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MMA-GAF |OT4| BangBros
- Thread starter polyh3dron
- Start date
- Status
Jest Chillin
Member
Rolles Gracie, Gregor Gracie, Neiman Gracie added to World Series of Fighting 5
I think "Neiman Gracie" should have to submit a blood test to prove his lineage. Is name licensing the latest Gracie business venture? Save us, Kron.
Somewhere in Brazil, Vitor is crying in a corner.
Maklershed
Member
"Boating rage"? Seriously? Do we seriously have to compartmentalize shitty and illegal behavior?
IMACOMPUTA
Member
Oh wow, Mike Brown really swelled up after that loss!
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Diego Brandao vs. Connor McGregor at UFC 168 anyone?
McGregor wins by having a functioning set of lungs.
McGregor wins by having a functioning set of lungs.
catching up on the thread - this is utterly wrong.
KI 2013, for $40, comes with emulated KI 90's arcade game. KI 90's will not have online play "at launch" (i remain doubtful they'd go back and add that, but thats how ken lobb worded it). KI 21013 will have online play.
It's a good thing this kid is smart enough to book his own fights. I'm sure Joe Silver prefers Conor McGregor vs. Nik Lentz.
Laughed out loud.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Surely after beating a guy like Brandao he'll call out a dude like Poirier or Siver. One step closer to him being derailed.
polyh3dron
Banned
Kennedy vs PPM in what I'm guessing is the main event... My god that fight is going to suck, and we'll have PPM-GAF shitting up the thread to boot.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Time for my Ranger friends to get super wasted and racist on facebook. Can't wait.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Yup.
Tim Kennedy's getting Bader'd, and we have a thread full of "why is Machida-san dropping to Middleweight when he's the only man capable of beating Jones?!?!!!111" crap to look forward to.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Especially when I'd think that the entire point of a "Fight For the Troops" is to give squash matches to ex-servicemen if possible, instead of making them the can being crushed.
Sato Koiji
Member
Joe Silva is outmatched here.
Rosters getting bigger and bigger...I dont think he knows what the fuck to do anymore!
Rosters getting bigger and bigger...I dont think he knows what the fuck to do anymore!
DKehoe
Member
The co-main event podcast is pretty good.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I wonder what MMA GAF's opinion of this is:
I've applied for a job - and arranged an interview - with one of the main competitors of the company I left in early July. The job is doing pretty much exactly the same thing (marketing.)
Should I feel guilty at all for this? (Not to mention I wonder if there's a Bellator-esque clause in my previous contract...)
I've applied for a job - and arranged an interview - with one of the main competitors of the company I left in early July. The job is doing pretty much exactly the same thing (marketing.)
Should I feel guilty at all for this? (Not to mention I wonder if there's a Bellator-esque clause in my previous contract...)
Guilt is for the weak. Full speed ahead, industrian.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Dat ronin budo spirit.
Ninja Scooter
Member
Did Rampage feel guilty for taking a job with Bellator?
DKehoe
Member
Seasons 1 and 2 of the Best of Pride show are free to watch on the UFC's site
Season 1
http://bit.ly/YOFgHw
http://bit.ly/YOFjDd
http://bit.ly/YOFwGn
http://bit.ly/YOFFJW
http://bit.ly/YOG0fF
http://bit.ly/YOG6UL
http://bit.ly/YOGdzE
http://bit.ly/YOGtOY
http://bit.ly/YOGyST
http://bit.ly/YOGLp7
http://bit.ly/YOGRNi
Season 2
http://bit.ly/YOGXof
http://bit.ly/YOH1nV
http://bit.ly/YOH7fh
http://bit.ly/YOHdUp
http://bit.ly/YOHhmU
http://bit.ly/YOHkPR
http://bit.ly/YOHo1O
http://bit.ly/YOHt5K
http://bit.ly/YOHxT7
http://bit.ly/YOHCGf
http://bit.ly/YOHHtI
http://bit.ly/YOHKpp
Season 1
http://bit.ly/YOFgHw
http://bit.ly/YOFjDd
http://bit.ly/YOFwGn
http://bit.ly/YOFFJW
http://bit.ly/YOG0fF
http://bit.ly/YOG6UL
http://bit.ly/YOGdzE
http://bit.ly/YOGtOY
http://bit.ly/YOGyST
http://bit.ly/YOGLp7
http://bit.ly/YOGRNi
Season 2
http://bit.ly/YOGXof
http://bit.ly/YOH1nV
http://bit.ly/YOH7fh
http://bit.ly/YOHdUp
http://bit.ly/YOHhmU
http://bit.ly/YOHkPR
http://bit.ly/YOHo1O
http://bit.ly/YOHt5K
http://bit.ly/YOHxT7
http://bit.ly/YOHCGf
http://bit.ly/YOHHtI
http://bit.ly/YOHKpp
Maklershed
Member
Really good article about Mazzagatti ...
http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/8/22/4644264/on-official-island-the-lonely-life-of-steve-mazzagatti
Yes. Co-Main Event podcast is great. Very knowledgeable dudes with good discussions .. and no interviews!
www.comainevent.com
http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/8/22/4644264/on-official-island-the-lonely-life-of-steve-mazzagatti
Yes. Co-Main Event podcast is great. Very knowledgeable dudes with good discussions .. and no interviews!
www.comainevent.com
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Who would play Werdum and Fedor in this movie?
Can Crusher
Banned
A bio about Fedor would be interesting. Are there any about him, or in the makings?
I think Fox or ESPN did a small one a few years back called "The Baddest Man on The Planet". I always figured that was why they made it a point to call Lesnar that as much as possible.
Host Samurai
Member
Shit, i'd totally pay to see a rematch with Jones in Brazil.
Machida @ MW? meh. He was the only one capable of beating Jones at LHW.
Is Hendo dropping to MW
Kevin James as Fedor.
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
Buy buy buy, shaping up to be ridiculous.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
For a 20th Anniversary event, you'd think they'd be making it a lot better than this.
Host Samurai
Member
Welllll, the roster has been looking rather on the thin side these days as fan favs are in their twilight years/retired or on the verge of retirement. Just shows you how bad the UFC is at creating new stars.
Jim Carrey is the only man who could capture the spirit of the Werdum troll face
Do it
That would be awesome.
Besides Can and Gr1m have any of you been following this?: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=658081
Matt Hughes vs Royce and rickson Gracie
dream
Member
The torn triceps also has to ask a lot of questions. When anabolic steroids made their way into the NFL, there were a couple of new injuries that rarely ever happened before. Even though pro wrestlings wear-and-tear with no off-season and as many as 200 matches a year for some headliners (and far more in some territories during prior eras) is more than football, the kind of single impact collisions at bad angles in an uncontrolled environment that would lead to muscle tears are far greater in football. In football, the key new injuries were torn triceps, torn pecs, torn lats and torn quads. Those injuries rarely happened, and in some cases, were considered completely new injuries as compared to the pre-steroid era of the game. In the NFL, players who suffered those tears (as opposed to torn biceps or torn hamstrings which were frequent on non-steroid users although more frequent with steroid users) were usually figured to be steroid users.
Cena, because of his physique, especially now that hes 36, was always going to have accusations. He has always maintained he has never done any performance enhancing drugs. In Bob Hollys recent book, The Hardcore Truth, he talked of different top stars who were not being tested regularly, if ever, and said, the whole program was a joke. Keep in mind Ive spoken to a number of WWE performers and while there are questions and frequent complaints, and people talk of loopholes, a joke is not the term they use. Several people have made significant lifestyle changes to eliminate things or time certain other things because they take the program seriously. There is always questions about top stars getting preferential treatment, particularly when older guys are so much larger and still cut than younger guys in their physical primes.
Holly in his book claimed Undertaker and Ric Flair refused point blank to take the tests and claimed both made it clear theyd walk out first. He did say that HHH (when he was a full-time active wrestler), Dave Bautista and Cena were all tested, which he said he saw them take personally, but Holly noted he questioned the results because those three didnt shrink like the rest of the guys. It should also be noted that several wrestlers in that era were given testosterone use exemptions like Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen in fighting, Chris Benoit being the most notable. Holly himself noted that testosterone, which they gave certain exemptions for, combined with Growth Hormone, which the top guys could afford but the middle and lower level guys without a sponsor couldnt, was a strong PED stack, and there is no WWE testing for GH.
