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MMA-GAF |OT5| Father Time Is Undefeated

N

Next

Member
TheChits said:
I think Schaub might die.
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I was thinking that too, dunno why they made this match.

Maklershed said:
Cruz will forever have that locked up. I think they learned their lesson from him and that's why they weren't even about to play with Velasquez. Dude went 2.5 years without a fight but held the strap the entire time. Amazing.
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Either way I just hope pettis loses, hate waiting around for title fights.
 
R

RBH

Member
UFC President Dana White admits he has interest in signing former WWE champion CM Punk (a.k.a. Phil Brooks) to a UFC contract.

Although he hasn’t publicly expressed desire to step in the octagon, Punk (0-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has been the source of plenty of speculation.

White added to that buzz earlier this week when he told TMZ he would like to talk to Punk about the possibility.

And in an interview today on “The Jim Rome Show” on CBS Sports Network, White further fueled the fire when he revealed Punk will attend Saturday’s UFC 181 event in Las Vegas.

“He left the WWE for whatever reason, he’s a huge fan of the UFC, he’s been training for a few years now, and he’s interested in fighting,” White told Rome. “I’m interested in talking to him. … CM Punk is coming to the show this weekend, and we’re going to talk.”
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Perhaps the only athlete who has fought for the UFC who can draw any parallels to Punk is former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar. The difference with Lesnar, though, is that the former titleholder earned an NCAA Division 1 national wrestling championship.

“You never know (if he can fight) until you get in there,” White said. “I didn’t know if Brock could fight. I thought Brock was crazy for coming over here. But, the difference with Brock Lesnar is Brock was a world-class wrestler. I don’t know. We’ll see.”

White has also recently discussed the potential of Lesnar returning to the UFC. However, unlike Punk, Lesnar’s still contracted to the WWE until April, which means the UFC can’t enter formal contract discussions until then.

If Punk did sign with the UFC, White said he wouldn’t be treated the same as Lesnar, who challenged for UFC gold in just his fourth pro fight. According to White, Punk would be handled like any other inexperienced signee. Should he make the decision to commit to a UFC fight, Punk wouldn’t be thrown into the deep end.

“He’s not a guy that we would do what we did with Brock; we threw Brock right to the wolves,” White said. “Brock started fighting all the top heavyweights in the world because of his wrestling background.

“CM Punk, we would bring him in just like any regular fighter, and he would fight a guy with a similar record to his, which is 0-0.”
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http://mmajunkie.com/2014/12/dana-w...h-cm-punk-says-ex-wwe-star-will-be-at-ufc-181
 
I

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Sato Koiji said:
Im assuming Brooks weight class would be lhw. This might turn out really really bad for him.
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He doesn't have the muscle or wrestling abilities to last for long in LHW. I forsee him being a MW at most. Possibly even a WW depending on how much he likes the taste of distilled water.

And the talk that Dana has of potentially signing CM Punk and then having him fight another guy making his debut is a ridiculously bad idea. Get a 38-year-old with a break-even win/lose record and at least it looks like you're not blatantly getting Punk to crush cans.
 
S

Sato Koiji

Member
What basically happened here is...I blacked out! After awakening I had this baby in front of me...

cyt3rkyce47a.jpg


Im on Pettis and Browne which are the only MMA bets for tonight among soccer and handball...

ONE TIME!!!!!
 
I

iddqd

Member
Exited for the card, I might actually stop working and just watch for once.
Hope Schaub gets blasted into dust and the CM Punk stuff is a bit silly.
How many people have fought in the UFC with a 0-0 record?
Even Brock did some K1 before right?
 
I

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Correct. Brock crushed a Korean can (Kim Min-soo IIRC) and then was signed by the UFC.

And hell, I wasn't even an MMA fan back then and even I noticed how controversial that decision was with MMA fans.
 
