Mixed Martial Arts Thread (UFC and others)

[SirFozzie]

UFC 67 results
Dustin Hazelett d. Diego Saraiva by UD
Ryoto Machida d. Sam Hoger by UD
Frankie Edgar d. Tyson Griffin by UD
Terry Martin d. Jorge Rivera KO R1
Patrick Cote d. Scott Smith by UD
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson d. Marvin Eastman by TKO R2
Roger Huerta d John Halverson by TKO R1 (There was some controversey as to the ending)
Mirko Cro Cop d. Eddie Sanchez by TKO R1 in a very one-sided fight.
Anderson Silva d. Travis Lutter by submission (triangle choke+elbows) in Rd 2

Lutter had failed to make weight (was 1.5 pounds over the limit on the first weigh in, and could only shave .5 pounds off in the two hours between weigh ins). The fight was non title, and Lutter was docked 10% of his pay (5% to the sanctioning board, 5% To Silva).

Edgar versus Griffin was the fight of the night, it wasn't scheduled to air, but since there was a lot of early finishes, they showed it last, which was a great move.

Cro Cop looked DOMINANT, but this was a mismatch. Wonder if they are going to give Cro Cop a couple more victims before they through him at Liddell.

I think despite Rampage looking less then brilliant in his win, they're going to fast track him at Sylvia, especially if Couture doesn't beat him at UFC 68.. the HW division is slow right now.

Showtime's new MMA promotion (ELITE XC) debuts this weekend.

Main Card Bouts:
-Frank Shamrock vs. Renzo Gracie
-David Loiseau vs. Joey Villasenor
-Antonio Silva vs. Wes "Cabbage" Correira
-Gina Carano vs. Julie Kedzie
-Charles Bennett vs. K.J. Noons

Preliminary Bouts:
-Javier Vazquez vs. Adriano Periera
-Mike Pyle vs. Ross Ebanez
-John Shackelford vs. Edson Berto
-Bo Cantrell vs. Tim Persey
-Riki Fukuda vs. Seth Kleinbeck

Show to air from 10PM-12 on Showtime. The main card will be live, while the preliminary fights will be online at their website

http://www.elitexc.com/

The most hilarious part of this is the two announcers signed so far. Mario Lopez (Waiting for the first Saved by the Bell joke), and Bill Goldberg. Um.. hope they have a good MMA guy in the wings.. Thank god it's FRANK Shamrock and Renzo Gracie, we almost had our first Senior MMA event :D

[Travis]

Isn't Cro Cop a heavyweight? Figure maybe he and Arlovski face off, winner of that taking on whoever wins between Sylvia and Coutoure?

I know on the PPV they talked about Jackson being one of (if not) the last to beat Liddell. Sounded like he wants another tune up match or two before that rematch though.

I did really enjoy watching Silva get the semi submission victory against Lutter after all the talk about how good Lutter is on the ground and then him showing up overweight. Can't imagine Dana White is going to be knocking down his door for another fight anytime soon.

[Fighter of Foo]

Was going to post one of these myself. ;)

Agree with everything above. Edgar vs. Griffin was amazing, esp. since Edgar was a farily big underdog going in.

I can't imagine them messing around with Cro Cop too long. The guy is immensely talented, marketable and is in a weak-ish division.

Mario Lopez?????

[Desmond]

Mirko coming out to the Pride theme made mark out like a little kid. My buddy who has never watched a full ppv and up until recently hasn't seen very much MMA at all remarked that it appeared as if he was hunting poor Sanchez simply in order to eat him. Just devasting, cold, calculating skill, on that man.

I certainly hope that Zuffa can work out a longer contract with Cro Cop as I don't see them wanting to give him a title shot before they extend his deal or purchase Pride outright.

[Desmond]

Dola, and Mauro Ranallo has just been added to the Elite announce team.

[JeffNights]

I certainly hope that Zuffa can work out a longer contract with Cro Cop as I don't see them wanting to give him a title shot before they extend his deal or purchase Pride outright.



Well, it is a six fight deal....his next opponnet is largely speculated to be the undefeated but young Jake Obrien, after that he gets the Sylvia/Couture winner, which he wallops and claims the belt, so thats at least three title defenses untill his current contract is up.

In short, six fights for a main event guy is like two years.

[Desmond]

D'oh. I thought it was a 3 fight deal, my bad.

[bbor]

Is'nt Couture retired?

[Desmond]

He was/is but he's coming out of retirement to try and take the belt from Sylvia. I would never discount a guy with a pedigree like Coutre has, but this fight has all the signs of them just wanting to get Randy a big payday all over it.

And I really don't wanna see Randy get obliterated by Mirko.

[dubb93]

Randy will not fight Mirko. Randy was KO'ed by Chuck, imagine what Mirko would do to him. Different weight class, different level. If you don't think so, watch Mirko's last fight with Wanderlei.

The UFC will not be putting LHW's against Mirko after that fight.(EDIT: This is in reference to Mirko vs. Chuck, not a potential Mirko vs. Randy fight as I'm sure Randy has eaten himself up to around 240 or so since retirement.) It just simply is not safe.

Incase you have not seen it, here it is. Keep in mind Wanderlei is very possibly the best LHW in the world. He's beaten Rampage and eveyone else thrown at him and actually won the LHW GP that Chuck was involved in several years ago.

NSFW

hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY_gVEZnYZU&mode=related&search=

Again, that is what Mirko does to LHW's.

[dubb93]

Cro Cop looked DOMINANT, but this was a mismatch. Wonder if they are going to give Cro Cop a couple more victims before they through him at Liddell.

I think despite Rampage looking less then brilliant in his win, they're going to fast track him at Sylvia, especially if Couture doesn't beat him at UFC 68.. the HW division is slow right now.


Didn't catch all of that the first time, but you have that completely backwards. Cro Cop is a heavyweight like Sylvia, while Rampage is a LHW like Liddell.

Rampage is just there b/c he KTFO of Chuck a few years ago on a PRIDE PPV. While Cro Cop is there to give the heavyweight division some cred. And the fact that his KO's will be so marketable. BTW, anyone see the payouts for UFC 67?

Title Match & Main Event Fighters

-Anderson Silva: $71,000 (3rd UFC fight; defeated Travis Lutter)

-Travis Lutter: $18,000 (5th UFC fight; lost to Anderson Silva)


Main Card Fighters

-Mirko Cro Cop: $350,000 flat fee (1st UFC fight; defeated Eddie Sanchez)

-Quinton Jackson: $170,000 (1st UFC fight; defeated Marvin Eastman)

-Eddie Sanchez: $30,000 flat fee (2nd UFC fight; lost to Mirko Cro Cop)

-Marvin Eastman: $30,000 (3rd UFC fight; lost to Quinton Jackson)

-Patrick Cote: $20,000 (5th UFC fight; defeated Scott Smith)

-Scott Smith: $12,000 (3rd UFC fight; lost to Patrick Cote)

-Roger Huerta: $12,000 (2nd UFC fight; defeated John Halverson)

-John Halverson: $3,000 (1st UFC fight; lost to Roger Huerta)


Preliminary Match Fighters

-Lyoto Machida: $36,000 (1st UFC fight; defeated Sam Hoger)

-Jorge Rivera: $12,000 (7th UFC fight; lost to Terry Martin)

-Tyson Griffin: $9,000 (2nd UFC fight; lost to Frank Edgar)

-Terry Martin: $8,000 (3rd UFC fight; defeated Jorge Rivera)

-Sam Hoger: $7,000 (4th UFC fight; lost to Lyoto Machida)

-Frank Edgar: $6,000 (1st UFC fight; defeated Tyson Griffin)

-Dustin Hazelett: $6,000 (2nd UFC fight; defeated Diego Saraiva)

-Diego Saraiva: $3,000 (1st UFC fight; lost to Dustin Hazelett)

Disclosed Fighter Payroll: $803,000

*I bolded the three major newcomers who debuted on this card*

Really crazy money Cro Cop got there. Chuck makes 250K a fight, Tito about 200K, Tim Sylvia 120K, Matt Hughes 75K, GSP about 60K, and guys like Diego, Vera, Rashad, Forrest are all around 25-40K a fight.

In fact, the only guy I've seen get that kind of money was a one time thing in the UFC. Royce Gracie got paid 400K to fight Matt Hughes. In other words, without ever having a UFC fight, they made Cro Cop their highest paid fighter BY FAR.

Another fact, the entire payroll for UFC 64 in which Anderson Silva beat Rich Franklin and Sean Sherk beat K-Flo in the title fights was only 209K. He also makes more than GSP-Matt Hughes-Tim Sylvia-Jeff Monson-Brandon Vera-Frank Mir were payed combined to be the 3 headline fights in UFC 65. 350-342

[Edward64]

Does anyone else wish for the old UFC format, no weight classes, multiple fights a night ... anything goes except for fishhooking, eye gouging and a couple more rules?

I understand the need for more rules for whatever State agency to allow to expansion of the franchise and certainly makes sense monetarily.

I appreciate what UFC has done for the MA and Traditional MA worlds.

But it seems so far away from its original premise? All things held equal, prefer the old way of running UFC.

[Fighter of Foo]

Well the payouts and rule changes are all a consequence of MMA going mainstream very, very quickly. Fighter salaries are going to exponentially increase for the forseeable future. 350 will probably seem low in a year or two one the next round of contracts cycles through.

[SirFozzie]

With the HBO deal, the Ultimate Fighter, and the PPV's doing gangbuster business.. this is a great time for the UFC.

[SirFozzie]

BTW, here's the rumored fights for UFC 70 (which will be held in Manchester, England!)


