Sato Koiji
Member
Winner gets the ultimate cure for their sickness!
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MMA-GAF |OT5| Father Time Is Undefeated
- Thread starter polyh3dron
- Start date
Winner gets the ultimate cure for their sickness!
Master Thespian
Member
Plus the ref in a hazmat suit and the first five rows under a tarp like it's a Gallagher show. That's precisely the kind of booking I can support to liven this sport up.
Lambda Pie
Banned
they could fight inside a dome. outside, people could push buttons and electrocute them or unleash animals. takes place in Europe, obviously.
'Machine' Gunnar Nelson takes on ten challengers in one night in a grappling contest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pLifyl4cGJU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pLifyl4cGJU
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
Wow those are great. I think it will really prevent it.New Bellator gloves v Pride v UFC
Jon Jones to start lobbying against them ASAP
New Bellator gloves v Pride v UFC
Jon Jones to start lobbying against them ASAP
Maybe I'm a crazy person, but it seems like these gloves would make it even harder for Jones to avoid eye pokes. He doesn't always poke people with his whole hand coming straight at the eyes, he has his palm out most of the time. With these gloves, it would be far more difficult to straighten out his fingers. This would force his hand into a claw position where the eyes are always at risk of being poked.
dream
Member
A new home base arena for UFC is expected to open in 2016, that will be located behind the Monte Carlo and New York, New York on the Las Vegas strip, run by the MGM Grand. The new MGM Grand Las Vegas Arena, across the street from the MGM Grand, will hold more than 20,000 fans. Ground breaking on the state-of-the-art facility was on 5/1, with Dana White and Richard Schaefer (Golden Boy Promotions) in attendance. White talked about wanting to get the first date in the building, and said with the building they may run more often in Las Vegas. The building will also have 50 luxury suites, 24 private boxes and club seating and will have better amenities for the average fan as well. The MGM Grand is putting the arena near New York New York on the strip, and the MGM Grand Garden Arena will remain as part of the hotel. The MGM Grand and AEG are partners in the new arena.
Notably absent from the press conference groundbreaking ceremony was Bob Arum, who is currently mad at the MGM Grand, because there were posters for Floyd Mayweather Jr., all over the hotel when he was doing press activities a few weeks back for the Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley Jr. Fight.
As far as PPV numbers go, UFC 171 on 3/16 in Dallas headlined by Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler for the vacant welterweight title did about 300,000 buys, which had a strong undercard with Carlos Condit vs. Tyron Woodley and Jake Shields vs. Hector Lombard. It looks like UFC 172, on 4/26 with Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira, is coming in at about 350,000 buys. The former is fine if you compare it to what the shows have been doing, but it did show that Hendricks did not become a superstar draw even though most felt he beat GSP. Jones vs. Teixeira did about the same as Ronda Rousey vs. Sara McMann (reports we got were identical). Jones did better than against Alexander Gustafsson. I suppose you could argue he was hurt again by Mayweather coming a week later, but my experience is that fights a week later dont hurt like those the same week or a week before. Jones had the better undercard and better known opponent, but neither is firmly established as the biggest UFC draw right now. The only thing established is theyve yet to find a big one to replace Anderson Silva and GSP.
Silva, believe it or not, was just cleared to start full training.
The next two UFC shows to me will be successes if they hit 200,000 buys with Renan Barao vs. T.J. Dillashaw and Demetrious Johnson vs. Ali Bagautinov on top. Barao vs. Dillashaw at least has Daniel Cormier vs. Dan Henderson, as is in Las Vegas. Johnson vs. Bagautinov has nothing going for it and its semi is Rory MacDonald vs. Tyron Woodley, which to me, isnt nearly as strong. But the 7/5 show should do 600,000 or more with a triple headliner of Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida, Rousey vs. Alexis Davis and Wanderlei Silva vs. Chael Sonnen.
UFC 176 was officially announced for 8/2 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles with a main event of Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes for the featherweight title. That is going to be a tough draw, because the Staples Center has always been a tough building for UFC, as they didnt even sell out for the Royce Gracie vs. Matt Hughes fight there in 2006. Its two weeks before SummerSlam in the same building (which wont be hurt by this show since SummerSlam is already sold out). Also announced is Bethe Correia vs. Shayna Baszler in a booking that naturally made itself when Correia mocked the Four Horsewomen after beating Jessamyn Duke on 4/26 in Baltimore. After Correia beat Duke, she did the Tito Ortiz/Ken Shamrock deal where she mocked Rousey in the corner by mocking the four fingers, Rousey jumped at the idea of building a program around it. Correia against Baszler (making her UFC debut) is the logical next direction, since Rousey has Davis, and presumably Gina Carano and perhaps Cat Zingano in her future. Correia herself talked about the idea of facing Rousey and having Cris Cyborg in her corner. A third fight announced is top flyweights with Jussier Formiga da Silva vs. Zach Makovsky. A Makovsky win could earn him the next title shot.
When White was in Mexico, he was asked about the idea of creating regional titles, since they are envisioning almost separate circuits in places like Brazil and Europe, and White has pushed the idea of making it as hot in Mexico as Brazil. But he shot down the idea, saying he thinks they should stick to one champion in each weight class. My gut is to agree because you dont want too many belts or the belts become meaningless, but you can argue that creating European or Brazilian champions and having championship matches on shows in those markets could be beneficial for those shows and maybe help make stars on the rise.
Jim Miller vs. Donald Cerrone was announced as the main event for a 7/16 show on FS 1 from the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. Other fights on that 7/16 show in Atlantic City are Edson Barboza vs. Evan Dunham, John Howard vs. Rick Story, John Lineker vs. Alpetkin Ozkilic, Jim Alers vs. Lucas Martins and Aljamain Sterling vs. Hugo Viana.