Cena has gone so far as to not only claim to be clean for life, which is something if you look at photos of him before WWE when he was 260 and ripped in UPW, but that he believes all professional athletes who fail drug tests should be brought up on criminal charges.
When it comes to Cena and PEDs, every discussion is going to end with this. If you insinuate hes clean, or even the possibility of it, youll get many wrestlers saying youre hopelessly naive and say there is absolutely no way. Saying anything stronger would leave one open for libel, given there is no evidence out there that Cena isnt telling the truth, even though the dreaded eye test makes one question just based on his physique. And he does train hard, is exceptionally strong, trains heavy when not injured, and does have freaky genetics, and Ive known some genetic freaks who dont take anything and nobody would ever believe it by looking at them. But usually they are smaller than Cena, even if just as much if not more muscular.
But as hard as hes trained, and his training program is built these days on multiple joint movements that are supposed to build strength and protect from injuries, and hes suffered two very unique injuries that are usually considered red flags. Granted, any pro wrestler who works as hard and as often as he does is going to have tons of injuries, and the neck and heel issues that we know of, and likely other issues that we dont, are unavoidable wear-and-tear just from doing so many main events for so long.
But whatever the truth in this story is, well likely never know for sure, even though everyone has their opinion and few will be convinced from whatever it is.
The debut of Fox Sports 1, the new home of UFC, had both good and bad over the past week.
First, the bad. FS 1 was asking for increases from 23 cents per subscriber per month from cable and dish companies carriage charge that The Speed Channel was getting, to 80 cents. DirecTV, The Dish Network and Time Warner cable all stood firm against the new price, which was a gigantic story within television.
Faced with opening with about 45 million potential homes instead of the 90 million that FOX had promised advertisers and stockholders, FOX caved in the end, and made a deal that the carriage charges at the start would be the same 23 cents from the original deal. The difference is about $600 million per year in revenue to the station, which is enormous. The feeling is once the station is established, perhaps when they get more high profile big five sporting events such as their Major League Baseball games next season, that they will have more leverage to get the price they wanted. The deal they settled for was less than the 33 cents NBC Sports Network, which doesnt have nearly the level of sports, is getting, let alone the $5.54 per subscriber per month that ESPN gets. The goal of FS 1 is to be competition to ESPN.
The good news is that on the first day of a new station that people didnt know where it was on the dial, that with UFC anchoring the night, they not only beat ESPN, which very few thought was possible, but FS 1 was the highest rated station on either broadcast or cable in Males 18-34, Males 18-49, Overall 18-34 and 18-49, which are the key demos they were after, including beating a national gymnastics championship on NBC.
The good news for FS 1 is even though they didnt get a good carriage fee to start, they were placed by DirecTV and many cable companies in a strong position on the dial, which makes a big difference to channel surfers when youre with the ESPNs of the world instead of the Fuel, now FS 2, and AXS locations.
Its nothing short of amazing that three weeks after drawing a 1.5 rating on FOX for a two-plus hour show with a show that had a Countdown show produced, that, even being a stronger card, being on a new station on its first day of existence with an 8/17 show from the TD Garden in Boston, the UFCs nearly three hour main card did a 1.38 rating, beating the 0.9 that ESPN did for the Little League World Series.
Because FS 1 is in nine percent less homes than FX, the rating was actually the highest for a UFC event on cable since they left Spike. The 1.78 million viewers for the main card from 8 to 10:45 p.m. was behind only the 1/19 show headlined by Vitor Belfort vs. Michael Bisping (1.86 million) being the most-watched cable main card since leaving Spike. Even more impressive were the demo numbers, a 2.02 in Males 18-34 and 2.30 in Males 35-49.
The show peaked at 2.27 million viewers for the Chael Sonnen vs. Shogun Rua main event.
The two hour prelims from 6-8 p.m. did a 0.72 rating and 881,000 viewers.
The growth was impressive because the main card at 8 p.m. started at 1.20 million viewers, and nearly doubled by the time of the main event. The strongest actual growth looked to be in the Urijah Faber vs. Iuri Alcantara fight, which had 1.74 million viewers. The Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne fight grew to 1.99 million viewers.
Whats key is that the examples of UFC on Fuel and FX made it appear that it would be a long growing process when it came to the new station. The feeling is eventually it would be the best thing, with most of UFCs key programming including the UFC Tonight news show and big show Countdown programming on what the hope was would eventually be the No. 2 sports station in the country. And while this was a far better than usual TV card and there was publicity regarding the launch, it showed that they may be starting off a lot stronger than even the most optimistic projections could have been.
The show drew a near sellout of 12,539 fans, with about 11,000 paid and a gate of $1.53 million, strong numbers for a non-PPV event. Although from a quality and marquee standpoint, this was really a bigger and more looked forward to show than two of the past three PPV events.
The show was really about four key fights. Chael Sonnen beat Shogun Rua via choke at 4:47 of the first round. The result was something of an upset, but when it was over, the question was whether Sonnen was really that good, or Rua, a legend of the sport, was shot at 31.
The one thing from the early career declines Shogun, Wanderlei Silva and Murilo Ninja Rua, is that brutal all out sparring where knockouts were frequent at the Chute Boxe Academy may have taken guys to the top quickly, but it also appeared to burn their bodies out young.
Travis Browne, a 6-foot-7 former college basketball player, survived the early onslaught from Alistair Overeem, before knocking a gassed out Overeem out with a front kick in 4:08. With two straight knockout losses and a high contract, one wonders what the future is for Overeem.
In this case, he came out fast and had Browne in real trouble early, nearly finishing him. But a ref that let it go and going against a fighter who wouldnt quit, and suddenly, Overeem was out of gas. Browne kept landing the front kick to the body before landing the one to the jaw that ended the fight.
Urijah Faber continued his streak of never losing a non-championship fight with a strong decision win over Iuri Alcantara. Earlier in the show, Michael McDonald beat Brad Pickett in a battle of top bantamweight contenders, and it would seem too set up Faber vs. McDonald to determine who should get a title shot. The title picture is always in a state of confusion because nobody knows when Dominick Cruz will be back, but the latest is they are hoping for early next year.
Interim champion Renan Barao faces Eddie Wineland on 2/21. If Cruz is ready early in the year, Barao or Wineland vs. Cruz would be next, and Faber or McDonald should be the next contender. The problem is if Barao emerges from all this, Barao beat both Faber and McDonald conclusively in the type of fights that left the feeling a rematch wouldnt go much differently.
The fourth big match concerned the American debut of Conor McGregor. After the huge reaction he got in his UFC debut in Europe, he was pushed heavily, particularly in Boston with the strong Irish market. The push paid off when it came to the crowd reaction, as he got an enormous reaction, probably at the level of a B.J. Penn or GSP level star. McGregor suffered what is now believed to have been a sprained lateral collateral ligament in the second round, and wasnt feeling steady standing. He was good enough to take Max Holloway down the rest of the fight and win an easy decision, but it was not the blow away performance. The crowd still liked him at the end, but not with the fervor at the start because they were expecting something spectacular. The way I see it, he wasnt hurt significantly since he didnt lose. He has the legit excuse of the knee injury. But if he doesnt look great in his next fight, hes going to be a guy in the pack in the U.S., even if he may be Irelands answer to a Michael Bisping of several years ago.
UFC officials were so thrilled with how the night went, and this was before any indication of any ratings were out, that they gave seven bonuses instead of the usual five. The show, with the exception of the John Howard vs. Uriah Hall fight, was very good. All the key winners looked great in their own way, in particular Sonnen, who badly needed the win over a big name after losses to Anderson Silva and Jon Jones. He probably would have still gotten a fight with Wanderlei Silva with a loss. He played what appeared to be an insurance game by probably hyping a Silva fight more than the Rua fight the week of the show. A loss to Silva will derail him, but its a fight hell be favored in. But if Chris Weidman beats Anderson Silva, with a couple of wins, could see Sonnen challenging Weidman. Both are big ifs.
Sonnen and McDonald both got $50,000 best submission bonuses. McDonald picked up $100,000 in bonus money since he and Brad Pickett also got fight of the night honors. Travis Browne and Matt Brown each got $50,000 best knockout bonuses.