Tito Ortiz (pretty much confirmed) vs. TBA [rumoured Forrest Griffin]
Mirko Cro Cop vs TBA [Cheick Congo rumoured]
Michael Bisping vs. TBA

Dennis Siver vs. TBA
David Lee vs. TBA
Cheick Kongo vs. TBA
Abdul Mohamed vs. TBA
Jess Liaudin vs. TBA
Elvis Sinosic vs. TBA

[JeffNights]

Guys one thing about the standard UFC pay is that in particular, Liddel, ortiz, hughes and a couple other also have PPV buy rate percentages in addition to their contract pay, since PPV buys are not immeadiately avalible, they are not required to be reported to the NASC. For instance, UFC 66, liddel made 1.4 million and ortiz slighty more than a million after thier PPV bonus money. Hughes gets the same deal, although not as high a percentage.

[Dutch]

I have just recently gotten into the UFC (we get the events free in the military). I thought Matt Hughes was amazing until St. Pierra kicked his butt. Have either of them fought since then and when will they either of them fight again?

[dervack]

I have just recently gotten into the UFC (we get the events free in the military). I thought Matt Hughes was amazing until St. Pierra kicked his butt. Have either of them fought since then and when will they either of them fight again?
GSP is fighting on April 7th as of now, Matt Hughes on March 3rd.

[Oilers9911]

Does anyone else wish for the old UFC format, no weight classes, multiple fights a night ... anything goes except for fishhooking, eye gouging and a couple more rules?

I understand the need for more rules for whatever State agency to allow to expansion of the franchise and certainly makes sense monetarily.

I appreciate what UFC has done for the MA and Traditional MA worlds.

But it seems so far away from its original premise? All things held equal, prefer the old way of running UFC.

If you want UFC to go back to that then keep waiting. The only reason UFC came out from the underground is because of the current rules. The way it used to be was just barbaric and it would never fly on any tv network that way. Someone would have eventually died in the ring that way. Many mainstream media types still see it that way and it is a fight for MMA to gain wide acceptance and they don't want to go back to the bad old days.

[SirFozzie]

BTW, UFC70 is rumored to be the first HBO UFC card

[Hammer]

OK, where are the sherdoggers? :)

I wouldn't say this at the dog for obvious reasons, but Sylvia is really going to shock some people against Cro Cop. Couture stands almost no chance of beating Sylvia - if Monson couldn't what chance does he have? Couture is Monson but smaller with weaker subs.

Sylvia's pure size will throw Cro Cop off a little. His LHK will be less of a weapon. I see this fight much like Sylvia AA 3.

The fight I really want to see is Mirko versus AA. I think Cro Cop takes it, but it should be a war.

I would be really surprised to see Crop face Kongo. Kongo is an outstanding striker with next to no ground game. He stands a slim chance of stopping Cro Cop, and that would really stuff the UFCs plan to build this guy up.

I'd expect a TUFer, maybe Brad Imes or Dan Christianson. Maybe Frank Mir.

I hear Vera is likely on the way out of the UFC, real shame, he would have been a great add to the mix. In my mind he has as good a shot of beating Liddell as anyone, he could cut to 205 easy.

[Hammer]

I have just recently gotten into the UFC (we get the events free in the military). I thought Matt Hughes was amazing until St. Pierra kicked his butt. Have either of them fought since then and when will they either of them fight again?


Hughes fights Chris Lyttle (TUF 5) and GSP fights Matt Serra (TUF 5 winner) shortly. Both should win comfortably.

If the fights go to plan, Hughes will face GSP in Montreal for a rematch.

Diego Sanchez and Josh Koscheck fight soon also, the winner of this likely gets the winner of Hughes/GSP.

[Calis]

Cro Cop will not face Arlovski before he fights Sylvia, I just can't see it happening on the off chance that AA beats him. No one wants to see Sylvia-Arlovski IV anytime soon.

I don't see Sylvia beating Cro Cop either, the reach will be annoying but Cro Cop has handled some large boys before, and I think he'll chop Tim down with Leg kicks. I think his speed and precision will be more of a factor than Tim's size. Who knows though, it's definitely not a gimmee.

I'm really hoping Rampage can get back on form and really shine, I'd love for him to be the one to finally dethrone Chuck. He's just got to get the fire back he lost after being annihilated by Wandy and Shogun. He matches up well with Chuck though. I'd love to see a repeat of their first meeting though.

We damn well better get Fedor vs. Cro Cop II sometime in the next couple years one way or the other.

[Calis]

In case anyone hear hasn't heard or is interested, tonight at 10 pm est EliteXC will having it's inaugural card on Showtime. So kind of neat, the main event is going to be Frank Shamrock vs. Renzo Gracie, and they also have David Loiseau, Cabbage, Crazy Horse, and some other people. So not too horrible for a first time card.

The cooler thing is the undercard is available for free on the internet is playing right now, if you go to proelite.com right now you can watch it. It's not a horribly low budget deal, and the first fight was actually pretty exciting.

Just a heads up, I'm all about getting any MMA I can. :)

Now bring on next Saturday and Pride!

[DaddyTorgo]

lol @ how the ads for UFC 68 try to portray Coutoure as having a chance against Sylvia.

[SirFozzie]

Here's the fights for the third season of BodogFight (Season 2 will start airing shortly on the old PAX Network, now ION)


Heavyweight Bouts

Roy Nelson (7-0) vs. Mario "Big Hurt" Rinaldi (5-0)

Mark Burch (6-2) vs. Yoshiki Takahashi (28-20)

Kellan Flukinger (0-0) vs. Miodrag "Pele" Petkovic (13-5)

Jeremiah Constant (4-0) vs. Dan Evensen (5-2)

Michael Alden (1-0) vs. Daniel Puder (4-0)

Light Heavyweight Bouts

Todd Gouwenberg (5-2) vs. Michael Patt (9-1)

Francis Carmont (9-4) vs. Jeff Ford (2-1)

David Avellan (1-0) vs. Antony Rea (11-7)

Moise Rimbon (9-6) vs. Alex "the Brazilian Killa" Stiebling (17-9)

Middleweight Bouts

Tim "Wrecking Machine" McKenzie (10-3) vs. Chael Sonnen (16-8)

Pierre Guillet (10-4) vs. Trevor Prangley (14-4)

Matt "the Hardest" Ewin (16-8) vs. Andrei Semenov (25-8)

Andy Foster (8-1) vs. Grzegorz Jakubowski (17-3)

Izuru Takeuchi (20-8) vs. Kyacey "Ice Cold" Uscola (11-7)

Eugene "the Wolf" Jackson (15-7) vs. Diego Vitosky (2-3)

Welterweight Bouts

Eddie Alvarez (9-0) vs. Scott Henze (17-6)

Dustin "Clean" Denes (12-3) vs. Nick "the Goat" Thompson (30-9)

Stephen Haigh (3-2) vs. Takuya Wada (13-7)

Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons (22-12) vs. Phil Norman (5-0)

Steve "Red Nose" Berger (17-15) vs. Piotr Jakaczynski (0-0)

Jake Ellenberger (14-1) vs. Zach Light (3-3)

Jake Shields (16-4) vs. Ray Steinbeiss (8-3)

Lightweight Bouts

Brad "One Punch" Pickett (9-2) vs. JR Sims (1-1)

Nick Agallar (17-4) vs. Ryan Bow (14-7)

Sami Aziz (0-0) vs. Rafael Dias (7-1)

Tyler "TNT" Jackson (7-3) vs. Kyle Watson (8-5)

David Love (4-5) vs. Atsuhiro Tsuboi (5-8)

Female Bouts

Shanya Bazler (0-0) vs. Tara LaRosa (12-1)

Jan Finney (3-2) vs. Tama Chan (12-5)

Rosi Sexton (5-1) vs. Windy Tomomi (9-7)

Carina Damm (5-2) vs. Molly Helsel (3-5)

[SirFozzie]

That is DEFINITELY not how they wanted the first Showtime card to end

[SirFozzie]

The ELITE XC main event ends in a DQ, with Shamrock DQ'd for injuring Renzo Gracie with knees to the head/neck (illegal on the ground, even if you're the one on the bottom)

[DaddyTorgo]

shamrocks=cheaters

[JonInMiddleGA]

Just in case this might be useful for anyone here.

2-for-1 ticket special offers for the Feb 23rd IFL card at the Gwinnett Arena.
Just follow this link (http://smr.mm.ticketmaster.com/track?type=click&mailingid=968587&messageid=962277&databaseid=DATABASEID&serial=117166021912021&[email protected]&userid=35966447&extra=&&&http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0E003D85B8F882DC?artistid=1067031&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=830) & use the password "WOLFPACK"

Card includes
Carlos Newton's Dragons vs Matt Lindland's Wolfpack
and Igor Zinoviev's Red Bears vs Linzo Gracie's Pitbulls

Price ranges are $85, $65, and $45

[Calis]

Anyone catch Pride 33 this weekend?

Biggest night of upsets ever.

I knew that Diaz wasn't getting enough respect against Gomi, and thought that Hendo had a slight chance, but who'd have thought? The biggest shocker of the evening though was Little Nog getting knocked out, a Nog knocked out! It's insanity, and by a judo guy no less.

The Gomi/Diaz match ranks up there as one of the weirdest fights I've ever seen, just very bizarre fight from Gomi from the start. Gomi just look comletely unprepared, it was embarrassing.

