polyh3dron
Banned
but they're also cans
-
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MMA-GAF |OT4| BangBros
- Thread starter polyh3dron
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Squash match to legitimize The Reem's championship run this summer. Simple as that, really, and that's just the MMA world we live in today.
Cain will have him tapping to strikes.
Maklershed
Member
I bet Velasquez will be shaking in his boots (or botas) and praying Reem is the victim of a fluke loss to Silva so he doesn't have to face him.
Chris Leben and Mike Guymon respectively.
Chris Leben and Mike Guymon respectively.
polyh3dron
Banned
Yeah these first 2 eps of TUF just show how immature JBJ still is. Also, who the fuck are these coaches on JBJ's team and why are they there? And why Frank Mir? Was Coach Wink unavailable?
polyh3dron
Banned
I remember when this other poster who is now banned swore up and down that Reem would get destroyed by Lesnar. Many laughs were had at his expense.
Maklershed
Member
Oh snap - Rampage says UFC is reporting one set of PPV buy numbers to the fighters and a completely different number to the press.
"In my opinion, I feel like me and the rest of the UFC fighters are getting taken advantage of. I feel like the UFC is cleaning house. The pay-per-view dollars? They tell me one number, but then they tell the press another. Pay me the numbers that you tell the press! Don't tell me, 'Oh, we only sold this many,' then you tell the press, 'Oh we sold this many!' But then I'm saying, 'Hey, you only told me we sold 800,000 buys but you told the press you sold a million buys.' Then they say 'Oh, we just say that for the press.' No, pay me what you told the press because you lyin' somewhere. You either lyin' to me or you lyin' to the press about the pay-per-view numbers. If they're doing it to me, I'm sure they're doing it to other fighters."
"In my opinion, I feel like me and the rest of the UFC fighters are getting taken advantage of. I feel like the UFC is cleaning house. The pay-per-view dollars? They tell me one number, but then they tell the press another. Pay me the numbers that you tell the press! Don't tell me, 'Oh, we only sold this many,' then you tell the press, 'Oh we sold this many!' But then I'm saying, 'Hey, you only told me we sold 800,000 buys but you told the press you sold a million buys.' Then they say 'Oh, we just say that for the press.' No, pay me what you told the press because you lyin' somewhere. You either lyin' to me or you lyin' to the press about the pay-per-view numbers. If they're doing it to me, I'm sure they're doing it to other fighters."
polyh3dron
Banned
Rampage is an idiot. They don't tell the press any PPV numbers at all, or at least they haven't since like 08 at least.
Who is this banned poster than is not named?
Don't worry amigo. A broken clock is right twice a day. I'll continue predicting Fraudreem to lose until he does. If Arona had him tapping to strikes like Georges, the Cain Train can do the same.
And defending take-downs from the cardio king will have him gassed within 90 seconds like Dos Cantos.
polyh3dron
Banned
Just an irrelevant can that got crushed.
Come on you know that wasn't the same JDS we've seen clean out practically the whole division.
How do you say Andre Arlovski in Brazilian?
Looked to me that Dos Cantos was already training for Overeem, trying to match that horse meat diet.
lata
Roland Deschain
Member
Belcher-Bisping is your co-main at UFC159.
polyh3dron
Banned
José Glasinho
Is this how Canada will feel after Diaz makes GSP fight?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg0uEVzknxE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg0uEVzknxE
polyh3dron
Banned
I wish...
Expecting some good ol' lay n pray from the pill tho.
Expecting some good ol' lay n pray from the pill tho.
at work so no youtube, but i hope this is the Rocky 4 if i can change, and you can change, we all can change speech.
Can Crusher
Banned
I'm not gonna be able to watch UFC 156 live. No online where I'm going, sheeeeeeiiiiiit
His voice, his size, his shirt. his room, his reaction...lightning in a bottle.
His voice, his size, his shirt. his room, his reaction...lightning in a bottle.
polyh3dron
Banned
you're in for a disappointment, vio-friend
bone_and_sinew
breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
I derive no entertainment whatsoever from reaction videos on youtube. It's either staged or a truly pitiful being.
Impeccable
Member
Hooray, time to watch Bisping drop two in a row.
Can Crusher
Banned
What are you talking about mate, pitiful beings are funny.
Low kicks don't end fights. 10-9 Blu-ray collection.
Can Crusher
Banned
It would be incredibly disappointing if Bigfoot won.
edit: Rashad Evans wants John again? What about Silva?
edit: Rashad Evans wants John again? What about Silva?
bone_and_sinew
breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
The novelty wears off. Once you've seen one socially inepty fat kid yelling at something irrelevant you've seen then all.
RBelong2Us
Member
"I might just have a white belt but I have seen many black belts"
-Reem
"he's just a big walking target and I am a precision striker...1 + 1 = 2"
-Reem
-Reem
"he's just a big walking target and I am a precision striker...1 + 1 = 2"
-Reem
bone_and_sinew
breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
Everyone at 185 is ducking Anderson and the one guy who wants to fight him, Anderson doesn't want to fight.
This is UFC in 2013.
This is UFC in 2013.
Lambda Pie
Banned
won't happen, though.
João de Vidro.
Easy UD for Bisping.
Lambda Pie
Banned
André O Frágil.
He's waiting for Mike Lowe to get signed.
Belcher only sucks when he's getting lay and prayed or stalled. I can see Bisping lose this one
Belcher is solid, I just don't see him beating Bisping standing and doubt he can take him down. Plus Bisping has MMA math on side...
dream
Member
The lessons of UFCs sixth event on FOX is that it pays to be advertised during football season, and perhaps even better, during the NFL playoffs.
When Demetrious Johnson vs. John Dodson for the flyweight title was announced as the main event for the 1/26 show in Chicago at the United Center, it didnt sound good. The title was new. Johnson and Dodson hardly felt like big show headliners. They did have Rampage Jackson, a former major draw on the undercard, so in a sense the dynamic was similar to the successful 12/8 show. That card had Benson Henderson vs. Nate Diaz for the lightweight title, but that title is far more over then the flyweight belt, Henderson has had several main events on big shows over the years and Diaz is a name fighter who looked tremendous on FOX months earlier. They also had B.J. Penn, a similar-level star as Jackson, also at the end of his career.
But the show was a success in just about every way. The show did a 2.43 rating, way over nearly everyones predictions, drawing 4,219,000 viewers. It was the highest rated show on television, either network or cable, in all the key demos (People 18-34, People 18-49, Men 18-34, Men 18-49). Overall they did a 3.02 in Males 18-34 and 3.00 in Males 35-49. The average viewer age was 36, ten years younger than FOXs usual average for prime time programming, which is considered a positive in television. The 2.09 overall 18-34 rating was more than double that of any other show on television that night, and roughly four times that of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on NBC head-to-head. The show did a 1.17 in Women 18-49, which is far more than would be expected for a Saturday night show.
The numbers were a little down from the prior show, which did a 2.5 rating, 4.39 million viewers, 3.5 in Males 18-34 (third highest rated show in that demo of the week on network television behind only the NFL) and 4.5 in Males 35-49. The FX prelims did a 0.90 rating and 1,208,000 viewers, virtually identical with the 0.90 and 1,209,000 viewers the Dec. 8 show did.
The attendance was a near sellout 16,091 fans, of which about 14,000 were paid with a gate of $1,270,000.
From a business standpoint, the success of the December show in the Male 18-49 demo, which is what most of the advertisers are looking for, has strengthened the advertising base. The show sold out all its ad inventory at just over $100,000 per spot, significantly more than either major league baseball or college football (reportedly $75,000) get in a similar time slot on FOX.
There were 16 major national advertisers including Coca Cola, Geico, Chrysler, DirecTV and Sprint to go along with UFC regulars at Bud Light, along with a number of movies.
The goals of the show were to establish the flyweight title and make whoever came out as champion as a star. Like with Benson Henderson last month, its hard to say how much the perception of Johnson changed with so many viewers seeing his fight. We dont have the match-by-match numbers yet, but the card showed strong consistent growth from start-to-finish, with the main event doing 5.2 million viewers on FOX. It would tie for the 14th most watched MMA fight ever on U.S. television just based on those numbers. If you include the Spanish language viewership on Fox Deportes, it should end up 12th or higher. Johnson and Dodson have a fast, entertaining fight with Johnson coming across as a super fast, technical and innovative fighter who survived three second round knockdowns to take the decision by winning the last two rounds.
