not reveal sample composition N=19 and N=39 Eastern/Western articles
• Abstract and manuscript and RQ all misleadingly talk about Eastern and Western “media” when in fact only newspaper/blog/web articles were analyzed. No radio, no TV, no podcasts, no live commentary of the sports event etc. Overgeneralization is bad research practice.
• Introduction does not explain rationale of the case selection
• Introduction does not explain why a fight with a post-fight brawl was selected, an extremely rare occasion
• Introduction does not provide any background on MMA and UFC, and on the both fighters involved
• It is not explained clearly enough why more popular Muslim athletes (e.g. soccer players) were not selected instead
• It is not clearly enough explained what the “clash of civilization” entail, other key concepts are also not clearly defined
• Concepts of Orientalism and Occidentalism are not clearly related to the clash of civilization thesis
• The phrase “clash of theories” is used but not explained
• Sampling remains unclear and vague: “I also analyzed various top newspapers from the East-ern and the Western world via Google search” -> provide search strategy in appendix
• Data analysis remains unclear: What steps were done in “text analysis”, “process analysis” and “social analysis” – document in appendix please
• Table 1 goes in appendix
• What is missing in the text is a summary sample description table with publication dates, arcticle length etc.
• The structure of the results in unclear. Is has only three elements (“blame game” and “Russian dagestani Muslim” for Western “media” and “Innocent hero of the East against the Infidel” for Eastern media? How did this simple result was extracted from three different types of analyses (text analysis, process analysis, social analysis)?
• Also it is concerning that important background information is missing., e.g. Kabhib often appearing with a Papakha, underlining his dagestani culture as well as his refusal to present the Russian flag.
• Validity of the analysis is not tested or proven.
• A limitations section is completely missing that points to the many limitations of the study.

 

Author Response

Response provided in the attached file; please see the attachment.

 

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

It is appropriate to publish the study in its current form.      

Author Response

Response: Thanks for the positive feedback.

Reviewer 3 Report

I read this paper with interest. While I think the topic is interesting, I would not recommend the paper for publication in its current form. I list my comments below this email. I hope the Author will not find them off putting – I believe that after revision the paper will make a good contribution to the field.

 

I would avoid essentialist statements – there is no such as a thing as ‘Eastern’ or ‘Western’ media. See e,g, the following:

 

“This study contributes to the limited knowledge about how a Muslim man athlete with 12 diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds is seen contrarily in the Western and Eastern media. The 13 author discusses the theoretical implications of the study”

 

What I find particularly disturbing in the analysis in the current form is that it washes together individual reports, as if somehow ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ media outlets and audiences were homogenous in their views. Arguably, there are fan camps and there are predominant views, but then both media and the public were pretty much divided on Nurmagomedov and McGregor. I myself, a Western fan of Nurmagomedov, felt that McGregor was really abusive, and I read many ‘Western’ reports arguing that McGregor deserved the downbeat. So, I think I really disagree with the essentialist argument that there is somehow an East-West dichotomy here.

 

I also disagree with the fact that Islamophobia was any salient here. McGregor was accused of being Islamophobic, but he is basically an abusive person who is practically every-phobic, and I am not convinced that his case is suitable to capture Islamophobia in ‘Western’ media. Consider his match with Floyd Mayweather where he was racist (black-phobic): would this case be a proof of racism in the media?

 

I am also not convinced by the fact that Western audiences would somehow wash Nurmagomedov together with Islam religion. The thing is: Nurmagomedov is pretty open about his belief and while he was an athlete he often brought up religion and made religious gestures during matches. Some liked it, some didn’t, but the essence is that it was not Nurmagomedov who was somehow victimized in this respect, but rather Islam was generated as a subject by himself, which in turn opened up some islamophobia, but that’s a result rather than the origin of such discourse.

 

Methodologically, I find it really problematic that the Author uses data to prove a theory. Should this research not follow a bottom-up logic, and investigate in an empirical manner whether there is an East-West clash here? My bet would be that there is perhaps some, but then the situation may be more complex that what it seems.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Thanks for the detailled answer letter. I think the revision has sufficiently improved the manuscript.