Silva is just not himself anymore, he spent more time backing up then going forward and his punches just seem to be getting wilder, I think his time is passing. Can we get Shogun a title shot now? I was really looking forward to seeing Silva/Little Nog or a Shogun/Nog rematch, but last night put a damper on that for a while. Silva did look bad, and I believe said he was very sick at the time, who knows if that's true but he looked very off. Honestly though I'd like to see him out of the running for a while, let some other guys in.

Dan Henderson now as the Welterweigt AND Middleweight champ of Pride, pretty impessive.

Very fun card overall, still can't believe it all.

[dervack]

Thought it was a very boring card except for the last 2 fights. And for anyone who doesn't think Iceman would destroy Silva, please watch Silva's last two fights against Cro Cop and Henderson. Chuck would destroy him.

[Calis]

Yeah, not many great fights in it overall, but I enjoyed it for the sheer wackiness.

I do agree that Chuck would beat Silva now, especially with the form Silva's shown lately, but I think using his fight against Cro Cop as proof is a bit off, because Chuck would fair little better against a Cro Cop who was as motivated and intense as he was against Silva. I'm ready for Silva to step down and let Shogun into the limelight, rather than having Shogun move up to heavyweight which I don't think will work as well.

I'm getting annoyed by Pride's absurd scheme of title defenses. How many non-title fights can you have your champions in? It seems like the champs average about one title fight every 18 months. This was Gomi's second loss like that in a relatively short period of time. It doesn't look good for their champs.

I wonder when Fedor's due back? I'd really like to see a Fedor vs. Barnett fight this year.

Man, now we've got the Sylvia/Couture debacle to look forward to this weekend.

[SirFozzie]

Fedor's fighting for BoDogFight in... april or may.

Edit: He's fighting former USA Olympic Medalist Matt Lindland on the 4/14 BodogFight PPV (9 hour delay, the PPV is taking place in St Petersburg Russia)

BTW, if you guys didn't know, BodogFight is producing a weekly show on the old PAX network (now Ion). Loosely based on the Ultimate fighter

[Dutch]

Alright, UFC! I can't wait. I don't get advertisements for it over here, so I never really know when the next one is due. I always forget. Thanks for keeping this one bumped. :)

[SirFozzie]

Dutch: Keep an eye on sherdog and or MMATorch. The wrestling board I post at (DVDVR) also has a MMA forum :)

[TLK]

Way to go Randy.... Sylvia looked horrible. It's a shame that Randy will have to face CroCop in the near future.

[DaddyTorgo]

Way to go Randy.... Sylvia looked horrible. It's a shame that Randy will have to face CroCop in the near future.

crocop might KILL randy

[BigMak]

Couldn't believe how easy Randy handled him

[kingfc22]

Randy was incredible tonight. From the very first right-hand to the end, he just flat out dominated.

[BYU 14]

Couldn't believe how easy Randy handled him

That was a definite shocker, considering Sylvia is similar in style to Liddell only taller I thought he would give Couture big problems...The one intangible though is that Liddell is probably the most accurate striker in MMA and pretty much everything he throws can hurt you.

Big props to Couture, sets up a big Money fight with either Crocop or Andrei Arlovsky. I think Andrei is a better matchup style wise for Couture. He fights Crocop and it could get ugly.

[Deattribution]

Big props to Couture, sets up a big Money fight with either Crocop or Andrei Arlovsky. I think Andrei is a better matchup style wise for Couture. He fights Crocop and it could get ugly.

Cro Cop is already in line for a title shot as long as he wins his next fight at UFC 70.

[Calis]

That was the most I've marked out for an MMA fight in a helluva long time. Great job by Randy, I didn't think he could do it but I sure was pulling for him. Everyone watching with me here was up on there feet after the first few seconds.

God I hate Sylvia.

Randy looked very very smooth. Great bobbing and weaving, I'm just shocked. Wow.

Yeah, I feel bad for Randy facing off against Cro Cop, but wow what a night for him.

[Dutch]

Just finished watching it. A pretty good event, the Matt Hughes fight was interesting from a technical standpoint, but boring for the fans. I was definately looking for more from him.

I was glad Sylvia got man-handled. He's not a great fighter, just an ackward fighter, and it showed vs the sound Couture. I don't think Couture could handle speed and stamina at his age, so I think for him to win, it was more of the perfect storm scenario going up against a slow guy.

Anyway...way more interesting than any boxing match I've ever watched and with so many matches on a card it's always money well spent (although UFC gives the overseas military these PPV's free of charge--so props to them.) I'll definately continue to follow this growing sport when I return stateside.

Watching the little Danish kid take those heavy punches, get woozy, and then submitting the bigger opponent by sleeper hold was an amazing turn-around. I love this shit!

[SirFozzie]

BTW, multiple sites are reporting that the UFC did over $200 million in buys over 2006.

[Neuqua]

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/news/story?id=2814235

Source: UFC buys Pride for less than $70M


NEW YORK -- The majority owners of Ultimate Fighting Championship have agreed to buy their biggest mixed martial arts rival, Pride Fighting Championships, in a deal that will establish megafights among the outfits' titleholders and possibly attract huge pay-per-view audiences.


"This is really going to change the face of MMA. Literally creating a sport that could be as big around the world as soccer. I liken it somewhat to when the NFC and AFC came together to create the NFL."
-- Lorenzo Fertitta, one of UFC's majority owners
Company executives declined to comment on the sales price, but a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta will purchase the Japan-based Pride for less than $70 million. The person was not authorized to speak to reporters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The deal was completed Tuesday and was announced during a news conference in Tokyo, where Lorenzo Fertitta has been negotiating with Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the majority owner and chief executive of Dream Stage Entertainment Inc., Pride's owner.

"We have been talking to Pride for probably about 11 months," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "It's been a long, drawn-out process but we finally were able to put the two brands together."

To buy the company, the brothers created a new entity called Pride FC Worldwide Holdings LLC. The newly formed company will take over Pride assets, including its trademarks, video library and valuable roster of fighters, from Dream Stage. The Fertitta brothers, who own Las Vegas-based Zuffa LLC, the parent company of UFC, intend to keep the well-known Pride name and promote fights under that brand.

The acquisition marks a new phase in the brothers' quest to dominate the burgeoning world of mixed martial arts since they bought the struggling UFC in 2001.

"This is really going to change the face of MMA," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "Literally creating a sport that could be as big around the world as soccer. I liken it somewhat to when the NFC and AFC came together to create the NFL."

The deal allows the Fertitta brothers to broker the biggest MMA fights possible in the near future, increasing their influence in this sports entertainment business.

"We will be able to literally put on the fights that everyone wants to see," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "It will allow us to put on some of the biggest fights ever."

In the past, there has been at least one case in which Pride and UFC couldn't hammer out a deal to put their top fighters in the ring together. With Pride in their pocket, the Fertitta brothers intend to ensure that never happens again.

The sale gives Pride more financial backing to expand the business internationally after suffering a recent financial blow.

Major sponsor Fuji Television Network Inc. dropped Pride in June after a tabloid linked Pride to the Japanese mob -- something Sakakibara has denied vigorously. To help bolster Pride, the company staged two PPV fights in Las Vegas. Neither was a financial success. The fights gained exposure for Pride but lost money, making the sale of Pride more likely.

"I think it certainly weakened their position," Lorenzo Fertitta said. "One of our goals is to get back on a major platform back here in Japan."

Lorenzo Fertitta said he'll be looking to expand Pride internationally.

Buying Pride is the latest in a series of acquisitions that the brothers have made in the last six months. Zuffa snapped up World Extreme Cagefighting and World Fighting Alliance last year.

Similar to Pride, buying WFA gave UFC the rights to a popular fighter named Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Jackson will face UFC's most popular fighter, Chuck Liddell, the current light heavyweight champ in Las Vegas, on May 26 on PPV.

In the combat world, the Pride deal leaves a fragmented group of upstarts and K-1, another Japanese company that promotes fighters skilled in various forms of kick boxing.

Thanks to a surge in popularity, the brothers' investment in UFC and MMA in general has begun to pay off.

Last year, UFC cracked $200 million in PPV revenue, putting it on par with World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.

UFC stages fights in arenas across the country and airs a clutch of successful television shows on Spike TV. It has also opened an office in London, looking toward establishing itself internationally.

The brothers also run Station Casinos Inc. in Las Vegas. Lorenzo Fertitta is president and Frank Fertitta is chairman and chief executive of Station Casinos, a public company that was recently agreed to be purchased by a private equity investor group that includes key members of the Fertitta family.

[moriarty]

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/news/story?id=2814235

This is big news. For anyone who hasn't seen Pride, Pride has some of the best fighters in the world. This merger will allow the best of the UFC to fight the best of Pride in a Superbowl type setup. Not sure how they will handle it, but it should lead for some great future match ups.

[DeToxRox]

Fedor is going to Pride and it's rumored New Years Eve in Japan he'll take on Cro Cop.

That will be the most insane UFC Fight in a LONG TIME .. if not ever.

[SirFozzie]

The good news is that the weight classes and most of the rules are going to be standard across Pride and UFC (140, 155, 170, 205, 265, Super heavy). This will see soccerkicks and stomps to a grounded opponent will no longer be allowed in PRIDE

[DeToxRox]

And dola

On May 26th, Rampage is going to put Chuck out of his misery.

[Neuqua]

Fedor is going to Pride and it's rumored New Years Eve in Japan he'll take on Cro Cop.

That will be the most insane UFC Fight in a LONG TIME .. if not ever.

Fedor's already beaten Cro Cop once before. The guy is just an absolute monster.

[Desmond]

And dola

On May 26th, Rampage is going to put Chuck out of his misery.