The fight was not without its controversy. The scores were 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47. In the fourth round, with Johnson down on two cards, he landed a knee to Dodsons head while Dodson had his hand on the ground. Whether you do or dont like the rule, the strategy is that you dont have to protect your head from kicks or knees in that position because they are illegal. Dodson was nailed, and shaken up. He was given a time out to recover, but Johnson was not docked a point by referee John McCarthy. It was a close call and clearly not intentional, and I wouldnt have taken a point away. But the reaction was almost split 50/50 on the call, and Dana White publicly said he thought a point should have been taken away. If it had, it goes from a win by Johnson to a majority draw. Still, there was no major controversy about who won, given our poll had 83% for Johnson, 9% for Dodson and 8% had it a draw.
While most felt the real main event was Jackson vs. Glover Teixeira, the fact was the audience did continue to increase for the title match, something the vast majority did not think would happen.
But when it was over, the star of the show was Anthony Pettis. Pettis, the former WEC lightweight champion, beat Benson Henderson for the title at the end of 2010 via decision in taking the final round with a springboard kick to the head that is on the all-time highlight reel. Pettis stopped Cowboy Donald Cerrone with a liver kick in 2:35. What made that notable is that Cerrone had 54 professional fighters, between kickboxing and MMA, and he had only been stopped once by submission, and never by strikes. Pettis beat him handily from the start, including delivering another blow where he springboarded off the cage and nailed Cerrone with a flying knee. When it was over, Pettis did a great interview, and challenged for a title match. Dana White said Pettis would get the shot at the winner of the 4/20 Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez match.
Jackson had talked all week that this was his final UFC fight. He had a good three-round fight. He showed up in a lot better condition than in prior fights, and did well standing with Teixeira as both men traded hard shots for most of the three rounds. Teixeira was able to take Jackson down at will, which was the surprise of the fight, and clearly won all three rounds in most eyes. While it was a good win for Teixeira, he didnt come out of the fight with the impression that you cant wait to see him against Jon Jones, which was the best case scenario of the match.
Ricardo Lamas beat Erik Koch, and established himself as a top featherweight contender. In an undercard match that also featured featherweight contenders, Clay Guida, debuting in the weight class, managed to take down Hatsu Hioki and keep him there much of the fight to win a split decision. Guida held Hioki down but wasnt able to get much meaningful offense in. Partially due to him being from Chicago, or perhaps largely, Guida was the most popular fighter on the show in the building. There were those who expected that Guida, just about the most popular mid-level fighter in the company, would have blown his status and been booed because of his performance in a boring main event with Gray Maynard last time in. He wasnt booed at all, but as a home town guy it maybe not be a fair test of how hes viewed overall. This wasnt an exciting fight. All three rounds were close so the decision could have gone either way, but our poll had 48% for Guida, 42% for Hioki, and 11% had it a draw.
The $50,000 bonuses went to Johnson and Dodson for best fight, Pettis for best knockout and Ryan Bader for best submission.
Judge Jose Linares of U.S. District Court in New Jersey on 1/25 ruled against Eddie Alvarez in his attempt to get an injunction that would allow him to sign a UFC contract and debut on the 4/27 show in Newark, NJ, at The Prudential Center.
Bellator had filed suit against Alvarez on 1/3, and Alvarez countered on 1/15, asking for a judge to rule him free to sign his UFC deal.
This has become a landmark case because they are arguing over what constitutes the right to match terms, which is in the standard contract of most top UFC and Bellator fighters. Fighters have signed with the belief that if their contract expires, and they can get a better deal elsewhere, either they can take it or, bring it back to their current employer, who would match the deal, which in most cases would be fine, given theyd make the same money either way.
But Alvarez and his attorneys argued that even though Bellator essentially copied the UFC contract verbatim, except putting Bellator in the place of UFC, and Spike in the place of FOX, that it was not a match on two grounds. The first is that FOX is more valuable to fight on than Spike, so it boosts the fighters career due to better exposure and they can get more money from sponsors. The second is that even if Bellator matches in the contract the PPV bonuses Alvarez was offered by UFC, thats essentially meaningless since theyve never run PPVs, and even if they did, the bonuses wouldnt be close. The bonus structure, where Alvarez would get $1 per buy from 200,000 to 399,999; $2 per buy from 400,000 to 599,000 and $2.50 per buy for 600,000 buys or more, mean nothing in reality from Bellator, which really has no chance of doing 200,000 buys.
Linares ruled that to grant the injunction, he would have to believe Alvarez had a strong chance of winning the case. While he didnt dismiss Alvarezs chances of eventually winning, he concluded that there was not a reasonable probability of success. He also ruled that Alvarez would not suffer irreparable harm if he wasnt granted the injunction, which would delay his debut until after the 4/27 show. The idea of the 4/27 show as his debut is that the Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen fight should be expected to do 600,000 buys, meaning Alvarez would make $600,000 in bonus money that he may not be able to get if he debuts on a less successful show. Alvarezs contract gave him a PPV bonus for his first UFC PPV fight, as well as for any championship fights he would have while under the eight-fight deal.
Linares wrote that to rule in his favor would require the judge to make speculative assumptions about what might or might not happen as a result of his participating in the April 27 event. Based on the record before it, the Court cannot make such an assumption.
Linares said that the difference between his appearing on FOX instead of Spike may be ruled by the judge or a jury that it was not an equal match. But he wrote that he could not at this point grant the injunction based on that and thus Alvarez didnt show a reasonable probability of success in the case.
Linares said he also could not rule that Bellator would breach the contract because they would be unable to run a PPV show. Bellator maintained that had Alvarez signed, they would have planned a 3/30 PPV show headlined by Michael Chandler vs. Alvarez for the lightweight title, but the deadline has passed to organize a show on that date.
Alvarezs options at this point are to either sign an eight fight deal with Bellator, to continue his case, but in doing so, he will have to remain out of action until it is settled, or sit out until 10/18, at which point the one-year matching period ends and he would be able to sign with UFC.
Bellator attorneys used an affidavit by Roy Langbord, an attorney who helped with the start of PPVs for Showtime boxing, and has also worked as a consultant for DirecTV and various promoters and has also produced shows. He argued that Spike has a background in airing MMA and FOX does not, and that it was Spikes telecasts that built the popularity of the sport. He also argued that the Spike core demographic of young men is a better fit toward potential MMA PPV buyers and Spike is a station where MMA fans would more likely look to see MMA. He noted that HBO, which has far fewer viewers and a smaller potential audience that either Spike or FOX, has been the television platform for the most successful PPVs. He also argued that Alvarez was only guaranteed one fight on FOX, while Bellator has guaranteed that all of his fights will air on Spike, which he claimed was a superior commitment. He also argued that the idea Bellator, Spike and Viacom couldnt market a PPV as well or better than FOX is incorrect. His claim is Spike was a better platform because virtually every home that gets Spike has PPV capability, while many homes that get FOX dont have PPV capabilities. But thats ridiculous because at best it would make them even, because virtually every home that gets PPV, and gets Spike, also gets FOX, and the viewership numbers for UFC shows on FOX are far larger than numbers Bellator can get on Spike. He also noted that UFC as a general rule did stronger PPV business while on Spike, which is true, but the decline also occurred while with Spike and the average went up this past year. He also claimed the next UFC PPV on 2/23 (Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche, actually the next show is on 2/2) he does not believe will do 200,000 buys.
The judge must not have done his homework if hes agreeing that Spike TV and FOX are the same platforms, said Dana White. Theyre so fucking far apart, its not even funny. Its two different fucking universes. I saw in their argument where they said, `Oh, Spike launches pay-per-views. No, actually they dont. Thats not true. We did. What theyre doing is, theyre saying not as much Spike, as Viacom, has been saying, `We built the UFC. No you fucking did not. No you did not, you arrogant pompous Jackass. You did not build the UFC.
White also couldnt understand how the judge couldnt see that matching the PPV percentage is not matching given the track record of UFC on PPV as compared with Bellator and all other MMA companies.
