|
Monday, 27 July 2009 19:21 |
- Renato Sobral vs Gegard Mousasi has been added to Strikeforce's August 15th event. The fight will be for Sobral's Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Title. I'm very glad this one is still gonna happen. Other than Fedor/Barnett, it was the fight I was most looking forward to at Affliction "Trilogy". It's great news for Strikeforce because their megacard was getting very thin lately with Alistair Overeem and Joe Riggs dropping out (Josh Thomson is also not looking good). At this point, I'd put the odds of Carano or Cyborg missing weight at 2-1. Some cards are just cursed.
- The Nevada State Athletic Commission has a series of rule changes up for vote on August 19th. If the vote goes well, we could see instant replay and five round non-title fights in the near future. The instant replay will not be anything Earth shattering. It's limited and probably won't be used in 99.5% of fights. The non-title five rounders could end up being a bad idea, if promoters abuse it. Hopefully most keep it as a special item, kinda like how pro wrestling uses cage matches. The reason is fighters look at five round bouts differently. There is more strategy involved, which can be good, but also can be bad. For a championship fight, there is a belt on the line and that will make even a slow five round bout seem more interesting than it is. If you have no belt on the line, a slow five rounder can kill an otherwise solid event.
- Miguel Torres is still beating the drum for better pay. I agree with his overall message, but he's actually not a big draw. The only time he drew a large crowd was at WEC 34 when Urijah Faber vs Jens Pulver topped the card. At WEC 37, Torres was alone and the event actually lost money ($219K salaries vs $90K live gate).
|
|
Saturday, 25 July 2009 11:59 |
|
"Ain’t the politicking of the MMA game just insane? I have no idea how other sports bloggers survive the boring day to day of baseball or soccer blogging without monthly kicks to the head like this." - Fightlinker
As much as I think the demise of Affliction hurts the sport, I can't help but agree with the quote above. Rather than a stagnant sport built on bureaucracy, MMA still has a fluid quality about it that makes it exciting to cover. Promotions come and go (Pride, EliteXC, Affliction), fighters rise and fall (Liddell, W. Silva), and there's always a good argument floating around (Dana vs Tito, Dana vs Everyone, Lesnar vs Sanity). If I covered baseball, I'd hang myself by June. |
|
Friday, 24 July 2009 22:42 |
|
Dana White appeared on the ESPN 1100 Radiothon tonight and was mostly tight lipped, but he did hint at some big announcements in the future.
What is Tito Ortiz's status?
Despite welcoming him back on his Twitter page, all White said was, "It's a possibility." Sounds like a done deal to me, especially with Affliction out of the way. The UFC can offer Ortiz much more than Strikeforce and that's all that really matters.
Is Fedor coming to the UFC?
He started by insulting Fedor and claiming yet again that he hasn't fought anyone. In White's opinion, to be considered the best fighter in MMA, you have to consistently beat the best competition. After he said this, it would have been a perfect time to ask him about Anderson Silva's recent string of fights, but Kevin Iole was too busy imagining White naked to even think of it. White went on to say that if Fedor came to the UFC, his first fight would be against Brock Lesnar for the Heavyweight Title.
What's the deal with Henderson/Franklin II?
White's answer to if he thought this was a lackluster main event was, "stay tuned". I got the feeling this would be the event Ortiz would return at, if he does. It would be nice if Henderson gets swapped out for Ortiz. He deserves a rematch with Anderson Silva. Or, maybe a fight with Vitor Belfort is on the horizon.
What's happening on July 31st?
He said he was "flying overseas" and when he returned would have a press conference on July 31st with a "laundry list of announcements." Could this mean he's going to Russia to negotiate with Fedor? Maybe. Again, there weren't any good follow-up questions by Iole. Personally, I don't think a contract with Fedor would happen that quickly. More than likely, the announcements will center on Tito Ortiz and there's a slight chance of an ESPN deal. I'm holding out hope for a list that goes like this..."We signed Fedor, Mousasi, Tito, and Vitor. Oh, and I bought this magic hair growing tonic in Moscow."
