Only in theory, the microstuttering is unbearable.
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MMA-GAF |OT4| BangBros
- Thread starter polyh3dron
- Start date
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Only in theory, the microstuttering is unbearable.
Did you guys see the new Bony Açaí commercial? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jeU1iLEcLM
polyh3dron
Banned
In that first shot of Wandy he looks dead.
Maklershed
Member
Fixed
BigJonsson
Member
Any of you try Bony Acai before? What does it taste like? All those Brazilian fighters can't be wrong......can they?
polyh3dron
Banned
any beverage that does an ad with pee pee man drinking the product in it will never get my business.
killamajig
Member
"Black and Decker coochie wrecker." I just needed to say that. That is all.
lmao what did you expect? they're doing a mixed-gender cagefighting reality show with unlimited booze ffs
polyh3dron
Banned
nearly 80% of Gina Carano's performance in Haywire was re-voiced by someone else.
Sato Koiji
Member
Whats the big deal with Ronda.
IMO she isnt even that attractive for me to stop and have a 2nd look at her. She isnt ugly no question...but isnt that much of eyecandy either.
Shes unbelievably annoying as soon as she starts talking.
She cant compete with Gina...
IMO she isnt even that attractive for me to stop and have a 2nd look at her. She isnt ugly no question...but isnt that much of eyecandy either.
Shes unbelievably annoying as soon as she starts talking.
She cant compete with Gina...
I'm not sure, but now expecting Ronda to call someone a stinky poopyhead by episode 4. Not a good look.
polyh3dron
Banned
Maybe it's the fact that she is undefeated and beats everyone by armbar. It's pretty impressive. I don't know why people overlook that when they ask "what's the big deal with Ronda Rousey I don't know why she's such a big deal hurhurhur".
She's fighting the best women out there at 135 and isn't getting hand picked cans to crush like your precious Gina was given.
Helwani said it taste great, but that it's very hard to find because it sells out fast.
Not that. I'm talking about Ronda's portrayal of herself as a Diaz brother. It's only cool when the product is marketed toward Just Bleed dudebros. An athlete needs bigger appeal if they want to crossver to Hollywood.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Ronda is still going to beat that ass again.
Host Samurai
Member
Rhonda looks average at best. 6/6.5
Gina is legit beautiful, even overweight you can see that shes just has a gorgeous face. Gina would also win in a fight
Gina is legit beautiful, even overweight you can see that shes just has a gorgeous face. Gina would also win in a fight
I dunno, I think on the whole she's carried herself well. It's been the last few weeks on the press tour that have been unbearable.
Nick is way easier to stomach than what Ronda is doing. The vibe of Nick's "pampered" ramblings and Ronda being a step above calling Miesha "caca breath" are completely different. It has a base level Rampage insult vibe, except that isn't even funny or disarming.
neither is Roxanne Modafferi calling some bro a baka gaijin, but at least it's not the typical TUF talk like "i fight for my kids, they give me power"
Jest Chillin
Member
I wouldn't credit all her trash talk to the Diaz bros. I guarantee she learned quite a bit of that hanging with the dudes in her Judo dojo.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Dana is probably yelling at some poor intern right now.
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/fast-and-furious-7-adding-ufc-champion-ronda-rousey-109246
http://variety.com/2013/film/news/ufc-ronda-rousey-fast-7-1200567565/
polyh3dron
Banned
I VETTED AND AUTHORIZED THAT DECISION BEFOREHAND, YOU NERDS
YOU DON'T FUCKING KNOW WHAT HAPPENS BEHIND THE SCENES
YOU DON'T FUCKING KNOW WHAT HAPPENS BEHIND THE SCENES
I VETTED AND AUTHORIZED THAT DECISION BEFOREHAND, YOU NERDS
YOU DON'T FUCKING KNOW WHAT HAPPENS BEHIND THE SCENES
Or we could play a good game, like Civ 5
Or that.
I gotta start looking up some specs soon. I think im capping my budget at around 1500.
polyh3dron
Banned
Culinary Union going hard, trying to cockblock the Shale.
http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/...ght-26-chael-sonnen-awaits-commissions-ruling
http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/...ght-26-chael-sonnen-awaits-commissions-ruling
Maklershed
Member
"C'mon Ronda, stop it with these movies and pleeeeeeeeease let me in there. Please!"
TheKaeptain
Banned
I bet Dana calls her Ro Ro.
Maklershed
Member
I loled
polyh3dron
Banned
fucking pee pee man, god dammit.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Someone tell me it's a joke and he didn't just...
Jaladinozozo
Banned
no words
Maklershed
Member
but.. why
I was just going to say something about Lyoto's dad not teaching him which substance it is you wanna make the ladies swallow..
I hope they release a demo so I can send off my 560ti in style.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Make a thread.
dream
Member
Bellator will be holding its first PPV show, and it will be like nothing ever attempted in the U.S., in the sense there will be a synchronized merging of promotion between an MMA and pro wrestling company.
The 11/2 show at the Long Beach Arena, headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Rampage Jackson, will be promoted by Viacom, the owners of Bellator, and will include a level of multi-platform promotion on PPV that in the past has been limited to only the biggest boxing matches.
Viacom will be promoting the show on all its cable channels, including Spike, MTV, MTV 2, Comedy Central, BET, CMT and other outlets. The prime promotion will be on Bellator television and on TNA Impact, where Ortiz was introduced as a secret addition at the 8/1 tapings in Wichita Falls, TX.
