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MMA-GAF |OT5| Father Time Is Undefeated
- Thread starter polyh3dron
- Start date
BigJonsson
Member
Sportsnet 360 will be showing the Gus fight at 3:00pm on Saturday 
Canada FTW
Canada FTW
get on that breh. MM putting on an acting clinic for 8 episodes.
bone_and_sinew
breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
MM gonna win an Oscar and Emmy in the same year
Lambda Pie
Banned
polyh3dron
Banned
We all know how exciting a Rampage fight ends up being when he proclaims his opponent as dead in the lead up to it.
Lambda Pie
Banned
Just caught pauly raging about WWE Network's framerate in a Metal Gear thread. Let it go, friend.
Jones is a tap dancer for sure. Even I don't have a problem with that post.
uhh boy
Jones is a tap dancer for sure. Even I don't have a problem with that post.
Maklershed
Member
I would've never guessed that I could readily see a 2014 Cro Cop on national tv but I have to watch the UFC LHW title contender fight on the internet.
I'm gonna go print 'Yaco Was Right' shirts.
I'm gonna go print 'Yaco Was Right' shirts.
Yep. Will watch CC instead. Sorry Dana.
People pirating it don't even care. The last card was on a Saturday and took until today to get an uploaded copy.
killamajig
Member
Construction on both sides of my block. Pipe burst in the middle of the street. Jackhammers, saws, regular hammers beeping trucks. Serenity now. Serenity now.
I feel ya. They were shaking the earth trying to bust through the frozen tundra near my house past 11pm last night. Ugh.
The one with the glorious rack? Is that in the last episode? I need to know, for research purposes.
Really need to start watching this show.
Best part is that my hood is either literally a fucking warzone or deathly quiet. For the last few months its been brutal. The dudes jackhammering made one of my paintings in the living room fall off the wall.
*edit* good friend viobod, i found the first part.
...and here I am watching Frank Underwood get drunk with his college buddy in a closed down library...
dream
Member
Ever since C.M. Punk walked out of the dressing room in Cleveland on 1/27, he has been the most talked about personality in the business.
For the last month plus, there have been all kinds of questions, and no real answers. Some people thought it was an angle from the start. If it was anyone but Punk, there would have been less thought in that direction. But he worked an angle in ROH when he was leaving for WWE developmental, making people think he was losing his title and leaving when he was still staying a few months longer, which some called the first Summer of Punk.
To a larger audience, his 2011 stint, which he still insists was not planned out at the start to turn out how it did, a similar scenario, telling people in advance his contract was up and he was leaving because of problems in the promotion, ended up making him the most talked about wrestler on a national basis and saw him surpass everyone but John Cena when it came to being a star.
It garnered him a win over Cena to take the title, in one of the more memorable matches of the last decade after he had convinced people he was leaving and that show was his last night with the company.
The idea that he would leave when his three-year contract was up in July was something he had talked about extensively with a number of friends in the industry. The idea he was going to leave wasn't a surprise. Many had told us he was as good as gone in July. A few were not surprised he left the day after the Royal Rumble. Still, the vast majority of those in the industry, no matter what the long-term was, believed he and Vince McMahon would come to an agreement to come back for WrestleMania. From his standpoint, there was a ton of money at stake. From the company's standpoint, he was one of their biggest commodities and they were embarking on not only the biggest show of the year, but perhaps the most important next few months since the end of the Monday Night Wars.
What was notable about this departure, unlike the others, was the complete silence. In 2011, while the title win over Cena was kept quiet, as was his agreeing to stay until he pinned Cena, his walkout with the belt and pipe bomb promo were very obviously clever storylines.
This year, it could have been the same thing. Raw on 3/3 in Chicago was going to tell the tale, in most people's thoughts. Many expected him back. Nobody knew. Even backstage, the response we got the day of the show is that he wasn't there, he wasn't scripted into the show, but nobody figured he would do anything but show up at the end, and noted that the show was scheduled to go unusually long. The expectation wasn't because of anything said, but just figuring out what would make sense for all concerned. There were the obvious mixed weekly signs. The company still had never made an announcement that he was suspended, even though he hadn't come back to work for more than a month. But Daniel Bryan was moved into Punk's planned spot at WrestleMania against HHH, and Christian moved into Bryan's spot, against Sheamus. Still, the Randy Orton vs. Batista world title match wasn't clicking to start with. Then Batista went heel in a promo that seemed to beg for Bryan to be moved into the title match. Without Bryan or Punk inserted into that match, it risked becoming the perfect ten year anniversary of the Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar match at WrestleMania 20.
It didn't take a booking rocket scientist to see that the way to end WrestleMania would be for Bryan to be in the match with Orton and Batista, and win at the end, before 70,000 fans and probably the largest audience ever to view a WrestleMania because of new technology, and to see how far Bryan could go when being given the real chance. And there were hints given all week between the nature of Batista's promos, and Batista helping lay out Bryan, that Batista vs. Bryan is a direction they are building to. More than ever before, the TV has been centered around Bryan as the top babyface, with Cena as the established star in a support role, which is a recent flip-flop. In addition, Stephanie McMahon did a backstage pass interview with her key line being that Bryan would never be a WrestleMania main eventer, which the way it was delivered, as a heel, would seem to indicate he would be.
Bryan being booked with HHH even if Punk was on the Mania card felt like a major missed opportunity, although there are very easy ways around that, booking that if Bryan wins over HHH, he's added to the title match.
As for Punk, the nuclear silence continued. For an angle, this would have been the best quality control I can ever think of. But if not an angle, he'd have been suspended long ago and while he may have been threatened with a contract breach for not talking, that wouldn't have prevented WWE from putting finality on his tenure, even if it was a short few sentence release.
The feeling was 3/3 would be the date that would tell the story, because Raw was in Chicago. That day came and went, with no Punk. Yet, Punk was the most talked about thing on the show, despite a title change and one of the company's best matches in a long time. The company encouraged chants for Punk early, with Paul Heyman holding up the mic, and later, John Cena encouraged them as well during his promo. Yes, in hindsight, it seems like they wanted people to get it out of their system since it was a given the chants would come and go the entire show.
The show was as much a wrestling show as a battle for control of the show. Upset fans vowed to hijack the show. Normally that means nothing, because the number of times you see planned fan revolts in sports usually end up embarrassing because of how poorly they work.
But WWE was clearly concerned, based on several things on the show. Bryan came out for a promo and his first words were how the company doesn't listen to its audience, the fans are making themselves heard and actually using the term, said we're going to hijack the show. The fans cheered, with the irony being they were rebelling against management by doing exactly what they were told to do in a promo scripted by management.
The show opened with "Cult of Personality," and a Paul Heyman promo. Fans were chanting for C.M. Punk. The announcers brought up Punk's name and talked about him. It was entirely different from the WWE's history in this sort of situation, when somebody was gone. It's one thing to learn from the mistakes made in burying Steve Austin in 2002 when he left under similar circumstances. But this was the opposite. When Heyman talked about Punk, it was in completely sympathetic terms, egging the fans on to support him saying that Punk was a guy who was never truly wanted in WWE, a guy they thought was too small to main event WrestleMania, didn't have the right look, and was the guy who would rebel against the system and the first family (McMahons). He said they didn't want him from day one and they don't want him now.
Obviously the idea was to encourage fans to chant for Punk as loud as they could, tell the fans he wasn't there, and get it out of their system. And it was also a way to get them riled up and then use that to garner a heel reaction for Brock Lesnar, which worked like a charm. The fans still chanted for Punk throughout the show. If anything, that promo was designed to make the fans stick around for the rest of the show (the loss of viewers from the start-to-finish on Raw was the lowest number since 12/9). Raw was also booked to be the longest show in recent memory, with the idea everyone would expect that return in the overrun, so they made it far longer than usual, with the idea of building up the most viewers. You could sense the Bryan vs. Batista main event was being built for a heel beat down on Bryan, since Randy Orton was out at ringside from the start, and HHH, Stephanie and Kane followed. The beat down happened. The whole crowd was chanting for Punk to make the save. The company knew full well the beat down on Bryan had to elicit that reaction.
