UFC Ongoing Thread (1 Viewer)

[Steve_Tk]

Fedor's managers stated that "in their proffesional opinion Lesner wouldn't have made it one round with Fedor". They were trying to get a fight with Randy before the Lesner fight. The Randy fight wil never happen now.

I want to see Fedor in the UFC. I think it can happen because there have already been negotiations for Fedor to fight in the UFC.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I can't believe it

Seriously, I'm dumbstruck right now by what I have just written and now linked here. These people have gone mad and by these people I mean Dana White.

As for the fight on Saturday, no surprise because nothing would have surprised me other than maybe a Brock win by submission.

It isn't really so much that the punch that put Randy down did all that much damage but the fact that Brock followed in and landed a whole bunch more shots and Randy wasn't really defending anymore.

The PPV was good, maybe the best of the year and it was a good thing the prelims were entertaining because we got to see all of them.

Randy has 2 fights on his UFC contract. He is in no danger of being cut (well, given what's linked above I guess never say never) but he's realistically in no danger of being cut. A rumor has him fighting Chuck Liddell in germany in June, Randy speaks German from his time over there in his military days.

On a side note, how good was Kenny Florian? He owned Joe Stevenson and that's lucky because nobody wanted to see Stevenson fight Penn a second time considering how decisive the first fight was in Penn's favor.

Fedor in the UFC will happen when Fedor's management team stops making what UFC considers rediculous demands such as entry in to the company for some of his red devil teammates and his desire to fight outside of the promotion. Otherwise, it isn't gonna happen.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

I don't much care if Fedor joins UFC. UFC has some nice talent, but I've long since stopped looking at the organization through rose colored glasses. I appreciate what they've done for MMA, but I think they basically want to run a slave organization controlling every aspect of a fighter's life (and earnings potential). It's exactly why I have no good feelings about the demise of EliteXC and the IFL. From what I hear, Fedor is making a living just fine, so good for him. If you think he needs to go to UFC to cement his legacy, well, legacy is sometimes a bit overrated. I do think Fedor's unreasonable when he requests teammate entry into UFC. Fighting in other promotions I can go either way on as it makes sense to me, though I see UFC's point that they put a lot of money and energy into marketing product, and that product becomes diluted if he's fighting in other organizations (especially if he loses).

Randy fighting in June? Isn't that a long time from now for a 45-year-old fighter? If I were Randy, I'd want to go again in the spring. He didn't have any serious damage (more just skin lacerations), and he needs to stay fresh. Any idea what his medical suspension length is?

 

[Andres Munoz]

Fitch and Koscheck will be missed. I don't know the heavyweight dude so I can't say much about him.

So how's the schedule going to work for B.J Penn? He's defending his belt against Florian but doesn't he also have a fight against GSP? That's one busy guy.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Randy's suspension is until Jan. 15 with no contact until Dec. 31.

Penn will fight GSP on Jan. 31. When he fight's Florian depends entirely on what happens in the GSP fight. Figure he comes through just fine with no injuries he could fight Florian in May. That's the same turn-around he had with Stevenson and Sherk this year.

Saying that the UFC is a wannabe slave organization is really unfair. I mean, why don't people blast the NBA for not allowing Kobe Bryant to join a European team over the summer if he desired to do so? In fact, in the typical NFL contract there are certainly activities that players aren't allowed to engage in during the offseason due to the risk of injury. Nobody says it is unfair that the WWE doesn't let its talent go wrestle in Japan or Mexico whenever they've got an offer.

The fact is that all those other groups that have come and gone, EliteXC, the IFL, Affliction (this one is marching to the gas chamber now) are UFC wannabe's. The only reason they don't/didn't have fighters locked up in exclusive deals like the UFC does is because they couldn't give the guys enough dates to allow them to make a good living. If Affliction were running PPV's every month like the UFC with free specials on some TV channel as well, all those non-exclusive contracts would be history.

Everyone says, oh, the UFC should work with Affliction to put on the fight that everyone wants to see.