Without going into detail, Bellator MMA CEO Bjorn Rebney said that a storyline is in place regarding Ortiz and Jackson for TNA wrestling, that would build to the PPV match. He indicated, but didn’t outright say, that TNA’s Bound for Glory PPV in San Diego will be part of the build.
There had been teases of a Bellator PPV that would be headlined by a boxing match with Roy Jones Jr. vs. Jackson, put out to end up as a surprise when Ortiz was announced.
According to Jackson, he had been in talks with Bellator and believed he would be boxing against Jones on the first PPV, until he found out from Ortiz, who is a long-time friend, that he was coming to Bellator for a match with him.
Ortiz said that he opened up negotiations for the match on 7/7, essentially the day his one-year legal matching rights period with UFC ended. He said the two sides had a meeting on 7/8 and got the deal largely agreed to within a week, and finalized shortly after that.
On the 7/31 Bellator television show, they announced early on that there would be a big announcement. They actually went so far as to fly Jones to Albuquerque and put him on the screen to swerve the viewers.
The announcement came with Jackson in the cage talking about his next show, talking about how he would love to fight Roy Jones Jr., but not to believe the Internet, and that his opponent would be coming out. Ortiz then came out and the date and location of the PPV was announced.
On TNA, they had promoted, starting on 7/26, that there would be a mystery August surprise who would debut on the 8/1 show. Why they chose to announce it on the Internet as opposed to on their own television show the night before is one of life’s great mysteries. As it turned out, the ratings for the taped show on 7/25 were slightly higher than for the live show, which hyped the surprise big for two hours but there was no real last quarter pop.
During the show, Taz, who didn’t announce, was shown outside the arena, and opened up a door to the van to find out who was in it, and acted shocked when he opened it. But when the cameras went in, it was just a computer playing the video.
At the end of the show, with the Main Event Mafia and Aces and 8s brawling, the lights went on. Suddenly, walking down the ramp was Ortiz. Unlike when Jackson debuted, which had been promoted, and there was a huge live reaction and it came across like he was a superstar, for Ortiz, arguably a bigger star in MMA, there was no reaction at all.
Part of it was that with his shaved head instead of his trademarked dyed blond hair, most people likely had no idea who he was.
The angle got an immediately and almost universal negative reaction. MMA people didn’t like the idea of a pro wrestling storyline-created MMA match, even though many MMA storylines are also created. Pro wrestling fans resented another MMA fighter with no pro wrestling background on the show. Whether TNA, which does have 1.0 to 1.5 million people watching weekly but hasn’t been able to convert all but a minuscule percentage to buy its own PPVs, will be able to create a storyline that will help an MMA show is questionable. The PPV crossover between MMA fans and TNA fans can be debated forever. The only thing this year has proven is that Bellator did 808,000 viewers from 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on Thursday after Impact on average in the spring, then without a TNA lead-in, did 480,000 viewers on 6/19 for a normal show with King Mo (one of its signature stars) and 679,000 viewers for the most loaded up show in company history airing earlier in the evening.
The main event was also criticized, given Jackson and Ortiz are both past their primes as fighters. But from a Spike standpoint, the two are proven ratings winners and PPV draws. How much that means today is another issue, and can the nostalgia pop that is definitely a proven part of pro wrestling and entertainment carry over into MMA in 2013. In 2006, with Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie, it did. But part of that was because most viewers didn’t realize Shamrock was past his prime and had no idea how much the sport had evolved from the Gracie heyday. In 2013, everyone is fully aware that Jackson and Ortiz are not top guys. Whether they can be marketed successfully in spite of that, is a different question.
Rebney didn’t go into detail on what programming would be done to hype the fight, but the hints were of a multi-week series since he noted that both fighters lived in Southern California so they could follow them almost 24/7 as they counted down to the date.
Ortiz peaked as a draw in 2006, with his 1 million buy effort with Chuck Liddell, a 775,000 buy effort with Ken Shamrock and his TV rematch with Ken Shamrock was the second most impressive TV ratings success in cable history (trailing only the Kimbo Slice vs. Roy Nelson Ultimate Fighter fight). Jackson spent much of his career in Japan, which he brings up constantly, with his view that it’s about entertaining the audience, and not all about winning and losing. Jackson had his own 1 million buy show against Rashad Evans in 2010 and did big numbers with Liddell and Jon Jones. The two most successful seasons of Ultimate Fighter were those coached by Jackson and Evans, building their fight, and Ortiz and Shamrock.
What that means in 2013 isn’t clear. If everyone involved does a great job of marketing and building the fight, who is to say how it will do. If this was a UFC main event next month, it’s hard to say what it would do given the Evans (who has a good drawing history) vs. Dan Henderson numbers. And how much of the UFC audience would buy a Bellator PPV? Is the dynamic more like WWE and TNA where people aren’t going to buy a PPV with Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle in TNA, but those same guys on WWE television would do ten or 20 times more, or is it closer to boxing where the lure is the fighters, and who the promotion is doesn’t make a difference to most viewers.
It’s easy to declare this show DOA, particularly with second row seats still available at press time. But PPVs are sold in the last two weeks. We don’t know the storyline, although I’m skeptical any pro wrestling storyline will be much help. I’m also skeptical they can manufacture the grudge match aspect that is so important in selling a fight of this type, given that people know the two are close friends, nor do they hide it. However, both have historically been very good at building up fights, and in the last week, that’s going to be the make-or-break. This isn’t Affliction trying to get big numbers with no television.
Jackson started training with Ortiz early in his career, and noted that Ortiz and Ricco Rodriguez would have their way with him early on. But he noted that he got better and more competitive and they had spirited competition that nobody saw.