One segment scripted into the show at one point was that Bad News Barrett was going to deliver the bad news that Punk wasn't there.
So the questions continue. If Punk isn't returning, why is everyone so quiet on the subject? If he is, why wasn't it in Chicago?
You would ask why would Batista vs. Orton still be seemingly on the books. They could announce that as late as the night of the show of a change, because from both the inside and outside, the idea of the show ending with Bryan as champion as the big Mania moment seems almost too easy given the current situation. On Raw, Bryan was in the ring at the end with both Batista and Orton out, and laid out by both Batista and HHH. The company is at this point playing the role of heels to their audience, with the idea that they are so arrogant they are giving them a title match they clearly don't want and a top of the WrestleMania card that could be easily tweaked to be better.
Is that a work to set up a big angle, since there are still four Raw's until WrestleMania? Or, because the entire business has changed, is it actually the feeling that they can do as they want. The draw of WrestleMania is still more WrestleMania itself. With the network and the low price, this year, the idea of the show more than anything on the show being the draw would be more than ever before. The lineup is now just the gravy on top and not the main course.
Key people in wrestling who have been in similar situations, Steve Austin, and Chris Jericho, who had all come and gone, were all expecting Punk to come back. Austin publicly said his walking out the way he did, very similar to how Punk did, was the biggest mistake of his career, and predicted a return before the show. Jim Ross thought there was too much money on the table for the sides to not work things out, and at least do WrestleMania. Jericho, who was the strongest of all, when asked on Twitter if Punk would be on the show, responded, "Absolutely."
For what it was worth, I saw so many mixed signs, which is good, because it was keeping people guessing. I was told by a major figure in the game, not their speculation, but they had been told it was 100% that Punk would be at the show. I was then told right after that they had been lied to. Aside from that, it's a subject that everyone is asking questions about because of the silence on the issue.
There are people in the company who were guessing, and they don't know, that Punk might be there next week in Memphis, with the idea now people actually do accept he's not coming back. Part of that is the unwavering belief that Vince McMahon is the master manipulator. But that's again because in wrestling, there is also the need to think everything is a work, especially when something garners this level of interest. The essential thought process is that Vince McMahon is too smart to make Batista vs. Orton a title match at WrestleMania, and that he'd be able to use his "Jedi mind tricks" to talk Punk into coming back to help with the Mania show. It was actually clever because most figured if Punk wasn't in Chicago, he's not coming back. And that very well could be the case. But they sure encouraged the chanting of his name and strengthened the talk about him for another week.
But it also could be that he quit and he's done. You could say coming back in Chicago was too easy. Chicago would have been fun, but timing-wise, he's got plenty of weeks left, and the longer it goes, the better it is. But now we're getting to the point of over thinking. Still, there is a precedent for that. In 2007, they did a long build-up for Chris Jericho's return, which was to be at the No Mercy PPV, in Chicago. Because word had gotten out so strongly, Vince McMahon actually delayed the return, which, in hindsight, missed the peak given how rabid the Chicago fans were that night to see Jericho, not that it made any great difference in the long run.
Or Punk isn't laughing at all, and all this attention is for something going nowhere.
As for WrestleMania itself, the undercard looks to be taking shape with Sheamus vs. Christian and Jack Swagger vs. Cesaro being angles teased for potential undercard matches. It also could be a three-way with those two, and Big E, involving the IC title. The Shield is imploding in some fashion, but with Wyatt and the family linked with Cena, a Shield battle amongst themselves could be in the cards. A.J. Lee submitted to Natalya at the Smackdown tapings in a tag match, which was the first tease of a Divas title direction.
For the last month plus, there have been all kinds of questions, and no real answers. Some people thought it was an angle from the start. If it was anyone but Punk, there would have been less thought in that direction. But he worked an angle in ROH when he was leaving for WWE developmental, making people think he was losing his title and leaving when he was still staying a few months longer, which some called the first Summer of Punk.
To a larger audience, his 2011 stint, which he still insists was not planned out at the start to turn out how it did, a similar scenario, telling people in advance his contract was up and he was leaving because of problems in the promotion, ended up making him the most talked about wrestler on a national basis and saw him surpass everyone but John Cena when it came to being a star.
It garnered him a win over Cena to take the title, in one of the more memorable matches of the last decade after he had convinced people he was leaving and that show was his last night with the company.
The idea that he would leave when his three-year contract was up in July was something he had talked about extensively with a number of friends in the industry. The idea he was going to leave wasn't a surprise. Many had told us he was as good as gone in July. A few were not surprised he left the day after the Royal Rumble. Still, the vast majority of those in the industry, no matter what the long-term was, believed he and Vince McMahon would come to an agreement to come back for WrestleMania. From his standpoint, there was a ton of money at stake. From the company's standpoint, he was one of their biggest commodities and they were embarking on not only the biggest show of the year, but perhaps the most important next few months since the end of the Monday Night Wars.
What was notable about this departure, unlike the others, was the complete silence. In 2011, while the title win over Cena was kept quiet, as was his agreeing to stay until he pinned Cena, his walkout with the belt and pipe bomb promo were very obviously clever storylines.
This year, it could have been the same thing. Raw on 3/3 in Chicago was going to tell the tale, in most people's thoughts. Many expected him back. Nobody knew. Even backstage, the response we got the day of the show is that he wasn't there, he wasn't scripted into the show, but nobody figured he would do anything but show up at the end, and noted that the show was scheduled to go unusually long. The expectation wasn't because of anything said, but just figuring out what would make sense for all concerned. There were the obvious mixed weekly signs. The company still had never made an announcement that he was suspended, even though he hadn't come back to work for more than a month. But Daniel Bryan was moved into Punk's planned spot at WrestleMania against HHH, and Christian moved into Bryan's spot, against Sheamus. Still, the Randy Orton vs. Batista world title match wasn't clicking to start with. Then Batista went heel in a promo that seemed to beg for Bryan to be moved into the title match. Without Bryan or Punk inserted into that match, it risked becoming the perfect ten year anniversary of the Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar match at WrestleMania 20.
It didn't take a booking rocket scientist to see that the way to end WrestleMania would be for Bryan to be in the match with Orton and Batista, and win at the end, before 70,000 fans and probably the largest audience ever to view a WrestleMania because of new technology, and to see how far Bryan could go when being given the real chance. And there were hints given all week between the nature of Batista's promos, and Batista helping lay out Bryan, that Batista vs. Bryan is a direction they are building to. More than ever before, the TV has been centered around Bryan as the top babyface, with Cena as the established star in a support role, which is a recent flip-flop. In addition, Stephanie McMahon did a backstage pass interview with her key line being that Bryan would never be a WrestleMania main eventer, which the way it was delivered, as a heel, would seem to indicate he would be.
Bryan being booked with HHH even if Punk was on the Mania card felt like a major missed opportunity, although there are very easy ways around that, booking that if Bryan wins over HHH, he's added to the title match.
As for Punk, the nuclear silence continued. For an angle, this would have been the best quality control I can ever think of. But if not an angle, he'd have been suspended long ago and while he may have been threatened with a contract breach for not talking, that wouldn't have prevented WWE from putting finality on his tenure, even if it was a short few sentence release.