The 8/3 UFC 163 PPV from Brazil headlined by Jose Aldo Jr. vs. Chan Sung Jung is estimated at doing 170,000 buys at this point. Its not a good number, but weve already seen the shows without a marquee main event are falling and thats just natural with so many shows on free television. I dont think anyone expected much different. The initial estimate was 35,000 more than for Rashad Evans vs. Dan Henderson, who are both far bigger names, so it tells you that even though the featherweight title used to mean at least 200,000 buys and it was Aldos lowest number (including the Urijah Faber fight which was a WEC show), it still means something as far as getting people to buy and its not rock bottom. Plus Brazil shows are harder sells because you have so much less media the week of the show. Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis on 8/31 should beat it, but I dont expect anywhere near 300,000 for that one either. 9/21 is a real test because youve got Jon Jones, who is a draw, but hes against Alexander Gustafsson, who is not a draw. They need to hit 400,000 for that show or else that would be a bad sign since Jones hasnt fallen below that number since winning the title .
Dana White pretty much blew off any ideas of investigating the idea of any Biogenesis links to UFC talent. There was a Miami Herald report that there is a government investigation into the clinic, which, if true, may reveal some of the names of the athletes involved past the baseball players that have already been named like Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez. Porter Fischer, who was paid by Major League Baseball to reveal names and details, said athletes in a number of major sports had PED programs set up by the clinic, and one of the sports mentioned was MMA. With the exception of baseball, none of the other sports were aggressive in trying to find who was involved. Dana White said he didnt have time to investigate and said he hadnt heard one word about any of his guys being involved. White said that any fallout in his mind is an athletic commission issue. These guys get tested by the government. I dont give a shit about Biogenesis. Ive got so much shit to do, I can barely keep up with what Im doing now. Im not going to fly down there or get on the phone with these guys. Its a weird deal because there are fighters who believe UFC doesnt care about steroid use as much as they are mad when somebody fails a test. Thats not unlike a lot of sports where athletes believe that people running the sports know whats going on, and dont care about PED usage, but dont like it when it comes out or people get caught. But White has always pointed out the difference is that in fighting, they allow people to punch harder and he believes use is, because of that, worse for the sport than baseball. But he gives mixed messages. When Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks both agreed to more extensive VADA testing before their 11/16 fight, White asked why they were doing it and has not been outwardly supportive or encouraging of top fighters to do so to remove suspicion as a lot of boxers have been doing. In boxing, it seems to be protocol to congratulate the guys who will submit to the testing and ask questions about those who refuse, although boxing had its own issues with fighters who failed tests, still fought and the fact they failed wasnt revealed until after the fights were over, but that was with USADA, and not VADA, which thus far hasnt had any issues that weve heard with its credibility. Were regulated by the government, the government comes in and does all the drug testing, White said. Georges St-Pierre is one of those guys that people have been talking about (frequent accusations of him using PEDs from Nick Diaz and B.J. Penn). B.J. Penn said he was on steroids. Somebody else said he was on steroids. And he said, `Ill pay for my own VADA testing, which isnt cheap and its a pain in the ass. He doesnt have to do it, but I guess he wants to do it. GSP told MMAFighting, For me, when they accuse me, I take that as a compliment. I believe they are complement my athleticism. I want to prove also that its possible to be champion without using drugs, and I know VADA is the most professional. As long as White pushes the idea of government testing as being the gold standard, the fighters are going to see it as a message to simply not get caught as opposed to not use, because beating the day of the fight testing is pretty easy and except for the top main eventers in a few states (such as Nevada), there is no risk of being tested at any time out of competition unless one has applied for a TUE for TRT, as in that case, the fighters have to pay for their own regular testing. Its hard for White to push the VADA testing publicly because in doing so, you pretty much bring up that the current testing methods are substandard. The issue here is that the guy with the info is looking for a payoff from the various leagues to reveal his info, and then you start getting into legal proceedings. With baseball, they really are vigilant about wanting a clean product and they were willing to take the extra step. No other sport would do it. But I do wish UFC would do it, if nothing else than to end all speculation as to what their real goal is when it comes to PEDs. If they really did care a lot about finding out if anyone on their roster went to that clinic, theyd have at least opened those channels and done an internal investigation to find out, as opposed to publicly basically blowing it off.
Cena, because of his physique, especially now that hes 36, was always going to have accusations. He has always maintained he has never done any performance enhancing drugs. In Bob Hollys recent book, The Hardcore Truth, he talked of different top stars who were not being tested regularly, if ever, and said, the whole program was a joke. Keep in mind Ive spoken to a number of WWE performers and while there are questions and frequent complaints, and people talk of loopholes, a joke is not the term they use. Several people have made significant lifestyle changes to eliminate things or time certain other things because they take the program seriously. There is always questions about top stars getting preferential treatment, particularly when older guys are so much larger and still cut than younger guys in their physical primes.
Holly in his book claimed Undertaker and Ric Flair refused point blank to take the tests and claimed both made it clear theyd walk out first. He did say that HHH (when he was a full-time active wrestler), Dave Bautista and Cena were all tested, which he said he saw them take personally, but Holly noted he questioned the results because those three didnt shrink like the rest of the guys. It should also be noted that several wrestlers in that era were given testosterone use exemptions like Vitor Belfort and Chael Sonnen in fighting, Chris Benoit being the most notable. Holly himself noted that testosterone, which they gave certain exemptions for, combined with Growth Hormone, which the top guys could afford but the middle and lower level guys without a sponsor couldnt, was a strong PED stack, and there is no WWE testing for GH.
Cena has gone so far as to not only claim to be clean for life, which is something if you look at photos of him before WWE when he was 260 and ripped in UPW, but that he believes all professional athletes who fail drug tests should be brought up on criminal charges.
When it comes to Cena and PEDs, every discussion is going to end with this. If you insinuate hes clean, or even the possibility of it, youll get many wrestlers saying youre hopelessly naive and say there is absolutely no way. Saying anything stronger would leave one open for libel, given there is no evidence out there that Cena isnt telling the truth, even though the dreaded eye test makes one question just based on his physique. And he does train hard, is exceptionally strong, trains heavy when not injured, and does have freaky genetics, and Ive known some genetic freaks who dont take anything and nobody would ever believe it by looking at them. But usually they are smaller than Cena, even if just as much if not more muscular.
But as hard as hes trained, and his training program is built these days on multiple joint movements that are supposed to build strength and protect from injuries, and hes suffered two very unique injuries that are usually considered red flags. Granted, any pro wrestler who works as hard and as often as he does is going to have tons of injuries, and the neck and heel issues that we know of, and likely other issues that we dont, are unavoidable wear-and-tear just from doing so many main events for so long.
But whatever the truth in this story is, well likely never know for sure, even though everyone has their opinion and few will be convinced from whatever it is.
The debut of Fox Sports 1, the new home of UFC, had both good and bad over the past week.
First, the bad. FS 1 was asking for increases from 23 cents per subscriber per month from cable and dish companies carriage charge that The Speed Channel was getting, to 80 cents. DirecTV, The Dish Network and Time Warner cable all stood firm against the new price, which was a gigantic story within television.
Faced with opening with about 45 million potential homes instead of the 90 million that FOX had promised advertisers and stockholders, FOX caved in the end, and made a deal that the carriage charges at the start would be the same 23 cents from the original deal. The difference is about $600 million per year in revenue to the station, which is enormous. The feeling is once the station is established, perhaps when they get more high profile big five sporting events such as their Major League Baseball games next season, that they will have more leverage to get the price they wanted. The deal they settled for was less than the 33 cents NBC Sports Network, which doesnt have nearly the level of sports, is getting, let alone the $5.54 per subscriber per month that ESPN gets. The goal of FS 1 is to be competition to ESPN.
The good news is that on the first day of a new station that people didnt know where it was on the dial, that with UFC anchoring the night, they not only beat ESPN, which very few thought was possible, but FS 1 was the highest rated station on either broadcast or cable in Males 18-34, Males 18-49, Overall 18-34 and 18-49, which are the key demos they were after, including beating a national gymnastics championship on NBC.
The good news for FS 1 is even though they didnt get a good carriage fee to start, they were placed by DirecTV and many cable companies in a strong position on the dial, which makes a big difference to channel surfers when youre with the ESPNs of the world instead of the Fuel, now FS 2, and AXS locations.
Its nothing short of amazing that three weeks after drawing a 1.5 rating on FOX for a two-plus hour show with a show that had a Countdown show produced, that, even being a stronger card, being on a new station on its first day of existence with an 8/17 show from the TD Garden in Boston, the UFCs nearly three hour main card did a 1.38 rating, beating the 0.9 that ESPN did for the Little League World Series.