Are UFC fighters well paid?
This was the best part of his appearance. When asked how many UFC fighters make a million dollars a year, he replied, "There are 8-12 guys who are PPV superstars." He then explained how being apart of the UFC allows the fighters to reap the benefits of the brand and merchandising. According to him, long after fighters are retired, they'll still be cashing royalty checks. Lets hope so. He also said fighters are happy the UFC does not release their full salaries. That might be the case for the very top guys, but for the middle of the pack, it hurts them. The UFC has all the leverage when negotiating with fighters. The undisclosed salaries add to their advantage. In other sports, agents can point towards specific salaries as benchmarks based on performance. This does not happen in the UFC (or any other MMA promotion). Agents have less information than the promotion and that does not help them at the bargaining table.
So who are these 8-12 "million dollar fighters"? I'll start with the easy ones - Lesnar, Liddell, Couture, St-Pierre, and Penn. Beyond them it's sketchy. I'd put Rampage, Griffin, Henderson, Franklin, Vera, Hughes, and Bisping in the second tier. A. Silva, Evans, Mir, W. Silva, and Nogueira bring up the rear. |
|
Friday, 24 July 2009 18:24 |
|
The death of Affliction comes with a bang and a whimper. We all knew this day would come. Affliction was never serious about being a major MMA promotion. They wanted the short term publicity of each event to put the spotlight on their clothing line. This entire experiment was nothing more than a year long advertising campaign. In a lot of ways it was successful. Prior to their two event fling, they had zero mainstream presence. Now with the help of their shows and TV spots with EliteXC and Strikeforce, Affliction is the clear cut #2 behind Tapout.
Of course this did not come easily. Affliction paid out an enormous amount of money to acquire the services of high profile fighters like Fedor Emelianenko, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, and Josh Barnett (now the most hated man in MMA). As much as Affliction came across as a half assed organization, I'll bet my life there was an accountant in the shadows crunching all the salaries into their advertising equation. We'll never know the true cost of their acquired talent or how many more t-shirts they sold because of it. One thing we can quantify is the hit the fighters on the undercard will take for the cancelled event. These guys trained for weeks in the hopes of appearing on a major card and getting a decent paycheck. Instead, they get nothing for their efforts. Meanwhile, Affliction just landed a deal to sponsor the UFC. Seems like this cancelled event has worked out well for them.
Good luck with your stupid clothing company. If I ever have the desire to wipe my butt on a skull t-shirt, I'll be sure to buy one.
|
|
Friday, 24 July 2009 10:31 |
According to GracieFighter.com, Joe Riggs has pulled out his fight with Nick Diaz on August 15th due to "a bad reaction to an as of yet undisclosed drug." It goes on to state, "Riggs will be recovering in the hospital for the next couple of weeks and therefore unable to fight Diaz." The obvious reaction most have is this is fake. I agree, it sounds weird, but you have to remember this is Joe Riggs we're talking about. He's career is as weird as it gets. In some ways he's like a child star in the mold of Danny Bonaduce or even Michael Jackson. He hit the big stage at such a young age that it's difficult to tell where his future ends up. He could make a comeback and become a dominant champion or fade into obscurity. Either option seems believable.
The latest news sends another blow to Strikeforce's August 15th card, which also lost Alistair Overeem to injury. KJ Noons would be a perfect replacement, although I don't see him accepting the fight on short notice (or really under any circumstances). Chances are Strikeforce will throw Phil Baroni in there. I love Phil, but I'm getting tired of seeing him take beatings. I'd much rather watch him face an opponent he has a chance against. |
|
Thursday, 23 July 2009 23:09 |
|
As usual, whenever there's a rumored fight, it's difficult to know who to trust. According to MMABay and MMAJunkie, Michael Bisping and Wanderlei Silva are in negotiations to fight each other at UFC 105 in November. However, Silva's manager issued a wishy washy denial, which started out strong, but ended with "certainly there remains a possibility of such a match-up."