The feeling was 3/3 would be the date that would tell the story, because Raw was in Chicago. That day came and went, with no Punk. Yet, Punk was the most talked about thing on the show, despite a title change and one of the company's best matches in a long time. The company encouraged chants for Punk early, with Paul Heyman holding up the mic, and later, John Cena encouraged them as well during his promo. Yes, in hindsight, it seems like they wanted people to get it out of their system since it was a given the chants would come and go the entire show.
The show was as much a wrestling show as a battle for control of the show. Upset fans vowed to hijack the show. Normally that means nothing, because the number of times you see planned fan revolts in sports usually end up embarrassing because of how poorly they work.
But WWE was clearly concerned, based on several things on the show. Bryan came out for a promo and his first words were how the company doesn't listen to its audience, the fans are making themselves heard and actually using the term, said we're going to hijack the show. The fans cheered, with the irony being they were rebelling against management by doing exactly what they were told to do in a promo scripted by management.
The show opened with "Cult of Personality," and a Paul Heyman promo. Fans were chanting for C.M. Punk. The announcers brought up Punk's name and talked about him. It was entirely different from the WWE's history in this sort of situation, when somebody was gone. It's one thing to learn from the mistakes made in burying Steve Austin in 2002 when he left under similar circumstances. But this was the opposite. When Heyman talked about Punk, it was in completely sympathetic terms, egging the fans on to support him saying that Punk was a guy who was never truly wanted in WWE, a guy they thought was too small to main event WrestleMania, didn't have the right look, and was the guy who would rebel against the system and the first family (McMahons). He said they didn't want him from day one and they don't want him now.
Obviously the idea was to encourage fans to chant for Punk as loud as they could, tell the fans he wasn't there, and get it out of their system. And it was also a way to get them riled up and then use that to garner a heel reaction for Brock Lesnar, which worked like a charm. The fans still chanted for Punk throughout the show. If anything, that promo was designed to make the fans stick around for the rest of the show (the loss of viewers from the start-to-finish on Raw was the lowest number since 12/9). Raw was also booked to be the longest show in recent memory, with the idea everyone would expect that return in the overrun, so they made it far longer than usual, with the idea of building up the most viewers. You could sense the Bryan vs. Batista main event was being built for a heel beat down on Bryan, since Randy Orton was out at ringside from the start, and HHH, Stephanie and Kane followed. The beat down happened. The whole crowd was chanting for Punk to make the save. The company knew full well the beat down on Bryan had to elicit that reaction.
One segment scripted into the show at one point was that Bad News Barrett was going to deliver the bad news that Punk wasn't there.
So the questions continue. If Punk isn't returning, why is everyone so quiet on the subject? If he is, why wasn't it in Chicago?
You would ask why would Batista vs. Orton still be seemingly on the books. They could announce that as late as the night of the show of a change, because from both the inside and outside, the idea of the show ending with Bryan as champion as the big Mania moment seems almost too easy given the current situation. On Raw, Bryan was in the ring at the end with both Batista and Orton out, and laid out by both Batista and HHH. The company is at this point playing the role of heels to their audience, with the idea that they are so arrogant they are giving them a title match they clearly don't want and a top of the WrestleMania card that could be easily tweaked to be better.
Is that a work to set up a big angle, since there are still four Raw's until WrestleMania? Or, because the entire business has changed, is it actually the feeling that they can do as they want. The draw of WrestleMania is still more WrestleMania itself. With the network and the low price, this year, the idea of the show more than anything on the show being the draw would be more than ever before. The lineup is now just the gravy on top and not the main course.
Key people in wrestling who have been in similar situations, Steve Austin, and Chris Jericho, who had all come and gone, were all expecting Punk to come back. Austin publicly said his walking out the way he did, very similar to how Punk did, was the biggest mistake of his career, and predicted a return before the show. Jim Ross thought there was too much money on the table for the sides to not work things out, and at least do WrestleMania. Jericho, who was the strongest of all, when asked on Twitter if Punk would be on the show, responded, "Absolutely."
For what it was worth, I saw so many mixed signs, which is good, because it was keeping people guessing. I was told by a major figure in the game, not their speculation, but they had been told it was 100% that Punk would be at the show. I was then told right after that they had been lied to. Aside from that, it's a subject that everyone is asking questions about because of the silence on the issue.
There are people in the company who were guessing, and they don't know, that Punk might be there next week in Memphis, with the idea now people actually do accept he's not coming back. Part of that is the unwavering belief that Vince McMahon is the master manipulator. But that's again because in wrestling, there is also the need to think everything is a work, especially when something garners this level of interest. The essential thought process is that Vince McMahon is too smart to make Batista vs. Orton a title match at WrestleMania, and that he'd be able to use his "Jedi mind tricks" to talk Punk into coming back to help with the Mania show. It was actually clever because most figured if Punk wasn't in Chicago, he's not coming back. And that very well could be the case. But they sure encouraged the chanting of his name and strengthened the talk about him for another week.
But it also could be that he quit and he's done. You could say coming back in Chicago was too easy. Chicago would have been fun, but timing-wise, he's got plenty of weeks left, and the longer it goes, the better it is. But now we're getting to the point of over thinking. Still, there is a precedent for that. In 2007, they did a long build-up for Chris Jericho's return, which was to be at the No Mercy PPV, in Chicago. Because word had gotten out so strongly, Vince McMahon actually delayed the return, which, in hindsight, missed the peak given how rabid the Chicago fans were that night to see Jericho, not that it made any great difference in the long run.
Or Punk isn't laughing at all, and all this attention is for something going nowhere.
As for WrestleMania itself, the undercard looks to be taking shape with Sheamus vs. Christian and Jack Swagger vs. Cesaro being angles teased for potential undercard matches. It also could be a three-way with those two, and Big E, involving the IC title. The Shield is imploding in some fashion, but with Wyatt and the family linked with Cena, a Shield battle amongst themselves could be in the cards. A.J. Lee submitted to Natalya at the Smackdown tapings in a tag match, which was the first tease of a Divas title direction.
dream
Member
The era of testosterone replacement therapy looks to be coming to an end in MMA, as the dominos starting falling when the Nevada State Athletic Commission voted 5-0 on 2/27 to no longer allow any therapeutic use exemptions.
Almost immediately, Dana White said he applauded the decision and the UFC said on overseas shows where they handle the drug testing, they would follow suit, no longer allowing exemptions. The next day, the Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission, known as CABMMA, announced it was following suit.
The subject had been controversial, partially due to the success of Vitor Belfort, who rejuvenated his career in 2013 with head kick knockouts of Michael Bisping, Luke Rockhold and Dan Henderson, making him the No. 1 contender at middleweight.
Reporters covering UFC had largely decried usage, mostly due to the number of TUE's for testosterone among top MMA fighters being so much of a higher percentage than any other sport. The need for such therapy is rare among healthy men in their 30s, well under one out of 1,000, but that increases dramatically when long-term steroid use is put into the equation. The question becomes, since steroid use is illegal in MMA, even though it is widespread, should cheaters get the benefit of therapy to undo the damage?
TRT has become an MMA subject, but therapeutic use exemptions for testosterone aren't banned in any sport, but no other sport had as many exemptions. The argument that the low testosterone levels come from knockouts (a theory espoused but unproven) would indicate that the NFL and boxing should have a similar situation, which isn't the case. If it's from years of weight-cutting (another theory espoused but unproven), Olympic sports like judo and wrestling would have similar issues, and they don't. Even if it's mostly from prior steroid use, a link that is proven, steroid use is rampant in other sports, far more than in MMA, and yet at the last Olympics, where such exemptions for legitimate medical issues are legal, not one was given. TUE's for testosterone were allowed in WWE when they started testing for steroids in 2006. After what happened with Chris Benoit, who had such an exemption and had used it to jack himself up to being 59.4-1 in his T:E ratio at the time of his death (actual testosterone in his body was reported at his death as being ten times that of a normal person, the radio was out of whack because his body wasn't producing hardly any epi-testosterone due likely to long-term steroid usealthough it was actually five times that of a normal person of his age), WWE began cracking down. They implemented something that made sense, banning anyone in the future from getting an exemption, but those who had been approved, because they may have damaged their endocrine systems permanently, would be grand fathered in. Wording in WWE's drug testing program changed again last summer, and TUE's are now once again allowed.