Author Response

Thanks a lot for your constructive feedback. It was really great to work with a reviewer like you.

 

Reviewer 3 Report

Sorry, the review is not sufficiently thorough. Do a more thorough job.

Author Response

Response to the Reviewer:

Response: Thanks for the critical feedback. I have tried to address previous issues raised by the reviewer with a limited timeline. All the changes highlighted in yellow:

I have tried to address each essentialist statement and also tried not to generalize.  For example, in the abstract, I have discussed how ‘some’ media outlets portrayed Khabib Nurmagomedov.

See Abstract line 16

“This study contributes to the limited knowledge about how a Muslim man athlete with diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds is portrayed contrarily by some Western and Eastern media outlets.”

Also, see Abstract line number 7

See Introduction line 66

See line 75

See line 85

See line 296

See line 349

See line 413

See line 227

In the theoretical framework part, I have also provided criticism on the theoretical framework employed in this study (see pages 170-184). This also helps in not generalizing the study.

 Response: I have also tried to discuss in conclusion the opposing views different camps could have and also tried to shed light upon not generalizing this study for fans. I have also discussed a study is needed concerning how fans’ views differ from popular media discourses in the future.

See line 440-445

However, the study results should not be generalized for heterogeneous UFC fans’ views within the Western and Muslim world. Moreover, this study results only focuses upon some media outlets’ portrayal of Khabib Nurmagomedov, as there are numerous Western Muslim and non-Muslim fans of Khabib Nurmagomedov who might have different views than overall media discourse. Therefore, a study should be conducted concerning how fans’ views differ from popular media discourses in the future.

 

Rebuttal to previous comments: I have made the changes, as Reviewers 1 and 2 agree with my stance; below is my polite rebuttal again to previous comments.

I also disagree with the fact that Islamophobia was any salient here. McGregor was accused of being Islamophobic, but he is basically an abusive person who is practically every-phobic, and I am not convinced that his case is suitable to capture Islamophobia in ‘Western’ media. Consider his match with Floyd Mayweather where he was racist (black-phobic): would this case be a proof of racism in the media?

Response: I agree that McGregor is an abusive character, but by following the traditions of critical discourse analysis, I have tried to examine one phenomenon. In addition, the study focus is upon media portrayal, not how McGregor abuses his opponents. McGregor’s abusive narrative provides media to use that for essentializing minority athletes in the sport industry. Comparing Floyd Mayweather (a Western black athlete) with Khabib is unjustified, as media has a very different approach towards Western minority athletes than a Muslim athlete who is from Russia. However, in the future, a study could be done on these lines. In the conclusion section, I have mentioned this now; see the last lines

“Lastly, in the future, a study could be conducted concerning how Western media portrays Western minority athletes as compared to Muslim athletes from the Eastern world.”

 

I am also not convinced by the fact that Western audiences would somehow wash Nurmagomedov together with Islam religion. The thing is: Nurmagomedov is pretty open about his belief and while he was an athlete he often brought up religion and made religious gestures during matches. Some liked it, some didn’t, but the essence is that it was not Nurmagomedov who was somehow victimized in this respect, but rather Islam was generated as a subject by himself, which in turn opened up some islamophobia, but that’s a result rather than the origin of such discourse.

Response: Khabib’s openness about his religion in the West produces Islamophobia as a subject, which you also agree with, and our data analysis also shows that Islam was one component of how Khabib was described by the media. The result section shows that Khabib ethnicity was one of the major themes elicited from data.

 Methodologically, I find it really problematic that the Author uses data to prove a theory. Should this research not follow a bottom-up logic, and investigate in an empirical manner whether there is an East-West clash here? My bet would be that there is perhaps some, but then the situation may be more complex that what it seems.

Response: The purpose of this study was to add into theory, the bottom-up approach empirically might produce conflicting results. This is why I have put my positionality and reflexivity forwards, so the transferability of this research can be viewed by the audience. Reviewers 1 and 2 agree with my current methodological approach, so following another approach in such a limited time is not possible.