The fight would be a solid main event for the card, which is in severe need of excitement. At this point, all we know is Bisping, Dan Hardy, and the two British TUF winners will be in action. That doesn't set my world on fire. I'm also skeptical they will put Hardy in the cage with anyone of substance. With Bisping's recent performance, the UFC needs to protect their English resources. It also doesn't help the card will air on Spike, rather than PPV. The better Welterweights like Matt Hughes and Jon Fitch are not gonna be interested in traveling across the Atlantic Ocean to appear on tape delay (non-PPV events mean smaller bonuses of the over and under the table variety for the fighters).
There are alternatives to Silva, but none of them are all that great. Yoshihiro Akiyama? Patrick Cote? Alan Belcher? Denis Kang? Akiyama/Bisping would interest me. The others would not. I feel like the UFC can't protect Bisping anymore. He's coming off a terrible loss and they need to throw him back into the deep end. Combine this with Silva's desperation for a win and you've got the makings of a great fight. |
|
Thursday, 23 July 2009 10:51 |
Ariel Helwani has a great interview up at MMA Fanhouse that opens up some intriguing questions.
1. California State Athletic official Bill Douglas claims this was the first test ever done under their new random drug testing program. He even states it was a "trial case" to see how the process would work. They started the new program by randomly testing a headliner a little over a month before he's due to fight? Results take time to get back (apparently a month). I highly doubt Barnett's B Sample will come back clean, but there's not even time to test it. In the future, guys, you might want to do this stuff sooner. Crippling a sporting event a week before by removing one of its principal participants isn't the best way to attract new business. By all means test, just do it in a logical way.
2. Whose fault is this? It's easy to point the finger at Barnett for using steroids again (if he's not miraculously vindicated by the second sample). Affliction deserves some blame too. I bet if you asked Tom Atencio two days ago about California's random testing program, he would have given you a blank stare. The details can kill even the mightiest beast. That's why the UFC has Marc Ratner as their regulatory guru. You need a person to worry about this stuff and understand the process. Affliction lacks that level of organization and in this case it cost them their main event.
3. This is by far the strangest point of all, so bear with me. Barnett was up for license renewal in California. Somehow they made the random test his test for renewal (very sketchy). This means he will not be suspended or fined for testing positive for steroids. Instead, his license will be denied. It opens up the slim possibility of Barnett fighting in another state who does not recognize California's license denial. More importantly, Barnett can fight out of the country without the California Athletic Commission banning him for life because there is not a suspension in place. Got that? |
|
Wednesday, 22 July 2009 18:42 |
|
The loss of their main event is a huge blow to Affliction, but it does not mean they are dead. The event can be salvaged, if they make the right moves. Here is my advice...
Get Over It
It's important to move on quickly. Do not let the search for a replacement drag on for days. By tomorrow morning, you need someone in place, even if it means taking the second option. It's not like the choices are Couture, Lesnar, or Cro Cop. Just pick one and roll with it.
You're Gonna Have To Promote
This is not Affliction's strong suit. It's actually their weakest area. For "Day of Reckoning", their promotion relied on mailing out event posters to fans who were then supposed to staple them to poles or something. Seriously, I'm not making that up. Thus far, the promotion for "Trilogy" hasn't been super, either. It's time to step things up. From now until August 1st, it needs to be a blitz. It doesn't have to be anything clever. Just get the word out about the PPV. It would also help to get Fedor here as soon as possible. He's the only fighter on the card with a realistic shot at getting face time with a big time radio or TV show. Sell the event through him. The NBA did this in the early 90s when Magic Johnson got AIDS and Larry Bird's back went out. They shifted gears and sold the sport through Michael Jordan. It didn't matter he was without natural rivals. They made it all about him and his quest for greatness. Fedor is begging for this sort of treatment.
Don't Panic
A week before "Day of Reckoning", I ran a series of searches on Ticketmaster and brought back some terrible results. The best tickets were still coming up and there were tons of them. I literally found ten tickets together in every section you'd want to sit in. Well, ten days prior to "Trilogy" and it's a different story. Tickets are much harder to come by. So you've got that going for you, which is nice. I also do not foresee a massive shift in the PPV buys. The Affliction audience remains relatively small. It's mainly a hardcore fan promotion. Will some of those opt out of buying it? Sure. Will a lot of them? I doubt it. As long as you don't give us Fedor vs Werdum ( Thank God!), I think you're looking at a decent PPV showing.