Rampage doesn't have what it takes mentaly to beat Chuck.

Promoted right, I think Coutre vs Cro Crop could top 1 Million buys pretty easily.

[Qwikshot]

This is big news. For anyone who hasn't seen Pride, Pride has some of the best fighters in the world. This merger will allow the best of the UFC to fight the best of Pride in a Superbowl type setup. Not sure how they will handle it, but it should lead for some great future match ups.


I enjoyed what I saw initially from UFC, though I will admit I don't watch as much as I used to.

I showed a buddy and he got really hooked, and he did a little research and found out about Pride and together we watched some of the fights over the weekend while my daughter was sick.

I liked it more because it was less about grappling and more about winning. I was started to get bored with all the grappling bouts without any submission attempts. I also liked it because it was more offense, less defense. Some bouts the figthers just kept their hands down (never good in any fight), so it was always a hair away from knockouts.

I'm not sure if it'll be a good thing, yes some of the Pride fighters are really good, but I like the fact that it was rather unsantized and not really for the American market.

We'll just have to wait and see.

[Calis]

I really really hate to see the Pride ruleset changed, that's the biggest downside to this and I definitely see it as a negative and not a positive. I'm not sure what I think of this, I guess if the alternative was Pride going under I'm for it, but otherwise I'm not so sure.

I love Rampage, I do think Rampage can beat Chuck, but I also think he's not ready. Hell Rampage doesn't act like he thinks he can at this time. He wanted some more tune ups, and he got rejected. I think they're wasting this one. I'll be pulling for him though.

Pretty sad to hear this, I hope they keep them separated to a large degree and stick to this one big supercard a year or so. The bright side is maybe Shogun vs. Chuck, Fedor/Cro cop II obviously, and some other great possibilities.

We'll see how it pans out I guess.

[JeffNights]

Rampage destroyed Chuck in the PRIDE LHW GP a couple years ago. He can beat him, trust me.

[DeToxRox]

Rampage destroyed Chuck in the PRIDE LHW GP a couple years ago. He can beat him, trust me.

Was going to type this but Jeff beat me to it. Rampage is no joke and shouldn't be considered one. He has beaten Chuck once, Chuck is the one with something to prove.

[SirFozzie]

Ouch. UFC's looking to KO' Elite XC in the courts:

The Ultimate Fighting Championship's parent company Zuffa Entertainment filed a lawsuit against cable network Showtime and their Mixed Martial Arts company Elite XC on 3/22 in the United States District Court of Nevada. The lawsuit alleges copyright infringement and unfair competition.

In a 34 page filing, Zuffa contends that the debut EXC broadcast on 2/10 in Southaven, MS featured "unauthorized, wrong, knowing and continuing appropriation, use and copying" of UFC copyrighted material that Zuffa has produced themselves or own from acquiring UFC in 2001 from Semaphore Entertainment.

The filing claims that the defendants, "wrongfully and willing copied the Infringed Copyrights, or caused the wrongful and willful copying" of the UFC footage. They allege EXC and Showtime may have also copied "other aspects and portions" of material Zuffa owns.

Zuffa also contends that the usage on EXC's broadcast created a "likelihood of confusion in the marketplace" and that EXC is using UFC's name and goodwill for their own good, citing the move was unfair competition on the part of Elite XC.

Zuffa requested that Showtime and EliteXC be enjoined from continuing to use the company's copyrighted material, that all copyrighted material be returned to them, that the defendants be forced to cover Zuffa's legal costs and that the court rule in their favor for any damages it deems fit. Their complaint was filed with detailed information on all of the material copyrighted and owned by Zuffa.

Neither Showtime nor EXC, who announced a massive undertaking today with a 6/2 MMA PPV at the 100,000 seat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, have responded to their claims before the court. It's possible the companies may not have even been served with the complaint as of this writing.

Zuffa has demanded a jury trial in the filing.

The footage shown is from several UFC's: Ultimate Japan, UFC 16, UFC 17, UFC Brazil, UFC 22 and UFC 45

[Calis]

I should add, I'm quite aware that Rampage beat Chuck and beat him rather soundly, but I also think they're VASTLY different fighters now then they were 3 years ago.

Rampage has without doubt lost an edge, after being annihilated by Silva and Shogun he just really lost that killer instinct, and I think a couple of tune up wins would go a long way towards gaining that back. I do think he's a bad match-up for Chuck and the best stand-up guy I can remember Chuck fighting in God knows how long.

I'm all for him winning, and I think he can, I just don't think he's in the right state of mind now to do it. I hope I'm wrong.

[moriarty]

I should add, I'm quite aware that Rampage beat Chuck and beat him rather soundly, but I also think they're VASTLY different fighters now then they were 3 years ago.

Rampage has without doubt lost an edge, after being annihilated by Silva and Shogun he just really lost that killer instinct, and I think a couple of tune up wins would go a long way towards gaining that back. I do think he's a bad match-up for Chuck and the best stand-up guy I can remember Chuck fighting in God knows how long.

I'm all for him winning, and I think he can, I just don't think he's in the right state of mind now to do it. I hope I'm wrong.

I agree completely with Calis. Anyone judging Rampage on his fight vs. Chuck several years ago is misleading themselves. After the two brutal beatings he took from Wandy, and another one from Shogun he hasn't been the same fighter. Watch his Don Yon Sik (or whatever his name was fight). In the meantime Chuck has gotten better if anything.

I also was more a fan of the Pride rules as opposed to UFC so I'm sad to see those go. One rule I hope they keep (we'll see) is the yellow card rule. If someone is just stalling and not trying to finish the fight (you hear me Koshceck and O'brien) the ref gives them a yellow card which docks them 10% of their pay and is used in judging criteria. Good rule IMO, along with knees on the ground, and no elbows (which lead to too many cuts).

[heybrad]

I just got tickets to UFC 71 (Liddell vs. Jackson) in Vegas. I'm pretty stoked.

[moriarty]

Nice! Take your laptop. We want an instant report! :)

[SirFozzie]

Damn! This is from the EliteXC co-sponsored show (promoted by Icon Sports) in Hawaii Last Night, the main event, Robbie Lawler vs Frank Trigg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l295/tsazmand/robbie-lawler_frank-trigg.gif

First two of the last four punch combo? Sweet as hell. Third Punch? Barely excusable. Fourth Punch? Um... No.

[Calis]

Got this from over at Sherdog

"As the referee jumped in to stop the fight, Lawler caught the prone Trigg with another right hook.

"If it was Niko (Vitale) I wouldn't have done that, because Niko's the man and he has respect," Lawler said. "Trigg has no respect.""

Pretty awful. Sounds like he's pretty clearly saying he knew that Trigg was already KO'ed, that's inexcusable if true. The ref should've been in there sooner though, it's up to him to put a clamp on that quickly.

I also just read that Don Frye vs. James Thompson has been added to the next Pride card. Man, they're forming up a real crap show for their final one. Although I do find myself strangely excited for the Zulu vs. Butterbean fight, and I'm ashamed.

[moriarty]

Got this from over at Sherdog

"As the referee jumped in to stop the fight, Lawler caught the prone Trigg with another right hook.

"If it was Niko (Vitale) I wouldn't have done that, because Niko's the man and he has respect," Lawler said. "Trigg has no respect.""

Pretty awful. Sounds like he's pretty clearly saying he knew that Trigg was already KO'ed, that's inexcusable if true. The ref should've been in there sooner though, it's up to him to put a clamp on that quickly.

I also just read that Don Frye vs. James Thompson has been added to the next Pride card. Man, they're forming up a real crap show for their final one. Although I do find myself strangely excited for the Zulu vs. Butterbean fight, and I'm ashamed.

Lawler's always been a bit of a hot head, but he had no business throwing that last punch. Ultimately though what the heck was the ref watching? As soon as he slumped (if not sooner) he should have been in there.

That next Pride card blows. It's pretty much like the Ferrettas said don't waste any major talent on your final show before we take over, so that we can control all the money matches. I'm taking Butterbean though, and James Thompson in an upset.

[Calis]

Man, I don't think Thompson over Frye is an upset really, have you seen Frye lately? I love the guy and he was a helluva fighter but he's done. He's looked real sluggish and out of shape the last couple times he has fought. It'll be a slugfest either way though.

So, what about this weekend's UFC? I thought it sucked, but after seeing Pride's card I think it sucks a little less. The main event is a joke, GSP vs. Serra is a horrible match. This one is not even close.

There's a couple interesting undercard fights though. Swick vs. Okami actually interests me, they've both been looking pretty good lately and it could end up being a very good fight. I'll give the nod to Okami though, I'd love to see him up against Silva.

Diego vs. Koscheck is another one people are interested in, but I'm not so much. I can't stand either of the guys, and Koscheck on a PPV makes me sad. He takes the boredom of an Arona fight and subracts about 75% of the talent. He's effective though, so he might have a shot, I guess it's for the TUF fans.

Curious to see if Herring can bounce back and at least show SOMETHING. While his time has passed, he's usually at least entertaining. He can't do worse than his last outing.

[moriarty]

Man, I don't think Thompson over Frye is an upset really, have you seen Frye lately? I love the guy and he was a helluva fighter but he's done. He's looked real sluggish and out of shape the last couple times he has fought. It'll be a slugfest either way though.

So, what about this weekend's UFC? I thought it sucked, but after seeing Pride's card I think it sucks a little less. The main event is a joke, GSP vs. Serra is a horrible match. This one is not even close.

There's a couple interesting undercard fights though. Swick vs. Okami actually interests me, they've both been looking pretty good lately and it could end up being a very good fight. I'll give the nod to Okami though, I'd love to see him up against Silva.