With Ortiz, the biggest factor is the usual Tito factor. He always says he’s healthy and in the best shape of his life, and then, after the fight, comes up with a laundry list of ailments. The ailments are real. His knees, back and neck are all shot at 38 years old. But when he says he’s healthy now, it’s hard to not have skepticism. Ortiz is only three months removed from full reconstructive knee surgery after a torn ACL, an injury that usually keeps a fighter out of serious training for nine months to a year. He also had neck surgery at the end of 2012, but said he made a remarkable recovery from that, even though it’s not his first neck surgery either. He will be fighting six months after a full ACL repair. Ortiz said the knee feels fine, that he was drilling in six weeks and that he’s got better recuperative powers now that he’s older, which goes against every law of nature.
Rebney promised the best fights Bellator has ever had underneath, and hoped to have the card done in about six weeks. He gave the impression that the card would have one or two-hours of live fights on Spike, similar to what UFC does, to push late buys.
The five fight card would be an opener, and the hint was as many as three title fights, but he said multiple five-round title fights with the idea of being a potentially longer show with all the five-rounders, followed by a three-round Ortiz vs. Jackson main event as a light heavyweight fight.
The only name he mentioned that he’d like to get on the show was Michael Chandler, the company’s lightweight champion, who has been the most impressive fighter they’ve had. In theory, Chandler should next face Dave Jansen, who earned the shot with a tournament win. One would think they will try and make a deal to bring Eddie Alvarez back if possible, which may be why Rebney wouldn’t commit to Jansen. Chandler’s title win over Alvarez on November 19, 2011, is generally considered the best fight in company history. The two at first couldn’t be rematched based on Rebney’s insistence the only way to get a title shot is winning a tournament, and Alvarez’s lack of interest in doing a tournament. However, Alvarez was promised a title shot with Chandler if he signed a new contract. Currently, Alvarez has sued to get out of the matching terms aspect of the contract.
In many ways, the real key to this show is not so much whether it gets enough buys to be profitable, but that the build-up focuses on three fights as opposed to one. If it has a chance of drawing, it is Ortiz vs. Jackson, but even so, they aren’t the future. This is where Chandler needs to be on the show. They need to get Chandler, as much as Ortiz and Jackson, on the various Viacom networks, doing the media and focused on in the countdowns with the hope that his fight and hopefully other fights become star making performances. Granted, Chandler has looked tremendous in two Spike fights already and really has no traction past the Bellator faithful. In theory, more will see him on free TV than PPV. But a PPV fight resonates stronger and is remembered better, largely because a PPV fight is hyped more coming in.
The key is to pick a few stars, Chandler as a given, and the others can be debated, and focus on them in the building of the show, and hope they perform when the lights are on.
Of the company’s other champions, heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov hasn’t fought since December, and has Vitaly Minakov (who beat Ryan Martinez on 7/31) set up as his next contender.
Light heavyweight champion Attila Vegh won the title on 2/28, so he’s ready, and he has both Emmanuel Newton and King Mo Lawal in line, in that order. Obviously Lawal would be a better opponent for a PPV, but Newton won his tourney first and beat Lawal.
Middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko hasn’t fought since 2/7 and has tournament winner Doug “Rhino” Marshall set up as his next opponent.
Welterweight champion Ben Askren’s contract expired with his 7/31 fight and he doesn’t have a tournament winner in line for a shot.
Featherweight champion Pat Curran, whose name Rebney mentioned a few times, last beat Shahbulat Shamhalaev on 4/4, and his a next defense scheduled for Magomedov Khasbulaev.
Bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas last fought on 4/13, beating Marcos Galvao. A tournament is currently going on to come up with a next contender.
Both Ortiz and Jackson took shots at the UFC and Dana White, although not by name. Ortiz talked about how he now has a boss he doesn’t have to fight with and who has his back, and won’t disparage him after he fought injured and lost.
Jackson claimed that the more the fighters hear the kind of deals Bellator made for him and Ortiz, that more will jump over. Given that Jackson was averaging more than $1 million per fight in UFC, if he and Ortiz are getting close to UFC money, or better than UFC money, with other fighters being paid, production and promotion costs, $3 million would seem a conservative estimate on expenses. If that figure is accurate, break-even is going to be a minimum of 150,000 buys if we go with a $40 average price per order and a 50% split.
Rebney said that they were going to let the cable systems charge what they believe is the best price, but indicated they were expecting the figures to be between $35 and $45. Some think that price is too high, but for the people who want to see the fight and the card, they’ll pay it, and those that don’t aren’t really going to be buying it at $25. Plus, if you went to $25, break even becomes 250,000 buys and again, that’s probably a very low break-even estimate.
Ortiz made it clear he and Jackson were going to remain friends, with a knock at Chuck Liddell, another former training partner.
“The last guy pretty much sold me out and said we were never friends.”
He said that both stand to make a lot of money with the show but he wanted Jackson to know that he’s his friend, they aren’t friends in the ring on 11/2 until late that night when they’re out drinking together.
Ortiz, like Jackson, grew up a huge pro wrestling fan. His favorite was Hulk Hogan, and he got into wrestling in high school thinking it would be similar to pro wrestling.
Jackson still said he’d like to fight Jones Jr. in a boxing match after this fight, saying he’s done pro wrestling, Jiu Jitsu, MMA and kickboxing so boxing is the only thing he hasn’t tried.
When asked if the TNA storyline would include the two of them being a tag team, Jackson joked, “That wouldn’t be the first time.”