The main event has a funny story. Miller had asked for Khabib Nurmagomedov. There was also talk of Nurmagomedov vs. Donald Cerrone. There were four top lightweights who in theory should have been fighting each other next, which were Miller, Cerrone, Josh Thomson and Nurmagomedov. However, with Thomson and Nurmagomedov being training partners, they wouldnt be expected to fight each other. It would make sense for Miller, who is from New Jersey, to do the Atlantic City show, and Thomson, who is from San Jose, to do the 7/26 San Jose show. Where things fell apart is that Nurmagomedov is Muslim, and due to Ramadan, said that he couldnt fight on either show. So thats how they wound up with Miller vs. Cerrone.
A funny story happened regarding Twitter and such. Josh Thomsons phone late Saturday night tweeted a challenge to Nick Diaz, talking about how he knocked out his brother and wanted the fight on 7/26 in San Jose. In a tweet to Nick, the account of Thomson first wrote, I knocked out your brother, Ill knock ur (sic) bitch ass out in San Jose July 26th. The next morning he said his phone had been stolen, and apologized to anyone offended. But Nate Diaz wasnt buying it at all. You got drunk talked a bunch of stupid shit when you woke up you panicked an (sic) backpeddled (sic) sorry ass bitch what really happened be real. As far as the company would go, I dont see Nick making 155 at ths point. I suppose they could do a Thomson vs. Nate rematch even though Thomson beat him handily the first time out because there would be more interest in that fight than anything else. Right now, Nick has said hes not interested in fighting for less than $500,000 and Nate, even though hes under contract, has turned down everything offered and said he wants more money. Nick was offered a fight with Hector Lombard, and as the story goes, never even returned the phone call.
Junior Dos Santos suffered a broken left hand in training and had to pull out of the 5/31 main event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he was to face Stipe Miocic. Dos Santos said that he wanted to take the fight even with the broken hand, but the doctors told him hes risking far too much damage doing so, because Dos Santos has never fought on a UFC show in Brazil. They were stuck because they had to replace it as the main event, but no quality heavyweights were available, so they called Brazilian light heavyweight Fabio Maldonado and are having him fight at heavyweight. Maldonado is physically soft as a light heavyweight so its not exactly the best of circumstances.
They have the finals of the current season of TUF Brazil, but nobody will even know who is fighting until a few days before the show takes place. The other biggest match right now on the card is Demian Maia vs. newcomer Alexander Yakoviev.
The company announced its debut in New Zealand with a 6/28 show in Auckland at the Vector Arena headlined by James Te Huna of Australia against Nate Marquardt. Other fights announced for that show are Hatsu Hioki vs. Charles Oliveira (the guy who A.J. Styles took the calf killer from), Robert Whittaker of New Zealand vs. Mike Rhodes and Australian Anthony Perosh vs. Gian Villante.
This weeks show is 5/10 from Cincinnati on FS 1. Fight Pass fights starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern has Anthony Lapsley vs. Albert Tumenov, Justin Salas vs. Ben Wall and Manvel Gamburyan vs. Nik Lentz. FS 2 fights (not FS 1 due to major league baseball) starts at 8 p.m. Eastern has Johnny Eduardo vs. Eddie Wineland, Yan Cabral vs. Zak Cummings, Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Darrell Montague, Rafael Natal vs. Ed Herman. The main card on FS 1 at 10 p.m. has Chris Cariaso vs. Louis Smolka, Soa Palelei vs. Ruan Potts, Tim Means vs. Neil Magny, Daron Cruickshank vs. Erik Koch, Lorenz Larkin vs. Costas Philippou and Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva.
While UFC has not announced and wont be announcing any numbers for Fight Pass, past this much that I can decipherthe goal was 100,000 subscribers worldwide by the end of the year. They are, based on how theyve expected the numbers go grow, are triple where they projected being at this point. That would indicate to me a number less than 300,000 (and I pretty much know the number is less than 300,000 because if they had that many, the WWE number would be an embarrassment and I dont consider the WWE number to be anything other than slightly lower than expected). Unlike WWE, which does six-month commitment, they do month-to-month. Starting in early April, they had the first group of subscribers come due, and about 85 percent renewed. Of people who get the first week free, about 80 percent have then ordered one month. When they have a live card, the vast majority watch it within 24 hours. More watch the shows on their own time in that 24 hour period as opposed to watching it live, which surprises me since its the hardest of the hardcores that are getting it. It didnt surprise me for the China and Singapore shows, given the time slot, but even the U.K. show, which aired on a Saturday afternoon and featured a real main event (Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jimi Manuwa) saw more network subscribers watch it at their own convenience later in the day (which in most cases means Saturday night) than live. Its as low as 30 percent live for the shows in places like China and Singapore that air in the middle of the night in the U.S. The U.K,. Show percentage was higher. Regarding prelims from the big shows, they are not watched as much as the Fight Pass exclusive full shows, but about 70 percent of subscribers will watch them within 24 hours. Considering that the prelims rarely had more than 50,000 viewers for free on Facebook worldwide, the numbers are significantly up as far as total viewership of those fights even though they are now paid instead of free and limited to a small universe as opposed to a universe of essentially anyone who has broadband all over the world. There are two reasons for this. The first is that if you pay for something, it has more value and you are more apt to watch it. The second is that I watched every prelim on Facebook and every prelim on Fight Pass. I never once got alerted by Facebook prelims by Facebook, and I knew because its my job to know. But aside from people looking for the complete lineup, or those watching the weigh-ins and being told about Facebook fights, nobody was directing you to them. With Fight Pass, I get alerted via e-mail of the prelims and the start time, and with so many shows, for an average fan, that makes a difference. About 65 percent of subscribers are from the U.S., followed by Canada, Europe and then Australia/New Zealand. The biggest surprise was the number of subscribers from Russia and Eastern Europe. The biggest day for new subscribers is usually Sunday (unless theres a big live show), as thats when the new TUF Brazil episodes are put up.
They now have subscribers in 153 countries,. In some places barely heard of, that only may be two or three in the country, but thats probably more than most services of this kind.