Because FS 1 is in nine percent less homes than FX, the rating was actually the highest for a UFC event on cable since they left Spike. The 1.78 million viewers for the main card from 8 to 10:45 p.m. was behind only the 1/19 show headlined by Vitor Belfort vs. Michael Bisping (1.86 million) being the most-watched cable main card since leaving Spike. Even more impressive were the demo numbers, a 2.02 in Males 18-34 and 2.30 in Males 35-49.
The show peaked at 2.27 million viewers for the Chael Sonnen vs. Shogun Rua main event.
The two hour prelims from 6-8 p.m. did a 0.72 rating and 881,000 viewers.
The growth was impressive because the main card at 8 p.m. started at 1.20 million viewers, and nearly doubled by the time of the main event. The strongest actual growth looked to be in the Urijah Faber vs. Iuri Alcantara fight, which had 1.74 million viewers. The Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne fight grew to 1.99 million viewers.
Whats key is that the examples of UFC on Fuel and FX made it appear that it would be a long growing process when it came to the new station. The feeling is eventually it would be the best thing, with most of UFCs key programming including the UFC Tonight news show and big show Countdown programming on what the hope was would eventually be the No. 2 sports station in the country. And while this was a far better than usual TV card and there was publicity regarding the launch, it showed that they may be starting off a lot stronger than even the most optimistic projections could have been.
The show drew a near sellout of 12,539 fans, with about 11,000 paid and a gate of $1.53 million, strong numbers for a non-PPV event. Although from a quality and marquee standpoint, this was really a bigger and more looked forward to show than two of the past three PPV events.
The show was really about four key fights. Chael Sonnen beat Shogun Rua via choke at 4:47 of the first round. The result was something of an upset, but when it was over, the question was whether Sonnen was really that good, or Rua, a legend of the sport, was shot at 31.
The one thing from the early career declines Shogun, Wanderlei Silva and Murilo Ninja Rua, is that brutal all out sparring where knockouts were frequent at the Chute Boxe Academy may have taken guys to the top quickly, but it also appeared to burn their bodies out young.
Travis Browne, a 6-foot-7 former college basketball player, survived the early onslaught from Alistair Overeem, before knocking a gassed out Overeem out with a front kick in 4:08. With two straight knockout losses and a high contract, one wonders what the future is for Overeem.
In this case, he came out fast and had Browne in real trouble early, nearly finishing him. But a ref that let it go and going against a fighter who wouldnt quit, and suddenly, Overeem was out of gas. Browne kept landing the front kick to the body before landing the one to the jaw that ended the fight.
Urijah Faber continued his streak of never losing a non-championship fight with a strong decision win over Iuri Alcantara. Earlier in the show, Michael McDonald beat Brad Pickett in a battle of top bantamweight contenders, and it would seem too set up Faber vs. McDonald to determine who should get a title shot. The title picture is always in a state of confusion because nobody knows when Dominick Cruz will be back, but the latest is they are hoping for early next year.
Interim champion Renan Barao faces Eddie Wineland on 2/21. If Cruz is ready early in the year, Barao or Wineland vs. Cruz would be next, and Faber or McDonald should be the next contender. The problem is if Barao emerges from all this, Barao beat both Faber and McDonald conclusively in the type of fights that left the feeling a rematch wouldnt go much differently.
The fourth big match concerned the American debut of Conor McGregor. After the huge reaction he got in his UFC debut in Europe, he was pushed heavily, particularly in Boston with the strong Irish market. The push paid off when it came to the crowd reaction, as he got an enormous reaction, probably at the level of a B.J. Penn or GSP level star. McGregor suffered what is now believed to have been a sprained lateral collateral ligament in the second round, and wasnt feeling steady standing. He was good enough to take Max Holloway down the rest of the fight and win an easy decision, but it was not the blow away performance. The crowd still liked him at the end, but not with the fervor at the start because they were expecting something spectacular. The way I see it, he wasnt hurt significantly since he didnt lose. He has the legit excuse of the knee injury. But if he doesnt look great in his next fight, hes going to be a guy in the pack in the U.S., even if he may be Irelands answer to a Michael Bisping of several years ago.
UFC officials were so thrilled with how the night went, and this was before any indication of any ratings were out, that they gave seven bonuses instead of the usual five. The show, with the exception of the John Howard vs. Uriah Hall fight, was very good. All the key winners looked great in their own way, in particular Sonnen, who badly needed the win over a big name after losses to Anderson Silva and Jon Jones. He probably would have still gotten a fight with Wanderlei Silva with a loss. He played what appeared to be an insurance game by probably hyping a Silva fight more than the Rua fight the week of the show. A loss to Silva will derail him, but its a fight hell be favored in. But if Chris Weidman beats Anderson Silva, with a couple of wins, could see Sonnen challenging Weidman. Both are big ifs.
Sonnen and McDonald both got $50,000 best submission bonuses. McDonald picked up $100,000 in bonus money since he and Brad Pickett also got fight of the night honors. Travis Browne and Matt Brown each got $50,000 best knockout bonuses.
The 8/3 UFC 163 PPV from Brazil headlined by Jose Aldo Jr. vs. Chan Sung Jung is estimated at doing 170,000 buys at this point. Its not a good number, but weve already seen the shows without a marquee main event are falling and thats just natural with so many shows on free television. I dont think anyone expected much different. The initial estimate was 35,000 more than for Rashad Evans vs. Dan Henderson, who are both far bigger names, so it tells you that even though the featherweight title used to mean at least 200,000 buys and it was Aldos lowest number (including the Urijah Faber fight which was a WEC show), it still means something as far as getting people to buy and its not rock bottom. Plus Brazil shows are harder sells because you have so much less media the week of the show. Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis on 8/31 should beat it, but I dont expect anywhere near 300,000 for that one either. 9/21 is a real test because youve got Jon Jones, who is a draw, but hes against Alexander Gustafsson, who is not a draw. They need to hit 400,000 for that show or else that would be a bad sign since Jones hasnt fallen below that number since winning the title .
Dana White pretty much blew off any ideas of investigating the idea of any Biogenesis links to UFC talent. There was a Miami Herald report that there is a government investigation into the clinic, which, if true, may reveal some of the names of the athletes involved past the baseball players that have already been named like Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez. Porter Fischer, who was paid by Major League Baseball to reveal names and details, said athletes in a number of major sports had PED programs set up by the clinic, and one of the sports mentioned was MMA. With the exception of baseball, none of the other sports were aggressive in trying to find who was involved. Dana White said he didnt have time to investigate and said he hadnt heard one word about any of his guys being involved. White said that any fallout in his mind is an athletic commission issue. These guys get tested by the government. I dont give a shit about Biogenesis. Ive got so much shit to do, I can barely keep up with what Im doing now. Im not going to fly down there or get on the phone with these guys. Its a weird deal because there are fighters who believe UFC doesnt care about steroid use as much as they are mad when somebody fails a test. Thats not unlike a lot of sports where athletes believe that people running the sports know whats going on, and dont care about PED usage, but dont like it when it comes out or people get caught. But White has always pointed out the difference is that in fighting, they allow people to punch harder and he believes use is, because of that, worse for the sport than baseball. But he gives mixed messages. When Georges St-Pierre and Johny Hendricks both agreed to more extensive VADA testing before their 11/16 fight, White asked why they were doing it and has not been outwardly supportive or encouraging of top fighters to do so to remove suspicion as a lot of boxers have been doing. In boxing, it seems to be protocol to congratulate the guys who will submit to the testing and ask questions about those who refuse, although boxing had its own issues with fighters who failed tests, still fought and the fact they failed wasnt revealed until after the fights were over, but that was with USADA, and not VADA, which thus far hasnt had any issues that weve heard with its credibility. Were regulated by the government, the government comes in and does all the drug testing, White said. Georges St-Pierre is one of those guys that people have been talking about (frequent accusations of him using PEDs from Nick Diaz and B.J. Penn). B.J. Penn said he was on steroids. Somebody else said he was on steroids. And he said, `Ill pay for my own VADA testing, which isnt cheap and its a pain in the ass. He doesnt have to do it, but I guess he wants to do it. GSP told MMAFighting, For me, when they accuse me, I take that as a compliment. I believe they are complement my athleticism. I want to prove also that its possible to be champion without using drugs, and I know VADA is the most professional. As long as White pushes the idea of government testing as being the gold standard, the fighters are going to see it as a message to simply not get caught as opposed to not use, because beating the day of the fight testing is pretty easy and except for the top main eventers in a few states (such as Nevada), there is no risk of being tested at any time out of competition unless one has applied for a TUE for TRT, as in that case, the fighters have to pay for their own regular testing. Its hard for White to push the VADA testing publicly because in doing so, you pretty much bring up that the current testing methods are substandard. The issue here is that the guy with the info is looking for a payoff from the various leagues to reveal his info, and then you start getting into legal proceedings. With baseball, they really are vigilant about wanting a clean product and they were willing to take the extra step. No other sport would do it. But I do wish UFC would do it, if nothing else than to end all speculation as to what their real goal is when it comes to PEDs. If they really did care a lot about finding out if anyone on their roster went to that clinic, theyd have at least opened those channels and done an internal investigation to find out, as opposed to publicly basically blowing it off.
dream
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Yoel Romeros return to UFC on 8/31 has been postponed due to another opponent pulling out. Romero, a former Olympic silver medalist in wrestling, looked great in his UFC debut. His opponent, Brian Houston, pulled out, and given the time frame, the decision was made not to get a new opponent. Hell likely be booked on an upcoming show.