The 11/2 show at the Long Beach Arena, headlined by Tito Ortiz vs. Rampage Jackson, will be promoted by Viacom, the owners of Bellator, and will include a level of multi-platform promotion on PPV that in the past has been limited to only the biggest boxing matches.
Viacom will be promoting the show on all its cable channels, including Spike, MTV, MTV 2, Comedy Central, BET, CMT and other outlets. The prime promotion will be on Bellator television and on TNA Impact, where Ortiz was introduced as a secret addition at the 8/1 tapings in Wichita Falls, TX.
Without going into detail, Bellator MMA CEO Bjorn Rebney said that a storyline is in place regarding Ortiz and Jackson for TNA wrestling, that would build to the PPV match. He indicated, but didn’t outright say, that TNA’s Bound for Glory PPV in San Diego will be part of the build.
There had been teases of a Bellator PPV that would be headlined by a boxing match with Roy Jones Jr. vs. Jackson, put out to end up as a surprise when Ortiz was announced.
According to Jackson, he had been in talks with Bellator and believed he would be boxing against Jones on the first PPV, until he found out from Ortiz, who is a long-time friend, that he was coming to Bellator for a match with him.
Ortiz said that he opened up negotiations for the match on 7/7, essentially the day his one-year legal matching rights period with UFC ended. He said the two sides had a meeting on 7/8 and got the deal largely agreed to within a week, and finalized shortly after that.
On the 7/31 Bellator television show, they announced early on that there would be a big announcement. They actually went so far as to fly Jones to Albuquerque and put him on the screen to swerve the viewers.
The announcement came with Jackson in the cage talking about his next show, talking about how he would love to fight Roy Jones Jr., but not to believe the Internet, and that his opponent would be coming out. Ortiz then came out and the date and location of the PPV was announced.
On TNA, they had promoted, starting on 7/26, that there would be a mystery August surprise who would debut on the 8/1 show. Why they chose to announce it on the Internet as opposed to on their own television show the night before is one of life’s great mysteries. As it turned out, the ratings for the taped show on 7/25 were slightly higher than for the live show, which hyped the surprise big for two hours but there was no real last quarter pop.
During the show, Taz, who didn’t announce, was shown outside the arena, and opened up a door to the van to find out who was in it, and acted shocked when he opened it. But when the cameras went in, it was just a computer playing the video.
At the end of the show, with the Main Event Mafia and Aces and 8s brawling, the lights went on. Suddenly, walking down the ramp was Ortiz. Unlike when Jackson debuted, which had been promoted, and there was a huge live reaction and it came across like he was a superstar, for Ortiz, arguably a bigger star in MMA, there was no reaction at all.
Part of it was that with his shaved head instead of his trademarked dyed blond hair, most people likely had no idea who he was.
The angle got an immediately and almost universal negative reaction. MMA people didn’t like the idea of a pro wrestling storyline-created MMA match, even though many MMA storylines are also created. Pro wrestling fans resented another MMA fighter with no pro wrestling background on the show. Whether TNA, which does have 1.0 to 1.5 million people watching weekly but hasn’t been able to convert all but a minuscule percentage to buy its own PPVs, will be able to create a storyline that will help an MMA show is questionable. The PPV crossover between MMA fans and TNA fans can be debated forever. The only thing this year has proven is that Bellator did 808,000 viewers from 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on Thursday after Impact on average in the spring, then without a TNA lead-in, did 480,000 viewers on 6/19 for a normal show with King Mo (one of its signature stars) and 679,000 viewers for the most loaded up show in company history airing earlier in the evening.
The main event was also criticized, given Jackson and Ortiz are both past their primes as fighters. But from a Spike standpoint, the two are proven ratings winners and PPV draws. How much that means today is another issue, and can the nostalgia pop that is definitely a proven part of pro wrestling and entertainment carry over into MMA in 2013. In 2006, with Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie, it did. But part of that was because most viewers didn’t realize Shamrock was past his prime and had no idea how much the sport had evolved from the Gracie heyday. In 2013, everyone is fully aware that Jackson and Ortiz are not top guys. Whether they can be marketed successfully in spite of that, is a different question.
Rebney didn’t go into detail on what programming would be done to hype the fight, but the hints were of a multi-week series since he noted that both fighters lived in Southern California so they could follow them almost 24/7 as they counted down to the date.
Ortiz peaked as a draw in 2006, with his 1 million buy effort with Chuck Liddell, a 775,000 buy effort with Ken Shamrock and his TV rematch with Ken Shamrock was the second most impressive TV ratings success in cable history (trailing only the Kimbo Slice vs. Roy Nelson Ultimate Fighter fight). Jackson spent much of his career in Japan, which he brings up constantly, with his view that it’s about entertaining the audience, and not all about winning and losing. Jackson had his own 1 million buy show against Rashad Evans in 2010 and did big numbers with Liddell and Jon Jones. The two most successful seasons of Ultimate Fighter were those coached by Jackson and Evans, building their fight, and Ortiz and Shamrock.
What that means in 2013 isn’t clear. If everyone involved does a great job of marketing and building the fight, who is to say how it will do. If this was a UFC main event next month, it’s hard to say what it would do given the Evans (who has a good drawing history) vs. Dan Henderson numbers. And how much of the UFC audience would buy a Bellator PPV? Is the dynamic more like WWE and TNA where people aren’t going to buy a PPV with Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle in TNA, but those same guys on WWE television would do ten or 20 times more, or is it closer to boxing where the lure is the fighters, and who the promotion is doesn’t make a difference to most viewers.