Its ridiculous, White said. I dont know how a court or a judge couldnt see that. And even if they said, `You know what, lets really dive into this thing. Lets see what the lowest PPV is the UFC has ever done. Lets see if we can find out what a low number is, what a high number is, and lets see if we can find a right number that Eddie Alvarez should be paid. Theres got to be some middle ground there. Say, okay, depending on what PPV he would have been on, this is maybe what he should have been paid. Find a middle ground, and pay the kid what he shouldve been paid. Theres nothing wrong with this whole situation as long as Eddie Alvarez gets paid.
He then said, You better think long and had if youre a manager or a fighter and youre about to do a deal with Bellator. Think long and hard about how you negotiate that contract.
The judge knows nothing about the TV business, or the PPV business. When they said Spike was equivalent to FOX, the guy should have shut the case down right there.
Itd be one thing if they were fighting to save their champion, but hes not even their champion and his contract is over. They have the right to match. So match the money. Its impossible for them to match our TV. Our prelims pull bigger numbers than their live fucking main events on cable, and their trying to say theyre the equivalent of being on FOX.
As far as Spike as a PPV platform, White said, You know Dixie from TNA. They love Dixie at Spike. She worked her ass off to build her business. I have nothing negative to say about her. They were on Spike. They get 1.8 million viewers and they cant sell a PPV.
White said they should just be fair to Alvarez, saying Viacom has the money to pay him, and that if they take the lowest UFC PPV number, and the highest, come to an average middle ground, and agree to pay him based on that number, then its a fair match.
They have the money to pay him. And they do have a right to match. I made an offer. They need to match it. Then people say, well that number doesnt make sense for them. The money Lorenzo was paying fighters didnt make sense when we were $44 million in the hole, but thats how you start a business. The whole thing is so fucked up. They can have him. Just pay him what hes supposed to be paid. You want to get into this business, welcome to the promoting business, pay the kid his money.
When Demetrious Johnson vs. John Dodson for the flyweight title was announced as the main event for the 1/26 show in Chicago at the United Center, it didnt sound good. The title was new. Johnson and Dodson hardly felt like big show headliners. They did have Rampage Jackson, a former major draw on the undercard, so in a sense the dynamic was similar to the successful 12/8 show. That card had Benson Henderson vs. Nate Diaz for the lightweight title, but that title is far more over then the flyweight belt, Henderson has had several main events on big shows over the years and Diaz is a name fighter who looked tremendous on FOX months earlier. They also had B.J. Penn, a similar-level star as Jackson, also at the end of his career.
But the show was a success in just about every way. The show did a 2.43 rating, way over nearly everyones predictions, drawing 4,219,000 viewers. It was the highest rated show on television, either network or cable, in all the key demos (People 18-34, People 18-49, Men 18-34, Men 18-49). Overall they did a 3.02 in Males 18-34 and 3.00 in Males 35-49. The average viewer age was 36, ten years younger than FOXs usual average for prime time programming, which is considered a positive in television. The 2.09 overall 18-34 rating was more than double that of any other show on television that night, and roughly four times that of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on NBC head-to-head. The show did a 1.17 in Women 18-49, which is far more than would be expected for a Saturday night show.
The numbers were a little down from the prior show, which did a 2.5 rating, 4.39 million viewers, 3.5 in Males 18-34 (third highest rated show in that demo of the week on network television behind only the NFL) and 4.5 in Males 35-49. The FX prelims did a 0.90 rating and 1,208,000 viewers, virtually identical with the 0.90 and 1,209,000 viewers the Dec. 8 show did.
The attendance was a near sellout 16,091 fans, of which about 14,000 were paid with a gate of $1,270,000.
From a business standpoint, the success of the December show in the Male 18-49 demo, which is what most of the advertisers are looking for, has strengthened the advertising base. The show sold out all its ad inventory at just over $100,000 per spot, significantly more than either major league baseball or college football (reportedly $75,000) get in a similar time slot on FOX.
There were 16 major national advertisers including Coca Cola, Geico, Chrysler, DirecTV and Sprint to go along with UFC regulars at Bud Light, along with a number of movies.
The goals of the show were to establish the flyweight title and make whoever came out as champion as a star. Like with Benson Henderson last month, its hard to say how much the perception of Johnson changed with so many viewers seeing his fight. We dont have the match-by-match numbers yet, but the card showed strong consistent growth from start-to-finish, with the main event doing 5.2 million viewers on FOX. It would tie for the 14th most watched MMA fight ever on U.S. television just based on those numbers. If you include the Spanish language viewership on Fox Deportes, it should end up 12th or higher. Johnson and Dodson have a fast, entertaining fight with Johnson coming across as a super fast, technical and innovative fighter who survived three second round knockdowns to take the decision by winning the last two rounds.
The fight was not without its controversy. The scores were 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47. In the fourth round, with Johnson down on two cards, he landed a knee to Dodsons head while Dodson had his hand on the ground. Whether you do or dont like the rule, the strategy is that you dont have to protect your head from kicks or knees in that position because they are illegal. Dodson was nailed, and shaken up. He was given a time out to recover, but Johnson was not docked a point by referee John McCarthy. It was a close call and clearly not intentional, and I wouldnt have taken a point away. But the reaction was almost split 50/50 on the call, and Dana White publicly said he thought a point should have been taken away. If it had, it goes from a win by Johnson to a majority draw. Still, there was no major controversy about who won, given our poll had 83% for Johnson, 9% for Dodson and 8% had it a draw.
While most felt the real main event was Jackson vs. Glover Teixeira, the fact was the audience did continue to increase for the title match, something the vast majority did not think would happen.
But when it was over, the star of the show was Anthony Pettis. Pettis, the former WEC lightweight champion, beat Benson Henderson for the title at the end of 2010 via decision in taking the final round with a springboard kick to the head that is on the all-time highlight reel. Pettis stopped Cowboy Donald Cerrone with a liver kick in 2:35. What made that notable is that Cerrone had 54 professional fighters, between kickboxing and MMA, and he had only been stopped once by submission, and never by strikes. Pettis beat him handily from the start, including delivering another blow where he springboarded off the cage and nailed Cerrone with a flying knee. When it was over, Pettis did a great interview, and challenged for a title match. Dana White said Pettis would get the shot at the winner of the 4/20 Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez match.
Jackson had talked all week that this was his final UFC fight. He had a good three-round fight. He showed up in a lot better condition than in prior fights, and did well standing with Teixeira as both men traded hard shots for most of the three rounds. Teixeira was able to take Jackson down at will, which was the surprise of the fight, and clearly won all three rounds in most eyes. While it was a good win for Teixeira, he didnt come out of the fight with the impression that you cant wait to see him against Jon Jones, which was the best case scenario of the match.
Ricardo Lamas beat Erik Koch, and established himself as a top featherweight contender. In an undercard match that also featured featherweight contenders, Clay Guida, debuting in the weight class, managed to take down Hatsu Hioki and keep him there much of the fight to win a split decision. Guida held Hioki down but wasnt able to get much meaningful offense in. Partially due to him being from Chicago, or perhaps largely, Guida was the most popular fighter on the show in the building. There were those who expected that Guida, just about the most popular mid-level fighter in the company, would have blown his status and been booed because of his performance in a boring main event with Gray Maynard last time in. He wasnt booed at all, but as a home town guy it maybe not be a fair test of how hes viewed overall. This wasnt an exciting fight. All three rounds were close so the decision could have gone either way, but our poll had 48% for Guida, 42% for Hioki, and 11% had it a draw.
The $50,000 bonuses went to Johnson and Dodson for best fight, Pettis for best knockout and Ryan Bader for best submission.
Judge Jose Linares of U.S. District Court in New Jersey on 1/25 ruled against Eddie Alvarez in his attempt to get an injunction that would allow him to sign a UFC contract and debut on the 4/27 show in Newark, NJ, at The Prudential Center.
Bellator had filed suit against Alvarez on 1/3, and Alvarez countered on 1/15, asking for a judge to rule him free to sign his UFC deal.
This has become a landmark case because they are arguing over what constitutes the right to match terms, which is in the standard contract of most top UFC and Bellator fighters. Fighters have signed with the belief that if their contract expires, and they can get a better deal elsewhere, either they can take it or, bring it back to their current employer, who would match the deal, which in most cases would be fine, given theyd make the same money either way.