Diego vs. Koscheck is another one people are interested in, but I'm not so much. I can't stand either of the guys, and Koscheck on a PPV makes me sad. He takes the boredom of an Arona fight and subracts about 75% of the talent. He's effective though, so he might have a shot, I guess it's for the TUF fans.

Curious to see if Herring can bounce back and at least show SOMETHING. While his time has passed, he's usually at least entertaining. He can't do worse than his last outing.

I just figured Frye would be a favorite due to his name/past, but while I haven't seen his recent fights I heard it's not pretty. Then again, Thompson is the biggest sissy puncher I've ever seen (don't tell that to Yoshida though).

I actually think the UFN card on Thursday is almost as good as the UFC card on Saturday (and that's not a good thing). I'm looking to Diego cleaning Koscheck's clock. I like GSP, but I don't see much of a match there. Okami's a good matchup for Swick. But if Herring can't get past Imes, he may as well hang it up.

Looking forward to Guillard vs. Stevenson though.

[Calis]

The Chute-Box site now lists Silva vs. Igor Vovchanchyn for Pride 34.

The card starts being a little more interesting.

[SirFozzie]

Wow. 28 Minutes in and there's a new record for "TUF Fighters Foz Wishes he could punch in the face, without repercussions"

[SirFozzie]

Damn, the guy I hated the most is gone already (I saw another of his fights, he was an absolute dick)

[moriarty]

Damn, the guy I hated the most is gone already (I saw another of his fights, he was an absolute dick)

You hated the crabshack dude?

Seems like they could find someone for the show more qualified than a guy that's faught a few times part time to promote his restaurant. I'm surpised he didn't come to the ring with a Lobster shack shirt on or something.

[SirFozzie]

Yeah, he fought on a Real Fighting Championships card that was later televised on SUN network, and well, he was an absolute dick. (I think that's why he was invited on to the show)

Looks like this show has an overdose of the crazy already, just from this week and looking at next week's preview

[moriarty]

Looks like this show has an overdose of the crazy already, just from this week and looking at next week's preview

No doubt. We have the 6'4 inch 155lb wacko dog imitator, Nate Diaz (crazy just by his lineage), Jens who seems oddly bipolar, and Manny (Karo's cousin) who apparently goes bezerk in the previews. Not to mention Ruediger who went from loud mouth, to chubby kid, to cry baby all within the space of one episode.

WTF?

[DaddyTorgo]

wait wait...i missed the UFC buying Pride thing

can we rewind??!?! WTF!

just brings us one step closer to Fedor taking over the world!

[moriarty]

wait wait...i missed the UFC buying Pride thing

can we rewind??!?! WTF!

just brings us one step closer to Fedor taking over the world!

Technically the Ferretta brothers bought Pride, but yes it opens up the MMA Superbowl possibilities. As for Fedor, that's another story. Depending on which rumors you believe Fedor may/may not be still under contract to Pride and may/may not have signed a multi-fight deal with Bodog.

[Calis]

Holy crap.

[SirFozzie]

Holy crap.


HA! I shoulda bet one of my coworkers that Kos was gonna beat Diego :). And holy crap is right when it comes to the main event result :)

[heybrad]

Koscheck and Sanchez did not live up to the hype. Very boring.

It was pretty shocking how Serra dismantled St Pierre.

[Toddzilla]

Am I seeing things, or did ESPN show UFC highlights this morning? WTF?

[BYU 14]

Koscheck and Sanchez did not live up to the hype. Very boring.

It was pretty shocking how Serra dismantled St Pierre.

Agree and agree....

The fight of the Night for me was the Huerta/Garcia bout. Those two went at it like Griffin and Bonner for 3 rounds. Though Huerta won decisively, Garcia is a tough SOB....would love to see a rematch, especially if Garcia had more time to train.

[Calis]

So as for the last ever DSE run Pride event.

Went out rather poorly I think. The fights weren't that bad, but getting there was horrific. Pride was usually all about the fights, one right after the other and this one dragged on. Extremely awkward "witty" banter between Frank Trigg and Coleman/Randleman, and watching the Coleman vs. Igor fight what seemed like 8 times. It was bad.

The fights. This Sokoujuwhatever character is starting to look like he could be a very real threat. It's still very hard to tell because we've seen him fight twice and for a total of about 3 minutes I think, if that. In that time he's beat Little Nog and Arona though, and in doing has showed some very heavy hands, and excellent takedown defense, it ain't easy to stop an Arona takedown like he did. He's just 22 as well, so this guy could be Shogun II. I want to see him in a little longer fight before I say for sure on this guy, but it looks good.

Frye vs. Thompson was about what was expected, Frye letting himself get pummeled. I think he could've literally stood there all night taking those shots from Thompson, which has to make Thompson feel pretty weak. Frye needs to stop though, he's taken way too many shots. The amount of times he apologized after the fight got pretty creepy as well, started to sound like a suicide note.

Fujita vs. Monson went about as expected.

The first fight of the night was the best imo. I can't even remember the names but it was a helluva fight.

I'm very angry we didn't get to see Butterbean vs. Zulu. Butterbean winning via an armbar? That's all time classic.

On another note, I just saw that the Diaz win over Gomi has been changed to a no decision because Diaz was aided by the use of marijuana. Good stuff.

[moriarty]

I'm very angry we didn't get to see Butterbean vs. Zulu. Butterbean winning via an armbar? That's all time classic.
.

It was a Kimura IIRC, but just so you don't feel anger, try this:

hxxp://www.dailymotion.com/videos/relevance/search/pride+34/1

[SirFozzie]

Spoilers for tonight's UFC70 on SpikeTV

Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga KO's Mirko Crocop in the first round with the sickest of all head kicks

Andrei Arlovski UDs Fabricio Werdum

Michael Bisping TKO's Elvis Sinosic in the second round

Ryoto LYOTO Machida UD's David Heath

Cheick Kongo defeats Assuerio Silva by Majority Decision

Terry Etim guillotines Matt Grice in the first round

Junior Assuncao RNCs David Lee in the 2nd round

Alessio Sakara TKO's Victor Valimaki in R1

Paul Taylor TKOs Edilberto Crocota in R3


Holeeeeeeee Fucking Shit. What a year of upsets.

[SirFozzie]

I just saw the end of the main. That is the SICKEST KO I've seen in years.

[Neuqua]

I *really* need to find this on the internet some where.

[SirFozzie]

you have a PM, sir.

[DaddyTorgo]

oh sweet jesus. That was a KICK. G'damm! Coutoure has gotta be shaking in his boots

[Travis]

Poor guy, wake up with a killer headache and you can't put any weight on your leg, he's not going to believe them that it was all because of the kick until he watches the tape.

Gah does that look awful.

[DaddyTorgo]

Poor guy, wake up with a killer headache and you can't put any weight on your leg, he's not going to believe them that it was all because of the kick until he watches the tape.

Gah does that look awful.

i'd be surprised if he wasn't out for months with the way his knee+ankle were awkwardly bent there.

[Calis]

Holy crap.

What the hell is going on in the world of MMA lately?

Another crazy one. What a kick.

Did you see his leg though? My god, that was disgusting. I wonder though if being knocked senseless will help with an injury because he wouldn't have tensed. Nasty though.

[DaddyTorgo]

Holy crap.

What the hell is going on in the world of MMA lately?

Another crazy one. What a kick.

Did you see his leg though? My god, that was disgusting. I wonder though if being knocked senseless will help with an injury because he wouldn't have tensed. Nasty though.

that was the sickest kick i've ever seen. As good as any i've seen in pride, and the best i've seen in MMA (better than the Tim Slyvia vs. Tra Telligman one). Hit him right on the button. Wow.

[SirFozzie]

i'd be surprised if he wasn't out for months with the way his knee+ankle were awkwardly bent there.

He was apparently walking after the card.

[DaddyTorgo]

He was apparently walking after the card.

well that's amazing, but good.

i'm glad you didn't spoil it for me btw...thanx

[SirFozzie]

here's a shot of cro cop after the kick.. I was going to put it in a spoiler tag, it's that stomach churning, and then I realized that this was what Hxxping links was made for.

hxxp://dnevnik.hr/media/images///extra/Apr2007//44512.jpg

[JonInMiddleGA]

I *really* need to find this on the internet some where.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGedBB8rG48

[Sublime 2]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGedBB8rG48

Wow...I saw it live and tweaked out, but seeing it again over and over...WOW!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Wow...I saw it live and tweaked out, but seeing it again over and over...WOW!

I didn't see it live but had no idea what to expect (other than the end result), so it was kinda live'ish for me the first time on video. And DAMN ! my imagination was exceeded many times over.

[Toddzilla]

Working YouTube link...hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCe_HD4WKJw

[Neuqua]

Sick, just sick.

[kingfc22]

That was the first time I've ever felt uneasy watching a MMA knockout. I thought he broke his neck when he fell to the ground. Not to mention his leg was going in 8 different directions.

Still can't believe he walked out of the cage.

[Oilers9911]

For a brief moment I actually thought he Cro-Cop was dead. Wow. And Bisping is a beast.

[moriarty]

For the 3rd time in as many shows, I was just speachless. Makes me look like an idiot when I'm telling my MMA newbie friends how great GSP or CroCop are and they instantly follow up by getting destroyed.

Ironically the only high kicks I've seen as good as the one thrown by Gonzaga were ones thrown by CroCop.

[Neuqua]

SPIKE TV is playing the encore of UFC 70 if anyone out there missed it live (like me.)