But one of the first dominos that fell wasn't an athletic commission following Nevada's lead, but just hours later, it was announced that Belfort was out of his title fight on 5/24 in Las Vegas with Chris Weidman, and being replaced by Lyoto Machida.
The Belfort story only got stronger.
On Fox Sports 1's news show, a statement, attributed to Belfort, explaining his pulling out said: "The Nevada State Athletic Commission recently altered its policy and no longer will permit testosterone use exemptions, and will not permit a TRT program. As other jurisdictions may follow suit, I am going to drop my TRT program and compete in MMA without it. Given the time constraints involved between now and my proposed next bout in May, I have determined not to apply for a license to fight in Nevada at this time."
However, the next day, Belfort claimed he never pulled out of the fight and it was the UFC's decision.
"Vitor Belfort didn't give up on the fight. He was forced to give it up. I never gave up on (the) UFC 173 fight, and never said that. Any information about it in the media is not true. What I said was that I'll quit on TRT, and not quit on the fight, to continue my dream to fight."
But he did say he would need time to get his body acclimated to no longer using TRT. He said he expects to face the Weidman vs. Machida winner.
"The UFC has decided to put another opponent in my place because of the fact that I won't have time to suit NSAC's new rules. According to the UFC, I will fight the winner of Weidman vs. Lyoto under the athletic commission new rules."
Lorenzo Fertitta did tell Kevin Iole that with Belfort not licensed, and all the things he'd have to go through to be licensed, there was a timing issue involved.
Belfort later said that it would take him about three months for his body to recover from the lack of TRT, before he could train at the level he was training at. He attributed that to a doctor that he didn't name.
That three month period would take him past 5/24.
Both the idea that his body wouldn't be ready by 5/24 and any kind of delay in his license application could push things past advertising deadlines both are legitimate. There is a recovery period of sluggishness, being weakened, and losing aggressiveness, all traits horrible for a fighter. The artificial testosterone leads to the body cutting way back on its natural production. Then, when left only with the low natural production, there is a recovery period.
However, if a fighter can recover from TRT, it makes no sense for TRT to have been used in the first place. TRT should be limited to the few who have serious medical issues that have caused their body to shut down production for reasons that are not of their doing, and to where it is a health risk to not have artificial testosterone.
Dan Henderson, who has been on TRT in fights dating back to 2007, one of the few who publicly disagreed with the decision, said that you wouldn't not allow insulin (which, particularly when used with Growth Hormone, is a PED) to diabetics. But even Henderson's situation has questions. Last year, when Henderson fought in Manitoba, where TRT was banned, he claimed to have gone into his fight with Rashad Evans without it. He lost a split decision to one of the best light heavyweights in the world. If he could be a competitive athlete at that level without it, it questions his need for it.
Plus, you have to figure that no matter what people say publicly, that those who were able to use the loophole and were doing it to game the system, as opposed to doing it for legitimate medical need, are going to continue to do so. There are athletes who beat the most comprehensive drug testing in the world at the Olympic level, so those who want to, are easily beating the one test on the day of competition procedure.
The reality was that the guys who applied only made it harder on themselves because both UFC and the commissions were testing those people about once a week during the training period leading up to the fight. Belfort was given a random and unannounced drug test a few weeks ago, when he came to Nevada for the World MMA Awards. Rumors about the result of the test abounded before Nevada banned TRT. Since Belfort had not yet applied for a Nevada license, the commission, which has the results of the test, can not legally reveal the results. If Belfort was a licensed fighter, the test results become public record. If he were to apply for a license, a failed test would likely lead to a denial, and the results would become public in the hearing. Belfort himself can release the results. His attorney, when directly asked the results, failed to answer and had refused to reveal them. This led to obvious rampant speculation.
The Association of Boxing Commissions Medical Advisory board was expected to make its own recommendations on TRT at the 2014 convention. Given that New Jersey, the other most influential U.S. commission, came out against an outright ban, although wanted to greatly tighten up on the procedures needed to get a TUE, the belief was that would have been the recommendation. Right now, each state has its own procedures. New Jersey only granted three TUE's, two of which were given because they were respecting the Nevada commission, and the third, for Nate Marquardt, they later rescinded when tests came back with Marquardt having used well over the allowable limit, which resulted in the UFC firing Marquardt (he's since returned).
While the idea that everyone and their brother was getting legalized steroids wasn't the case. Only seven fighters on the current UFC roster were believed to have active TUE's for TRT-- Chael Sonnen, Belfort, Ben Rothwell, Antonio Silva, Henderson, Todd Duffee and Frank Mir. Only Belfort has performed remarkably different.
Belfort's TUE was from a diagnosis by Dr. Marcio Tannure of CABMMA. Tannure's mentality at the time was that he was lauding TRT as an advance in science that would allow athletes to compete at high levels later in life. Belfort being allowed was the most controversial because, while in the cases of some, where the belief was long-term steroid use may have resulted in the low testosterone readings, Belfort and Antonio Silva (the one fighter who clearly has medical need for it, but his case has its controversies) had prior steroid test failures. The impetus of Nevada's ban was, while nobody will say it, a reaction to Belfort saying he would apply for a TUE in the state and them deciding to have rules in place ahead of time to handle the situation. Belfort said he began using TRT in 2011, since which time he's fought six times, once in Philadelphia, once in Toronto, and four times in Brazil. UFC was criticized for hiding Belfort in Brazil over the past year, keeping him out of states with strong commissions. But the reality is that Belfort was the second biggest MMA star in Brazil, behind only Anderson Silva, and with UFC regularly running that market, it only made business sense for Belfort to fight there, unless it was to challenge for a championship on a major PPV, in which case business sense would have dictated Las Vegas.
Henderson will have his TUE still allowed because he was already in the home stretch for his 3/23 fight in Natal, Brazil against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and was approved for use some time back. However, Sonnen will not be allowed a TUE for his scheduled 5/31 fight in Sao Paulo, Brazil, against Wanderlei Silva.
Antonio Silva, is the one fighter who very clearly, has medical need. The operation to remove the tumor on his pituitary gland, which gave him acromegaly, resulted in his body producing dangerously low levels of testosterone. Low testosterone in someone with acromegaly leads to significant health risks, including bone problems, and odds of 50 percent of getting diabetes within one year. But there are issues with Silva, since his test levels were above the allowed high using TRT in a test taken the day of his fight with Mark Hunt, which is why he's currently suspended. He also had a prior failure for Boldenone, although it was claimed at the time he got that from using a form of Novaldex, a drug used to suppress estrogen in the body that had caused him to actually lactate due to his low testosterone after the surgery.
Joe Rogan was on KROQ radio in Los Angeles over the weekend and when the hosts brought up Ronda Rousey, Rogan said he knew something really big about someone who would be real competition and huge, but could say nothing more, past that he expected it to become public within a week. Given there would be only two options of something really huge for Rousey, and that would be Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg, the former highly unlikely and the latter clearly wanting to come in, that certainly implied Cyborg. Dana White, when contracted, blew off the notion of Carano.