Really? The UFC should work with a company that is trying to take money out of the UFC bank account and put it in its own. The UFC should help legitimize a company that competes directly with it on PPV for your buying dollar. Affliction is in the business to sell tickets, PPV's and merchandise and in these economic ties people are going to start picking and choosing which groups and even which specific shows from a group will get there money. Affliction is hoping you'll choose them over UFC in that regard and the UFC is just supposed to go along and help them accomplish this goal? Make no mistake the UFC working with Affliction does a lot more good for Affliction long-term than it does for UFC. Isn't it funny how all of the struggling promotions are the ones that complain about UFC not wanting to work together? If you also notice, Dana White never says anything bad about Strikeforce and he pointed out in a recent interview that the reason is because Strikeforce runs a good business.

Anybody who thinks the UFC should work with these other companies for the good of the business or for the good of fans isn't someone I'd let within 50 miles of running a business for me.

I have no great sorrow for all of these promotions that have died. If you want to survive in business well then maybe signing Fedor to a fight contract that calls for him to earn $3 million a fight isn't something you should do right away. If you want to survive in MMA then maybe you shouldn't expend much of you're financial resources on the purchase of smaller MMA companies that you don't really need, EliteXC I'd look in your direction if you still existed. If you want to survive in MMA then maybe you shouldn't try and reinvent the wheel with new concepts like a stupid fight surface or a team concept where the coaches are the stars, Yamma and IFL respectively.

If it all shakes out and the UFC is the only major company left in MMA with smaller organizations on a local level being where guys start out and gain experience but only have the UFC as a viable place to go on a national level, then so be it. Doesn't seem to hurt baseball, basketball or football all that much.

I guess it is the nature of humanity to find fault with those that have been the most successful and the criticism that is leveled at the UFC online is partly because of how successful it has become. Still, saying that the company wants slave-like control over all of its fighters isn't fair. But maybe asking Matt Grice about the UFC is a better way to make that point.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Personally, I don't think so, as nobody said the UFC doesn't do anything good for their fighters. I can think of a long list of things they've done good. Even slave masters did good things for their slaves. Being a slave master was about owning and control, eliminating the rights of others for your own benefit, not about being an evil monster.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

more on the licensing agreement UFC wanted those guys to sign

If what Dan Lambert of ATT says is true, and I have no reason to think that it isn't, I really don't see the UFC's request as all that unreasonable.

1. It would only be for the video game and wouldn't prevent guys from getting other merchandising opportunities.
2. It isn't like there's going to be another MMA company close to getting a video game license anytime soon, so really the choice is be in the UFC game or don't be in one at all, regardless of whether or not they sign the deal.

Cutting top talent may be a questionable move, but I do see Dana's side. Nobody has worked as hard to make the UFC what it is as Dana White, Joe Silva (matchmaker) and some of the other office staff. Really when I think about it, I completely understand why someone asking Dana about working with Affliction would make his head explode.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

It's subjective, but due to the point raised (nobody else knocking down the door to make such video games), not worth fighting over. When you belong to something, there are certain expectations about how you carry yourself and support that organization. In theory, it's a free country, but I shouldn't show up for work at McDonald's wearing a Burger King is #1 T-Shirt. When the NFL has an endorsement contract, players are not allowed to wear a competitor's product while playing an NFL game. I find that understandable, though some players have balked at it. I've seen the same thing with the NBA where, for instance, Nike might sponsor the NBA, but (say) Kobe has a contract with Adidas.

I think my take would probably have been, "If you don't want to be in our product because you don't like what we're offering, we'll respect that, but we can't allow you to endorse a competing product." It's a shame to drop a fighter from fighting over a video game. Anyway, the latest news is that JON FITCH BACK WITH UFC.

Anyway, enough about the business of the UFC. Generally, I try to just enjoy the events and leave the business to the folks involved. What I came to post about is Cung Le. I've mentioned before he has the looks to be a success in movies, and I was kind of hoping he'd move into that direction. What I wasn't clear about (since the cosmos was obviously listening), is that I wanted him to do that when he's finished with his fighting career. Instead, he's putting his fighting career on the back burner to do movies. At least now I know why we haven't seen him for awhile...

With budding movie career, Cung Le only available for "something huge". Apparently he feels he's done the fight thing and only wants to fight more if something big comes along.

Be still my heart.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Wow, this thread has been quiet for quite some time. I've personally been very busy and am only going to get busier as the UFC decides to run a show about once every 20 minutes or so.