But Alvarez and his attorneys argued that even though Bellator essentially copied the UFC contract verbatim, except putting Bellator in the place of UFC, and Spike in the place of FOX, that it was not a match on two grounds. The first is that FOX is more valuable to fight on than Spike, so it boosts the fighters career due to better exposure and they can get more money from sponsors. The second is that even if Bellator matches in the contract the PPV bonuses Alvarez was offered by UFC, thats essentially meaningless since theyve never run PPVs, and even if they did, the bonuses wouldnt be close. The bonus structure, where Alvarez would get $1 per buy from 200,000 to 399,999; $2 per buy from 400,000 to 599,000 and $2.50 per buy for 600,000 buys or more, mean nothing in reality from Bellator, which really has no chance of doing 200,000 buys.
Linares ruled that to grant the injunction, he would have to believe Alvarez had a strong chance of winning the case. While he didnt dismiss Alvarezs chances of eventually winning, he concluded that there was not a reasonable probability of success. He also ruled that Alvarez would not suffer irreparable harm if he wasnt granted the injunction, which would delay his debut until after the 4/27 show. The idea of the 4/27 show as his debut is that the Jon Jones vs. Chael Sonnen fight should be expected to do 600,000 buys, meaning Alvarez would make $600,000 in bonus money that he may not be able to get if he debuts on a less successful show. Alvarezs contract gave him a PPV bonus for his first UFC PPV fight, as well as for any championship fights he would have while under the eight-fight deal.
Linares wrote that to rule in his favor would require the judge to make speculative assumptions about what might or might not happen as a result of his participating in the April 27 event. Based on the record before it, the Court cannot make such an assumption.
Linares said that the difference between his appearing on FOX instead of Spike may be ruled by the judge or a jury that it was not an equal match. But he wrote that he could not at this point grant the injunction based on that and thus Alvarez didnt show a reasonable probability of success in the case.
Linares said he also could not rule that Bellator would breach the contract because they would be unable to run a PPV show. Bellator maintained that had Alvarez signed, they would have planned a 3/30 PPV show headlined by Michael Chandler vs. Alvarez for the lightweight title, but the deadline has passed to organize a show on that date.
Alvarezs options at this point are to either sign an eight fight deal with Bellator, to continue his case, but in doing so, he will have to remain out of action until it is settled, or sit out until 10/18, at which point the one-year matching period ends and he would be able to sign with UFC.
Bellator attorneys used an affidavit by Roy Langbord, an attorney who helped with the start of PPVs for Showtime boxing, and has also worked as a consultant for DirecTV and various promoters and has also produced shows. He argued that Spike has a background in airing MMA and FOX does not, and that it was Spikes telecasts that built the popularity of the sport. He also argued that the Spike core demographic of young men is a better fit toward potential MMA PPV buyers and Spike is a station where MMA fans would more likely look to see MMA. He noted that HBO, which has far fewer viewers and a smaller potential audience that either Spike or FOX, has been the television platform for the most successful PPVs. He also argued that Alvarez was only guaranteed one fight on FOX, while Bellator has guaranteed that all of his fights will air on Spike, which he claimed was a superior commitment. He also argued that the idea Bellator, Spike and Viacom couldnt market a PPV as well or better than FOX is incorrect. His claim is Spike was a better platform because virtually every home that gets Spike has PPV capability, while many homes that get FOX dont have PPV capabilities. But thats ridiculous because at best it would make them even, because virtually every home that gets PPV, and gets Spike, also gets FOX, and the viewership numbers for UFC shows on FOX are far larger than numbers Bellator can get on Spike. He also noted that UFC as a general rule did stronger PPV business while on Spike, which is true, but the decline also occurred while with Spike and the average went up this past year. He also claimed the next UFC PPV on 2/23 (Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche, actually the next show is on 2/2) he does not believe will do 200,000 buys.
The judge must not have done his homework if hes agreeing that Spike TV and FOX are the same platforms, said Dana White. Theyre so fucking far apart, its not even funny. Its two different fucking universes. I saw in their argument where they said, `Oh, Spike launches pay-per-views. No, actually they dont. Thats not true. We did. What theyre doing is, theyre saying not as much Spike, as Viacom, has been saying, `We built the UFC. No you fucking did not. No you did not, you arrogant pompous Jackass. You did not build the UFC.
White also couldnt understand how the judge couldnt see that matching the PPV percentage is not matching given the track record of UFC on PPV as compared with Bellator and all other MMA companies.
Its ridiculous, White said. I dont know how a court or a judge couldnt see that. And even if they said, `You know what, lets really dive into this thing. Lets see what the lowest PPV is the UFC has ever done. Lets see if we can find out what a low number is, what a high number is, and lets see if we can find a right number that Eddie Alvarez should be paid. Theres got to be some middle ground there. Say, okay, depending on what PPV he would have been on, this is maybe what he should have been paid. Find a middle ground, and pay the kid what he shouldve been paid. Theres nothing wrong with this whole situation as long as Eddie Alvarez gets paid.
He then said, You better think long and had if youre a manager or a fighter and youre about to do a deal with Bellator. Think long and hard about how you negotiate that contract.
The judge knows nothing about the TV business, or the PPV business. When they said Spike was equivalent to FOX, the guy should have shut the case down right there.
Itd be one thing if they were fighting to save their champion, but hes not even their champion and his contract is over. They have the right to match. So match the money. Its impossible for them to match our TV. Our prelims pull bigger numbers than their live fucking main events on cable, and their trying to say theyre the equivalent of being on FOX.
As far as Spike as a PPV platform, White said, You know Dixie from TNA. They love Dixie at Spike. She worked her ass off to build her business. I have nothing negative to say about her. They were on Spike. They get 1.8 million viewers and they cant sell a PPV.
White said they should just be fair to Alvarez, saying Viacom has the money to pay him, and that if they take the lowest UFC PPV number, and the highest, come to an average middle ground, and agree to pay him based on that number, then its a fair match.
They have the money to pay him. And they do have a right to match. I made an offer. They need to match it. Then people say, well that number doesnt make sense for them. The money Lorenzo was paying fighters didnt make sense when we were $44 million in the hole, but thats how you start a business. The whole thing is so fucked up. They can have him. Just pay him what hes supposed to be paid. You want to get into this business, welcome to the promoting business, pay the kid his money.
dream
Member
Spike TV today announced a Feb. 5 press conference involving UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture. It is being reported Couture will coach the first season of Bellator's new reality show, which starts filming next month.
Spike TV announced a press conference on Feb. 5 involving the establishment of a new partnership between the network and UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture.
It was reported on 1/29 by Loretta Hunt at SI.com, who was the co-author of Couture's autobiography, that Couture had signed a multi-year contract with the network involving several projects, with the first being an upcoming Bellator reality show.
Other sources in the fight community have confirmed Spike and Bellator had reached out to other retired legendary fighters to be coaches for the new show, which starts filming in early February. No name for the show, details, or when the show will air have been released by Spike. It is believed the show will include more than two coaches, and in that way differ from The Ultimate Fighter (TUF). It is also believed Spike and Viacom are offering significantly more money to coaches than they earned when The Ultimate Fighter was on Spike.
Court documents in the Eddie Alvarez contract dispute showed he was offered $100,000 to be a coach on the second season of the show. Sources close to the situation say Coutures contract was extremely lucrative, in a completely different ballpark from that figure.
Dana White said after the report that he was glad to see Couture go, saying that while he comes across publicly as a great guy, that hes not, and that he left without doing the final broadcast they had agreed to and that he and his management had been nightmares to deal with over the years.
When asked about the show a several weeks ago, Kevin Kay, the President of Spike TV, noted announcements would be coming and hinted they are hesitant to reveal key details or a time slot early.
During a career that ended with a loss to Lyoto Machida on April 30, 2011, in Toronto, Couture had two major splits with the organization. He defeated Maurice Smith for his first heavyweight title in his fourth pro fight on December 21, 1997, in Tokyo. But that version of UFC ran into financial difficulties. Couture never defended the title, and instead started fighting in Japan.
He returned three years later, just before the Fertitta Brothers and Dana White took over the floundering company, capturing the heavyweight title a second time from Kevin Randleman. During the early Zuffa run, Couture, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz were the company's three big stars, battling over the light heavyweight title, which was the company's marquee belt. In 2005, Couture and Liddell coached the first season of TUF on Spike, the television show that completely turned the fortunes of the sport around in the U.S.