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/cat_index_31.asp#11668

Ratings roundup:... Spike TV’s “UFC 70: Nations Collide” averaged 885,000 males 18-34 on Saturday night, drawing more viewers in the demo than NASCAR and Major League Baseball on Fox, including a game between the Yankees and Boston Red Sox, as well as the NBA playoffs on ESPN that day. Overall the telecast averaged 2.8 million total viewers, making the bout in which Gonzaga beat Mirko Cro Cop the second most-watched in UFC history.

[SirFozzie]

You have to be fucking shitting me.

The year of the upset continues three times over tonight.

[Deattribution]

You have to be fucking shitting me.

The year of the upset continues three times over tonight.

Liddell Rampage? That wasn't an upset, anyone who has ever watched Rampage should of seen that coming. At the VERY least, it was a 50/50 fight anyone who thought otherwise was kidding themselves.

[Calis]

Liddell Rampage? That wasn't an upset, anyone who has ever watched Rampage should of seen that coming. At the VERY least, it was a 50/50 fight anyone who thought otherwise was kidding themselves.

Yeah, no way this was a an upset on the level of any of the other ones this year, if it was one at all. This was one of the best 205'ers in the world beating one of the best 205'ers in the world, and a I loved it. It sucks that you can manhandle a guy like he did the first time and be given such little respect in a rematch. I guess he earned it tonight though.

Damn I'm happy. I think this is a good thing for the UFC as well if Rampage can stick around as champ. He's an incredibly funny and charismatic guy, which is exactly the opposite of Chuck. He could be a good poster boy.

That being said, I love Rampage..he's far and away my favorite fighter, but it's going to be a hell of a fight against Hendo. I think it's a bad matchup for him.

Great night tonight though, I still can't believe it happened so quick. I thought Rampage would wear him down and then get to him, I didn't expect it to end that quick.

[Ryche]

Get ahold of Rampage, drag him to the mat, take him apart. If you try trading blows with him, you don't stand a chance.

[Calis]

Get ahold of Rampage, drag him to the mat, take him apart. If you try trading blows with him, you don't stand a chance.

I think the more effective method is to clinch and then knee him until he collapses, or the Chute Box method of annihilating him.

I think Hendo will give him all sorts of trouble.

This opens up a lot of opportunities though, you now have an opening to make Silva vs. Liddell happen since Chuck lost. You could make Liddell for Shogun for a title shot, but I don't think they want that.

Lots of interesting things that could happen, I'm curious to see what they do.

[DeToxRox]

Was going to type this but Jeff beat me to it. Rampage is no joke and shouldn't be considered one. He has beaten Chuck once, Chuck is the one with something to prove.

QFT

[Hammer]

I don't think Rampage will keep the title long. Henderson has a good chance to beat him, as would Brandon Vera or Rashad Evans. At this point I think Shogan or Couture would be favourite against him.

I hope the Iceman isn't done, he is getting on in years for a striker. I'd love to see him get another shot at the title before he hangs up his boots.

I think people buy too much into one fight. Anyone can get caught when big punches are being thrown, especially with 4oz gloves. I would bet the house Matt Serra wouldn't beat GSP again. But in this instance, as Rampage had beaten Chuck before, you have to give this guy serious props.

[DaddyTorgo]

didn't get to keep up since I am out of town in nowheresville. rampage beat chuck?? SWEEETTTTTTTTT!!

finally all the iceman-nutlickers can stfu. not to take anything away from his ability but he prolly had more bandwagon fans than anyone else in MMA and it was just getting annoying listening to them all saying he was the greatest thing since sliced-bread

[BYU 14]

Get ahold of Rampage, drag him to the mat, take him apart. If you try trading blows with him, you don't stand a chance.

Problem is not many guys are strong enough to keep him there, even if his ground game is not the most technically sound.

[MikeVic]

I watched the K-1 thing today (Dynamite USA or something like that). Mainly interested in Lesnar's debut... but thought the entire show was entertaining (not always for good reasons though).

All 4 One sang the anthem, Rodman gave some speech, and Goldberg (the wrestler) was one of the commentators.

Johnnie Morton (the NFL WR!!) got knocked out FAST. Seems to have a glass jaw. The third or fourth fight was the best. A Korean guy looked to be losing and had his entire right eye swollen, but ended up getting a submission victory.

The Gracie fight was boring and made me sleepy. Lesnar actually won his first fight, but it wasn't against Hong Man Choi. The guy he faced did nothing gainst him, and tapped out to "strikes to the head."

Looking forward to seeing what Lesnar does from here though.

[moriarty]

Anyone catch the WEC Show on VS. channel Sunday night? Excellent show IMO. 2 hours of pretty good fighters and great action.

[Calis]

So in smaller-time MMA news. Kimbo Slice had his debut against Ray Mercer last night. I didn't see it, but reading about it made it seem like Kimbo handled him pretty easily and won it with a believe it or not. Submission! I guess he's been training with Bas Rutten quite a bit lately.

I did however watch the Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni match. This one was pretty brutal. Baroni took a beating the first round. I mean, it wasn't close. It was brutal, and Shamrock just toyed with him. Laughing, taunting, giving him illegal hits to the back of the head..typical Shamrock stuff. One of the worst rounds I've ever seen where the fighter didn't actually lose the fight. Baroni looked like he hurt Shamrock in the 2nd round with a body shot, maybe broke a rib? He was done though from the earlier hits and his usual outstanding cardio. Shamrock looked very good standing though, I was impressed. I'd still like to see Frank settle things with UFC and come back sometime. He's the perfect villain for UFC, and still a pretty damn solid fighter. I don't think he wants to fight any top competition though, but maybe I'm wrong.

The next UFC card has me really excited. We get to see Big Nog finally make his debut which I'm excited about. I think Big Nog can really do well here. Without Fedor in his way he's the Champ. I think Evans vs. Ortiz will be a pretty good match-up as well. Franca and Sherk should be fun, and I wouldn't count out Marquardt against Silva. Some great fights lined up.

It's looking more and more now like Pride is dead all together which is sad. They haven't done anything about new cards and look like they don't plan to. That's too bad.

[DaddyTorgo]

So in smaller-time MMA news. Kimbo Slice had his debut against Ray Mercer last night. I didn't see it, but reading about it made it seem like Kimbo handled him pretty easily and won it with a believe it or not. Submission! I guess he's been training with Bas Rutten quite a bit lately.

I did however watch the Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni match. This one was pretty brutal. Baroni took a beating the first round. I mean, it wasn't close. It was brutal, and Shamrock just toyed with him. Laughing, taunting, giving him illegal hits to the back of the head..typical Shamrock stuff. One of the worst rounds I've ever seen where the fighter didn't actually lose the fight. Baroni looked like he hurt Shamrock in the 2nd round with a body shot, maybe broke a rib? He was done though from the earlier hits and his usual outstanding cardio. Shamrock looked very good standing though, I was impressed. I'd still like to see Frank settle things with UFC and come back sometime. He's the perfect villain for UFC, and still a pretty damn solid fighter. I don't think he wants to fight any top competition though, but maybe I'm wrong.

The next UFC card has me really excited. We get to see Big Nog finally make his debut which I'm excited about. I think Big Nog can really do well here. Without Fedor in his way he's the Champ. I think Evans vs. Ortiz will be a pretty good match-up as well. Franca and Sherk should be fun, and I wouldn't count out Marquardt against Silva. Some great fights lined up.

It's looking more and more now like Pride is dead all together which is sad. They haven't done anything about new cards and look like they don't plan to. That's too bad.


I would love to see Big Nog run roughshod over the UFC and show all the come-lately fans what a real MMA fighter can do.

I think UFC is stupid if they don't keep Pride going. Japan is a HUGE market for MMA. And they'd just be repeating the mistakes that Vince McMahon made when he bought WCW IMO.

[Hammer]

Like Cro Cop did :)

I know its popular to hate the UFC as a true MMA fan, but I think PRIDE was overrated (patch e). The UFC and PRIDE federations were very similar in quality IMO. The only guy who may come in and boss a division is Fedor. I don't think he will run through people, but I can't see anyone beating him.

[DaddyTorgo]

Like Cro Cop did :)

I know its popular to hate the UFC as a true MMA fan, but I think PRIDE was overrated (patch e). The UFC and PRIDE federations were very similar in quality IMO. The only guy who may come in and boss a division is Fedor. I don't think he will run through people, but I can't see anyone beating him.

Cro Cop is a one-trick pony. Big Nog can submit anyone from any position. His BJJ is beautiful.

[General Mike]

I did however watch the Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni match. This one was pretty brutal. Baroni took a beating the first round. I mean, it wasn't close. It was brutal, and Shamrock just toyed with him. Laughing, taunting, giving him illegal hits to the back of the head..typical Shamrock stuff. One of the worst rounds I've ever seen where the fighter didn't actually lose the fight. Baroni looked like he hurt Shamrock in the 2nd round with a body shot, maybe broke a rib? He was done though from the earlier hits and his usual outstanding cardio. Shamrock looked very good standing though, I was impressed. I'd still like to see Frank settle things with UFC and come back sometime. He's the perfect villain for UFC, and still a pretty damn solid fighter. I don't think he wants to fight any top competition though, but maybe I'm wrong.