Rashad Evans had surgery for the torn ACL which put him out of the 2/22 match with Daniel Cormier. Evans suffered the injury in training just before doing the UFC conference call. I noted that he seemed not himself, and he admitted that he was worried at the time, but he didn't realize the seriousness of the injury at the time of the call. The timetable of him being able to fight would be maybe October or November. The surgery repaired the ACL and also cleaned out problems with the meniscus. Evans noted he's never in his athletic career had a serious injury before this.
This week's show is 3/8 from the O2 Arena in London. The show starts at 12:30 p.m. with Louis Gaudinot vs. Phil Harris, Igor Araujo vs. Danny Mitchell, Davey Grant vs. Roland Delorme, Brad Scott vs. Claudio Henrique da Silva, Mats Nilsson vs. Luke Barnatt, Cyrille Diabate vs. Ilir Latifi, Omari Akhmedov vs. Gunnar Nelson, Brad Pickett vs. Neil Seery, Michael Johnson vs. Melvin Guillard and Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jimi Manuwa. The show will air live on TV in the U.K. at 7:30 p.m. on BT Sports as all the shows do, but they are also going live from 9-11 p.m. on both BT and Ch. 5. They're also live on Fight Pass which will be available in the U.K. for that matter. That's a big deal because with Ch. 5 exposure, they'll blow away any audience they've ever had in that country, since that station averages 1 million viewers in that time slot. They did three boxing shows in that time slot in 2013 which ranged between 880,000 to 1.54 million (for a Tyson Fury fight, and Fury had one fight previously in that slot that topped 2 million viewers). The show will air the main event, plus the best matches from the undercard. Both channels will get the same feed from UFC, but each will have their own in-studio hosts between bouts. This is the first of a new deal where Ch. 5 will air six shows live this year in prime time, all of which will be shows from Europe and I believe the 4/11 show from Abu Dhabi is included as part of the deal. As far as exposure goes, this is the biggest TV deal the company has had in the modern era. Ch. 5 is equivalent to a network in the U.S., although it's the fifth most watched network out of the five free-to-air stations in the country. The audience should dwarf anything WWE does and anything UFC has ever done. When UFC was on Setanta, a big show could do 200,000 viewers and that number dwindled on the weaker ESPN show, and is even lower on BT, which really only draws the hardcores since it's a start-up station.
UFC did have some late night appearances on Ch. 5 for taped shows in the past, when the company was hotter, and they were doing 700,000 viewers for several month old taped shows out of prime time.
While not announced yet, there is a talked about plan for the first time ever, for UFC to do two shows in a weekend in the same location, which will be in conjunction with the July 4th Fight Expo and also the Wrestling Observer/Figure Four annual convention. There will be a 7/5 PPV show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and a 7/6 FS 1 show. That will also probably be at the MGM Grand and there is talk of having combo tickets. That can be a risky undertaking as in most cases when I've seen people try and run back-to-back in the same location (obviously WrestleMania Sunday and Monday being the exception), whichever show is the secondary one doesn't do well. The 7/6 show will likely be the finals of the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, and be headlined by the coach's challenge fight with B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar at featherweight.
They announced an 8/23 show back in Macao at the Cotai Arena. For them to go back so soon to a relatively small arena in a place they really don't have much of a fan base must mean either The Venetian is paying them big to come in or their TV deal requires them to do regular shows in the market. They also announced a show on 9/20 at the Saitama Super Arena. This year's Japan show will not be a PPV.
Benson Henderson said, according to Ariel Helwani on UFC Tonight, that he would welcome a fight with Rustam Khabilov. In most cases, a guy ranked No. 1 in the division wouldn't want to fight a guy who is barely top 15, but most of the other lightweights are unavailable and he'd like to fight in a few months.
Nate Diaz asked on Twitter to be released from his contract. I just don't see UFC releasing a guy to allow him to fight elsewhere.
Nick Diaz has asked for the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Johny Hendricks. Diaz, coming off two straight losses to Carlos Condit and GSP, is not likely to get that shot.
Cung Le, 41, had three elbow operations over a four month period but would like to finish the three fights left on his contract. He said he's finally feeling good and can lift weights the way he wants to. The UFC is looking at returning to Macau in August but Le said he would rather not headline the show because he would prefer at this stage to fight three round fights.
They are close to finalizing a deal to run in The Philippines. They are also looking at a Southeast Asia version of the Ultimate Fighter.
Junior Dos Santos vs. Stipe Miocic has been added as the No. 2 match behind Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida on the 5/24 show in Las Vegas. That's the fight they wanted for Alistair Overeem, who turned down the fight due to a rib injury. Takeya Mizugaki vs. T.J. Dillashaw in a bantamweight match that could determine who loses later this year to Renan Barao, was also added. Other bouts announced this week were former TUF winner Tony Ferguson vs. Katsunori Kikuno, Al Iaquinta vs. Mitch Clark, Piotr Hallman vs. Yves Edwards and Michael Chiesa vs. Francisco Trinaldo have also been added to the show in Las Vegas. Iaquinta is a teammate of Chris Weidman, who headlines the show, and is working on a three fight winning streak.
Matt Brown, who is from Xenia, OH, will be headlining the 5/10 show in Cincinnati against Erick Silva, which is an FS 1 show. On paper, that's a great fight. Another strong bout added to that show is Erik Koch vs. Daron Cruickshank. Also announced were Lorenz Larkin vs. Costas Philippou and Yan Cabral vs. Alexander Yankovlev.
For Pride star Takanori Gomi returns after a ne year absence on the 4/26 show in Baltimore against Isaac Vallie-Flagg. The 35-year-old Gomi hasn't fought since March of last year, losing a split decision to Diego Sanchez on the last Japanese show.
Santiago Ponzinibbio pulled out of the 4/19 show in Orlando. His opponent, Jordan Mein, will face the debuting Hernanni Perpetuo, who comes in with a 17-3 record.
Akira Corassani vs. Dustin Poirier has been added to the 4/16 UFC show in Quebec City.
Tor Troeng pulled out of the 3/15 show in Dallas with a shoulder injury suffered this past week in training. Sean Strickland, who has a 13-0 record, with seven knockouts and three submissions, debuts in a short notice fight against Troeng's original opponent, Robert "Bubba" McDaniel.
Almost immediately, Dana White said he applauded the decision and the UFC said on overseas shows where they handle the drug testing, they would follow suit, no longer allowing exemptions. The next day, the Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission, known as CABMMA, announced it was following suit.
The subject had been controversial, partially due to the success of Vitor Belfort, who rejuvenated his career in 2013 with head kick knockouts of Michael Bisping, Luke Rockhold and Dan Henderson, making him the No. 1 contender at middleweight.
Reporters covering UFC had largely decried usage, mostly due to the number of TUE's for testosterone among top MMA fighters being so much of a higher percentage than any other sport. The need for such therapy is rare among healthy men in their 30s, well under one out of 1,000, but that increases dramatically when long-term steroid use is put into the equation. The question becomes, since steroid use is illegal in MMA, even though it is widespread, should cheaters get the benefit of therapy to undo the damage?
TRT has become an MMA subject, but therapeutic use exemptions for testosterone aren't banned in any sport, but no other sport had as many exemptions. The argument that the low testosterone levels come from knockouts (a theory espoused but unproven) would indicate that the NFL and boxing should have a similar situation, which isn't the case. If it's from years of weight-cutting (another theory espoused but unproven), Olympic sports like judo and wrestling would have similar issues, and they don't. Even if it's mostly from prior steroid use, a link that is proven, steroid use is rampant in other sports, far more than in MMA, and yet at the last Olympics, where such exemptions for legitimate medical issues are legal, not one was given. TUE's for testosterone were allowed in WWE when they started testing for steroids in 2006. After what happened with Chris Benoit, who had such an exemption and had used it to jack himself up to being 59.4-1 in his T:E ratio at the time of his death (actual testosterone in his body was reported at his death as being ten times that of a normal person, the radio was out of whack because his body wasn't producing hardly any epi-testosterone due likely to long-term steroid usealthough it was actually five times that of a normal person of his age), WWE began cracking down. They implemented something that made sense, banning anyone in the future from getting an exemption, but those who had been approved, because they may have damaged their endocrine systems permanently, would be grand fathered in. Wording in WWE's drug testing program changed again last summer, and TUE's are now once again allowed.