After retiring in early 2006 while going through a messy divorce, Couture remained with the company as a broadcaster. But in 2007, he was brought out of retirement for a heavyweight title shot at Tim Sylvia.
He quit the promotion later that year, in an attempt to market a superfight with Fedor Emelianenko outside the UFC. He returned a year later after a costly legal battle that was going nowhere, losing the title to Brock Lesnar.
Couture had been on the FOX UFC broadcasts as an analyst, but was replaced on Saturday's show by Chael Sonnen.
Tammy Sytch, 39, was arrested for the same thing for the sixth time over the weekend when police were called and found her in Damien Darlings house in Brantford, CT on 1/25. She was charged with violating a court order to stay away from the house. What happened is that Sytch and Darling, who Sytch claimed were engaged a few weeks ago (as did Darling listing himself as engaged on his Facebook page, although he changed that a few days ago) when she got out of rehab on 1/5 and posted it on Facebook. An argument between the two of them apparently got way out of hand and he contacted police that she had violated the court order. Sytch filed counter charges for assault against him. According to Sytchs lawyer, Rob Serafinowicz, Sytch ended up with two broken ribs and bruises all over her body. Darling went to the police station on 1/28 and he was told that in the hospital, she had X-rays taken and her ribs were fine and he wasnt being charged with anything. One person close to Darling said he claimed she was out of control and she hit him over the head with a hammer when he called police. In court on 1/28, Serafinowicz claimed Darling had lured Sytch back to the house. Sytch, who called Darling her fiancé in court, claimed she self-medicated and drank the morning after being assaulted, saying in court that she didnt think it was fair because she was the one abused. When Sytch was picked up, she was treated by medical personnel and complained of breathing problems and was sent to the hospital. Serafinowicz said Sytch doesnt even have a car in Connecticut and Darling picked her up and brought her to the house and asked that she move back in and gave her an engagement ring. When Sytch was picked up, she told police he had given her a key and had been back living in the house for two weeks. According to the police report, Darling went to the police department and told them Sytch was inside his house again and police came and took Sytch away after finding her hiding in the shower in one of the bathrooms. Branford police captain Geoffrey Morgan testified that whether Darling invited her back to the house or not, the court would have had to allow it, noting whether she was brought there by him or invited there, she was still not allowed to be there. Morgan noted that its difficult because the person who brings you there is not subject to criminal charges and they tell everyone when there is that sort of an order in place, no matter what the victim says, they are still bound by the protective order as long as it exists. The order had been modified to allow them to talk on the phone. The warrants from her previous arrests talk of her frequently being drunk and at one point trying to choke him out using UFC moves. Sytch was told by the judge she was not allowed back in the house and she told him After what I just went through, I wont go back. The case was then continued until 2/7. Sytch, who still continues out-patient treatment, was arrested for the same thing five times previously in September and October. She was being held over the weekend on $100,000 bond.
After Quinton Jackson complained that he wasnt being treated fairly on money by UFC, Dana White revealed that Jackson had earned $15.2 million in his six years with the organization. That number doesnt include any cars or that monster truck that they got him, nor whatever sponsorship money he earned . Jacksons UFC contract expired with his fight and hes been saying for months that he was leaving because he felt he wasnt appreciated. Hes now lost three in a row. UFC has a three-month window where they can match any outside offer and legally keep him if they choose to do so, and with the issues with Bellator in the state they are, that could be interesting. Jackson would be the biggest name in Bellator if they could get him, but could they keep a guy who was making what hes been making happy? Jackson has talked like he wants to do boxing as well as MMA for another organization, but its very questionable if a boxing promoter would pay him what hes used to making. In MMA, with the Japanese market dried up as far as paying big money, Bellator may be the only option. But its not a lock if theyd be willing to break the bank for a fighter considered past his prime, but one that does have a lot of recognition. Plus, is Jackson willing to be part of a tournament where he fights three times in three months to go for a title? UFC is still interested in him because he is a name. Jackson, after losing to Glover Teixeira, said that having lost three times in a row, he doesnt feel hes a top-tier fighter, but still feels he can be a fighter who can deliver crowd pleasing fights. Going into this past weekend, Jackson had 11 fights in UFC, going 7-4. Of those, four were championship fights, two as a challenger, two as a champion. Ten of the 11 were on PPV, and Jackson has always had PPV points because UFC took over his contract from the WFA, which gave him a sweet PPV deal. Jacksons fights did approximately 3.96 million total buys. If you figure that his base pay was about $250,000 per fight, that leaves about $12.45 million in money paid by UFC. Some may have been a bonus when he signed a new contract or two. Hes also won five bonuses so if we average them at about $60,000, thats another $300,000. So lets go with about $12 million in PPV bonuses, or $1.2 million per fight on an average of 396,000 buys per show, so it would appear hes getting $3 per buy, which would be higher than any bonus system Im aware of. Three of those ten shows he wasnt even in the main event. It may be slightly less because his previous TV fight, with Dan Henderson, theres no way he wasnt being bonused significantly for doing the fight on TV because if hes usually getting seven figures, theres no way hes just getting $250,000 to face Henderson in a title fight and not complaining. When major names work TV instead of PPV, they are usually bonused to make it worth their while. One major name Im aware of had his people ask me about a prospective fight and what I thought it would do, and I think I said 600,000 at the time (the fight ended up not happening) and they told me with what they could get as a bonus for FOX, they hoped it would be on FOX and not PPV.
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney actually said he doesnt think the show will do 200,000 buys. Real interesting as its the first time Rebney has ever commented publicly on anything like this. I dont think many would agree with that prediction. There are negatives, in the sense they arent getting much mainstream sports coverage this week but thats always the case with the Super Bowl show, and many Super Bowl week shows have done well. I think its very clear the UFC/FOX vs. Spike/Bellator feud is going to get very nasty starting now, with the Alvarez case kicking off the public part of it.
Dana White this week reiterated that the ten fight contract with Anderson Silva was not signed, but is on the table and he expects it to happen. He also said Silva would fight both Jon Jones and Georges St-Pierre before retiring. Silva wants to fight, and his side has said theyd like for him to face either Luke Rockhold or Cung Le, saying they dont think Chris Weidman has a big enough name and they dont feel Vitor Belfort deserves another shot. The thing is, I dont know that Rockhold right now is any bigger name than Weidman. Le is a bigger name, but not by that much today. I also dont think theyll make even as much with Le as with Weidman because Id think Weidman, just because it could be sold better with promotion as a guy with a chance to win, would do a slightly better number. Weidman said he would be ready for fight on the July 4th weekend show, and UFC does need a big main event there. White said that Silva vs. Weidman is closer than most people think. White also said that hes leaning toward Josh Barnett in UFC but hasnt spoken with him. Im not shocked about this, but its one I could have seen, and kind of really expected, to go in the other direction. He also noted that at some point they would add a 115 pound weight class, but didnt indicate it was imminent.
White said that he was negotiating a Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko fight for Cowboys Stadium over the summer. He said it fell apart when Emelianenkos father died in August and he said that he made the decision he would never fight again. He said at that point Lesnar also told him that hes not interested in fighting again. Given that Lesnar had a one-year exclusive contract with WWE, if the fight was going to happen, it would have had to have been after April of this year (although those close to the situation at the time said Lesnar believed he would be able to do so earlier, but I find it impossible to believe Vince would sign off and allow Lesnar to be put in a shoot while under a WWE contract, nor that hed allow Lesnar to sign a contract that would give him the ability to do so). White said that he does believe both wont fight again and each made that clear to him. As noted, when Lesnar did not attend the Velasquez vs. Dos Santos fight that some close to the scene were expecting him to be at, that seemed to indicate he wasnt even going to use the tease of UFC as a bargaining chip). Those very close to the situation said that Lesnar had agreed to return for one last fight because it was Emelianenko, Cowboys Stadium and the belief it was going to be promoted as something larger than life. Lesnar was practically locked in by August according to one source close to the situation when White told him it wasnt happening. At that point he said he was retiring, because he was not interested in fighting anyone else. I think he probably felt even in his condition, that he was just too big and strong for a fading Fedor, plus there was no other big money match for him. Hed have to beat someone good and current to get to Dos Santos (champion) and the other big two, Velasquez and Overeem, beat him handily and the Overeem fight didnt even draw well at all by Lesnar standards which tells he was hurt as a draw significantly by the Velasquez loss. White said it was the late May meeting last year at the heavyweight show when Lesnar flew in, and after, White said it was the worst meeting possible and was lying at the time to throw people off scent. It may have also been that Lesnar didnt want it out that he was in talks given the time frame. But less than two weeks later, Mike Sawyer reported from a source that was 100% reliable within the company that they had a meeting (this was about ten days after the date of the first meeting, its possible there was a second meeting that nobody knew about, but timing would indicate it was the first dinner meeting after the 5/26 UFC press conference) and that Lesnar had verbally agreed to a fight before the end of 2012. Those close to Lesnar said Lesnar felt there was a contractual way he could fight. I just find that impossible to believe, because, as noted, I cant buy WWE would sign him and leave it open that he could fight, and get destroyed in a fight, in 2012. Perhaps it was a situation where there was a contractual situation where UFC could buy out his WWE contract, but I cant see any other way, nor can I see UFC taking it as face value he had that opening, given how the story went down with Lesnar, Vince McMahon and White in 2011. In that year, both McMahon and Undertaker thought Lesnar was okay to work Mania, shot the original angle at the UFC show, and then found out his UFC contract didnt allow it and White wouldnt agree to it.