Reassure Us About The Future
Now would be a great time to announce a fourth show. It does not matter if it ever materializes. All you gotta say is, "We'll be holding a fourth PPV this fall." No one likes to follow a team who may fold. If Affliction fans believe there will be a fourth show, they're much more likely to buy "Trilogy".
|
|
Wednesday, 22 July 2009 09:53 |
|
Josh Barnett failed a drug test and the California Athletic Commission will not license him for the bout with Fedor on August 1st. Affliction is looking for a replacement and at the moment Vitor Belfort is the guy. According to Sherdog, there have also been discussions with Bobby Lashley, but he doesn't appear interested. Barnett issued a clumsy statement in which he denied knowing anything about the failed test, but that it's possible they left him a message because he never listens to them.
Updates as they become available...
UPDATE: Tom Atencio confirms Josh Barnett will not compete at "Trilogy", but the card will go on. According to MMA Fanhouse, Brett Rogers and Ricardo Arona have been added to the list of possible replacements. Personally, I don't think they're gonna find a bigger draw than Vitor Belfort. Arona is largely seen as boring and Brett Rogers lacks name value. I don't think Belfort's weight disadvantage would be a big deal from a viewer's standpoint. It might even help them sell the fight. People love an underdog, especially a smaller one.
UPDATE: As I'm sure everyone already knows, Yahoo is the UFC's media outlet of choice. They feed them stories and in return Steve Cofield and Kevin Iole write puff pieces (there's also that girl who only gets to write articles about t-shirts and caption contests). So it's not surprising that Cofield would write this when the news of Barnett's failed test broke. He basically badmouths all the potential replacements and says Affliction should cancel the entire event. He later posted another article in which he writes, "Belfort is scheduled to fight on this card at 185 pounds. A fight against the 230-pound Fedor would be ridiculous." Yes, Steve it would be ridiculous if Belfort came into the fight at 185 lbs, but as you know, that would never happen. Fighters cut weight. Belfort is over a week away from fight night and probably sitting near 205 lbs. Would it really be that ridiculous for him to concede 20-25 lbs to Fedor? Doesn't Fedor give up just as much weight to his opponents? Didn't Frank Mir give up at least that much against Brock Lesnar? It happens quite often in the Heavyweight Division and you know that. Put down the Kool-Aid and come back to reality, buddy.
UPDATE: According to MMAJunkie, Belfort verbally commits to bout with Fedor. Shawn Tompkins says Belfort is at 205 lbs (just like I said above) and could "easily make 210-215 pounds".
UPDATE: Affliction Conference Call...Still working on deals. Three fighters are in the mix, but Atencio will not name them. The California State Athletic Commission will test Barnett's B Sample and if it comes back positive, his career with Affliction and every other North American promotion is over. Atencio doesn't sound too optimistic about the B Sample coming back negative. No details given on what substance caused the positive test.
UPDATE: Barnett tested positive for Drostanolone. Okay, I was wrong about Barnett knowing about the test beforehand, which makes it slightly less moronic on his part. Apparently this was the first random test the state has ever done. According to Ariel Helwani's interview with a California State Athletic Commission official, it's possible Barnett was targeted because of his prior failed test in 2002. |
|
Tuesday, 21 July 2009 19:27 |
|
Late Sunday night my body rebelled against me and decided it was time for a couple days of agony. This happens every six months. I'm healthy as can be then for 48 hours I almost die from the flu. Here is all the stuff I missed during my hiatus.
Dan Henderson vs Rich Franklin II
I had a friend in college named Tony who used to do the Six Flags song and dance at strange moments. It was his one and only joke. The first time he did it, I thought it was kinda funny. Over time the joke became boring and no one even bothered to acknowledge it. Then a strange thing happened...It got funny again. I'm not sure how, but it did. And, it wasn't just me laughing at it. Everyone agreed the joke came back in style. Of course Tony overdid it and soon the joke was completely dead, but for our purposes lets just concentrate on the revival.