Some more notes from the FOX show on 4/19 in Orlando. The gate was $1,553,737.50. Merchandise sales were $522,383.35, or about $32.65 per head, more than triple the average merchandise sales that WWE does at its shows (this is the first time weve gotten a breakdown of UFC merchandise sales) and that FOX paid $2,272,000 for the show. As far as the traditional means of pay, if you combine live gate and TV revenue, the fighters got 30.7% of the revenue not including bonus figures that we dont know about. Thats well below major sports leagues where the number can hover at 50% or more, but well above WWE and traditional pro wrestling when they used to pay on the gate (Ive heard ranges from 15 to 35 percent in territories based on things I know and things revealed in legal cases where discovery has shown actual payoffs more were at the lower figure as compared to the higher figure, and WWE was in the 15 percent range a few years ago).
If youre wondering about moving PPV shows to FOX, the revenue is equivalent to a PPV show that does 87,000 buys. So there youve got your answer. Theyd have to triple the money for it even to be worth it for your 250,000 buy PPVs to be moved to TV. Plus, people also have to realize, FOX itself probably has its own mind on how many events per year they want on the big network. Its not like UFC will turn on a major FOX show, so that seems to indicate FOX thinks four a year is a good number. Zuffa has donated $100,000 and Station Casinos has donated another $100,000 to the campaign of Florida Governor Rick Scott (who also appeared at some WWE functions including the opening of the Performance Center). They are looking at getting the law changed where such information isnt public record. Right now, if UFC were to run a PPV in Florida, the actual PPV buys would be public record, a first for the company in recent memory. The last time I can recall the commissions releasing legit PPV numbers were the pre-Spike days around 2003 and 2004 in Nevada. Senate Bill 808 would allow promoters to keep confidential proprietary confidential business information feeling that it would cause harm to the promoter for this information to go public. Not only would this include releasing actual PPV numbers and the TV rights fees numbers, but they also want to keep confidential the ticket sales and gross, even though at every press conference, the first thing they announce are ticket sales and gross (based on years of working with commissions and Zuffa, that while the numbers arent always exact, they are usually exact and almost always close and sometimes in bookkeeping there may be minor discrepancies in settling after the show, so unlike other organizations, its not like they have a reputation for routinely exaggerating numbers in a public forumand Zuffa itself doesnt release PPV numbers). I wonder if Zuffa would do a PPV from Florida unless the law gets changed.
After major surgery on both knees and the suicide death of her husband months back, Cat Zingano has resumed training and is looking to continue her career. Sarah Kaufman has already issued a challenge to her.
Here are a few notes from this weeks UFC Tonight show and the Ariel Helwani report. Chan Sung Jung, the Korean Zombie, who suffered both a shoulder injury and broken orbital bone in his loss to Jose Aldo, is targeting August or September for his return.
Rashad Evans, out of action after reconstructive knee surgery, is hopeful of fighting by December.
There is talk of Mark Hunt vs. Roy Nelson on a 9/20 show in Japan, likely at the Saitama Super Arena. Thats dependent upon Nelsons recovery after hand surgery stemming from his knockout of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Ive heard similar things from UFC.
Martin Kampmann was in Sacramento this past week applying for the job as coach at Team Alpha Male. Duane Ludwig is leaving at the end of this month to return home to Denver and open up his own gym. Ludwigs work cant be understated with the improved stand-up of the fighters across the board, impressive when you see big gains in that for someone like Urijah Faber who was well into his 30s and a longtime veteran. Kampmann, who looks to be retired as an active fighter, worked during his career with some of the best striking, wrestling and grappling coaches so he has an idea of what top coaches in the fields do, and he did well in his days working with the fighters. It was reported they are also interviewing other candidates before making the hiring decision.
Glover Teixeira suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder when Jon Jones cranked the arm in the first round, which explains why he was able to land uppercuts and get Jones attention, but never put him away like he did almost everyone else he landed solid against. He will need surgery which is the same injury Cain Velasquez suffered in October and hes not even back to full training now.
In other news, Luke Rockhold suffered a broken toe in his win over Tim Boetsch on the same show.
After quick losses to Nate Diaz and T.J. Grant, Gray Maynard may be leaving AKA. Head trainer Javier Mendez was on Submission radio and said, Hes doing what all fighters do when things like that happen and hes searching to find the right fit for him. Well see whether were still with him or not. Its hard to say, but Im always with him regardless.
Speaking of Diaz, there has been some controversy this week as the UFC official rankings, voted on by the media, removed both Diaz and Grant. The company made the decision that anyone who is not actively fighting shouldnt be a ranked contender. Grant hasnt fought in almost one year after suffering a horrible concussion in training and there is no sign of his return. Diaz has stated he wont fight unless he gets a better contract, which I think came from Diaz finding out how much teammate Gilbert Melendez earned (Melendez was in a bidding war with Bellator and got a sweet deal) and felt he was underpaid.
Conor McGregor, who headlines the 7/19 show in Dublin against Cole Miller, said that hes already texted Dana White a bet. He said if he sets a record for the fastest sellout in UFC history, he wants a title shot at Jose Aldo. McGregor is quite the talker. On The MMA Hour he was cutting promos all day long, and said Chad Mendes had a body not suited for fighting, that hes a midget Phil Baroni who is a bodybuilder who gasses midway through the first round and should be at 135.
Miesha Tate said the idea of Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano for the title makes womens MMA and the championship look like a joke. She said that they are getting credibility and then they are trying to put on a fight that is based on looks. I mean, she is right in the sense there is no way to defend Carano getting a championship match except for the belief by promoters, and probably the correct belief, that its the fight more fans want to see than just about any fight they can put on right now. Plus, some people dont get irony, considering Tate got her UFC title fight against Rousey after losing her previous fight based on the idea it would sell well based on expectations of how a feud would play out, plus the idea of two pretty girls fighting in a big fight. It would be nice in womens MMA if looks didnt matter, but in a professional sport that doesnt have fixed revenue streams, people who can draw get priority treatment, whether its grudge, fame or looks, and Tate herself has been the beneficiary of it her entire career.
Ovince St. Preux will face Canadian pro wrestling fan Ryan Jimmo in a battle of fighters who have some recent explosive finishes on the 6/14 show in Vancouver. With that fight, the UFC 174 PPV lineup is Demetrious Johnson vs. Bagautinov for the flyweight title, Rory MacDonald vs. Woodley, Ryan Bader vs. Rafael Feijao Cavalcante, Andrei Arlovski vs. Brendan Schaub and OSP vs. Jimmo.