Jessica Evil Eye, recently cut by Bellator when they made the call to drop women, was signed by UFC. Shes been fighting at 125, but will move up, and it looks like shes going to debut later this year against Sarah Kaufman. Kaufmans UFC debut has been pushed back as they couldnt get her a viable opponent for 8/28 in Indianapolis after Sara McMann pulled out of the show, citing personal reasons.
The first UFC Countdown show airing on FS1, for the 8/31 PPV show, will air on 8/26, a Monday at 8 p.m. Interesting they are doing a Monday airing for the debut instead of on Wednesday of that week, which is UFC night (there is a UFC show in Indianapolis that night).
Dana White indicated that any decision about returning to Boston may come down to a City Council vote on whether those under 18 are allowed to attend future shows in the city limits, which could come as early as this week. Well see how this vote goes, White said when asked about returning. Boston already had a law that was in effect at this show that nobody under the age of 16 could attend unless accompanied by a parent. Because of ticket prices, you really arent going to get teenagers going to UFC on their own, but its a principle. City Council President Stephen Murphy wanted the law to be nobody under 18, even with a parent, but I believe the law they will vote on was softened to allow parents to bring their kids. But this law would also be in effect for smaller shows. White asked why they were being singled out noting all the fights in the stands at Red Sox vs. Yankees baseball games with lots of little kids there. A few days earlier White gave the indication he wasnt coming back, saying Boston was a great city to eat at restaurants and hang out with his friends but not a good city to promote a show. But then after the show, he was adamant about coming back, saying they never had trouble with the athletic commission and the only problem was Murphy, who he called the worst kind of politician. Earlier, the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety informed UFC of a state law that required foreign born athletes to need Social Security numbers before they would be allowed to compete, which meant they had to rush a number of visas, since you need ten days after a visa to apply for a Social Security card. It ended up having no effect on the show. He had noted that in 2010, they came to Boston and had no issues, but the Culinary Workers union got several groups that do good things generally to come out against UFC. I think a lot of good came out of this. We all know that the union came in and got some union puppets fired up in this town and they came after us. When this all is resolved, I think everybody in the city of Boston, the athletic commission and all those involved in combat sports here want us to come back. He then thanked the Culinary Workers union for getting the show so much publicity and noted how the Boston Globe wrote how all the complaints were just a union smoke screen. During the week White had said that if coming back to New England, they were looking at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, which they used to run regularly but havent been back to since they got really hot (small capacity) or somewhere in Maine (which is doing really good business regularly for the local New England Fights promotion).
As for Steven Murphy, the president of the City Council, who spearheaded the movement to have kids banned from attending the show, he said Murphy was a stereotypical politician and a bad guy. The City Council was shown a tape of the Rampage Jackson simulated parking garbage rape video that was meant as comedy, but ultimately was a stupid idea. The funniest part of the whole thing is Jackson works for TNA and Bellator, and while any law regarding under 18 would apply to Bellator, there is zero pressure on TNA for hiring him which White noted is because its not about him, but all about the Culinary Workers trying to unionize Station Casinos and UFC as a pawn.
White said that UFC would not be running a show on 11/2, head-to-head with the Bellator PPV. Im kind of surprised, since they put on a free television show against the first Affliction show, and explored the options (it didnt happen because they couldnt put together a viable main event on short notice) of not only running a Spike show head-to-head with Strikeforces first show on CBS, but actually booking an arena in Nashville, the same city Strikeforce was running. I think UFC is just so busy with its own schedule, or maybe they see the Bellator numbers when not being propped up by TNA, and simply arent concerned, particularly since the amount they probably spent to keep Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson happy would have to be a lot. White said that at the Bellator press conference, all they did was talk about him. It wasnt direct, but Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson kept talking about how badly they were treated by their former employers and how much better Bellator takes care of talent, while Bjorn Rebney did take some shots at White. What are they going to talk about, that fight? Well, you guys have lost your last ten fights, how do you think this fight is going to go? Well, I can tell you this, one of us is going to win. Somebodys O has got to go. He then said how his video blogs do more viewers than Bellators TV shows. They dont know what theyre doing and they try to coy things instead of being original and doing original things. Theyre not involved in this because they love the sport and theyre looking to push the sport forward and trying to do all these things. Theyre in it because they want to make money.
Chael Sonnen on 8/19 spoke to Superstar Billy Graham for the first time. Sonnen called him and said it was an honor to speak to him. Apparently they talked about Muhammad Ali, who was Grahams inspiration for his promos, and Graham thanked Sonnen for giving his promos a second life and kept saying how much he loved Sonnens delivery. There is a chance Graham will be brought to Sonnens next fight.
In response to Ronda Rousey talking about retiring possibly in two years, White said, Theres no way in hell. He said, I dont care what Hollywood offers. Theyre not paying what were paying. It was interesting because White had never knocked Rousey before, but said Rousey should stay off Twitter if shes having a bad day. If you want to be on Twitter, get ready. Put your big girl boots on. Get ready, because shits coming at you. Any time youre in the public, with social media, and the Internet or anywhere else, people are going to say stupid shit to you. No matter what, its going to happen. You cant snap and flip out on everybody any time they do. Shell learn that. Shes still young. He also said, Just the load that we put on her, she kicks ass. She handles a lot of stuff. Everyone is going to have their comments where they snap and say, `f*** you world, leave me alone today. But those are the days you dont pick up Twitter and hit the button and you dont get on the Internet. There is certainly a lot of speculation how the public will take her during and after the current season of TUF ends.
White said they would never induct someone into the UFC Hall of Fame who hasnt worked for Zuffa, with the question more about Kazushi Sakuraba. White is a big Sakuraba fan, but when Sakuraba worked his lone UFC show (before he became a national hero with the Pride promotion), he was the Bob Meyrowitz SEG era. The funny thing is, Mark Coleman never worked for Zuffa prior to being put in the Hall of Fame. UFC decided to put Coleman, who only worked for UFC for a little over a year in the SEG era, into the Hall of Fame. At that point, Coleman pitched the idea of coming back, and he was booked for a match with Brock Lesnar, but the decision to put him in came earlier. Coleman never ended up fighting Lesnar, as he suffered a knee injury in training, and then said he was moving to 205, making a fight with Lesnar impossible. He fought a few times in UFC after that, including beating Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100 and doing one PPV main event that he lost to Randy Couture.
White said that they were open to talking to Ben Askren, the Bellator welterweight champion whose contract has expired. White in the past made the famous quote, When Ambien cant sleep, it takes Ben Askren. The most boring fighter in MMA history. I would rather watch flies f***. Askren, who is unbeaten, and put on a dominant performance in finishing Andrey Koreshkov on Bellators 7/31 show, makes an intriguing opponent for GSP because of the potential wrestling battle. Askren, Cael Sanderson and Kyle Dake are probably the three best U.S. collegiate wrestlers of the past 15 years. The key is that Askren is the master of reversing when it appears hes in bad position, so if GSP takes him down, the question of what happens there and how quickly Askren gets out of that position makes it interesting. The thing is, Askren has yet to really be tested by the caliber of wrestler like a GSP, Johny Hendricks or Josh Koscheck, the latter who are NCAA champions and Hendricks was one of the better college wrestlers of the last 15 years as well. Askren is pure wrestler, while for Hendricks or Koscheck, if they were able to simply defend Askrens takedown and keep it standing, both would, at least on paper, have a big edge. Askren fought Jay Hieron, a good Division I wrestler who was able to stop a lot of his takedowns, in Bellator. Askren won the fight, but it was close, and Hieron did nothing after leaving Bellator and coming to UFC.