Spike TV announced a press conference on Feb. 5 involving the establishment of a new partnership between the network and UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture.
It was reported on 1/29 by Loretta Hunt at SI.com, who was the co-author of Couture's autobiography, that Couture had signed a multi-year contract with the network involving several projects, with the first being an upcoming Bellator reality show.
Other sources in the fight community have confirmed Spike and Bellator had reached out to other retired legendary fighters to be coaches for the new show, which starts filming in early February. No name for the show, details, or when the show will air have been released by Spike. It is believed the show will include more than two coaches, and in that way differ from The Ultimate Fighter (TUF). It is also believed Spike and Viacom are offering significantly more money to coaches than they earned when The Ultimate Fighter was on Spike.
Court documents in the Eddie Alvarez contract dispute showed he was offered $100,000 to be a coach on the second season of the show. Sources close to the situation say Coutures contract was extremely lucrative, in a completely different ballpark from that figure.
Dana White said after the report that he was glad to see Couture go, saying that while he comes across publicly as a great guy, that hes not, and that he left without doing the final broadcast they had agreed to and that he and his management had been nightmares to deal with over the years.
When asked about the show a several weeks ago, Kevin Kay, the President of Spike TV, noted announcements would be coming and hinted they are hesitant to reveal key details or a time slot early.
During a career that ended with a loss to Lyoto Machida on April 30, 2011, in Toronto, Couture had two major splits with the organization. He defeated Maurice Smith for his first heavyweight title in his fourth pro fight on December 21, 1997, in Tokyo. But that version of UFC ran into financial difficulties. Couture never defended the title, and instead started fighting in Japan.
He returned three years later, just before the Fertitta Brothers and Dana White took over the floundering company, capturing the heavyweight title a second time from Kevin Randleman. During the early Zuffa run, Couture, Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz were the company's three big stars, battling over the light heavyweight title, which was the company's marquee belt. In 2005, Couture and Liddell coached the first season of TUF on Spike, the television show that completely turned the fortunes of the sport around in the U.S.
After retiring in early 2006 while going through a messy divorce, Couture remained with the company as a broadcaster. But in 2007, he was brought out of retirement for a heavyweight title shot at Tim Sylvia.
He quit the promotion later that year, in an attempt to market a superfight with Fedor Emelianenko outside the UFC. He returned a year later after a costly legal battle that was going nowhere, losing the title to Brock Lesnar.
Couture had been on the FOX UFC broadcasts as an analyst, but was replaced on Saturday's show by Chael Sonnen.
Tammy Sytch, 39, was arrested for the same thing for the sixth time over the weekend when police were called and found her in Damien Darlings house in Brantford, CT on 1/25. She was charged with violating a court order to stay away from the house. What happened is that Sytch and Darling, who Sytch claimed were engaged a few weeks ago (as did Darling listing himself as engaged on his Facebook page, although he changed that a few days ago) when she got out of rehab on 1/5 and posted it on Facebook. An argument between the two of them apparently got way out of hand and he contacted police that she had violated the court order. Sytch filed counter charges for assault against him. According to Sytchs lawyer, Rob Serafinowicz, Sytch ended up with two broken ribs and bruises all over her body. Darling went to the police station on 1/28 and he was told that in the hospital, she had X-rays taken and her ribs were fine and he wasnt being charged with anything. One person close to Darling said he claimed she was out of control and she hit him over the head with a hammer when he called police. In court on 1/28, Serafinowicz claimed Darling had lured Sytch back to the house. Sytch, who called Darling her fiancé in court, claimed she self-medicated and drank the morning after being assaulted, saying in court that she didnt think it was fair because she was the one abused. When Sytch was picked up, she was treated by medical personnel and complained of breathing problems and was sent to the hospital. Serafinowicz said Sytch doesnt even have a car in Connecticut and Darling picked her up and brought her to the house and asked that she move back in and gave her an engagement ring. When Sytch was picked up, she told police he had given her a key and had been back living in the house for two weeks. According to the police report, Darling went to the police department and told them Sytch was inside his house again and police came and took Sytch away after finding her hiding in the shower in one of the bathrooms. Branford police captain Geoffrey Morgan testified that whether Darling invited her back to the house or not, the court would have had to allow it, noting whether she was brought there by him or invited there, she was still not allowed to be there. Morgan noted that its difficult because the person who brings you there is not subject to criminal charges and they tell everyone when there is that sort of an order in place, no matter what the victim says, they are still bound by the protective order as long as it exists. The order had been modified to allow them to talk on the phone. The warrants from her previous arrests talk of her frequently being drunk and at one point trying to choke him out using UFC moves. Sytch was told by the judge she was not allowed back in the house and she told him After what I just went through, I wont go back. The case was then continued until 2/7. Sytch, who still continues out-patient treatment, was arrested for the same thing five times previously in September and October. She was being held over the weekend on $100,000 bond.
After Quinton Jackson complained that he wasnt being treated fairly on money by UFC, Dana White revealed that Jackson had earned $15.2 million in his six years with the organization. That number doesnt include any cars or that monster truck that they got him, nor whatever sponsorship money he earned . Jacksons UFC contract expired with his fight and hes been saying for months that he was leaving because he felt he wasnt appreciated. Hes now lost three in a row. UFC has a three-month window where they can match any outside offer and legally keep him if they choose to do so, and with the issues with Bellator in the state they are, that could be interesting. Jackson would be the biggest name in Bellator if they could get him, but could they keep a guy who was making what hes been making happy? Jackson has talked like he wants to do boxing as well as MMA for another organization, but its very questionable if a boxing promoter would pay him what hes used to making. In MMA, with the Japanese market dried up as far as paying big money, Bellator may be the only option. But its not a lock if theyd be willing to break the bank for a fighter considered past his prime, but one that does have a lot of recognition. Plus, is Jackson willing to be part of a tournament where he fights three times in three months to go for a title? UFC is still interested in him because he is a name. Jackson, after losing to Glover Teixeira, said that having lost three times in a row, he doesnt feel hes a top-tier fighter, but still feels he can be a fighter who can deliver crowd pleasing fights. Going into this past weekend, Jackson had 11 fights in UFC, going 7-4. Of those, four were championship fights, two as a challenger, two as a champion. Ten of the 11 were on PPV, and Jackson has always had PPV points because UFC took over his contract from the WFA, which gave him a sweet PPV deal. Jacksons fights did approximately 3.96 million total buys. If you figure that his base pay was about $250,000 per fight, that leaves about $12.45 million in money paid by UFC. Some may have been a bonus when he signed a new contract or two. Hes also won five bonuses so if we average them at about $60,000, thats another $300,000. So lets go with about $12 million in PPV bonuses, or $1.2 million per fight on an average of 396,000 buys per show, so it would appear hes getting $3 per buy, which would be higher than any bonus system Im aware of. Three of those ten shows he wasnt even in the main event. It may be slightly less because his previous TV fight, with Dan Henderson, theres no way he wasnt being bonused significantly for doing the fight on TV because if hes usually getting seven figures, theres no way hes just getting $250,000 to face Henderson in a title fight and not complaining. When major names work TV instead of PPV, they are usually bonused to make it worth their while. One major name Im aware of had his people ask me about a prospective fight and what I thought it would do, and I think I said 600,000 at the time (the fight ended up not happening) and they told me with what they could get as a bonus for FOX, they hoped it would be on FOX and not PPV.
Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney actually said he doesnt think the show will do 200,000 buys. Real interesting as its the first time Rebney has ever commented publicly on anything like this. I dont think many would agree with that prediction. There are negatives, in the sense they arent getting much mainstream sports coverage this week but thats always the case with the Super Bowl show, and many Super Bowl week shows have done well. I think its very clear the UFC/FOX vs. Spike/Bellator feud is going to get very nasty starting now, with the Alvarez case kicking off the public part of it.
Dana White this week reiterated that the ten fight contract with Anderson Silva was not signed, but is on the table and he expects it to happen. He also said Silva would fight both Jon Jones and Georges St-Pierre before retiring. Silva wants to fight, and his side has said theyd like for him to face either Luke Rockhold or Cung Le, saying they dont think Chris Weidman has a big enough name and they dont feel Vitor Belfort deserves another shot. The thing is, I dont know that Rockhold right now is any bigger name than Weidman. Le is a bigger name, but not by that much today. I also dont think theyll make even as much with Le as with Weidman because Id think Weidman, just because it could be sold better with promotion as a guy with a chance to win, would do a slightly better number. Weidman said he would be ready for fight on the July 4th weekend show, and UFC does need a big main event there. White said that Silva vs. Weidman is closer than most people think. White also said that hes leaning toward Josh Barnett in UFC but hasnt spoken with him. Im not shocked about this, but its one I could have seen, and kind of really expected, to go in the other direction. He also noted that at some point they would add a 115 pound weight class, but didnt indicate it was imminent.
White said that he was negotiating a Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko fight for Cowboys Stadium over the summer. He said it fell apart when Emelianenkos father died in August and he said that he made the decision he would never fight again. He said at that point Lesnar also told him that hes not interested in fighting again. Given that Lesnar had a one-year exclusive contract with WWE, if the fight was going to happen, it would have had to have been after April of this year (although those close to the situation at the time said Lesnar believed he would be able to do so earlier, but I find it impossible to believe Vince would sign off and allow Lesnar to be put in a shoot while under a WWE contract, nor that hed allow Lesnar to sign a contract that would give him the ability to do so). White said that he does believe both wont fight again and each made that clear to him. As noted, when Lesnar did not attend the Velasquez vs. Dos Santos fight that some close to the scene were expecting him to be at, that seemed to indicate he wasnt even going to use the tease of UFC as a bargaining chip). Those very close to the situation said that Lesnar had agreed to return for one last fight because it was Emelianenko, Cowboys Stadium and the belief it was going to be promoted as something larger than life. Lesnar was practically locked in by August according to one source close to the situation when White told him it wasnt happening. At that point he said he was retiring, because he was not interested in fighting anyone else. I think he probably felt even in his condition, that he was just too big and strong for a fading Fedor, plus there was no other big money match for him. Hed have to beat someone good and current to get to Dos Santos (champion) and the other big two, Velasquez and Overeem, beat him handily and the Overeem fight didnt even draw well at all by Lesnar standards which tells he was hurt as a draw significantly by the Velasquez loss. White said it was the late May meeting last year at the heavyweight show when Lesnar flew in, and after, White said it was the worst meeting possible and was lying at the time to throw people off scent. It may have also been that Lesnar didnt want it out that he was in talks given the time frame. But less than two weeks later, Mike Sawyer reported from a source that was 100% reliable within the company that they had a meeting (this was about ten days after the date of the first meeting, its possible there was a second meeting that nobody knew about, but timing would indicate it was the first dinner meeting after the 5/26 UFC press conference) and that Lesnar had verbally agreed to a fight before the end of 2012. Those close to Lesnar said Lesnar felt there was a contractual way he could fight. I just find that impossible to believe, because, as noted, I cant buy WWE would sign him and leave it open that he could fight, and get destroyed in a fight, in 2012. Perhaps it was a situation where there was a contractual situation where UFC could buy out his WWE contract, but I cant see any other way, nor can I see UFC taking it as face value he had that opening, given how the story went down with Lesnar, Vince McMahon and White in 2011. In that year, both McMahon and Undertaker thought Lesnar was okay to work Mania, shot the original angle at the UFC show, and then found out his UFC contract didnt allow it and White wouldnt agree to it.
dream
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Dana White said there will be more publicity for Rousey this coming month than for any fighter in the history of the company. He noted that every media outlet is looking at doing something. He said the Los Angeles Times has been following her for a month and will be doing a front page story the week of the fight. No fighter in the history of UFC will have the kind of coverage Ronda will have, noting that even Time magazine is doing a story. Right now, they dont appear to be that close on signing Cris Cyborg as White is having issues dealing with her manger, Tito Ortiz.
A series of female advocacy groups signed a petition to UFC saying they should remove Quinton Jackson from the weekend show, largely due to his actions with Karyn Bryant (who now works for the UFC and Fuel on UFC Tonight). Long before that, Jackson in an interview with her talked about wanting to motorboat her (this was with Bryants husband holding the camera) and there was an incident with another reporter where he was rubbing up against her just long enough that it went from some people thinking it was funny to kind of a bad situation. They also brought up his attempt at comedy in a parking garage where he was going to sneak up on a woman to demonstrate how to sexually assault a woman in a parking lot and then he tried the attack and the woman beat him up. It was clearly an attempt to be funny, but wasnt funny and came off bad. The letter said the UFC needs to start holding its fighters accountable for tier actions and adopt a meaningful code of conduct and told White that Misogynistic and sexist behavior can no longer be tolerated in the UFC. They sent the letter to Fox executives and UFC sponsors. A few hours later, as coincidence would have it, UFC held a press conference for the weekend show and White announced that Matt Hughes had retired and has taken a new role as the Vice President of Athletic Development and Government Relations, and that his job was to enforce the UFCs newly created code of conduct. It was very clear from the interview that Hughes did how that aspect had just happened. Hughes role will be to counsel fighters about their responsibilities as public figures, counsel them about paying taxes, managing their money, staying out of trouble, not doing physically risky endeavors that could injure them outside of the sport, staying away from PEDs as well as work with commissions on regulation giving them insight from a championship level fighter. The idea of having someone in that role is a sound one. I can tell you from people in other franchises that they have pushed on me the idea that UFC needed to create a position like this.
With all the talk about how Fuels ratings have increased greatly over the past year, and by percentage, theyve increased as much or more than any national station, Fuel is still one of the three lowest rated national stations of those who are actually rated by Neilsen, averaging an 0.0 prime time rating. In prime time for the year, Fuel averaged 40,000 viewers in 2012 (it gained to about 60,000 by the end of the year), beating only the Fox Soccer Channel at 31,000, and TR3S (a Spanish music channel) at 23,000.
In comparing UFC ratings to that of other major sports, the FOX shows get killed by the NFL, as does everything. It does less than top tier college football, the NBA playoffs, NCAA basketball tournament, top NASCAR races, The Masters, U.S. Open men, Ryder Cup and PGA Championships in golf, as well as the baseball championship series and the World Series. It beats the Stanley Cup finals. In the desired demo, it may beat some of them. The only other sports events that beat UFC on FOX for the year were the Olympics, the Kentucky Derby and the U.S. Open tennis womens finals (which did almost double the mens finals in 2012). Its notable how far the traditional media is when it comes to coverage when you look at what it beats. According to a Neilsen inset in this past weeks Sports Business Journal, viewers of UFC events were 9% more likely to remember advertisers on the television show when compared to other sports, which is now a strong selling point for them. For the first three UFC on FOX shows this past year, FOX garnered $3.6 million in ads for movies, $2.5 million for telephone wireless, $2.0 million for beer, $1.4 million for motorcycles and $1.3 million for cable networks.