Doo Ho Chois scheduled debut on the 5/24 show in Las Vegas is out due to an injury. Scheduled opponent Sam Sicilia will now face the debuting Aaron Phillips (5-0) in a Fight Pass match on that show.
Ricardo Lamas, in his first fight since his title loss to Jose Aldo, will face Hacran Dias on 6/28 in San Antonio. Lamas made it clear that he wants on the 11/15 show in Mexico City.
Jason High is dropping to lightweight and will face Rafael dos Anjos on the 6/7 show in Albuquerque. Jon Tuck vs. Yosdenis Cedeno has been added to the same show.
Germaine de Randamie will face the debuting Milana Dudieva (10-3, nine wins via stoppage) of Russia in a womens match on the 6/14 show in Vancouver.
Ildemar Alcantara vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio, Chris Camozzi vs. Bruno Santos and Uriah Hall vs. Thiago Santos have been added as undercard matches to the 7/5 show in Las Vegas.
Kevin Lee vs. Jesse Ronson has been added to the 7/6 show at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, which is the second show of the two nights.
David Michaud (7-0), makes his UFC debut on 5/24 in Las Vegas facing Jingliang Li. The Fight Pass prelim on UFC 173, has Michaud debuting as a late replacement due to an Danny Mitchell pulling out. Michaud, while undefeated, did lose in a fight not listed on his record when he was picked for TUF 16, but lost in the fight to enter the house.
Dustin Ortiz vs. Justin Scoggins (who has looked great so far) has been added to the 7/6 FS 1 show in Las Vegas.
Ray Borg, who looked great in his debut loss to Ortiz (which I think he should have won) on 4/19 in Orlando, has his second UFC fight against Ryan Benoit on 6/28 in San Antonio.
Notably absent from the press conference groundbreaking ceremony was Bob Arum, who is currently mad at the MGM Grand, because there were posters for Floyd Mayweather Jr., all over the hotel when he was doing press activities a few weeks back for the Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley Jr. Fight.
As far as PPV numbers go, UFC 171 on 3/16 in Dallas headlined by Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler for the vacant welterweight title did about 300,000 buys, which had a strong undercard with Carlos Condit vs. Tyron Woodley and Jake Shields vs. Hector Lombard. It looks like UFC 172, on 4/26 with Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira, is coming in at about 350,000 buys. The former is fine if you compare it to what the shows have been doing, but it did show that Hendricks did not become a superstar draw even though most felt he beat GSP. Jones vs. Teixeira did about the same as Ronda Rousey vs. Sara McMann (reports we got were identical). Jones did better than against Alexander Gustafsson. I suppose you could argue he was hurt again by Mayweather coming a week later, but my experience is that fights a week later dont hurt like those the same week or a week before. Jones had the better undercard and better known opponent, but neither is firmly established as the biggest UFC draw right now. The only thing established is theyve yet to find a big one to replace Anderson Silva and GSP.
Silva, believe it or not, was just cleared to start full training.
The next two UFC shows to me will be successes if they hit 200,000 buys with Renan Barao vs. T.J. Dillashaw and Demetrious Johnson vs. Ali Bagautinov on top. Barao vs. Dillashaw at least has Daniel Cormier vs. Dan Henderson, as is in Las Vegas. Johnson vs. Bagautinov has nothing going for it and its semi is Rory MacDonald vs. Tyron Woodley, which to me, isnt nearly as strong. But the 7/5 show should do 600,000 or more with a triple headliner of Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida, Rousey vs. Alexis Davis and Wanderlei Silva vs. Chael Sonnen.
UFC 176 was officially announced for 8/2 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles with a main event of Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes for the featherweight title. That is going to be a tough draw, because the Staples Center has always been a tough building for UFC, as they didnt even sell out for the Royce Gracie vs. Matt Hughes fight there in 2006. Its two weeks before SummerSlam in the same building (which wont be hurt by this show since SummerSlam is already sold out). Also announced is Bethe Correia vs. Shayna Baszler in a booking that naturally made itself when Correia mocked the Four Horsewomen after beating Jessamyn Duke on 4/26 in Baltimore. After Correia beat Duke, she did the Tito Ortiz/Ken Shamrock deal where she mocked Rousey in the corner by mocking the four fingers, Rousey jumped at the idea of building a program around it. Correia against Baszler (making her UFC debut) is the logical next direction, since Rousey has Davis, and presumably Gina Carano and perhaps Cat Zingano in her future. Correia herself talked about the idea of facing Rousey and having Cris Cyborg in her corner. A third fight announced is top flyweights with Jussier Formiga da Silva vs. Zach Makovsky. A Makovsky win could earn him the next title shot.
When White was in Mexico, he was asked about the idea of creating regional titles, since they are envisioning almost separate circuits in places like Brazil and Europe, and White has pushed the idea of making it as hot in Mexico as Brazil. But he shot down the idea, saying he thinks they should stick to one champion in each weight class. My gut is to agree because you dont want too many belts or the belts become meaningless, but you can argue that creating European or Brazilian champions and having championship matches on shows in those markets could be beneficial for those shows and maybe help make stars on the rise.
Jim Miller vs. Donald Cerrone was announced as the main event for a 7/16 show on FS 1 from the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. Other fights on that 7/16 show in Atlantic City are Edson Barboza vs. Evan Dunham, John Howard vs. Rick Story, John Lineker vs. Alpetkin Ozkilic, Jim Alers vs. Lucas Martins and Aljamain Sterling vs. Hugo Viana.
The main event has a funny story. Miller had asked for Khabib Nurmagomedov. There was also talk of Nurmagomedov vs. Donald Cerrone. There were four top lightweights who in theory should have been fighting each other next, which were Miller, Cerrone, Josh Thomson and Nurmagomedov. However, with Thomson and Nurmagomedov being training partners, they wouldnt be expected to fight each other. It would make sense for Miller, who is from New Jersey, to do the Atlantic City show, and Thomson, who is from San Jose, to do the 7/26 San Jose show. Where things fell apart is that Nurmagomedov is Muslim, and due to Ramadan, said that he couldnt fight on either show. So thats how they wound up with Miller vs. Cerrone.