It’s easy to declare this show DOA, particularly with second row seats still available at press time. But PPVs are sold in the last two weeks. We don’t know the storyline, although I’m skeptical any pro wrestling storyline will be much help. I’m also skeptical they can manufacture the grudge match aspect that is so important in selling a fight of this type, given that people know the two are close friends, nor do they hide it. However, both have historically been very good at building up fights, and in the last week, that’s going to be the make-or-break. This isn’t Affliction trying to get big numbers with no television.
Jackson started training with Ortiz early in his career, and noted that Ortiz and Ricco Rodriguez would have their way with him early on. But he noted that he got better and more competitive and they had spirited competition that nobody saw.
With Ortiz, the biggest factor is the usual Tito factor. He always says he’s healthy and in the best shape of his life, and then, after the fight, comes up with a laundry list of ailments. The ailments are real. His knees, back and neck are all shot at 38 years old. But when he says he’s healthy now, it’s hard to not have skepticism. Ortiz is only three months removed from full reconstructive knee surgery after a torn ACL, an injury that usually keeps a fighter out of serious training for nine months to a year. He also had neck surgery at the end of 2012, but said he made a remarkable recovery from that, even though it’s not his first neck surgery either. He will be fighting six months after a full ACL repair. Ortiz said the knee feels fine, that he was drilling in six weeks and that he’s got better recuperative powers now that he’s older, which goes against every law of nature.
Rebney promised the best fights Bellator has ever had underneath, and hoped to have the card done in about six weeks. He gave the impression that the card would have one or two-hours of live fights on Spike, similar to what UFC does, to push late buys.
The five fight card would be an opener, and the hint was as many as three title fights, but he said multiple five-round title fights with the idea of being a potentially longer show with all the five-rounders, followed by a three-round Ortiz vs. Jackson main event as a light heavyweight fight.
The only name he mentioned that he’d like to get on the show was Michael Chandler, the company’s lightweight champion, who has been the most impressive fighter they’ve had. In theory, Chandler should next face Dave Jansen, who earned the shot with a tournament win. One would think they will try and make a deal to bring Eddie Alvarez back if possible, which may be why Rebney wouldn’t commit to Jansen. Chandler’s title win over Alvarez on November 19, 2011, is generally considered the best fight in company history. The two at first couldn’t be rematched based on Rebney’s insistence the only way to get a title shot is winning a tournament, and Alvarez’s lack of interest in doing a tournament. However, Alvarez was promised a title shot with Chandler if he signed a new contract. Currently, Alvarez has sued to get out of the matching terms aspect of the contract.
In many ways, the real key to this show is not so much whether it gets enough buys to be profitable, but that the build-up focuses on three fights as opposed to one. If it has a chance of drawing, it is Ortiz vs. Jackson, but even so, they aren’t the future. This is where Chandler needs to be on the show. They need to get Chandler, as much as Ortiz and Jackson, on the various Viacom networks, doing the media and focused on in the countdowns with the hope that his fight and hopefully other fights become star making performances. Granted, Chandler has looked tremendous in two Spike fights already and really has no traction past the Bellator faithful. In theory, more will see him on free TV than PPV. But a PPV fight resonates stronger and is remembered better, largely because a PPV fight is hyped more coming in.
The key is to pick a few stars, Chandler as a given, and the others can be debated, and focus on them in the building of the show, and hope they perform when the lights are on.
Of the company’s other champions, heavyweight champion Alexander Volkov hasn’t fought since December, and has Vitaly Minakov (who beat Ryan Martinez on 7/31) set up as his next contender.
Light heavyweight champion Attila Vegh won the title on 2/28, so he’s ready, and he has both Emmanuel Newton and King Mo Lawal in line, in that order. Obviously Lawal would be a better opponent for a PPV, but Newton won his tourney first and beat Lawal.
Middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko hasn’t fought since 2/7 and has tournament winner Doug “Rhino” Marshall set up as his next opponent.
Welterweight champion Ben Askren’s contract expired with his 7/31 fight and he doesn’t have a tournament winner in line for a shot.
Featherweight champion Pat Curran, whose name Rebney mentioned a few times, last beat Shahbulat Shamhalaev on 4/4, and his a next defense scheduled for Magomedov Khasbulaev.
Bantamweight champion Eduardo Dantas last fought on 4/13, beating Marcos Galvao. A tournament is currently going on to come up with a next contender.
Both Ortiz and Jackson took shots at the UFC and Dana White, although not by name. Ortiz talked about how he now has a boss he doesn’t have to fight with and who has his back, and won’t disparage him after he fought injured and lost.
Jackson claimed that the more the fighters hear the kind of deals Bellator made for him and Ortiz, that more will jump over. Given that Jackson was averaging more than $1 million per fight in UFC, if he and Ortiz are getting close to UFC money, or better than UFC money, with other fighters being paid, production and promotion costs, $3 million would seem a conservative estimate on expenses. If that figure is accurate, break-even is going to be a minimum of 150,000 buys if we go with a $40 average price per order and a 50% split.
Rebney said that they were going to let the cable systems charge what they believe is the best price, but indicated they were expecting the figures to be between $35 and $45. Some think that price is too high, but for the people who want to see the fight and the card, they’ll pay it, and those that don’t aren’t really going to be buying it at $25. Plus, if you went to $25, break even becomes 250,000 buys and again, that’s probably a very low break-even estimate.
Ortiz made it clear he and Jackson were going to remain friends, with a knock at Chuck Liddell, another former training partner.
“The last guy pretty much sold me out and said we were never friends.”