The first time I heard Henderson and Franklin were fighting at UFC 93, I was intrigued. It wasn't the best match-up ever, but it interested me. These were two legends of the sport who were still viable and not in the Liddelly phases of their careers. The fight was ok, though it ended with some controversy (eye poke). Afterwards the masses were not clamoring for a rematch. The fight was stale like Tony's Six Flags song and dance. Reaction to the announced rematch is mild to say the least.
You're probably wondering where I'm going with this awful comparison. My thinking is maybe the UFC is stubborn like Tony and not willing to give up. Maybe by the time Henderson/Franklin IV rolls around, we'll care about it again for some unknown reason. Or, maybe they just needed two names to stick on top of their solid, yet unspectacular debut in Dallas. Yeah, probably the latter.
Shinya Aoki: The Striker
MMA is a strange universe. In other sports, it's usually ok to just win. Not in MMA. In Mixed Martials Arts, you're expected to perform, even if it costs you your best shot at victory. For example, fans adored Clay Guida when he brawled for fifteen minutes a night. As soon as he started using a gameplan (Danzig and Diaz fights), people turned on him. It didn't matter he won both fights and positioned himself as a legit title contender. Fans wanted to see his old style, which was based on performance, rather than effectiveness.
Shinya Aoki finds himself in a similar argument between performance and effectiveness. His fight with Vitor Ribeiro was supposed to be a ground war. No one expected Aoki to become a striker for the night, but he did and he won. Afterwards he had to defend his winning strategy. The reason this has become an issue lately is because of the enormous pressure placed upon the top fighters. Anderson Silva went into his fights with Patrick Cote and Thales Leites with nothing to gain and everything to lose. He fought to win each fight, rather than take chances and fans turned on him. Aoki's fight with Ribeiro falls into the same pattern. A win over Ribeiro doesn't gain Aoki much. A loss is a killer, though. Why should he take chances on the ground when he knows he can outstrike him? I don't see anything wrong with Aoki's strategy. The first priority is to win the fight, which he did and now it sets up a marquee match-up with Joachim Hansen at DREAM.11. What would you rather have? Aoki takes chances and get submitted against Ribeiro or Aoki fight a less entertaining fight and setup a third bout with Hansen? I'd rather see the big picture than get bogged down with the details.
Boxing vs UFC
This fall UFC 103 and 105 will go head to head with major boxing cards. On September 19th, UFC 103 will face off against Mayweather/Marquez on PPV. On November 14th, UFC 105 will be tape delayed on Spike against Pacquiao/Cotto on PPV. The first showdown in September will be an interesting look into where each sports stands. Mayweather/Marquez should bring in more buys, seeing how one of the sport's biggest names returns to the ring after a long absence. And, UFC 103 isn't exactly brimming with huge draws. To me, it's less about who wins and more about the totals. I've been saying for years that the overlap between MMA and boxing fans isn't that significant. The majority of people who buy UFC PPVs aren't buying boxing PPVs and vice versa. The September 19th events should bear this out, as I predict both will do solid numbers. If I'm wrong, UFC 103 should see a decline in the usual Zuffa average (anything below 300K and the boxing card ate into UFC 103's buys).
Paulo Filho Wore a Different Cut Shirt
I was more shocked by this than the fact he came back from getting rocked to win the fight (here's his old one, in case you forgot how awesome it was). They should let him wear cut shirts during fights. I bet it would win him back some of the fans he lost during the Sonnen debacle. I'd definitely like him more.
Kimo Isn't Dead
The "MMA Media" can be so gullible. What I want to know is why this was such big news that sites couldn't wait to confirm or deny it? Kimo hasn't been relevant for years. It's not like someone posted, "Tito Ortiz Eaten by Elephant While Surfing".
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 8 of 11 |
|
Sponsors
 |
|
|
MMA Gloves on sale EliteMMA.com - Gear For Fighters |
|
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 