My latest project is an audio show called MMA Sunday done every sunday at 9:00 PM ET. Our first show was aired last week with former WWE Superstar Bobby Lashley who is now one and zero as a pro MMA fighter. Talk about someone who understands the business and why things are done the way they are done, Lashley is that man. Everything from explaining how being on the card with Brock Lesnar benefits everyone even if they're only making $3,000 to what wrestling has done to help him in his MMA career.

Tonight, I'm doing the show solo, looking at MMA News, taking a bit of a look at UFC 93 next weekend, discussing my recent MMA Awards for 2008 and hopefully taking some calls (347-324-5735).

I trust everyone had a good holiday season and is ready for what I hope is a banner year for fighting and maybe not so many promotions going out of business (Affliction is already doomed).

 

[Steve_Tk]

No comment on Fedor vs Arlovski this week? I think Fedor will win, but not going to predict how quickly.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Of course Fedor is the smart money, but I'm an Arlovski fan, so I want to see it. In fact, if I had the opportunity to pick 6 heavyweights today, I'd like to see all 6 of them fight the other 5, and I predict I'd enjoy all of them. Of course that's too many permutations, but I'd still enjoy it. I'm not into the predicting, I'm into the watching it unfold. I haven't seen enough of Fedor fighting top competition, and fighting all these ex-UFC guys is as close as it looks like we're going to get.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

I'm nearly crawling out of my skin with excitement for UFC 94 tonight. I think Penn-St. Pierre could end up going down as one of those all-time great fights. Let the record show that the first UFC Pay Per View I ever ordered was UFC 58 where their first match was the co-feature. I've gone back and forth over whom I thought would win this fight. I originally favored B.J. because I reasoned that a fat, lazy unmotivated B.J. nearly beat GSP at UFC 58 (some people think he won, including one of the 3 judges that night) and now he's not fat lazy and unmotivated anymore. But, then I remember, the same GSP isn't showing up tonight that showed up in March of 06 either. He's a better wrestler now and he's just seemed to come in to his own all-around, though I think B.J. is the better striker of the two.

So, I'm taking GSP.

I also may be the only person who is actually excited to see Lyoto Machida Vs. Thiago Silva. It isn't every day that 2 guys with undefeated records go at it in a meaningful fight.

Clay Guida Vs. Nate Diaz may steal fight of the night. Dong Hyun Kim Vs. Karo Parisyan may be a sleeper entertaining fight but it also could be boring, depends on which Karo shows up.

Tonight will also be a bit bitter sweet because it will go down as the last live event to be covered by Combat-Hooligans.com. We're not exactly going away but everything is going to be changing soon including the name. Official announcement on that So I'm all around pretty excited for tonight, more than I was for UFC 91 or UFC 92.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

I'm excited about UFC 94 tonight, but I was also excited about Affliction 2. It's not everyday you see someone winning a fight, go into an attempted flying knee to the head, and get KTFO in mid-air. Talk about going from Elation to Devastation in the blink of an eye. It'll be interesting to see how long Affliction sticks around.

I've said before I can't really predict MMA fights based on anything other than guesses and gut feel as it's such an unpredictable sport to me (unless we're talking Spider Silva). I'm just happy to see this even tonight, not just for the main event, but for all the fights.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

The final live event coverage post in combat-hooligans.com history will be right here I'm not personally doing the honors tonight but I will be popping in on the comments section to give my thoughts on the post.

I'd like to personally thank a lot of you guys for visiting the site through the links I've provided here. I've been way too busy to pop in here as much as I used to but I still enjoy seeing what's going on with everyone. Now that I'm going to have some free time until the new site is ready to go, I may pop in here more often to discuss the news, because hey, I'm going to want to discuss it some place.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

First fight... Guida vs. Nate Diaz

Guida
wins a split decision. I'd have to agree with the decision, though I found myself wishing it were a 5-round fight. I wanted someone to win decisively, and it became obvious to me somewhere around the 2nd round that wasn't likely to happen.

I'll just say that I always enjoy seeing the Diaz brothers fight. They're so skilled and cool in the ring. Reminds me of the Gracies to some degree. Everyone loves a knockout (and thus a knockout artist), but I've little fascination with that particular skill. I'm fascinated by submission artists, and thus skilled jui jitsu practitioners.

Speaking of Gracies, RIP Helio gracie.