But one of the first dominos that fell wasn't an athletic commission following Nevada's lead, but just hours later, it was announced that Belfort was out of his title fight on 5/24 in Las Vegas with Chris Weidman, and being replaced by Lyoto Machida.
The Belfort story only got stronger.
On Fox Sports 1's news show, a statement, attributed to Belfort, explaining his pulling out said: "The Nevada State Athletic Commission recently altered its policy and no longer will permit testosterone use exemptions, and will not permit a TRT program. As other jurisdictions may follow suit, I am going to drop my TRT program and compete in MMA without it. Given the time constraints involved between now and my proposed next bout in May, I have determined not to apply for a license to fight in Nevada at this time."
However, the next day, Belfort claimed he never pulled out of the fight and it was the UFC's decision.
"Vitor Belfort didn't give up on the fight. He was forced to give it up. I never gave up on (the) UFC 173 fight, and never said that. Any information about it in the media is not true. What I said was that I'll quit on TRT, and not quit on the fight, to continue my dream to fight."
But he did say he would need time to get his body acclimated to no longer using TRT. He said he expects to face the Weidman vs. Machida winner.
"The UFC has decided to put another opponent in my place because of the fact that I won't have time to suit NSAC's new rules. According to the UFC, I will fight the winner of Weidman vs. Lyoto under the athletic commission new rules."
Lorenzo Fertitta did tell Kevin Iole that with Belfort not licensed, and all the things he'd have to go through to be licensed, there was a timing issue involved.
Belfort later said that it would take him about three months for his body to recover from the lack of TRT, before he could train at the level he was training at. He attributed that to a doctor that he didn't name.
That three month period would take him past 5/24.
Both the idea that his body wouldn't be ready by 5/24 and any kind of delay in his license application could push things past advertising deadlines both are legitimate. There is a recovery period of sluggishness, being weakened, and losing aggressiveness, all traits horrible for a fighter. The artificial testosterone leads to the body cutting way back on its natural production. Then, when left only with the low natural production, there is a recovery period.
However, if a fighter can recover from TRT, it makes no sense for TRT to have been used in the first place. TRT should be limited to the few who have serious medical issues that have caused their body to shut down production for reasons that are not of their doing, and to where it is a health risk to not have artificial testosterone.
Dan Henderson, who has been on TRT in fights dating back to 2007, one of the few who publicly disagreed with the decision, said that you wouldn't not allow insulin (which, particularly when used with Growth Hormone, is a PED) to diabetics. But even Henderson's situation has questions. Last year, when Henderson fought in Manitoba, where TRT was banned, he claimed to have gone into his fight with Rashad Evans without it. He lost a split decision to one of the best light heavyweights in the world. If he could be a competitive athlete at that level without it, it questions his need for it.
Plus, you have to figure that no matter what people say publicly, that those who were able to use the loophole and were doing it to game the system, as opposed to doing it for legitimate medical need, are going to continue to do so. There are athletes who beat the most comprehensive drug testing in the world at the Olympic level, so those who want to, are easily beating the one test on the day of competition procedure.
The reality was that the guys who applied only made it harder on themselves because both UFC and the commissions were testing those people about once a week during the training period leading up to the fight. Belfort was given a random and unannounced drug test a few weeks ago, when he came to Nevada for the World MMA Awards. Rumors about the result of the test abounded before Nevada banned TRT. Since Belfort had not yet applied for a Nevada license, the commission, which has the results of the test, can not legally reveal the results. If Belfort was a licensed fighter, the test results become public record. If he were to apply for a license, a failed test would likely lead to a denial, and the results would become public in the hearing. Belfort himself can release the results. His attorney, when directly asked the results, failed to answer and had refused to reveal them. This led to obvious rampant speculation.
The Association of Boxing Commissions Medical Advisory board was expected to make its own recommendations on TRT at the 2014 convention. Given that New Jersey, the other most influential U.S. commission, came out against an outright ban, although wanted to greatly tighten up on the procedures needed to get a TUE, the belief was that would have been the recommendation. Right now, each state has its own procedures. New Jersey only granted three TUE's, two of which were given because they were respecting the Nevada commission, and the third, for Nate Marquardt, they later rescinded when tests came back with Marquardt having used well over the allowable limit, which resulted in the UFC firing Marquardt (he's since returned).
While the idea that everyone and their brother was getting legalized steroids wasn't the case. Only seven fighters on the current UFC roster were believed to have active TUE's for TRT-- Chael Sonnen, Belfort, Ben Rothwell, Antonio Silva, Henderson, Todd Duffee and Frank Mir. Only Belfort has performed remarkably different.
Belfort's TUE was from a diagnosis by Dr. Marcio Tannure of CABMMA. Tannure's mentality at the time was that he was lauding TRT as an advance in science that would allow athletes to compete at high levels later in life. Belfort being allowed was the most controversial because, while in the cases of some, where the belief was long-term steroid use may have resulted in the low testosterone readings, Belfort and Antonio Silva (the one fighter who clearly has medical need for it, but his case has its controversies) had prior steroid test failures. The impetus of Nevada's ban was, while nobody will say it, a reaction to Belfort saying he would apply for a TUE in the state and them deciding to have rules in place ahead of time to handle the situation. Belfort said he began using TRT in 2011, since which time he's fought six times, once in Philadelphia, once in Toronto, and four times in Brazil. UFC was criticized for hiding Belfort in Brazil over the past year, keeping him out of states with strong commissions. But the reality is that Belfort was the second biggest MMA star in Brazil, behind only Anderson Silva, and with UFC regularly running that market, it only made business sense for Belfort to fight there, unless it was to challenge for a championship on a major PPV, in which case business sense would have dictated Las Vegas.
Henderson will have his TUE still allowed because he was already in the home stretch for his 3/23 fight in Natal, Brazil against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and was approved for use some time back. However, Sonnen will not be allowed a TUE for his scheduled 5/31 fight in Sao Paulo, Brazil, against Wanderlei Silva.
Antonio Silva, is the one fighter who very clearly, has medical need. The operation to remove the tumor on his pituitary gland, which gave him acromegaly, resulted in his body producing dangerously low levels of testosterone. Low testosterone in someone with acromegaly leads to significant health risks, including bone problems, and odds of 50 percent of getting diabetes within one year. But there are issues with Silva, since his test levels were above the allowed high using TRT in a test taken the day of his fight with Mark Hunt, which is why he's currently suspended. He also had a prior failure for Boldenone, although it was claimed at the time he got that from using a form of Novaldex, a drug used to suppress estrogen in the body that had caused him to actually lactate due to his low testosterone after the surgery.
Joe Rogan was on KROQ radio in Los Angeles over the weekend and when the hosts brought up Ronda Rousey, Rogan said he knew something really big about someone who would be real competition and huge, but could say nothing more, past that he expected it to become public within a week. Given there would be only two options of something really huge for Rousey, and that would be Gina Carano and Cris Cyborg, the former highly unlikely and the latter clearly wanting to come in, that certainly implied Cyborg. Dana White, when contracted, blew off the notion of Carano.