V

VoxPop

Member
iddqd said:
Exited for the card, I might actually stop working and just watch for once.
Hope Schaub gets blasted into dust and the CM Punk stuff is a bit silly.
How many people have fought in the UFC with a 0-0 record?
Even Brock did some K1 before right?
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I think Amir Sadollah fought with a 0-0 record after winning TUF. Got Johnny Hendricks in his 2nd pro fight.
 
I

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
RBelong2Us said:
I think heavyweights are far less silly to sign on a whim.

But the CM Punk thing is pretty ridiculous.
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Heavyweights are the easiest fighters to market on spectacle alone. Two words: Bob Sapp.

But Brock in particular had a few few things going for him.

1) He's Brock Fucking Lesnar.
2) Accomplished wrestler.
3) 1-0 record.
4) He's Brock Fucking Lesnar.
5) If you asked a blind man to draw what a "fighter" looks like, they'd draw Brock Lesnar.
 
I

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
All I can remember about Sadollah was watching the KZ/Poirier event in hospital and his fight almost putting me to sleep.
 
I

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Next week I think.

Or knowing the UFC there's three events on this weekend and I only know about one of them.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
Rafa=FedKilla said:
I just can't get over this Rebook deal. All other sports are moving in the other direction. Dana Godelling the fuck outta this sport.
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It works in other (team) sports because in those the teams are the stars of the show, and that's what the league wants. They want people rooting for the name on the front of the jersey, not the back, so that when a star player leaves or retires people still have a reason or allegiance to tune in. It doesn't really make sense in combat sport like MMA where you WANT people to stand out, to be individuals and draw attention to themselves.
 
J

Jest Chillin

Member
Ninja Scooter said:
It works in other (team) sports because in those the teams are the stars of the show, and that's what the league wants. They want people rooting for the name on the front of the jersey, not the back, so that when a star player leaves or retires people still have a reason or allegiance to tune in. It doesn't really make sense in combat sport like MMA where you WANT people to stand out, to be individuals and draw attention to themselves.
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While Dana fully loves his big draw standouts, in the end he wants that team devotion too. But the team is UFC. When individuals are too big, they can leave and take fans with them. He wants the UFC to be the NFL, NBA, MLB, of MMA. For the most part it is but he wants to secure that. It might be bad timing on this now though with Coker revamping Bellator, his biggest draws out of action (Silva is back soon but no telling if he'll be up to the task), and Fight Pass being underwhelming.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
Jest Chillin said:
While Dana fully loves his big draw standouts, in the end he wants that team devotion too. But the team is UFC. When individuals are too big, they can leave and take fans with them. He wants the UFC to be the NFL, NBA, MLB, of MMA. For the most part it is but he wants to secure that. It might be bad timing on this now though with Coker revamping Bellator, his biggest draws out of action (Silva is back soon but no telling if he'll be up to the task), and Fight Pass being underwhelming.
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But people root for the Yankees, and Steelers and Lakers. Nobody roots for the UFC. I think it's misguided to think that way. People tune in for the fighters and their star power. Dana should be embracing that, but from jump he seems to want to crush it. Remember when he freaked out a few years ago because some fighter wore tight brief style trunks instead of shorts? Or how he has to "approve" guys intro music to make sure it's tough guy dude bro approved? Dude has no vision.
 
J

Jest Chillin

Member
Ninja Scooter said:
But people root for the Yankees, and Steelers and Lakers. Nobody roots for the UFC. I think it's misguided to think that way. People tune in for the fighters and their star power. Dana should be embracing that, but from jump he seems to want to crush it. Remember when he freaked out a few years ago because some fighter wore tight brief style trunks instead of shorts? Or how he has to "approve" guys intro music to make sure it's tough guy dude bro approved? Dude has no vision.
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While no one roots for the UFC, it's still seen as the premier MMA Org in the world and he wants to keep it that way. He'll embrace the idea of the top draws being stars because it means a surge in profits when they fight, but ideally he wants people to view UFC events as draws in and of themselves. So that when fighters get hurt, retire, or sign with other organizations, it doesn't hurt his bottom line.