He said that both stand to make a lot of money with the show but he wanted Jackson to know that he’s his friend, they aren’t friends in the ring on 11/2 until late that night when they’re out drinking together.
Ortiz, like Jackson, grew up a huge pro wrestling fan. His favorite was Hulk Hogan, and he got into wrestling in high school thinking it would be similar to pro wrestling.
Jackson still said he’d like to fight Jones Jr. in a boxing match after this fight, saying he’s done pro wrestling, Jiu Jitsu, MMA and kickboxing so boxing is the only thing he hasn’t tried.
When asked if the TNA storyline would include the two of them being a tag team, Jackson joked, “That wouldn’t be the first time.”
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One of the craziest stories of the week is that the Boston City Council President, Stephen Murphy, has introduced a resolution that would ban anyone under the age of 18, even if accompanied by a parent or guardian, from attending future shows. Murphy said, Cage fighters at the amateur and professional levels have competed in public stadiums and on television bearing Neo-Nazi messages (this did happen in Strikeforce once) in their tattoos or on their clothing, he said on 7/31 when introducing the bill. And extensive research has associated exposure to media violence with a variety of physical and mental health problems for children and adolescents, including aggressive and violent behavior, bullying, desensitization to violence, fear and depression. Murphy noted that UFC fighters have gone on Twitter and joked about rape (and been punished for doing so, in one case fired), used foul and abusive language thats demeaning to women (Dana White video on Loretta Hunt), and used homophobic slurs (the last UFC fighter to do that was fined $20,000), all of which set a bad example for Bostons youth. He said the sport also uses alcohol to sponsor the shows, which is also negative toward children. So were going to ban children under the age of 18 from attending any events that has alcohol as a sponsor? This whole thing is stupid and offensive on so many levels. The reality is, the number of people under the age of 18 who attend UFC events is relatively small because of the ticket pricing not being family friendly and because while there is interest in high school kids, it doesnt really appeal that much to younger children. Because of the timing of making the law, going through committees and being voted on, this could not affect the 8/17 show at the TD Garden. An advocacy group comprised of doctors and professors are backing the bill, and have started a petition and website using the group tag line, Parents say No to UFC. Just from the speech, you can see this is the handiwork of the Culinary Workers Union, in the sense its the same bullet points they push everywhere that Murphy was saying.
As far as upcoming advances, the 8/17 show in Boston has sold 9,000 tickets for $1.3 million, which is good for a Fight Night. 8/28 in Indianapolis and 8/31 in Milwaukee I dont have numbers on, but both were slow. Nobody was expecting Indianapolis to do that well just because it was a Wednesday night show and a Fight Night. Milwaukee is a good show, plus now they have Anthony Pettis, who is from Milwaukee, challenging Benson Henderson on top for the title, which in theory should be a big main event. The 10/19 show in Houston with Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos sold out in one weekend, with 13,541 paid and $2,139,000. There will be some tickets available as production moves in and such so the final totals will be slightly higher. That was a good sign. 11/16 in Las Vegas for Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks sold 5,000 tickets for $1.8 million to the public in the first weekend. That show is a lock to be sold out with GSP and casino buys, but I would have expected bigger numbers right out of the box.
At the Association of Boxing Commissions annual meeting in San Antonio, there were two items proposed by Nick Lembo of New Jersey Athletic Control Board that were verbally agreed upon, but not written into law. The suggestion is that referees in all states should tell fighters that if they intentionally, while in an upright position, put their hand on the ground on purpose, that the ref should tell them they are upright and their opponent should be told they are fair game. Before a hand down made you a downed opponent, meaning no knees or kicks allowed. The feeling is it was a rule loophole and that the reason the rule was made and how fighters on occasion were using it wasnt what it was intended for. The other thing is that the commissions were asked to tell their referees, in the event of an eye poke, do not immediately ask a fighter if they can see, or rush the fight back. The procedure is to call a doctor and let the doctor make the call. What happened in a recent fight is the ref asked the guy whose eye was poked if he could see seconds after the poke. He said, No, and the ref felt he had to stop the fight and everyone freaked out. Neither of these are bylaws but commissions that were there pretty well indicated it was protocol they were going to instruct their officials on.
The Atlantic ran an article on the Biogenesis story and asked why with all the sports and leagues mentioned as having athletes that were clients, how come the only one pressing for records was Major League Baseball. When Porter Fischer was on ESPN saying that athletes from the NBA, boxing, tennis, MMA and the NCAA were on the list along with a number of baseball names that have yet to come out, he said the only league that contacted him was baseball. Fischer said he worked there for four years and, Its got to be well over a hundred, easy."
Dana White suggested at the press conference in Los Angeles that if Vitor Belfort didnt want to fight at middleweight and risk his No. 1 contender position in that weight, that hed like to see Belfort vs. Rashad Evans. Belfort asked for Chael Sonnen, but that would be contingent on how Sonnen does on 8/17. Evans then immediately declined the fight, saying that he would never fight a teammate again, as the two are training partners at the Blackzillians camp.
At the New York press conference, Jon Jones said he was not looking at moving to heavyweight, and mentioned hes looking forward to Glover Teixeira as a future opponent. It was outright said by Marshall Zelaznik at the press conference after UFC 163, that if Teixeira scores an impressive win over Ryan Bader, that he would get the next light heavyweight title shot. They seem at this point to want Daniel Cormier to have one light heavyweight fight before his title shot, but thats all subject to change and circumstances, notably if Teixeira either loses to Bader, or doesnt look good in the fight. Jones had previously said that he would move to heavyweight in 2014. He also made a comment about a goal of wanting to fight in boxing and beat a Klitschko brother, which would be at heavyweight, which is crazy because even though they are a lot older, they are boxing specialists and boxing is a completely different sport.