UFC has released Vinny Magalhaes, Dave Herman, Roger Gracie, Ednaldo Oliveira, Bristol Marunde and John Maguire. The Gracie name had already come out. All there expected. Magalhaes, who is one of the best BJJ guys in the world but hasnt had success fighting top level guys, had said before his fight with Anthony Perosh, that if he didnt win, he should be cut. After being knocked out in 14 seconds, he said that if UFC cut him, hed retire from MMA.
Matt Hamill vs. Thiago Silva (who gained some traction with his win over Rafael Feijao in his last fight), T.J. Dillashaw vs. Raphael Assuncao, Fabio Maldonado vs. Joey Beltran (at light heavyweight) and Hacran Dias vs. Rodrigo Damm and Chris Cariaso vs. Iliarde Santos were announced for a 10/9 show in Barueri, Brazil, just outside of Sao Paulo. The top three fights on that show are Demian Maia vs. Jake Shields, Erick Silva vs. Dong Hyun Kim and Jeremy Stephens vs. Rony Jason. Beltran is 1-5 with 1 no contest (an upset win over Igor Pokrajac that was overturned when he tested positive for the steroid Nandrolone) in his last seven UFC fights so hes got to be in a must-win situation.
The Alvarez settlement with Bellator that led to him facing Michael Chandler on the 11/2 PPV show was unique. Alvarez signed a two-fight contract with Bellator, and when the second fight is over, he is an unrestricted free agent, meaning he can go to UFC and Bellator has no rights to keep him by matching an offer. If Chandler wins, Alvarez is a free agent and doesnt have to do the second fight. If Alvarez wins the title, he would have to give Chandler a rematch, but win or lose, he can leave at that point. Bellator is counting on the idea that Chandler, who has looked great of late, can beat Alvarez at least once in two tries. While Id say the odds are in their favor, they are risking looking really bad. What can be worse is to have a guy come back in, beat the best guy in your promotion twice, hold your title, and then go to UFC. No word on the financial terms but I doubt it was the same terms they had offered him originally on the eight-fight deal.
King Mo Lawal vs. Emanuel Newton for the interim light heavyweight title was the third bout announced for the 11/2 PPV show in Long Beach, CA. The five-round fight joins Tito Ortiz vs. Rampage Jackson and Chandler vs. Alvarez for the lightweight title. Attila Vegh holds the light heavyweight title, but is out of action and wouldnt be ready for the PPV due to a shoulder injury. Lawal won the recently completed summer light heavyweight tournament. He was expected to first win the spring tournament, but after winning his first match, he faced Newton, who knocked him out with a spinning back fist at 2:35 on 2/21 in West Valley City, UT. It was one of the years biggest shocking moments, and maybe the biggest high profile upset of the year. Newton went on to win the tournament. Lawal had been wanting a rematch with Newton, so the match had far more interest than either guy facing Vegh in the first place.
Jessica Evil Eye, recently cut by Bellator when they made the call to drop women, was signed by UFC. Shes been fighting at 125, but will move up, and it looks like shes going to debut later this year against Sarah Kaufman. Kaufmans UFC debut has been pushed back as they couldnt get her a viable opponent for 8/28 in Indianapolis after Sara McMann pulled out of the show, citing personal reasons.
The first UFC Countdown show airing on FS1, for the 8/31 PPV show, will air on 8/26, a Monday at 8 p.m. Interesting they are doing a Monday airing for the debut instead of on Wednesday of that week, which is UFC night (there is a UFC show in Indianapolis that night).
Dana White indicated that any decision about returning to Boston may come down to a City Council vote on whether those under 18 are allowed to attend future shows in the city limits, which could come as early as this week. Well see how this vote goes, White said when asked about returning. Boston already had a law that was in effect at this show that nobody under the age of 16 could attend unless accompanied by a parent. Because of ticket prices, you really arent going to get teenagers going to UFC on their own, but its a principle. City Council President Stephen Murphy wanted the law to be nobody under 18, even with a parent, but I believe the law they will vote on was softened to allow parents to bring their kids. But this law would also be in effect for smaller shows. White asked why they were being singled out noting all the fights in the stands at Red Sox vs. Yankees baseball games with lots of little kids there. A few days earlier White gave the indication he wasnt coming back, saying Boston was a great city to eat at restaurants and hang out with his friends but not a good city to promote a show. But then after the show, he was adamant about coming back, saying they never had trouble with the athletic commission and the only problem was Murphy, who he called the worst kind of politician. Earlier, the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety informed UFC of a state law that required foreign born athletes to need Social Security numbers before they would be allowed to compete, which meant they had to rush a number of visas, since you need ten days after a visa to apply for a Social Security card. It ended up having no effect on the show. He had noted that in 2010, they came to Boston and had no issues, but the Culinary Workers union got several groups that do good things generally to come out against UFC. I think a lot of good came out of this. We all know that the union came in and got some union puppets fired up in this town and they came after us. When this all is resolved, I think everybody in the city of Boston, the athletic commission and all those involved in combat sports here want us to come back. He then thanked the Culinary Workers union for getting the show so much publicity and noted how the Boston Globe wrote how all the complaints were just a union smoke screen. During the week White had said that if coming back to New England, they were looking at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, which they used to run regularly but havent been back to since they got really hot (small capacity) or somewhere in Maine (which is doing really good business regularly for the local New England Fights promotion).
As for Steven Murphy, the president of the City Council, who spearheaded the movement to have kids banned from attending the show, he said Murphy was a stereotypical politician and a bad guy. The City Council was shown a tape of the Rampage Jackson simulated parking garbage rape video that was meant as comedy, but ultimately was a stupid idea. The funniest part of the whole thing is Jackson works for TNA and Bellator, and while any law regarding under 18 would apply to Bellator, there is zero pressure on TNA for hiring him which White noted is because its not about him, but all about the Culinary Workers trying to unionize Station Casinos and UFC as a pawn.
White said that UFC would not be running a show on 11/2, head-to-head with the Bellator PPV. Im kind of surprised, since they put on a free television show against the first Affliction show, and explored the options (it didnt happen because they couldnt put together a viable main event on short notice) of not only running a Spike show head-to-head with Strikeforces first show on CBS, but actually booking an arena in Nashville, the same city Strikeforce was running. I think UFC is just so busy with its own schedule, or maybe they see the Bellator numbers when not being propped up by TNA, and simply arent concerned, particularly since the amount they probably spent to keep Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson happy would have to be a lot. White said that at the Bellator press conference, all they did was talk about him. It wasnt direct, but Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson kept talking about how badly they were treated by their former employers and how much better Bellator takes care of talent, while Bjorn Rebney did take some shots at White. What are they going to talk about, that fight? Well, you guys have lost your last ten fights, how do you think this fight is going to go? Well, I can tell you this, one of us is going to win. Somebodys O has got to go. He then said how his video blogs do more viewers than Bellators TV shows. They dont know what theyre doing and they try to coy things instead of being original and doing original things. Theyre not involved in this because they love the sport and theyre looking to push the sport forward and trying to do all these things. Theyre in it because they want to make money.
Chael Sonnen on 8/19 spoke to Superstar Billy Graham for the first time. Sonnen called him and said it was an honor to speak to him. Apparently they talked about Muhammad Ali, who was Grahams inspiration for his promos, and Graham thanked Sonnen for giving his promos a second life and kept saying how much he loved Sonnens delivery. There is a chance Graham will be brought to Sonnens next fight.
In response to Ronda Rousey talking about retiring possibly in two years, White said, Theres no way in hell. He said, I dont care what Hollywood offers. Theyre not paying what were paying. It was interesting because White had never knocked Rousey before, but said Rousey should stay off Twitter if shes having a bad day. If you want to be on Twitter, get ready. Put your big girl boots on. Get ready, because shits coming at you. Any time youre in the public, with social media, and the Internet or anywhere else, people are going to say stupid shit to you. No matter what, its going to happen. You cant snap and flip out on everybody any time they do. Shell learn that. Shes still young. He also said, Just the load that we put on her, she kicks ass. She handles a lot of stuff. Everyone is going to have their comments where they snap and say, `f*** you world, leave me alone today. But those are the days you dont pick up Twitter and hit the button and you dont get on the Internet. There is certainly a lot of speculation how the public will take her during and after the current season of TUF ends.