I mean when you think back to the days when the UFC was on the rise.. it was the organization that people enjoyed most. Sure there were favorites here and there but there wasn't the same stark difference in buys/views that you saw with guys like GSP/Silva/Lesnar. There's a lot of reasons why that's changed (and a lot of it has to do with the fighters themselves) but he wants to bring that back. I don't think this will work well in accomplishing it though. It's just going to piss off fighters which will result in more people complaining about how little they're paid per fight and more people leaving when their contracts are up I think.
 
Vigilant Walrus

Vigilant Walrus

Member
Ninja Scooter said:
It works in other (team) sports because in those the teams are the stars of the show, and that's what the league wants. They want people rooting for the name on the front of the jersey, not the back, so that when a star player leaves or retires people still have a reason or allegiance to tune in. It doesn't really make sense in combat sport like MMA where you WANT people to stand out, to be individuals and draw attention to themselves.
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Very true. This is why fighting is amazing to me. This is the only sport where I feel a fighter can be the winner even if he lost the fight. More than any other sport I feel their persona reflects on how much I like them.

There are so many shitheads in other team based sports you just tolerate because you're rooting for the team, and in many single sports, because they come from a certain country, which of course is for the birds.
 
R

Rafa=FedKilla

Banned
Ninja Scooter said:
But people root for the Yankees, and Steelers and Lakers. Nobody roots for the UFC. I think it's misguided to think that way. People tune in for the fighters and their star power. Dana should be embracing that, but from jump he seems to want to crush it. Remember when he freaked out a few years ago because some fighter wore tight brief style trunks instead of shorts? Or how he has to "approve" guys intro music to make sure it's tough guy dude bro approved? Dude has no vision.
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Yeah, we will never get Tenderness again.....
 
R

Rafa=FedKilla

Banned
The Rebook deal just screams tipping or fundraiser for Walmart employees so they don't make enough. Rebook basically a money laundering scheme so they don't have to pay their employees.
 
T

TheKaeptain

Banned
You guys missed a good IRC talk. There was a moment everyone stopped believing in Robbie and started talking about GSP.

KxEzQZm.jpg



GSP STILL THE GOAT!
 
R

RustyO

Member
Don't know if you guys have seen this, from Dethrone, re Reebok:

Dethrone said:
No idea why posting this other than temporary boredom, but getting ripped to pieces after might be entertaining enough.

1) We knew this was coming. We weren’t “investing in a UFC future” when we paid the sponsor tax each quarter, we were just paying for the right to be able to pay guys to wear our stuff on UFC broadcasts for the next 90 days. In some cases trying to support a good guy, sometimes trying to align ourselves with a fighter we hoped would move the needle for us, sometimes just trying to get some air time on a good card, and sometimes even we couldn’t figure out why we did it.

2) We have nothing negative or positive to say about the UFC. We don’t really know anyone who works at the UFC and have never had any real interactions with anyone from the UFC other than an annual email from Mike Mersch (legal) with renewal form for sponsor tax. It’s a platform. I just watched Sons of Anarchy but doesn’t mean I feel a personal connection with FX. On the few occasions we’ve interacted with Mike on tax related questions he’s been nice and to the point. We sat at a table with Lorenzo once for five minutes and he was nice. Dana was at the table as well but too many texts for him to look up so can’t technically say we’ve ever met him.

3) We’ve developed a lot of personal relationships with UFC fighters and their managers over the past five years and will always be rooting for those guys in and out of the cage no matter what uniform they wear. We consider a lot of them to be friends.

4) The good managers always get the short end of the stick. They provide a valuable service to their fighters but unfortunately its in an ecosystem that would prefer they didn’t exist which makes their job difficult and seems to be forgotten that this is their livelihood too. There are also dipshit managers who give everyone else a bad name.