A funny story happened regarding Twitter and such. Josh Thomsons phone late Saturday night tweeted a challenge to Nick Diaz, talking about how he knocked out his brother and wanted the fight on 7/26 in San Jose. In a tweet to Nick, the account of Thomson first wrote, I knocked out your brother, Ill knock ur (sic) bitch ass out in San Jose July 26th. The next morning he said his phone had been stolen, and apologized to anyone offended. But Nate Diaz wasnt buying it at all. You got drunk talked a bunch of stupid shit when you woke up you panicked an (sic) backpeddled (sic) sorry ass bitch what really happened be real. As far as the company would go, I dont see Nick making 155 at ths point. I suppose they could do a Thomson vs. Nate rematch even though Thomson beat him handily the first time out because there would be more interest in that fight than anything else. Right now, Nick has said hes not interested in fighting for less than $500,000 and Nate, even though hes under contract, has turned down everything offered and said he wants more money. Nick was offered a fight with Hector Lombard, and as the story goes, never even returned the phone call.
Junior Dos Santos suffered a broken left hand in training and had to pull out of the 5/31 main event in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he was to face Stipe Miocic. Dos Santos said that he wanted to take the fight even with the broken hand, but the doctors told him hes risking far too much damage doing so, because Dos Santos has never fought on a UFC show in Brazil. They were stuck because they had to replace it as the main event, but no quality heavyweights were available, so they called Brazilian light heavyweight Fabio Maldonado and are having him fight at heavyweight. Maldonado is physically soft as a light heavyweight so its not exactly the best of circumstances.
They have the finals of the current season of TUF Brazil, but nobody will even know who is fighting until a few days before the show takes place. The other biggest match right now on the card is Demian Maia vs. newcomer Alexander Yakoviev.
The company announced its debut in New Zealand with a 6/28 show in Auckland at the Vector Arena headlined by James Te Huna of Australia against Nate Marquardt. Other fights announced for that show are Hatsu Hioki vs. Charles Oliveira (the guy who A.J. Styles took the calf killer from), Robert Whittaker of New Zealand vs. Mike Rhodes and Australian Anthony Perosh vs. Gian Villante.
This weeks show is 5/10 from Cincinnati on FS 1. Fight Pass fights starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern has Anthony Lapsley vs. Albert Tumenov, Justin Salas vs. Ben Wall and Manvel Gamburyan vs. Nik Lentz. FS 2 fights (not FS 1 due to major league baseball) starts at 8 p.m. Eastern has Johnny Eduardo vs. Eddie Wineland, Yan Cabral vs. Zak Cummings, Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Darrell Montague, Rafael Natal vs. Ed Herman. The main card on FS 1 at 10 p.m. has Chris Cariaso vs. Louis Smolka, Soa Palelei vs. Ruan Potts, Tim Means vs. Neil Magny, Daron Cruickshank vs. Erik Koch, Lorenz Larkin vs. Costas Philippou and Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva.
While UFC has not announced and wont be announcing any numbers for Fight Pass, past this much that I can decipherthe goal was 100,000 subscribers worldwide by the end of the year. They are, based on how theyve expected the numbers go grow, are triple where they projected being at this point. That would indicate to me a number less than 300,000 (and I pretty much know the number is less than 300,000 because if they had that many, the WWE number would be an embarrassment and I dont consider the WWE number to be anything other than slightly lower than expected). Unlike WWE, which does six-month commitment, they do month-to-month. Starting in early April, they had the first group of subscribers come due, and about 85 percent renewed. Of people who get the first week free, about 80 percent have then ordered one month. When they have a live card, the vast majority watch it within 24 hours. More watch the shows on their own time in that 24 hour period as opposed to watching it live, which surprises me since its the hardest of the hardcores that are getting it. It didnt surprise me for the China and Singapore shows, given the time slot, but even the U.K. show, which aired on a Saturday afternoon and featured a real main event (Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jimi Manuwa) saw more network subscribers watch it at their own convenience later in the day (which in most cases means Saturday night) than live. Its as low as 30 percent live for the shows in places like China and Singapore that air in the middle of the night in the U.S. The U.K,. Show percentage was higher. Regarding prelims from the big shows, they are not watched as much as the Fight Pass exclusive full shows, but about 70 percent of subscribers will watch them within 24 hours. Considering that the prelims rarely had more than 50,000 viewers for free on Facebook worldwide, the numbers are significantly up as far as total viewership of those fights even though they are now paid instead of free and limited to a small universe as opposed to a universe of essentially anyone who has broadband all over the world. There are two reasons for this. The first is that if you pay for something, it has more value and you are more apt to watch it. The second is that I watched every prelim on Facebook and every prelim on Fight Pass. I never once got alerted by Facebook prelims by Facebook, and I knew because its my job to know. But aside from people looking for the complete lineup, or those watching the weigh-ins and being told about Facebook fights, nobody was directing you to them. With Fight Pass, I get alerted via e-mail of the prelims and the start time, and with so many shows, for an average fan, that makes a difference. About 65 percent of subscribers are from the U.S., followed by Canada, Europe and then Australia/New Zealand. The biggest surprise was the number of subscribers from Russia and Eastern Europe. The biggest day for new subscribers is usually Sunday (unless theres a big live show), as thats when the new TUF Brazil episodes are put up.
They now have subscribers in 153 countries,. In some places barely heard of, that only may be two or three in the country, but thats probably more than most services of this kind.