White said they would never induct someone into the UFC Hall of Fame who hasnt worked for Zuffa, with the question more about Kazushi Sakuraba. White is a big Sakuraba fan, but when Sakuraba worked his lone UFC show (before he became a national hero with the Pride promotion), he was the Bob Meyrowitz SEG era. The funny thing is, Mark Coleman never worked for Zuffa prior to being put in the Hall of Fame. UFC decided to put Coleman, who only worked for UFC for a little over a year in the SEG era, into the Hall of Fame. At that point, Coleman pitched the idea of coming back, and he was booked for a match with Brock Lesnar, but the decision to put him in came earlier. Coleman never ended up fighting Lesnar, as he suffered a knee injury in training, and then said he was moving to 205, making a fight with Lesnar impossible. He fought a few times in UFC after that, including beating Stephan Bonnar at UFC 100 and doing one PPV main event that he lost to Randy Couture.
White said that they were open to talking to Ben Askren, the Bellator welterweight champion whose contract has expired. White in the past made the famous quote, When Ambien cant sleep, it takes Ben Askren. The most boring fighter in MMA history. I would rather watch flies f***. Askren, who is unbeaten, and put on a dominant performance in finishing Andrey Koreshkov on Bellators 7/31 show, makes an intriguing opponent for GSP because of the potential wrestling battle. Askren, Cael Sanderson and Kyle Dake are probably the three best U.S. collegiate wrestlers of the past 15 years. The key is that Askren is the master of reversing when it appears hes in bad position, so if GSP takes him down, the question of what happens there and how quickly Askren gets out of that position makes it interesting. The thing is, Askren has yet to really be tested by the caliber of wrestler like a GSP, Johny Hendricks or Josh Koscheck, the latter who are NCAA champions and Hendricks was one of the better college wrestlers of the last 15 years as well. Askren is pure wrestler, while for Hendricks or Koscheck, if they were able to simply defend Askrens takedown and keep it standing, both would, at least on paper, have a big edge. Askren fought Jay Hieron, a good Division I wrestler who was able to stop a lot of his takedowns, in Bellator. Askren won the fight, but it was close, and Hieron did nothing after leaving Bellator and coming to UFC.
UFC has released Vinny Magalhaes, Dave Herman, Roger Gracie, Ednaldo Oliveira, Bristol Marunde and John Maguire. The Gracie name had already come out. All there expected. Magalhaes, who is one of the best BJJ guys in the world but hasnt had success fighting top level guys, had said before his fight with Anthony Perosh, that if he didnt win, he should be cut. After being knocked out in 14 seconds, he said that if UFC cut him, hed retire from MMA.
Matt Hamill vs. Thiago Silva (who gained some traction with his win over Rafael Feijao in his last fight), T.J. Dillashaw vs. Raphael Assuncao, Fabio Maldonado vs. Joey Beltran (at light heavyweight) and Hacran Dias vs. Rodrigo Damm and Chris Cariaso vs. Iliarde Santos were announced for a 10/9 show in Barueri, Brazil, just outside of Sao Paulo. The top three fights on that show are Demian Maia vs. Jake Shields, Erick Silva vs. Dong Hyun Kim and Jeremy Stephens vs. Rony Jason. Beltran is 1-5 with 1 no contest (an upset win over Igor Pokrajac that was overturned when he tested positive for the steroid Nandrolone) in his last seven UFC fights so hes got to be in a must-win situation.
The Alvarez settlement with Bellator that led to him facing Michael Chandler on the 11/2 PPV show was unique. Alvarez signed a two-fight contract with Bellator, and when the second fight is over, he is an unrestricted free agent, meaning he can go to UFC and Bellator has no rights to keep him by matching an offer. If Chandler wins, Alvarez is a free agent and doesnt have to do the second fight. If Alvarez wins the title, he would have to give Chandler a rematch, but win or lose, he can leave at that point. Bellator is counting on the idea that Chandler, who has looked great of late, can beat Alvarez at least once in two tries. While Id say the odds are in their favor, they are risking looking really bad. What can be worse is to have a guy come back in, beat the best guy in your promotion twice, hold your title, and then go to UFC. No word on the financial terms but I doubt it was the same terms they had offered him originally on the eight-fight deal.
King Mo Lawal vs. Emanuel Newton for the interim light heavyweight title was the third bout announced for the 11/2 PPV show in Long Beach, CA. The five-round fight joins Tito Ortiz vs. Rampage Jackson and Chandler vs. Alvarez for the lightweight title. Attila Vegh holds the light heavyweight title, but is out of action and wouldnt be ready for the PPV due to a shoulder injury. Lawal won the recently completed summer light heavyweight tournament. He was expected to first win the spring tournament, but after winning his first match, he faced Newton, who knocked him out with a spinning back fist at 2:35 on 2/21 in West Valley City, UT. It was one of the years biggest shocking moments, and maybe the biggest high profile upset of the year. Newton went on to win the tournament. Lawal had been wanting a rematch with Newton, so the match had far more interest than either guy facing Vegh in the first place.
dream
Member
It looks as though the WWE is going right now with the assumption that Dwayne Johnson won’t be back next year as a short-term regular character as he’s been the past three years. According to information given to a major licensee this past week that has a deal where they are told who to products with but they have creative license to produce whatever they want with those characters, they were told not to produce any merchandise involving The Rock. They were told he could be used as far as a group shot of superstars but not to produce anything specific because he was not going to be featured until 2015. It was taken as a sign that he’s not doing WrestleMania this year, but I don’t know if that was outright said or just as assumption made over the call not to merchandise him individually. What’s notable is that Johnson is on the cover of the current video game and there was obviously hope that he’d do some television and media for the game at the time of the late October launch.
WWE and Bill Goldberg are now in talks, which adds to the list of the people who in the past it seemed they would never do business with. Goldberg, even more than Ultimate Warrior, had been someone in the past they had wanted no involvement with, but the policy now seems to be to mend fences with any former superstar to the public who had past bitterness. There has been talk of him doing next year’s WrestleMania. I don’t know that it’s against Ryback, but I almost can’t imagine it wouldn’t be. Goldberg would be 47, but still trains hard and is in good shape and has been open to the idea of doing one big match because his son wasn’t born during his heyday and never saw him as a wrestling star. Plus, there’s always a potential Hall of Fame since he has a name, even though in the past HHH buried the idea of Goldberg in the Hall of Fame saying he didn’t have enough longevity. But views change over time and HHH was tremendously conciliatory to Bruno Sammartino and tried to be with Warrior as well.
With the original planned for next year’s Mania main event being HHH going heel seems to build the direction of Vince as a babyface choosing a top star from the past to represent him against HHH with the company at stake at next year’s Mania, things are very interesting. The company’s first choice, Steve Austin, gave a negative reaction this week when asked about wrestling again by Variety. As I’ve mentioned I don’t think Austin will do it, but if he was, he’d probably not be admitting it at this point. Austin said that he doesn’t want to wrestle again. “I’ve been gone 10, 11 years,” he said at the press get together to promote the video game on 8/17. “If you had a cow and you have a branding iron and it was in a fire and you put that branding iron on a cow, you leave your mark and that mark is there forever. It can’t be erased. That’s why they brand cows. So if wrestling was a cow, I branded it and that mark will never go away. In another ten years, in another 20 years, that mark I left on the business will always be there. I’m very happy about what I was able to accomplish and I had a great time doing it.” He said he’s still mad that his version of Tough Enough wasn’t brought back for a second season. “What that show didn’t come back, I was pissed off. It was a great show. The numbers were very good. We had a great time doing it. Why they didn’t bring it back still baffles me to this day because I loved doing that show. It was a great way to be in the business I know and love without having to be in the ring taking bumps.” The ratings were good, but not good for the USA Network, as they were well below the company’s average, and a wrestling related show needs to be above the company’s average for that time slot to survive.
The word we got that they may be changing the main event direction could be a sign that Austin really doesn’t want to do it (and again, if he was going to, he’s not going to be tipping his hand on it now) even though the amount of money he could make at this point for a Mania comeback match would be gigantic, and if Dwayne Johnson is also out, all of a sudden the angle isn’t as strong. You could put Cena in there as the company’s defender, or Bryan or Punk because as McMahon vs. Trump showed, if the story of control is going to work, it doesn’t necessarily need Austin or Rock there. You could also put Undertaker there except it would be the fourth Undertaker vs. HHH WrestleMania match, and a babyface Lesnar would still be a match that has been three times high-profile. As far as bringing a guy from the best, I just don’t know that they’d want to put Warrior in the ring at his age, or trust Goldberg with that level of match if deals are struck with them.