5) The fighters should always be the stars and focus. In the long run they always will be, it’s an individual sport. The org in the long run will only be as strong as the fighters it develops and makes the audience care about. Watching two people fight isn’t about the icon on the mat or corner of screen, it’s about watching two people fight and the more you know about either or both of them as characters, the more likely you are to be interested. Once a fighter signs with an org he’s generally stuck there like it or not (any org). Which org leads the pack over the coming years will depend on where the next generation of talent decides to sign from the start of their careers. It can be expedited by where stars in their prime decide to sign their next contract. They have choices, the money and audience will follow the best fighters over time. It can’t happen overnight.

6) Saying “if they don’t like it go fight somewhere else” is annoying to read. They can rarely (never without a hassle or being forced to sit out a good chunk of their short career window) get their release (from any org).

7) We had anticipated the uniform happening and understood (even though we didn’t agree with the execution) the logic of getting rid of the clutter and brands that might in some eyes be negative for image as top tier league.

If the house is messy and I have guests coming over, I don’t just throw away all my wife’s stuff and tell her sorry, house was messy, didn’t want to take the time to clean it up in a way that makes sense for both of us, easier to just throw all your valuables away and get you a new outfit, hope g-string and pasties works for you, your crap was probably worthless anyway. She would wonder if her opinion mattered and leave me when she had the chance, or at least she’d think about it.

Why not allow approved non-competing sponsor logos of fighters choice on 1-3 areas of the uniform and restrict to white logos only with no background fill. that way you get clean, consistent look and fighter maintains some ability to decide what he/she is worth $ wise at the pinnacle of their career exposure. at minimum when you eventually decide to slap a red bull logo on each fighters reebok uniform let them at least opt out of wearing that ad (and forfeiting any red bull related pay) if they have a competing energy drink deal outside the octagon.

9) The only way to take control of your career in current ecosystem is to fight out your contract and then test the waters. Gilbert wrote the script, would be crazy for everyone not to follow it. He was the only one with the balls because he’d spent most of his career in different orgs and probably realized ****, fighting in UFC is cool, but not cool enough to limit how much i get paid. what’s the point of reaching the “big leagues” if it’s not the highest paying league? it’s not his job to fulfill fan’s wishes for him to fight certain guys. it’s his job to make as much money fighting as he can while fulfilling his dreams. if the UFC wouldn’t have matched he’d be making the same money as he now does in UFC but as Bellator champ instead, living the same life with his family, getting the same amount of eyeballs on his fights (and able to charge whatever he wants from sponsors). [This is just our opinion, we didn't talk to Gilbert about any of this obviously].

10) When we sent the Reebok tweet to be honest we’d heard so many people casually talking about it as a done deal for months we were surprised the reaction was we’d broke some news. What’s crazy is the comments we got saying “what a dick, why would you ruin the UFC announcement?” WTF? The UFC would be the first to say we aren’t “partners”, Dana would say that what we pay in tax is less than a hand of blackjack and that we’re meaningless to them and the fighters. The only reason we were in the UFC was because of the fighters and the only reason the UFC tolerated having to deal with brands like us is because of the fighters. It’s our job to maximize our exposure and get people talking about us, not to keep a secret that we’re being eliminated.

11) This doesn’t mean we’re going to go and pay Bellator guys double what we would have paid them yesterday. We’d certainly like to align ourselves with a new batch of fighters in others orgs, but we can only offer them what makes sense for our business and they can only agree to deals that make sense for them. That’s how it should be. There will still be times when they say **** dethrone they only offered me X and there will be times when we say what the ****, how can he ask us for Y? Neither of us are forced to accept each others demands, that’s the point.

12) We’ll still continue to have paid relationships with UFC fighters. The only good news about a single brand being on every single fighter is that it becomes somewhat invisible because everyone has it. We just need to continue to find ways to capture attention.

Been typing so damn long might as well hit send. Will try and answer any questions in the morning if there are any.

- Dethrone
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