From Dave Meltzer in regards to the Shamrock-Baroni fight:

--Some notes coming out of the Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni fight. Both came out of it in a war. Shamrock's injuries were a completely blown ACL (not just torn, but it appears he no longer even had one) and a torn MCL from sparring with Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou on 6/11. He had no business walking, let alone fighting and he could do no cardio training from that point on. He was shopping last week in one of those motorized carts that handicapped people use. I saw him train a few days earlier and his cardio was more than there, but two weeks on your back will take your cardio way down, and realistically, he had very little time to win and it completely destroyed his game plan of outlasting Baroni over 25:00. Baroni went into the fight with a hernia and probably had no business fighting. Both needed surgery before the fight. Baroni suffered a groin injury, he told me after he thought it was a pull, but it may have been a tear, during the first round, but he has all black and blue down there. Some of the biggest names in the sport would not have fought with either of the injuries both men came in with. Many others would have. Most top fighters who have mileage on them and are past 30 are coming in hurt to a degree but usually not to anywhere near that degree. The atmosphere live was incredible. It beat Tito Ortiz vs. Chuck Liddell for tension. I can't compare it with Couture vs. Sylvia live because I wasn't there, but it probably wasn't at that level.

http://www.wrestlingobserver.com/wo/news/headlines/default.asp?aID=19975

[Calis]

Like Cro Cop did :)

I know its popular to hate the UFC as a true MMA fan, but I think PRIDE was overrated (patch e). The UFC and PRIDE federations were very similar in quality IMO. The only guy who may come in and boss a division is Fedor. I don't think he will run through people, but I can't see anyone beating him.

They were similiar qualities in some respects, and the UFC was better in some respects. Their welterweight division was just stacked. I do not think that UFC was of similiar quality in Heavyweights though. Sylvia and Arlovski were up there, and uhh..Mir maybe? Pride had Fedor who is unquestionably the top Heavy in the world, and Big Nog who I think is #2. Then when you go to the next tier you have guys like Cro Cop, Hunt, Aleks, Sergei, Werdum, and the list just goes on. They were stacked there.

I think they had the LHW/Middleweight class also. Who did UFC have other than Chuck? Tito? It just wasn't competitive.

With people like Hughes, St. Pierre, Penn, etc.. the UFC was far above there, but Pride at lightweight had a phenomenal roster. Those are the guys who aren't big draws but who I want to see get some air time. The Bushido events were some of the best MMA cards I had seen. Those guys get after it. I was really sad to see Zuffa cancel the planned Pride LW Grand Prix.

Oh well, doesn't matter who was better then now anyway. I'm glad to see some of them squaring off now. The argument of Cro Cop failing to dominate when he came over can be replied with look at Chuck. The best UFC fighter was beat by a guy who was probably what, at most the #3 guy in his weight class in Pride? Nog is a much better fighter than Cro Cop. Nog has grappling that is just amazing, and he's a very competent boxer now as well, not to mention the guy has a brick for a head. He should do very well for himself. I'm sure he'll get booed 95% of the time doing it as well.

[Hammer]

I think the UFC HW's were underrated. Arlovski and Sylvia you mention Calis, but if you include Couture, Gonzaga, Monson and Vera they arn't so bad. PRIDE had the better division though, sure. I'm not a huge fan of big nog. I don't question his BJJ skills obviously, but his takedowns arn't so hot. I could see Vera or Arlovski beating him possibly, although nog would be favourite. I'd fancy Cro Cop in a rematch.

If you look at genuine elite superstars in PRIDE I would mention Fedor and Shogan. In the UFC GSP, Hughes and Penn when at LW are the fighters that stick out to me. I think the MW (185) division is really up for grabs now. I can't see a dominant fighter.

For the coming year I'd love to see Penn fight Sherk for the title. Vera move down to 205lbs. Arlovski fight Cro Cop. Fedor to come to the UFC. Franklin fight Silva again.

[Calis]

I think the UFC HW's were underrated. Arlovski and Sylvia you mention Calis, but if you include Couture, Gonzaga, Monson and Vera they arn't so bad. PRIDE had the better division though, sure. I'm not a huge fan of big nog. I don't question his BJJ skills obviously, but his takedowns arn't so hot. I could see Vera or Arlovski beating him possibly, although nog would be favourite. I'd fancy Cro Cop in a rematch.

If you look at genuine elite superstars in PRIDE I would mention Fedor and Shogan. In the UFC GSP, Hughes and Penn when at LW are the fighters that stick out to me. I think the MW (185) division is really up for grabs now. I can't see a dominant fighter.

For the coming year I'd love to see Penn fight Sherk for the title. Vera move down to 205lbs. Arlovski fight Cro Cop. Fedor to come to the UFC. Franklin fight Silva again.

Fair enough, I'd agree that they don't get enough respect. I just think at the time of the merger you had the top 5 in the world all fighting for Pride, and then the UFC guys started filling it in. I do like Vera a bunch, I'd like to see him actually fight a good veteran fighter to see how he does, but hell I'd be happy with him fighting at all now.

I'm all for Vera moving to 205, I think he'd be very good. I'd really like to see Gomi against Penn or Gomi against Sherk. Just bring Gomi back, sure he's overrated as well but the guy is fun to watch, and those would be good fights I think. I just saw that Mach Sakurai is supposedly signed to fight Diego at 74. I'm a big Sakurai fan as well, but that'll be a very tough fight for him style wise.

I think my top dream match for the year would be Fedor vs. Barnett. I don't think there's a HW out there with a better shot than Barnett at dethroning him. (That's a small shot also btw). I would enjoy seeing Shogun vs. that Sokoudju guy who Henderson is training and has won two pretty impressive fights. I'd like to see Lindland back in the UFC and fighting at 185. I just think 185 is really lacking right now. I just don't see Silva or Franklin as a true champion. I wonder if there's any chance of Hendo going staying down there if he loses to Rampage? Probably not, Hendo can do pretty well at 205. I'd like to see GSP beat Hughes again, or Penn beat Hughes again.

So many options now with the merger.

Oh I actually just read that Takada from Pride said there will be a Pride card in October I think. I wonder if it'll still have some of the top Pride stars or if it'll become a Japanese minor league for the UFC?

[moriarty]

Any mention of Pride's best fighters should include Dennis Kang. Just saying... :)

Unfortunately it looks like he's signing for either bodog or Elite and not the UFC. Too bad.

[Calis]

So UFC 74 was this past weekend, and overall I thought it was a pretty exciting card. I thought it was much better than the underwhelming "stacked" UFC 73.

Where to start? Randy was Randy once again. The broken nose from the headbutt obviously played a big part in how this fight turned out, but I think Randy controlled Gabe pretty well regardless of that. I was impressed as usually Randy has a tough time with guys bigger than him. He played it perfectly once again though. I thought Gabe was a bit overhyped after the Cro Cop win, and I still think he is somewhat, but man he throws some strikes with force. It wasn't a lucky shot against Cro Cop, his high kick is nasty and I believe one of them broke Randy's arm. Gabe also has the first instance I can remember seeing where a fighter called time in a fight, what the hell? That was such a weird moment. It worked though, so I give him credit for that.

GSP came back and also had an excellent gameplan for his fight. It wasn't super flashy but he out-wrestled MMA's supposed best wrestler quite easily. No one was ever in any real trouble, but GSP was in control the whole way. Koscheck did better on his back than I thought he would though, he didn't offer an offense from there, but he made it very tough for GSP to get any attacks in. Good movement. I don't like him, but Koscheck really has improved leaps and bounds over the last couple years.

Roger Huerta using the big screens to find where Alberto Crane was on his back and throw elbows was a classic MMA moment. That was good stuff.

Anyone see the Babalu/Heath preliminary fight? My God that was a blood bath. This is the fight that explains the huge blood stain on the mat from the beginning of the PPV, pretty nasty stuff. Babalu also was fined a decent chunk for holding his choke WAY after Heath tapped and the ref tried to pull him off. Crappy move by Babalu, but impressive fight.

Overall I'm just glad that this MMA drought is over. We had UFC 74 this last weekend, in two weeks we have the free PPV with Henderson vs. Rampage, and Cro Cop trying to bounce back, and then we get Shogun's UFC debut at the end of the month. I can't wait.

I'm really excited to see Henderson and Rampage. I keep changing my mind on who I think will take that one, but I can't see it being a bad fight either way. I'll be pulling for Rampage though.

[dervack]

Supposedly Randy also broke a bone in his arm during the fight too, which makes it more impressive.

I'm someone who got into the UFC because of The Ultimate Fighter and I'm not afraid to admit it, but the Griffin-Rua fight makes me think the UFC knows that Griffin isn't close to being ready to contend for a title. And I couldn't be happier Kendall Grove lost.

[Carman Bulldog]

Yes, Griffin will die against Rua. It will be interesting to see how many fights they will put Rua through until he gets a title shot. I think Ortiz could be a decent gatekeeper fight (from a marketing perspective) although I think Tito is smart enough not to take it. Rashad could be another option. I don't really see them throwing him against a guy like Liddell though.

[Neon_Chaos]

Brandon Vera's coming to the UFC this October. :) That makes it a must-see for me.

[Calis]

Yes, Griffin will die against Rua. It will be interesting to see how many fights they will put Rua through until he gets a title shot. I think Ortiz could be a decent gatekeeper fight (from a marketing perspective) although I think Tito is smart enough not to take it. Rashad could be another option. I don't really see them throwing him against a guy like Liddell though.


I really think if(I'd say when, but God knows anymore with how things are going this year) Shogun beats Forrest he will get the shot next fight. He's pretty much widely acknowledged as the best LHW in the world, and if it's Jackson he's facing there's already the history there for a fight, with Hendo it'd be a little more difficult to draw with but still pretty easily doable. Then if we see for instance Chuck/Wandy or Chuck whoever that'll be for the next title shot.