It is now officially down to San Jose/Santa Clara and Philadelphia for WrestleMania 31 in 2015. Mayor Jamie Matthews of Santa Clara, where Levi’s Stadium is located just outside of San Jose, is part of a contingent that has been set up by the hosting San Francisco 49ers and may include some area celebrities to meet with WWE officials, including Vince McMahon, HHH and many other higher-ups. The decision is expected to be made in September, but kept quiet until early 2014. The Santa Clara bid may have been hurt this week when Matthews was quoted in a story in the San Jose Mercury on the prospective bid. The WWE wanted everyone involved from all cities to keep it quiet. From what I gather, nobody was upset that we’ve been reporting on the different cities because that’s what we do, but they wanted nothing mainstream. Worse, the mayor’s office and all those involved were specifically told not to say anything and then the local paper had a story with the mayor being quoted.
Regarding WWE rules, as best we can tell there is no rule regarding a tap out can’t be called if there isn’t a hold on. The whole thing on the 8/12 show in the Natalya & Khali vs. A.J. & Langston Raw match in Sacramento was a terrible position for the ref. Natalya getting up before A.J. tapped put the ref in a bad position, when A.J. panic tapped thinking something went wrong. It would look terrible if the ref, Marc Harris, called it when A.J. tapped, but by the rules, he should have, with the precedent being Ryback just quitting (a tap and verbal submission are identical) with no hold on him during the Miz vs. Ryback match with that crappy finish. They should have gone to a few moves before going right back to the sharpshooter and tap out except it’s live TV and they were probably told to go home and get out of it immediately. Harris was in a no win situation but there were people questioning his going on Twitter and bragging about how he made the right call.
An update on the unknown rules of wrestling, regarding mounted strikes in the corner and ground-and-pound, the new rule is the ref doesn’t call for a break (previously, ground and pound punching was illegal which is why the refs would count to five on it) unless the person on the bottom stops putting their hands up to protect themselves. If they do, the referee is to stop the fight like an MMA fight, so we may see a testing out of a ground and pound finish. No doubt it won’t get over big at first, because those kind of things people don’t see as pro wrestling finishes. But, like so many things, if they are used regularly, they can be used once people recognize them as finishes as ways to add drama.
intelligent defense in WWE, my god
WWE and Bill Goldberg are now in talks, which adds to the list of the people who in the past it seemed they would never do business with. Goldberg, even more than Ultimate Warrior, had been someone in the past they had wanted no involvement with, but the policy now seems to be to mend fences with any former superstar to the public who had past bitterness. There has been talk of him doing next year’s WrestleMania. I don’t know that it’s against Ryback, but I almost can’t imagine it wouldn’t be. Goldberg would be 47, but still trains hard and is in good shape and has been open to the idea of doing one big match because his son wasn’t born during his heyday and never saw him as a wrestling star. Plus, there’s always a potential Hall of Fame since he has a name, even though in the past HHH buried the idea of Goldberg in the Hall of Fame saying he didn’t have enough longevity. But views change over time and HHH was tremendously conciliatory to Bruno Sammartino and tried to be with Warrior as well.
With the original planned for next year’s Mania main event being HHH going heel seems to build the direction of Vince as a babyface choosing a top star from the past to represent him against HHH with the company at stake at next year’s Mania, things are very interesting. The company’s first choice, Steve Austin, gave a negative reaction this week when asked about wrestling again by Variety. As I’ve mentioned I don’t think Austin will do it, but if he was, he’d probably not be admitting it at this point. Austin said that he doesn’t want to wrestle again. “I’ve been gone 10, 11 years,” he said at the press get together to promote the video game on 8/17. “If you had a cow and you have a branding iron and it was in a fire and you put that branding iron on a cow, you leave your mark and that mark is there forever. It can’t be erased. That’s why they brand cows. So if wrestling was a cow, I branded it and that mark will never go away. In another ten years, in another 20 years, that mark I left on the business will always be there. I’m very happy about what I was able to accomplish and I had a great time doing it.” He said he’s still mad that his version of Tough Enough wasn’t brought back for a second season. “What that show didn’t come back, I was pissed off. It was a great show. The numbers were very good. We had a great time doing it. Why they didn’t bring it back still baffles me to this day because I loved doing that show. It was a great way to be in the business I know and love without having to be in the ring taking bumps.” The ratings were good, but not good for the USA Network, as they were well below the company’s average, and a wrestling related show needs to be above the company’s average for that time slot to survive.
The word we got that they may be changing the main event direction could be a sign that Austin really doesn’t want to do it (and again, if he was going to, he’s not going to be tipping his hand on it now) even though the amount of money he could make at this point for a Mania comeback match would be gigantic, and if Dwayne Johnson is also out, all of a sudden the angle isn’t as strong. You could put Cena in there as the company’s defender, or Bryan or Punk because as McMahon vs. Trump showed, if the story of control is going to work, it doesn’t necessarily need Austin or Rock there. You could also put Undertaker there except it would be the fourth Undertaker vs. HHH WrestleMania match, and a babyface Lesnar would still be a match that has been three times high-profile. As far as bringing a guy from the best, I just don’t know that they’d want to put Warrior in the ring at his age, or trust Goldberg with that level of match if deals are struck with them.
It is now officially down to San Jose/Santa Clara and Philadelphia for WrestleMania 31 in 2015. Mayor Jamie Matthews of Santa Clara, where Levi’s Stadium is located just outside of San Jose, is part of a contingent that has been set up by the hosting San Francisco 49ers and may include some area celebrities to meet with WWE officials, including Vince McMahon, HHH and many other higher-ups. The decision is expected to be made in September, but kept quiet until early 2014. The Santa Clara bid may have been hurt this week when Matthews was quoted in a story in the San Jose Mercury on the prospective bid. The WWE wanted everyone involved from all cities to keep it quiet. From what I gather, nobody was upset that we’ve been reporting on the different cities because that’s what we do, but they wanted nothing mainstream. Worse, the mayor’s office and all those involved were specifically told not to say anything and then the local paper had a story with the mayor being quoted.
Regarding WWE rules, as best we can tell there is no rule regarding a tap out can’t be called if there isn’t a hold on. The whole thing on the 8/12 show in the Natalya & Khali vs. A.J. & Langston Raw match in Sacramento was a terrible position for the ref. Natalya getting up before A.J. tapped put the ref in a bad position, when A.J. panic tapped thinking something went wrong. It would look terrible if the ref, Marc Harris, called it when A.J. tapped, but by the rules, he should have, with the precedent being Ryback just quitting (a tap and verbal submission are identical) with no hold on him during the Miz vs. Ryback match with that crappy finish. They should have gone to a few moves before going right back to the sharpshooter and tap out except it’s live TV and they were probably told to go home and get out of it immediately. Harris was in a no win situation but there were people questioning his going on Twitter and bragging about how he made the right call.
An update on the unknown rules of wrestling, regarding mounted strikes in the corner and ground-and-pound, the new rule is the ref doesn’t call for a break (previously, ground and pound punching was illegal which is why the refs would count to five on it) unless the person on the bottom stops putting their hands up to protect themselves. If they do, the referee is to stop the fight like an MMA fight, so we may see a testing out of a ground and pound finish. No doubt it won’t get over big at first, because those kind of things people don’t see as pro wrestling finishes. But, like so many things, if they are used regularly, they can be used once people recognize them as finishes as ways to add drama.
intelligent defense in WWE, my god
Going the MMA route seems really stupid especially when everyone knows its fake already. About as believable as Big Show's retarded KO punch.
polyh3dron
Banned
yeah because strikes in WWE don't look bad enough already
Host Samurai
Member
Mirin hard at John Ceners 36 year old natty physique
dream
Member
It doesn't have to be so fake though. WWE could be awesome if they worked shoot-style. Look at how great The Best vs. The Beast was.
Not everyone is Punk and Brock though. Either everyone goes shoot style or its just going to be some gimmicky way to win matches. Real fighting just doesn't work in wrasslin as seen with Brawl 4 All. Not to mention a majority of wrasslin fans aren't even necessarily fans of MMA and vice versa.
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