Some more notes from the FOX show on 4/19 in Orlando. The gate was $1,553,737.50. Merchandise sales were $522,383.35, or about $32.65 per head, more than triple the average merchandise sales that WWE does at its shows (this is the first time weve gotten a breakdown of UFC merchandise sales) and that FOX paid $2,272,000 for the show. As far as the traditional means of pay, if you combine live gate and TV revenue, the fighters got 30.7% of the revenue not including bonus figures that we dont know about. Thats well below major sports leagues where the number can hover at 50% or more, but well above WWE and traditional pro wrestling when they used to pay on the gate (Ive heard ranges from 15 to 35 percent in territories based on things I know and things revealed in legal cases where discovery has shown actual payoffs more were at the lower figure as compared to the higher figure, and WWE was in the 15 percent range a few years ago).
If youre wondering about moving PPV shows to FOX, the revenue is equivalent to a PPV show that does 87,000 buys. So there youve got your answer. Theyd have to triple the money for it even to be worth it for your 250,000 buy PPVs to be moved to TV. Plus, people also have to realize, FOX itself probably has its own mind on how many events per year they want on the big network. Its not like UFC will turn on a major FOX show, so that seems to indicate FOX thinks four a year is a good number. Zuffa has donated $100,000 and Station Casinos has donated another $100,000 to the campaign of Florida Governor Rick Scott (who also appeared at some WWE functions including the opening of the Performance Center). They are looking at getting the law changed where such information isnt public record. Right now, if UFC were to run a PPV in Florida, the actual PPV buys would be public record, a first for the company in recent memory. The last time I can recall the commissions releasing legit PPV numbers were the pre-Spike days around 2003 and 2004 in Nevada. Senate Bill 808 would allow promoters to keep confidential proprietary confidential business information feeling that it would cause harm to the promoter for this information to go public. Not only would this include releasing actual PPV numbers and the TV rights fees numbers, but they also want to keep confidential the ticket sales and gross, even though at every press conference, the first thing they announce are ticket sales and gross (based on years of working with commissions and Zuffa, that while the numbers arent always exact, they are usually exact and almost always close and sometimes in bookkeeping there may be minor discrepancies in settling after the show, so unlike other organizations, its not like they have a reputation for routinely exaggerating numbers in a public forumand Zuffa itself doesnt release PPV numbers). I wonder if Zuffa would do a PPV from Florida unless the law gets changed.
After major surgery on both knees and the suicide death of her husband months back, Cat Zingano has resumed training and is looking to continue her career. Sarah Kaufman has already issued a challenge to her.
Here are a few notes from this weeks UFC Tonight show and the Ariel Helwani report. Chan Sung Jung, the Korean Zombie, who suffered both a shoulder injury and broken orbital bone in his loss to Jose Aldo, is targeting August or September for his return.
Rashad Evans, out of action after reconstructive knee surgery, is hopeful of fighting by December.
There is talk of Mark Hunt vs. Roy Nelson on a 9/20 show in Japan, likely at the Saitama Super Arena. Thats dependent upon Nelsons recovery after hand surgery stemming from his knockout of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Ive heard similar things from UFC.
Martin Kampmann was in Sacramento this past week applying for the job as coach at Team Alpha Male. Duane Ludwig is leaving at the end of this month to return home to Denver and open up his own gym. Ludwigs work cant be understated with the improved stand-up of the fighters across the board, impressive when you see big gains in that for someone like Urijah Faber who was well into his 30s and a longtime veteran. Kampmann, who looks to be retired as an active fighter, worked during his career with some of the best striking, wrestling and grappling coaches so he has an idea of what top coaches in the fields do, and he did well in his days working with the fighters. It was reported they are also interviewing other candidates before making the hiring decision.
Glover Teixeira suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder when Jon Jones cranked the arm in the first round, which explains why he was able to land uppercuts and get Jones attention, but never put him away like he did almost everyone else he landed solid against. He will need surgery which is the same injury Cain Velasquez suffered in October and hes not even back to full training now.
In other news, Luke Rockhold suffered a broken toe in his win over Tim Boetsch on the same show.
After quick losses to Nate Diaz and T.J. Grant, Gray Maynard may be leaving AKA. Head trainer Javier Mendez was on Submission radio and said, Hes doing what all fighters do when things like that happen and hes searching to find the right fit for him. Well see whether were still with him or not. Its hard to say, but Im always with him regardless.
Speaking of Diaz, there has been some controversy this week as the UFC official rankings, voted on by the media, removed both Diaz and Grant. The company made the decision that anyone who is not actively fighting shouldnt be a ranked contender. Grant hasnt fought in almost one year after suffering a horrible concussion in training and there is no sign of his return. Diaz has stated he wont fight unless he gets a better contract, which I think came from Diaz finding out how much teammate Gilbert Melendez earned (Melendez was in a bidding war with Bellator and got a sweet deal) and felt he was underpaid.
Conor McGregor, who headlines the 7/19 show in Dublin against Cole Miller, said that hes already texted Dana White a bet. He said if he sets a record for the fastest sellout in UFC history, he wants a title shot at Jose Aldo. McGregor is quite the talker. On The MMA Hour he was cutting promos all day long, and said Chad Mendes had a body not suited for fighting, that hes a midget Phil Baroni who is a bodybuilder who gasses midway through the first round and should be at 135.
Miesha Tate said the idea of Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano for the title makes womens MMA and the championship look like a joke. She said that they are getting credibility and then they are trying to put on a fight that is based on looks. I mean, she is right in the sense there is no way to defend Carano getting a championship match except for the belief by promoters, and probably the correct belief, that its the fight more fans want to see than just about any fight they can put on right now. Plus, some people dont get irony, considering Tate got her UFC title fight against Rousey after losing her previous fight based on the idea it would sell well based on expectations of how a feud would play out, plus the idea of two pretty girls fighting in a big fight. It would be nice in womens MMA if looks didnt matter, but in a professional sport that doesnt have fixed revenue streams, people who can draw get priority treatment, whether its grudge, fame or looks, and Tate herself has been the beneficiary of it her entire career.
Ovince St. Preux will face Canadian pro wrestling fan Ryan Jimmo in a battle of fighters who have some recent explosive finishes on the 6/14 show in Vancouver. With that fight, the UFC 174 PPV lineup is Demetrious Johnson vs. Bagautinov for the flyweight title, Rory MacDonald vs. Woodley, Ryan Bader vs. Rafael Feijao Cavalcante, Andrei Arlovski vs. Brendan Schaub and OSP vs. Jimmo.