The 10/26 show at the Manchester Evening News Arena is now official with Michael Bisping vs. Mark Munoz and Ross Pearson vs. Melvin Guillard as the top matches on an FS 1 show.
On UFC Tonight, they announced Antonio Bigfoot Silva makes his acting debut in the movie, Scorpion King 3: the Last Round, that will be filming shortly and be released next year.
Considering all the companys vocal enemies, a recent signing opened some eyes, 23-year-old Benjamin Brinsa, a welterweight with a 13-0 record, from Leipzig, Germany. Brinsa is an alleged Neo Nazi, which UFC was unaware of, but it was reported in Germany. Brinsa claimed he was not a Neo-Nazi, nor had he ever made racist, xenophobic or anti-Semitic statements. He admitted when a photo surfaced that he was part of a Neo-Nazi rally and he was aware of what the banner he was posing with said. He admitted that he was a hooligan at soccer games when he was younger, but said that is in the past. There was at least one photo in a German publication that surfaced showing Brinsa at a Neo-Nazi demonstration behind a banner. Dana White told Ariel Helwani that they had no clue when they signed him. You know, its one of the many cool things that I love about social media, he told Helwani. I heard about it instantly through social media and obviously were looking into it now. He put out a statement saying that he never been associated. Yes, he was a soccer hooligan. I dont even know what the f** that means. But obviously, the guys undefeated and we are going to look into it. And if he, in any way, shape or form is involved in racist groups, neonzai groups or anything negative like that, hell be cut. But I dont want to jump the gun, because some people are tweeting stuff and jump the gun and ruin this guys life if its not true. So were going to look into it. I literally have a whole team of lawyers in house looking at it right now in Vegas, and if its true, yeah.
In the script for The Expendables 3, Ronda Rousey plays the role of Luna, an athletic female bartender (Rousey worked as a bartender for years in Los Angeles) with a quick wit who is quick to want to fight. The role was written especially for her and they have pretty high hopes, as shes in a lot of scenes and if the franchise keeps going, would likely be part of the cast as her role is as a member of a younger version of the Expendables team who is on the rise to team up with the big boys. The role is a lot bigger than many would expect given that Rousey has never acted in her life. She leaves either this week or next for Bulgaria, and will be there filming for the next few months. They allowed her to bring trainers and training partners with her to work on skill and stay in shape since the movie will be filming through October. The tough part of her camp for 12/28 will start on her return to California.
When Jon Jones was asked about Daniel Cormier saying that if he beats Roy Nelson on 10/19, hes going to go on the air and challenge Jones for his title, Jones told MMAJunkie.com that Cormier is, Just not relevant to me. He has short reach, bad cardio, he looked terrible in his last fight. Its like, Im not worried about him at all. Cormier responded after UFC 163 while on Fuel, saying Jones was like a 16-year-old girl. Jon Jones, grow up bud, were going to fight regardless of how you feel. And when we do and Im cutting the line and you might as well pull the guard because Im taking you down.
Sara McMann pulled out of her 8/28 fight with Sarah Kaufman in Indianapolis for reasons that were not disclosed. They are going to attempt to get a new opponent for Kaufman. McMann, Cat Zingano and Cris Cyborg (if she can make 135 and agrees to a deal) would be the most likely contenders in 2014 for the womens title.
They are doing a Fight for the Troops show on FS 1 on 11/6.
Rousimar Palhares has said hes cutting down to welterweight from middleweight.
White, when asked about British boxer Tyson Fury who has done promos on Cain Velasquez, said that after this fight is over with Junior Dos Santos, hed entertain the idea, but that Fury would lose faster than James Toney did to Randy Couture. He also said it was a slap in the face of democracy that Sheldon Silver has kept UFC out of New York.
As far as upcoming advances, the 8/17 show in Boston has sold 9,000 tickets for $1.3 million, which is good for a Fight Night. 8/28 in Indianapolis and 8/31 in Milwaukee I dont have numbers on, but both were slow. Nobody was expecting Indianapolis to do that well just because it was a Wednesday night show and a Fight Night. Milwaukee is a good show, plus now they have Anthony Pettis, who is from Milwaukee, challenging Benson Henderson on top for the title, which in theory should be a big main event. The 10/19 show in Houston with Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos sold out in one weekend, with 13,541 paid and $2,139,000. There will be some tickets available as production moves in and such so the final totals will be slightly higher. That was a good sign. 11/16 in Las Vegas for Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks sold 5,000 tickets for $1.8 million to the public in the first weekend. That show is a lock to be sold out with GSP and casino buys, but I would have expected bigger numbers right out of the box.
At the Association of Boxing Commissions annual meeting in San Antonio, there were two items proposed by Nick Lembo of New Jersey Athletic Control Board that were verbally agreed upon, but not written into law. The suggestion is that referees in all states should tell fighters that if they intentionally, while in an upright position, put their hand on the ground on purpose, that the ref should tell them they are upright and their opponent should be told they are fair game. Before a hand down made you a downed opponent, meaning no knees or kicks allowed. The feeling is it was a rule loophole and that the reason the rule was made and how fighters on occasion were using it wasnt what it was intended for. The other thing is that the commissions were asked to tell their referees, in the event of an eye poke, do not immediately ask a fighter if they can see, or rush the fight back. The procedure is to call a doctor and let the doctor make the call. What happened in a recent fight is the ref asked the guy whose eye was poked if he could see seconds after the poke. He said, No, and the ref felt he had to stop the fight and everyone freaked out. Neither of these are bylaws but commissions that were there pretty well indicated it was protocol they were going to instruct their officials on.