Although the contract has not been signed as of the weekend, Lesnar has verbally agreed to terms for a new two-year contract extension that would take him through the 2015 WrestleMania show. As we noted, once the Survivor Series buy rate came in, it was a lock he was going to get a similar offer, but I was surprised they went with two years instead of one year because there is no lock that they can keep him special for that long, given the storylines of him quitting to explain him being gone get old after the second time. The terms are said to be similar both in money and in dates. The original contract was three PPV shows with a certain number of TV appearances leading up to the shows. Except for Rock, its the best deal in the company in the sense hes not going to make as much as Cena (but will probably make more than almost everyone else), but its an easier schedule. They are confident enough about the deal that they are making post-Mania merchandising plans that involve Lesnar. If hes staying, and its pretty much a given that he is, it makes no sense for him to lose to HHH at Mania as was the original plan, unless its to set up a face turn. Lesnar should turn face at some point and do some matches with Punk, but at the start of a two more year run seems early, particularly when Rock vs. Lesnar with Lesnar as a heel is a potential Mania main event. Given the money hes making, every match has to be a major guy and a money match. I can see Punk fitting that mold but if youre talking six dates, if Undertaker and/or Rock are possible, they are the biggest money opponents out there, probably followed by Cena, and maybe Punk and it drops off from there since I cant see a third HHH match. When last years Mania was over, the plan for this year was either Rock vs. Cena, with the title at stake to up the ante, or Rock vs. Lesnar. Rock making such a commitment to wrestling this year makes me think hes not planning on retiring after Mania. At that point, because he also has to be in a big money match or its not worth it, unless someone gets huge, not big, huge, thats Undertaker or Lesnar unless they bring Michaels out of retirement (which Michaels thus far has been very much against doing). Lesnar vs. Undertaker absolutely fits the bill, but with Undertakers physical condition, thats questionable if itll ever happen.
Even though it was announced months ago that Undertaker is returning for Mania, the word this week is it may not happen. According to those in the loop, hes uncertain about the show, which is a big deal because he was scheduled to be Punks opponent in what would have been the No. 2 match on the show. Not sure of a back-up plan given its right now not definite either way. The hold up is physical. Hes been hurting badly for years, but doesnt complain and tries to keep his injuries as quiet as possible. I know back in 1997 I can recall guys who worked with him telling me how hurt he was and even then they figured he only had a bout a year left, and even though its been several years since hes really worked any kind of a schedule, hes still around. I think part of the issue is that the last few years hes set a standard going out there and having a Match of the Year every time out. He could always come back for the pay day and fake his way through it, but wants to be able to give a WrestleMania performance and if he is done, last year is the kind of performance he could go out with. I always assume on the side that when push comes to shove he will do it until he officially pulls out.
A series of female advocacy groups signed a petition to UFC saying they should remove Quinton Jackson from the weekend show, largely due to his actions with Karyn Bryant (who now works for the UFC and Fuel on UFC Tonight). Long before that, Jackson in an interview with her talked about wanting to motorboat her (this was with Bryants husband holding the camera) and there was an incident with another reporter where he was rubbing up against her just long enough that it went from some people thinking it was funny to kind of a bad situation. They also brought up his attempt at comedy in a parking garage where he was going to sneak up on a woman to demonstrate how to sexually assault a woman in a parking lot and then he tried the attack and the woman beat him up. It was clearly an attempt to be funny, but wasnt funny and came off bad. The letter said the UFC needs to start holding its fighters accountable for tier actions and adopt a meaningful code of conduct and told White that Misogynistic and sexist behavior can no longer be tolerated in the UFC. They sent the letter to Fox executives and UFC sponsors. A few hours later, as coincidence would have it, UFC held a press conference for the weekend show and White announced that Matt Hughes had retired and has taken a new role as the Vice President of Athletic Development and Government Relations, and that his job was to enforce the UFCs newly created code of conduct. It was very clear from the interview that Hughes did how that aspect had just happened. Hughes role will be to counsel fighters about their responsibilities as public figures, counsel them about paying taxes, managing their money, staying out of trouble, not doing physically risky endeavors that could injure them outside of the sport, staying away from PEDs as well as work with commissions on regulation giving them insight from a championship level fighter. The idea of having someone in that role is a sound one. I can tell you from people in other franchises that they have pushed on me the idea that UFC needed to create a position like this.
With all the talk about how Fuels ratings have increased greatly over the past year, and by percentage, theyve increased as much or more than any national station, Fuel is still one of the three lowest rated national stations of those who are actually rated by Neilsen, averaging an 0.0 prime time rating. In prime time for the year, Fuel averaged 40,000 viewers in 2012 (it gained to about 60,000 by the end of the year), beating only the Fox Soccer Channel at 31,000, and TR3S (a Spanish music channel) at 23,000.
In comparing UFC ratings to that of other major sports, the FOX shows get killed by the NFL, as does everything. It does less than top tier college football, the NBA playoffs, NCAA basketball tournament, top NASCAR races, The Masters, U.S. Open men, Ryder Cup and PGA Championships in golf, as well as the baseball championship series and the World Series. It beats the Stanley Cup finals. In the desired demo, it may beat some of them. The only other sports events that beat UFC on FOX for the year were the Olympics, the Kentucky Derby and the U.S. Open tennis womens finals (which did almost double the mens finals in 2012). Its notable how far the traditional media is when it comes to coverage when you look at what it beats. According to a Neilsen inset in this past weeks Sports Business Journal, viewers of UFC events were 9% more likely to remember advertisers on the television show when compared to other sports, which is now a strong selling point for them. For the first three UFC on FOX shows this past year, FOX garnered $3.6 million in ads for movies, $2.5 million for telephone wireless, $2.0 million for beer, $1.4 million for motorcycles and $1.3 million for cable networks.
Although the contract has not been signed as of the weekend, Lesnar has verbally agreed to terms for a new two-year contract extension that would take him through the 2015 WrestleMania show. As we noted, once the Survivor Series buy rate came in, it was a lock he was going to get a similar offer, but I was surprised they went with two years instead of one year because there is no lock that they can keep him special for that long, given the storylines of him quitting to explain him being gone get old after the second time. The terms are said to be similar both in money and in dates. The original contract was three PPV shows with a certain number of TV appearances leading up to the shows. Except for Rock, its the best deal in the company in the sense hes not going to make as much as Cena (but will probably make more than almost everyone else), but its an easier schedule. They are confident enough about the deal that they are making post-Mania merchandising plans that involve Lesnar. If hes staying, and its pretty much a given that he is, it makes no sense for him to lose to HHH at Mania as was the original plan, unless its to set up a face turn. Lesnar should turn face at some point and do some matches with Punk, but at the start of a two more year run seems early, particularly when Rock vs. Lesnar with Lesnar as a heel is a potential Mania main event. Given the money hes making, every match has to be a major guy and a money match. I can see Punk fitting that mold but if youre talking six dates, if Undertaker and/or Rock are possible, they are the biggest money opponents out there, probably followed by Cena, and maybe Punk and it drops off from there since I cant see a third HHH match. When last years Mania was over, the plan for this year was either Rock vs. Cena, with the title at stake to up the ante, or Rock vs. Lesnar. Rock making such a commitment to wrestling this year makes me think hes not planning on retiring after Mania. At that point, because he also has to be in a big money match or its not worth it, unless someone gets huge, not big, huge, thats Undertaker or Lesnar unless they bring Michaels out of retirement (which Michaels thus far has been very much against doing). Lesnar vs. Undertaker absolutely fits the bill, but with Undertakers physical condition, thats questionable if itll ever happen.
Even though it was announced months ago that Undertaker is returning for Mania, the word this week is it may not happen. According to those in the loop, hes uncertain about the show, which is a big deal because he was scheduled to be Punks opponent in what would have been the No. 2 match on the show. Not sure of a back-up plan given its right now not definite either way. The hold up is physical. Hes been hurting badly for years, but doesnt complain and tries to keep his injuries as quiet as possible. I know back in 1997 I can recall guys who worked with him telling me how hurt he was and even then they figured he only had a bout a year left, and even though its been several years since hes really worked any kind of a schedule, hes still around. I think part of the issue is that the last few years hes set a standard going out there and having a Match of the Year every time out. He could always come back for the pay day and fake his way through it, but wants to be able to give a WrestleMania performance and if he is done, last year is the kind of performance he could go out with. I always assume on the side that when push comes to shove he will do it until he officially pulls out.
Maklershed
Member
Looks like you could juice oranges with the cap.
Or smash your skull on it once you realize you just spent x amount of dollars like an asshole on a perfume designed by an mma fighter.
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