Doo Ho Chois scheduled debut on the 5/24 show in Las Vegas is out due to an injury. Scheduled opponent Sam Sicilia will now face the debuting Aaron Phillips (5-0) in a Fight Pass match on that show.
Ricardo Lamas, in his first fight since his title loss to Jose Aldo, will face Hacran Dias on 6/28 in San Antonio. Lamas made it clear that he wants on the 11/15 show in Mexico City.
Jason High is dropping to lightweight and will face Rafael dos Anjos on the 6/7 show in Albuquerque. Jon Tuck vs. Yosdenis Cedeno has been added to the same show.
Germaine de Randamie will face the debuting Milana Dudieva (10-3, nine wins via stoppage) of Russia in a womens match on the 6/14 show in Vancouver.
Ildemar Alcantara vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio, Chris Camozzi vs. Bruno Santos and Uriah Hall vs. Thiago Santos have been added as undercard matches to the 7/5 show in Las Vegas.
Kevin Lee vs. Jesse Ronson has been added to the 7/6 show at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, which is the second show of the two nights.
David Michaud (7-0), makes his UFC debut on 5/24 in Las Vegas facing Jingliang Li. The Fight Pass prelim on UFC 173, has Michaud debuting as a late replacement due to an Danny Mitchell pulling out. Michaud, while undefeated, did lose in a fight not listed on his record when he was picked for TUF 16, but lost in the fight to enter the house.
Dustin Ortiz vs. Justin Scoggins (who has looked great so far) has been added to the 7/6 FS 1 show in Las Vegas.
Ray Borg, who looked great in his debut loss to Ortiz (which I think he should have won) on 4/19 in Orlando, has his second UFC fight against Ryan Benoit on 6/28 in San Antonio.
Stefan Struve is fighting Mittrione at 175. Stefan Struve is back
I want Struve vs Nog. Meathead seems like a pointless fight.
Ninja Scooter
Member
Lambda Pie
Banned
https://legitshook.squarespace.com/...2014/5/8/pride-fc-11-battle-of-the-rising-sun
i wonder if Ritch got one of those special Yakuza checks just to charge at Saku...
i wonder if Ritch got one of those special Yakuza checks just to charge at Saku...
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Oh shit son, Showdown in Little Tokyo is on TV right now. I've not seen this since I was a kid.
D
Deleted member 47027
Unconfirmed Member
Good technique, got this at BCT
https://vine.co/v/M6Qe61jUQnO
https://vine.co/v/M6Qe61jUQnO
TheKaeptain
Banned
So turned on bro.
Host Samurai
Member
Looks like Little Nog is going to fight AJ
Sato Koiji
Member
Rumble? Rodrigo is gonna fight Rumble?
Pretty shitty to treat the Nog brothers like trash...first Big Nogs brain brain flew to the cosmos..now Rodrigos...jesus christ Vegas mob have some heart!
TheKaeptain
Banned
Rumble going to beat that ass.
polyh3dron
Banned
That's Rogerio and no he's not going to fight Rumble.
When someone is set to fight Lil Nog it's like being set to fight TBA. We'll know who Rumble is fighting a bit later down the line.
Sato Koiji
Member
They are gonna give Rumble a showcase fight...they want a KO...we all know it!
Rumble vs Patrick Cummins. Make it happen Dana
Maklershed
Member
It'll be a miracle if Lil Nog makes it to that fight.
Unrelated: I am loving Bethe (Betch?) Correia. Not only having the genius strategy of taking on the 'Four Horsewoman' and thus working her way to the ultimate goal of Rousey by default basically, but to bring Cyborg as her corner to her upcoming fight against Bazler. This is gonna either force Rousey to be in the presence of Cyborg (since Rousey corners Bazler) or to not show up as a corner and thus prove that she got into Rousey's head AND fuck with Bazler's camp at the same time. This is next level thinking. Porra Correia!
Unrelated: I am loving Bethe (Betch?) Correia. Not only having the genius strategy of taking on the 'Four Horsewoman' and thus working her way to the ultimate goal of Rousey by default basically, but to bring Cyborg as her corner to her upcoming fight against Bazler. This is gonna either force Rousey to be in the presence of Cyborg (since Rousey corners Bazler) or to not show up as a corner and thus prove that she got into Rousey's head AND fuck with Bazler's camp at the same time. This is next level thinking. Porra Correia!
Sevket-Erhat
Member
Andrei Arlowski was supposed to fight at K-1 at one time as well. Thank God he got injured
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Brilliant "watch these UFC guys get slaughtered" marketing strategy in full effect.
Next they'll be signing Jake Shields.
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
Fight Pass having 300k subs? Not buying that at all....
bone_and_sinew
breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
I truly believe in 5 years this thread will be kickboxing-gaf. It's not trolling or being team negative, it's just looking at the landscape of the sports and each's strategy going forward and making a prediction.
Lambda Pie
Banned
how is this turning into kickboxing GAF "team negative"? is arguably the best thing that could happen.
would love for Glory to get as big as turn of the century K-1.
Host Samurai
Member
Pat is out of the Crocop fight. Sergi is stepping in. Thats a win/win
I was really digging the gameplay description but the trailer just makes it look like a colorful version of Dead Rising so now I'm Team Negative on it. Xbone will remain in my closet for the foreseeable future.
Master Thespian
Member
VKM continues to be a shining beacon in the sports and entertainment industry.
That would dope if they could load up the PPVs with 3+ title fights and maybe an old timer fight about 6 times a year, and stick the rest of the stuff on the network.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Cut PPV to once every other month.
The window is closing, but it's safe to say that UFC has too much money to make on the dying PPV business to go full WWE Network. Doing 4 or 6 stacked PPV cards a year and moving everything else to Fight Pass seems like a fair stopgap until they've bled it completely dry. They'd be building their subscriber base in the meantime, which would make the inevitable transition away from PPV to Fight Pass a lot safer than taking the full plunge.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Heel stop giving them the benefit of doubt.