The Atlantic ran an article on the Biogenesis story and asked why with all the sports and leagues mentioned as having athletes that were clients, how come the only one pressing for records was Major League Baseball. When Porter Fischer was on ESPN saying that athletes from the NBA, boxing, tennis, MMA and the NCAA were on the list along with a number of baseball names that have yet to come out, he said the only league that contacted him was baseball. Fischer said he worked there for four years and, Its got to be well over a hundred, easy."
Dana White suggested at the press conference in Los Angeles that if Vitor Belfort didnt want to fight at middleweight and risk his No. 1 contender position in that weight, that hed like to see Belfort vs. Rashad Evans. Belfort asked for Chael Sonnen, but that would be contingent on how Sonnen does on 8/17. Evans then immediately declined the fight, saying that he would never fight a teammate again, as the two are training partners at the Blackzillians camp.
At the New York press conference, Jon Jones said he was not looking at moving to heavyweight, and mentioned hes looking forward to Glover Teixeira as a future opponent. It was outright said by Marshall Zelaznik at the press conference after UFC 163, that if Teixeira scores an impressive win over Ryan Bader, that he would get the next light heavyweight title shot. They seem at this point to want Daniel Cormier to have one light heavyweight fight before his title shot, but thats all subject to change and circumstances, notably if Teixeira either loses to Bader, or doesnt look good in the fight. Jones had previously said that he would move to heavyweight in 2014. He also made a comment about a goal of wanting to fight in boxing and beat a Klitschko brother, which would be at heavyweight, which is crazy because even though they are a lot older, they are boxing specialists and boxing is a completely different sport.
The 10/26 show at the Manchester Evening News Arena is now official with Michael Bisping vs. Mark Munoz and Ross Pearson vs. Melvin Guillard as the top matches on an FS 1 show.
On UFC Tonight, they announced Antonio Bigfoot Silva makes his acting debut in the movie, Scorpion King 3: the Last Round, that will be filming shortly and be released next year.
Considering all the companys vocal enemies, a recent signing opened some eyes, 23-year-old Benjamin Brinsa, a welterweight with a 13-0 record, from Leipzig, Germany. Brinsa is an alleged Neo Nazi, which UFC was unaware of, but it was reported in Germany. Brinsa claimed he was not a Neo-Nazi, nor had he ever made racist, xenophobic or anti-Semitic statements. He admitted when a photo surfaced that he was part of a Neo-Nazi rally and he was aware of what the banner he was posing with said. He admitted that he was a hooligan at soccer games when he was younger, but said that is in the past. There was at least one photo in a German publication that surfaced showing Brinsa at a Neo-Nazi demonstration behind a banner. Dana White told Ariel Helwani that they had no clue when they signed him. You know, its one of the many cool things that I love about social media, he told Helwani. I heard about it instantly through social media and obviously were looking into it now. He put out a statement saying that he never been associated. Yes, he was a soccer hooligan. I dont even know what the f** that means. But obviously, the guys undefeated and we are going to look into it. And if he, in any way, shape or form is involved in racist groups, neonzai groups or anything negative like that, hell be cut. But I dont want to jump the gun, because some people are tweeting stuff and jump the gun and ruin this guys life if its not true. So were going to look into it. I literally have a whole team of lawyers in house looking at it right now in Vegas, and if its true, yeah.
In the script for The Expendables 3, Ronda Rousey plays the role of Luna, an athletic female bartender (Rousey worked as a bartender for years in Los Angeles) with a quick wit who is quick to want to fight. The role was written especially for her and they have pretty high hopes, as shes in a lot of scenes and if the franchise keeps going, would likely be part of the cast as her role is as a member of a younger version of the Expendables team who is on the rise to team up with the big boys. The role is a lot bigger than many would expect given that Rousey has never acted in her life. She leaves either this week or next for Bulgaria, and will be there filming for the next few months. They allowed her to bring trainers and training partners with her to work on skill and stay in shape since the movie will be filming through October. The tough part of her camp for 12/28 will start on her return to California.
When Jon Jones was asked about Daniel Cormier saying that if he beats Roy Nelson on 10/19, hes going to go on the air and challenge Jones for his title, Jones told MMAJunkie.com that Cormier is, Just not relevant to me. He has short reach, bad cardio, he looked terrible in his last fight. Its like, Im not worried about him at all. Cormier responded after UFC 163 while on Fuel, saying Jones was like a 16-year-old girl. Jon Jones, grow up bud, were going to fight regardless of how you feel. And when we do and Im cutting the line and you might as well pull the guard because Im taking you down.
Sara McMann pulled out of her 8/28 fight with Sarah Kaufman in Indianapolis for reasons that were not disclosed. They are going to attempt to get a new opponent for Kaufman. McMann, Cat Zingano and Cris Cyborg (if she can make 135 and agrees to a deal) would be the most likely contenders in 2014 for the womens title.
They are doing a Fight for the Troops show on FS 1 on 11/6.
Rousimar Palhares has said hes cutting down to welterweight from middleweight.
White, when asked about British boxer Tyson Fury who has done promos on Cain Velasquez, said that after this fight is over with Junior Dos Santos, hed entertain the idea, but that Fury would lose faster than James Toney did to Randy Couture. He also said it was a slap in the face of democracy that Sheldon Silver has kept UFC out of New York.
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