Rashad Evans had surgery for the torn ACL which put him out of the 2/22 match with Daniel Cormier. Evans suffered the injury in training just before doing the UFC conference call. I noted that he seemed not himself, and he admitted that he was worried at the time, but he didn't realize the seriousness of the injury at the time of the call. The timetable of him being able to fight would be maybe October or November. The surgery repaired the ACL and also cleaned out problems with the meniscus. Evans noted he's never in his athletic career had a serious injury before this.
This week's show is 3/8 from the O2 Arena in London. The show starts at 12:30 p.m. with Louis Gaudinot vs. Phil Harris, Igor Araujo vs. Danny Mitchell, Davey Grant vs. Roland Delorme, Brad Scott vs. Claudio Henrique da Silva, Mats Nilsson vs. Luke Barnatt, Cyrille Diabate vs. Ilir Latifi, Omari Akhmedov vs. Gunnar Nelson, Brad Pickett vs. Neil Seery, Michael Johnson vs. Melvin Guillard and Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jimi Manuwa. The show will air live on TV in the U.K. at 7:30 p.m. on BT Sports as all the shows do, but they are also going live from 9-11 p.m. on both BT and Ch. 5. They're also live on Fight Pass which will be available in the U.K. for that matter. That's a big deal because with Ch. 5 exposure, they'll blow away any audience they've ever had in that country, since that station averages 1 million viewers in that time slot. They did three boxing shows in that time slot in 2013 which ranged between 880,000 to 1.54 million (for a Tyson Fury fight, and Fury had one fight previously in that slot that topped 2 million viewers). The show will air the main event, plus the best matches from the undercard. Both channels will get the same feed from UFC, but each will have their own in-studio hosts between bouts. This is the first of a new deal where Ch. 5 will air six shows live this year in prime time, all of which will be shows from Europe and I believe the 4/11 show from Abu Dhabi is included as part of the deal. As far as exposure goes, this is the biggest TV deal the company has had in the modern era. Ch. 5 is equivalent to a network in the U.S., although it's the fifth most watched network out of the five free-to-air stations in the country. The audience should dwarf anything WWE does and anything UFC has ever done. When UFC was on Setanta, a big show could do 200,000 viewers and that number dwindled on the weaker ESPN show, and is even lower on BT, which really only draws the hardcores since it's a start-up station.
UFC did have some late night appearances on Ch. 5 for taped shows in the past, when the company was hotter, and they were doing 700,000 viewers for several month old taped shows out of prime time.
While not announced yet, there is a talked about plan for the first time ever, for UFC to do two shows in a weekend in the same location, which will be in conjunction with the July 4th Fight Expo and also the Wrestling Observer/Figure Four annual convention. There will be a 7/5 PPV show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and a 7/6 FS 1 show. That will also probably be at the MGM Grand and there is talk of having combo tickets. That can be a risky undertaking as in most cases when I've seen people try and run back-to-back in the same location (obviously WrestleMania Sunday and Monday being the exception), whichever show is the secondary one doesn't do well. The 7/6 show will likely be the finals of the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, and be headlined by the coach's challenge fight with B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar at featherweight.
They announced an 8/23 show back in Macao at the Cotai Arena. For them to go back so soon to a relatively small arena in a place they really don't have much of a fan base must mean either The Venetian is paying them big to come in or their TV deal requires them to do regular shows in the market. They also announced a show on 9/20 at the Saitama Super Arena. This year's Japan show will not be a PPV.
Benson Henderson said, according to Ariel Helwani on UFC Tonight, that he would welcome a fight with Rustam Khabilov. In most cases, a guy ranked No. 1 in the division wouldn't want to fight a guy who is barely top 15, but most of the other lightweights are unavailable and he'd like to fight in a few months.
Nate Diaz asked on Twitter to be released from his contract. I just don't see UFC releasing a guy to allow him to fight elsewhere.
Nick Diaz has asked for the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Johny Hendricks. Diaz, coming off two straight losses to Carlos Condit and GSP, is not likely to get that shot.
Cung Le, 41, had three elbow operations over a four month period but would like to finish the three fights left on his contract. He said he's finally feeling good and can lift weights the way he wants to. The UFC is looking at returning to Macau in August but Le said he would rather not headline the show because he would prefer at this stage to fight three round fights.
They are close to finalizing a deal to run in The Philippines. They are also looking at a Southeast Asia version of the Ultimate Fighter.
Junior Dos Santos vs. Stipe Miocic has been added as the No. 2 match behind Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida on the 5/24 show in Las Vegas. That's the fight they wanted for Alistair Overeem, who turned down the fight due to a rib injury. Takeya Mizugaki vs. T.J. Dillashaw in a bantamweight match that could determine who loses later this year to Renan Barao, was also added. Other bouts announced this week were former TUF winner Tony Ferguson vs. Katsunori Kikuno, Al Iaquinta vs. Mitch Clark, Piotr Hallman vs. Yves Edwards and Michael Chiesa vs. Francisco Trinaldo have also been added to the show in Las Vegas. Iaquinta is a teammate of Chris Weidman, who headlines the show, and is working on a three fight winning streak.
Matt Brown, who is from Xenia, OH, will be headlining the 5/10 show in Cincinnati against Erick Silva, which is an FS 1 show. On paper, that's a great fight. Another strong bout added to that show is Erik Koch vs. Daron Cruickshank. Also announced were Lorenz Larkin vs. Costas Philippou and Yan Cabral vs. Alexander Yankovlev.
For Pride star Takanori Gomi returns after a ne year absence on the 4/26 show in Baltimore against Isaac Vallie-Flagg. The 35-year-old Gomi hasn't fought since March of last year, losing a split decision to Diego Sanchez on the last Japanese show.
Santiago Ponzinibbio pulled out of the 4/19 show in Orlando. His opponent, Jordan Mein, will face the debuting Hernanni Perpetuo, who comes in with a 17-3 record.
Akira Corassani vs. Dustin Poirier has been added to the 4/16 UFC show in Quebec City.
Tor Troeng pulled out of the 3/15 show in Dallas with a shoulder injury suffered this past week in training. Sean Strickland, who has a 13-0 record, with seven knockouts and three submissions, debuts in a short notice fight against Troeng's original opponent, Robert "Bubba" McDaniel.
dream
Member
They announced 5/17 as the date, without a location, for the first PPV, headlined by Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler for the lightweight title. I would expect the King Mo vs. Quinton Jackson light heavyweight tournament final to be the No. 2 fight on that show, and this time things worked out well for Bellator with both winning to reach the finals. I'm not sure that PPV is the right move for Bellator since PPV is turning more and more into something where the really huge events do better than ever and mid-level or less do less than ever because of people not wanting to pay for content any longer and it only works if it's something people feel like they have to see, not just would be okay with seeing if there's nothing else going on that night. And rematches of great action fights usually don't do well. Mo vs. Rampage would have meant more before Mo lost twice. Rumors have the PPV in either Southern California or Memphis. Since Jackson lives in Southern California, and he grew up in Memphis (and has never fought there), that pretty strongly indicates his fight being on the show. Bjorn Rebney has hinted as much without outright saying it.