I just think they've put themselves in a really weird position with no simple solution. UFC currently leans heavily on an increasingly niche fanbase from which they require more than $10/month to enjoy their current level of financial success. In doing so, they're losing the critical mass of fans that makes the WWE Network possible.
I've been wanting something like this. Far less diluted cards and meaningful fights. TUF would just be a place to spotlight up and comers and guys like Olympic level grapplers who haven't dabbled in MMA yet to refine their game instead of being thrown to the wolves. Hell you could bring in all the pro wrasslers you want without having to worry about embarrassing your existing top fighters.
UFC
-Where the top 15-20 fighters of each weight division would be
-Consisting of 135 (Women), 170, 185, 205, 220+ weight divisions
-Top guys would face each other based on seeding to avoid ducking fights. Doesn't have to be this way but I would personally like it
-Higher fighter pay
-Spread out over 12 events per year with perhaps a Superbowl type card at years end
-Elimination of Prelims
-6 fight events
Airs on FOX + PPV
UFC "X" [placeholder]
-Where the top 15-20 fighters of lower weight classes would be
-Consisting of 115 (women), 125, 135, 145, 155 weight divisions since they can't draw anyway
-Higher fighter pay
-Spread out over 12 events per year and top lower weight guys included in the UFC 'Superbowl' PPV
-Elimination of Prelims
-6 fight events
Airs on FOX Sports 1
TUF (or whatever new name)
-No coaches involved
-Consists of all weight classes with fighters ranked 20 and under
-Tournament format for each weight class
-Winner gets a guaranteed contract to UFC but may opt to stay on TUF and fight other tourney winners to refine their game
-Winners will be inserted into the top 20 rankings and able to jump ship to UFC or UFC 'X' at any time
You could literally air a new fresh tourney every week and let fighters heal up about a month or two in time for the semis
Airs on FOX Sports 2 / Fight Pass
I understand the UFC has a system in place and probably wouldnt do this but that's just my personal wish. This is a whole lot easier to keep up with than a bunch of international events and fight nights. They could even throw in some reality show on Fight Pass if they really wanted that went through the lives of fighters training and such to give them a little more depth and character.
I don't know if that's the answer, but I think UFC needs to make a drastic change to bring back the common fan. They'll need to cast a much wider net if they want to make a WWE Network move financially viable.
Believe me, I've done the math. The current path spell disaster for them, and they'll get no sympy.
Believe me, I've done the math. The current path spell disaster for them, and they'll get no sympy.
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
When they killed the WEC and then again Strikeforce hurt them. For someone hell bent on being the NFL, Dana is following Goodell into oversaturation....
Lambda Pie
Banned
https://legitshook.squarespace.com/straight-shooters-with-lambda-p/2014/5/9/k-1-world-gp-1994-final
answering the phone
@Dana being an idiot
he should've kept WEC as a B-league and Pride to develop asian/international talent.
answering the phone
@Dana being an idiot
he should've kept WEC as a B-league and Pride to develop asian/international talent.
Major differences between Dana White and Vince McMahon:
Promoting has been the McMahon family business for a century, and all generations have been extremely successful at it.
Vince runs his company like a professional, not like a degenerate gambler bro with no concept of professionalism.
Vince has been an innovator in how he delivers his product since the 70s, while Dana has only followed the path.
Promoting has been the McMahon family business for a century, and all generations have been extremely successful at it.
Vince runs his company like a professional, not like a degenerate gambler bro with no concept of professionalism.
Vince has been an innovator in how he delivers his product since the 70s, while Dana has only followed the path.
Maklershed
Member
I've said this a million times. They need a farm league to develop talent and also a place where fighters on their way out can give a name to the young bucks and prove that they can't hang in the big leagues anymore. Then the main talent is in the UFC. Everyone in the UFC would have a name from having been in the farm league and would be more PPV / Primetime worthy. That way you don't have a main card with a Louis Smolka on it.
Two more fixes that need to happen:
1. We need less weight classes again.
2. They need to stop with this 2 fights and you're out policy. Too many fighters are rotating in and out of the UFC and its very difficult to get to know these fighters. They need to let people in there even if they rack up the losses. Even losers provide a purpose and can be fan favorites.
bone_and_sinew
breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
I'm trying to win the treble at work: fuck the hottest dancer, door girl, and waitress. No one has pulled it off.
The last one came close at the work anniversary party yesterday. We fooled around but it was way too busy to get lost somewhere and get a good fucking going. It's a wrap with that one next time we chill outside work.
No one at work has successfully cracked the hottest door girl but I am confident I can be the first one to do it. Bone knows.
The dancer is still a work in progress. I got cockblocked by like 3 managers last week everytime we'd try to sneak somewhere, lol. Some idiot was dropping sacks of coke on the floor and they think the other barback is serving coke so they wanted me on camera at all times just to make sure I'm not involved. I found this out through back channels. Felt bad man.
This five day schedule rules! Speaking of which shit I gotta be at the office in an hour and a half.
The last one came close at the work anniversary party yesterday. We fooled around but it was way too busy to get lost somewhere and get a good fucking going. It's a wrap with that one next time we chill outside work.
No one at work has successfully cracked the hottest door girl but I am confident I can be the first one to do it. Bone knows.
The dancer is still a work in progress. I got cockblocked by like 3 managers last week everytime we'd try to sneak somewhere, lol. Some idiot was dropping sacks of coke on the floor and they think the other barback is serving coke so they wanted me on camera at all times just to make sure I'm not involved. I found this out through back channels. Felt bad man.
This five day schedule rules! Speaking of which shit I gotta be at the office in an hour and a half.
Fornaximus
Member
I'd buy Fight Pass if it included the PPVs. As it is now, with Chael and Wand's fake beef being the main selling point, it wouldn't be worth the trouble of creating an account even if it were free.
I don't even watch WWE anymore and I've thought about paying for the WWE Network.
I don't even watch WWE anymore and I've thought about paying for the WWE Network.