Guida is an always-on motor, and is also enjoyable to watch.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

GSP's performance last night was nothing short of amazing. I've always thought that Anderson Silva would be able to beat GSP if they fought, last night made me waver in that to the degree that now I wouldn't call it a certainty, GSP is just so good that I think if anyone could give up as much size as he would to Anderson and still overcome it then he's that guy.

I had a rough night between being on hold with the cable company and missing the first fight to being on hold with pizza hut and listening to even worse hold music than I got from the cable company and having to do the coverage myself at the last minute, definitely not something I want to repeat.

Who would've ever thought that Lyoto Machida would be the man to end a string of 8 consecutive decisions? All 5 prelims went the distance and so did the first 3 fights on the PPV...and when Machida came out I was expecting 9 for 9 but he knocked Silva senseless and became the hero to everyone in Vegas and everyone watching with me.

I thought Karo lost, doesn't ask me about Guida-Diaz because even though I did see the fight when the show replayed, I was in no condition to judge. I picked Jones over Bonnar (I did such a bad job last night 4-6 that I have to claim one when it goes my way) and I think Jones is going to be a force in the division he's only 21.

Still, the night belonged to GSP. I think pound-for-pound rankings are pretty much a waste of time but if I had to do them, top 5 would be some combination of Fedor, Silva, GSP, Miguel Torres and Machida (never thought I'd include Machida).

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Good news for fans of MMA. Strikeforce has purchased select assets of EliteXC and as a result, MMA is returning to both Showtime and CBS with the first show on Showtime coming on April 11.

This is good news, because unlike say, Affliction, Strikeforce is actually run by people who know how to make money. Thus, you can assume that again, unlike say Affliction, Strikeforce will still be in business at the end of the year. This also makes Strikeforce the clear cut #2 promotion in the U.S. behind only you know who.

In a bit of interesting trivia, the highest attendance for an MMA show in the U.S. is not a UFC show but is a Strikeforce event with over 18,000. In North America, only UFC 83 in Montreal can top that number.

 

[Andres Munoz]

Wow, I've been out of this thread for a while and a lot of good stuff has happened since.

So now that Fedor took care of Arlovski (loved that mid-air TKO), can anyone beat this guy? What do you guys think?

Re: UFC 94, I unfortunately missed the Guida/Diaz fight. Too bad about Nate losing but the kid has a bright future ahead of him.

Machida is really looking impressive and I think it's time they give him a title fight.

GSP is nothing short of amazing. The guy just keeps improving and the way he dominated B.J was unbelievable. B.J looked so helpless.

So let me ask you guys something. Anderson Silva fights at 185 right? And I believe GSP fights at around 170? Do you think the UFC would ever have them meet weight somewhere in the middle and have them go at it?

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Anything can happen in a fight, so even though Arlovsky lost to Fedor, I still think he could beat Fedor. Would I put money on it? No. But, I'd give him better than a 0% chance. In fact, I'd give him better than a 25% chance. Maybe as high as 33%. Based on what I saw, if they fought 10 times, it wouldn't surprise me if Arlovsky won 5 of them.

The GSP domination of BJ almost made me feel bad for BJ. Almost. But that's why they fight the fights. Most people called it about even, and some predicted BJ winning.

As for GSP vs Spider, there's certainly a lot of talk about that in MMA circles, and they covered it a bit on Inside MMA recently. The drawback from the UFC POV is it ties up two titles, and also has the possibility to diminish the star quality of the loser champion. For instance, while some in MMA will certainly say that BJ moved up, lost, but is still great in his real division, many more casual MMA fans will just remember that he lost, and not by decision, but by being smashed. Not so tough after all, right?

As for tying up belts, let's say BJ normally fights 1-2 fights per year. If that one fight is not a defense of his title, a year could go by with no title defense. As it is, BJ won the title in January '08, Defended it in May of '08, and probably won't defend it before May of '09, which would be a year.

That's not to say it can't/won't happen, but that's some of the thinking against doing it. On the other hand, Spider wants to fight as much as possible, and it's not like he's taking much punishment in his fights. We'll see!

 

[Andres Munoz]

Let's ask the question in another way...is there anyone out there that would make you put money on beating Fedor?

Re: GSP vs. Silva, that's a good point of view. I definitely see the interest of MMA fans like us but I also see the UFC point of view. I guess only time will tell.