To set it up, there was a big angle. Jackson did a really good promo, like better than 90% of the pro wrestling promos. There must be some mental block with MMA fighters like Rampage, in the sense because they fight for real, wrestling is about joking and they can't cut a promo in a ring but can in a cage when they are serious. Ken Shamrock had the same problem. It's weird because football guys like Duggan, Austin, Wahoo, Ernie Ladd, Dusty, Dwayne Johnson, Duggan, Pillman, Brody, Terry Funk, Hansen, etc. were able to get past the fact they had done real sports and wrestling wasn't and be great promo guys. The only ex-MMA guy I've seen go into pro wrestling and promo at the same level was Don Frye. But anyway, this led to a pull-apart brawl. It was quick. It was decried by MMA people, but after the show, it was the only thing on the show people were talking about, as nobody talked about Alvarez vs. Chandler, or how boring the fights on the show in general were. They opened with the first round of the featherweight tournament. Daniel Welchel (32-8) debuted in Bellator beating Scott Cleve (14-4) with a big punch, knocking Cleve down, and a choke. Will Martinez (8-2-1) beat debuting Goiti Yamauchi (16-2), taking all three rounds in a decision. Desmond Green (11-2) beat Mike Richman (16-4) via a close decision. I had Richman winning, as did Jimmy Smith. Matt Bessette (13-4) beat Diego Nunes (18-6) also via close split decision, which I had Nunes winning. Both those fights were close and neither decision was bad. Lawal (12-3, 1 no contest) beat Mikhail Zayats (22-8) in the first light heavyweight tournament semifinal match. Fans booed the fight through most of the second and third rounds. Lawal got some takedowns and did just enough to win each round but this wasn't good at all. Jackson (34-11) beat former Bellator light heavyweight champion Christian M'Pumbu (18-6-1) when M'Pumbu slipped, but Jackson knocked him out with punches on the ground in 4:34. Jackson physically looked soft and old. Nothing happened in the fight until the finish. M'Pumbu was very small for the class, really being the size of a modern large welterweight as far as weight (199 without cutting). The finish did show Jackson still has his power.
Television announcer Jimmy Smith has signed a new five-year deal through 2018. I've always liked his work, particularly when it comes to judging a fight, since I agree with him 98% of the time. He must be really good at it. Or we're both dumb.
To set it up, there was a big angle. Jackson did a really good promo, like better than 90% of the pro wrestling promos. There must be some mental block with MMA fighters like Rampage, in the sense because they fight for real, wrestling is about joking and they can't cut a promo in a ring but can in a cage when they are serious. Ken Shamrock had the same problem. It's weird because football guys like Duggan, Austin, Wahoo, Ernie Ladd, Dusty, Dwayne Johnson, Duggan, Pillman, Brody, Terry Funk, Hansen, etc. were able to get past the fact they had done real sports and wrestling wasn't and be great promo guys. The only ex-MMA guy I've seen go into pro wrestling and promo at the same level was Don Frye. But anyway, this led to a pull-apart brawl. It was quick. It was decried by MMA people, but after the show, it was the only thing on the show people were talking about, as nobody talked about Alvarez vs. Chandler, or how boring the fights on the show in general were. They opened with the first round of the featherweight tournament. Daniel Welchel (32-8) debuted in Bellator beating Scott Cleve (14-4) with a big punch, knocking Cleve down, and a choke. Will Martinez (8-2-1) beat debuting Goiti Yamauchi (16-2), taking all three rounds in a decision. Desmond Green (11-2) beat Mike Richman (16-4) via a close decision. I had Richman winning, as did Jimmy Smith. Matt Bessette (13-4) beat Diego Nunes (18-6) also via close split decision, which I had Nunes winning. Both those fights were close and neither decision was bad. Lawal (12-3, 1 no contest) beat Mikhail Zayats (22-8) in the first light heavyweight tournament semifinal match. Fans booed the fight through most of the second and third rounds. Lawal got some takedowns and did just enough to win each round but this wasn't good at all. Jackson (34-11) beat former Bellator light heavyweight champion Christian M'Pumbu (18-6-1) when M'Pumbu slipped, but Jackson knocked him out with punches on the ground in 4:34. Jackson physically looked soft and old. Nothing happened in the fight until the finish. M'Pumbu was very small for the class, really being the size of a modern large welterweight as far as weight (199 without cutting). The finish did show Jackson still has his power.
Television announcer Jimmy Smith has signed a new five-year deal through 2018. I've always liked his work, particularly when it comes to judging a fight, since I agree with him 98% of the time. He must be really good at it. Or we're both dumb.
Lambda Pie
Banned
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
That's just the value Fight Pass gives you.
TheKaeptain
Banned
That's like a perfect Fox card...
polyh3dron
Banned
Hey it's good prelims for the Glory card that same day.
New ass featured in Grim's gif.
This post is ancient history as far as MMA-GAF is concerned but I'll still throw in my two cents.poly... these two posts are some great contradictory bullshit.
I'm on TeamPositive, everyone knows this, and I remember that it was pretty much chits (and MjFrancis too apprently
Fun card all around, good prelims. Was fun watching Vaughn Lee style on Phan.
Hatsu Hioki & Ivan Menjivar was a great fight. Hioki actually looked good for two rounds and hats off to the guy for hanging in there in Round 3. Ivan rocked him hard, tried to finish but just couldn't do it. Even in PRIDE scoring this would be tough given how many submission attempts Hioki was going for in the first ten minutes.
Mitrione knocking out Shawn Jordon with a second to go was pure just bleed shit. It was a tepid fight until Jordan got clipped hard, and he was just seconds away from getting to round two.
Zhang Lipeng & Wang Sai looked alright because they are both mediocre fighters. That knee to a grounded opponent and failure to clinch even a submission attempt are marks that both fighters still don't instinctually know the rules or the basics of mixed-martial arts. Zhang Lipeng will be eaten alive when the first halfway decent fighter is thrown his way.
Dong Hyun Kim is on fire right now. He had that match locked down for 90% of the time and made it look easy. Looking at his record it's telling that his only losses are to contenders. Four wins in a row, give him another one.
And Team Positive knows what's up. I'm not quite that optimistic, but there's still some good scraps and good cards to be found. I have a few fighters on my DO NOT WATCH list but not many. If I shit on a card that ends up being good call me out all day long and I'll admit as much. If it ever got to a point where I just didn't like MMA anymore I'd simply stop posting. But last week's Fight Night was awesome, and I'm glad I was counting on that.
polyh3dron
Banned
DHK switched his style up and is way more reckless now than he used to be. That'll be fine vs guys like Hathaway but if he goes up against Lawler, Hendricks, Condit, Rory or anyone else in the upper echelon of the division he's fucked. I actually think Erick Silva could take him out in a rematch too. His technique was sloppy at best.
Dong Hyun Kim would probably tone it down for a fight against a contender. Maybe he's good enough to recognize that he can swing big against guys like Erick Silva and Hathaway while he has to play it safe against a guy like Condit? I wouldn't put it past him to confront his fights on that level.
Oh boy. Can't wait for Bill O'Reilly to weigh in on the dangers of human cockfighting.
http://www.bjpenn.com/south-african-fighter-booto-guylain-passes-away-from-injuries-caused-in-cage/
http://www.bjpenn.com/south-african-fighter-booto-guylain-passes-away-from-injuries-caused-in-cage/
juliushandle
Member
Combate Americas is already better than the current TUF.
It's a shame, but it's a risk fighters take on all the time. I wonder if there was anything that could have been done in this case. Not that it matters for Booto, but maybe for future fighters in that organization.
Host Samurai
Member
Lol Jones playing the heel
http://www.bjpenn.com/jon-jones-to-...ter-boy-are-you-omging-cuz-im-talking-to-you/
http://www.bjpenn.com/jon-jones-to-...ter-boy-are-you-omging-cuz-im-talking-to-you/
people wonder why he is not well liked?
Sato Koiji
Member
Jones is and will always be a fruit. Wouldnt it be for his damn reach people would have socked him already out of the sport.
That guy doesnt have any PPV draw charisma like a true fruit.
That guy doesnt have any PPV draw charisma like a true fruit.
bone_and_sinew
breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
"playing"
TheKaeptain
Banned
Yes Jones accept your true roll and convert to the HEEL side.
polyh3dron
Banned
This right here?
This is great stuff.
He needs to drop the act and act like this all the time.
I feel dat, he comes off like a over confident asshole.