I don't think it'd be a reach at all for Shogun to get the fight after his first if he looks comfortable in the octagon. I don't see a better fight option for him either.

Vera versus Sylvia will be a pretty interesting fight. It'll be Vera's toughest fight yet, but he will hopefully give Sylvia fits with his quickness. If Vera pushes the pace I think he can take this one easily, but if he gets stuck outside with that jab of Sylvia's he'll be in for a long night. It sure looks like the UFC is trying to push Sylvia down the pecking order, and I'm all for that. Terrible champ, and absolutely no drawing power.

I'd like to see Randy/Nog for the next HW title fight. I think that's a fight that'd be a war, and probably go the distance. That one interests me more than Cro Cop/Randy.

[DaddyTorgo]

I'd like to see Randy/Nog for the next HW title fight. I think that's a fight that'd be a war, and probably go the distance. That one interests me more than Cro Cop/Randy.

I feel like Nog would handle Chuck quite easily. But that's why they fight the fights.

[Calis]

I feel like Nog would handle Chuck quite easily. But that's why they fight the fights.

I assume you meant Randy and not Chuck. I'm not sure though, I love Big Nog but I think he matches up badly with Randy. I think he'll have the advantage in the stand-up, but he won't stop Randy from taking him down, and I think he'd have a very hard time catching Randy in a submission. I'd love to see it happen though.

[DaddyTorgo]

yes yes. I meant randy.

you don't think big nog...the submission machine would have the advantage on the ground?

I don't know...maybe I just havn't watched enough Randy to ever be really all that impressed by him.

[Calis]

yes yes. I meant randy.

you don't think big nog...the submission machine would have the advantage on the ground?

I don't know...maybe I just havn't watched enough Randy to ever be really all that impressed by him.

Yeah I don't really know for sure, more reason why I want to see it. Randy would definitely have the advantage in the clinch and in takedowns, and he appears to be pretty good at defending against subs, although he's never faced anyone near the level of Nog in that respect. We also did not see the Nog of old last fight, so it'll be interesting to see how he comes out next time. I'll definitely be rooting for him though.

I just see a lot more possibilities in that fight than in Randy/Cro Cop. The rumored Cro Cop/Big Nog rematch I'd be game for as well.

[SirFozzie]

Coming back to this thread after the seperate UFC75 thread

If you can catch one of the replays of last night's UFC Fight Night show... do so. Not a stinker of a fight in the bunch

[DaddyTorgo]

wow! spoiler from tonight's UFC 76

The controlling "TUF" champion dominated from the top and back with punches before sinking his arm under Rua's chin. Rua tapped due to a rear-naked choke at 4:45 of the third.

[SirFozzie]

Pride fans, your heroes are dead. DEAD I tell you.

[Calis]

Hey I figure the fights are over so if you don't want spoilers you shouldn't be opening a thread about MMA, so here goes.

Dissapointed by Shogun, but I can't really say I'm terribly surprised anymore. I've given up on guys looking good coming over, at least immediately. I think he was fine early, not dominant but he was doing quite well for himself the round or so. He just gassed badly, real bad. I don't know if it was nerves or training or what but it wasn't something I expected out of a Chutebox guy, they usually have cardio for days. I'm not too saddened by it though because Forrest is a genuinely likeable guy and I'm glad to see him notch up a huge win. He was in a no lose situation and made the most out of it.

Chuck and Jardine I can honestly say I wasn't surprised by. Chuck has showed no ability in his career to beat competent strikers. He was manhandled I thought, and I really don't see how it was a split decision. Jardine tooks round 2 and 3 pretty convincingly imo. Chuck should probably go back to fighting wrestlers. This threw a pretty big kink into the huge Wandy vs. Chuck showdown in December. I'm of the opinion you still do it, they're both coming off two losses and I think they're both approaching the end of their careers, there's not a big time line left for this fight to be interesting.

Diego and Fitch I thought Fitch would take, and he did an awesome job with positioning and control but I almost thought Diego would get the win for his sub attempts and really he was the only one close to finishing it. I had it a pretty close fight. Diego was actually cool after the fight also, so I lost a little hatred for him, could a couple losses in a row make him stop being such a prick?

You know one problem I'm having with UFC is you have Rampage as your champion now, probably the most charismatic guy in MMA, and what is UFC doing with him promotion-wise? Nothing. I think he could go a long ways into building the UFC up if they put some limelight on him, let him commentate on a fight or two or do something, but nothing. I just think it's a huge missed opportunity.

Anyway, not too many thoughts on the card tonight as I was in a house full of kids and was only able to half pay attention to it.

[Calis]

Pride fans, your heroes are dead. DEAD I tell you.

Man, now I think I'm firmly in the camp of hoping Fedor doesn't sign with the UFC. LEAVE US SOMETHING.

I'll make an early prediction, Stephan Bonner over Wandy in December. You heard it hear first, before the fight is even announced!

[TLK]

Man, now I think I'm firmly in the camp of hoping Fedor doesn't sign with the UFC. LEAVE US SOMETHING.

I'll make an early prediction, Stephan Bonner over Wandy in December. You heard it hear first, before the fight is even announced!

I was thinking Houston Alexander over Wandy.

[DeToxRox]

Brock Lesnar signed with UFC per tonights show

[TLK]

Liddell vs. Wanderlei is on...

<center>http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/articlefiles/4938-Chuck-v-Wanderlei.jpg
</center>(Photo courtesy of Ultimate Fighting Championship)

Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White on Tuesday made the official announcement that former light heavyweight champion Chuck "Iceman" Liddell and former Pride FC middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva will finally meet in the Octagon on Dec. 29 at UFC 79: Nemesis.

Liddell and Silva have wanted this fight for years, but many questioned if it would ever actually happen.

In White's statement, which came during the “Scream Awards 2007” on Spike TV, he said, "As you know, on Dec. 29 at UFC 79 this season's coaches of ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ Matt Hughes and Matt Serra, will face off for the UFC welterweight title.

“But also, we're adding to that card the most anticipated fight in mixed martial arts history. The fight that I've been waiting for, the fans have been waiting for. Finally it's going to happen.

"The Iceman, Chuck Liddell, will face off against Pride superstar Wanderlei Silva. It's a perfect way to end 2007."

Liddell, who reigned as the UFC light heavyweight champion for more than three years, said of the fight, ““I’m excited this fight with Wanderlei is finally happening. I’ve been saying for a long time that, given the chance, I would knock Wanderlei Silva out. I think this will be a great fight for the fans, and one that lives up to their expectations, because I’m going to hit him until he falls down and stays down.”

Silva obviously feels differently, believing that a UFC title is in his future. “I’ve wanted to fight Chuck for a long time. I think about this fight a lot, our styles are very similar – we are both great strikers. I’m training very hard because I want to give my next victory to my fans. After I beat Chuck, then I want to fight the champion.”

When the UFC was finally able to sign Silva to a contract, White called it “the pinnacle of my seven year career in this company.” Now that he has finally been able to ink a deal for Silva to fight Liddell, there are many fight fans that are likely to feel the same way.
Link (http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=4938&zoneid=13)

[Neuqua]

This had to be the worst kept secret in MMA history.

[DaddyTorgo]

too bad chuck is no longer champ and wanderlei is looking over-the-hill

[BishopMVP]

Any ideas on the Russian/Fedor-led initiative? 6 fights a year and only signing high-profile guys could work out, rather than trying to go head to head with UFC.

[SirFozzie]

If you have yet to see TUF (west coasters) WATCH THE FIGHT. It's a war. They better be doing a rematch at the Finale if the winner isn't in the championship match. Great fight, and controversial as hell ending.

[dervack]

Today, the UFC is announcing a new TV partner. A couple of weeks back on a different board, I expected ESPN and the UFC to come together on a TV deal. Also, Randy has a press conference scheduled for 3:30 today in which he is supposed to give the reasons for his resignation. It will be carried on HDNET, one of the possible TV partners for the new M1 Global.

[Rich1033]

Today, the UFC is announcing a new TV partner. A couple of weeks back on a different board, I expected ESPN and the UFC to come together on a TV deal. Also, Randy has a press conference scheduled for 3:30 today in which he is supposed to give the reasons for his resignation. It will be carried on HDNET, one of the possible TV partners for the new M1 Global.

I would be really suprised with ESPN. My pick would be HBO.

[JonInMiddleGA]

NEW YORK, NY, October 25, 2007 - Spike TV, a division of MTV Networks, and the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) organization have agreed to a new, three-year extension of their strategic partnership, it was announced jointly today by Kevin Kay, President, Spike TV and Dana White, President, Zuffa, LLC d/b/a Ultimate Fighting Championship. The deal maintains Spike TV as the basic cable home to the UFC, the premiere brand in mixed martial arts, the fastest growing sport in America, through 2011.

The main components of the deal are:

• Seasons 9 through 12 of the highly successful reality series, “The Ultimate Fighter®.” The first five seasons of “The Ultimate Fighter” on Spike TV were seen by 93 million viewers. *

• 12 live fight cards, “UFC® Fight Nights™,” hosted by Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg. Spike TV will telecast four per year.

• Two seasons of a new, weekly live fight series (details to be announced at a later date).

• 39 one-hour episodes of “UFC® Unleashed™,” hosted by Mike Goldberg, featuring the greatest fights in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, many of them never seen before on basic cable. Spike TV will run 13 per year in ‘09, ’10, and ’11.

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=8406

[JonInMiddleGA]

Meanwhile, just saw that dude's hand on TUF. That's gross.

And the guy who said "his hand looks like a 3rd grader drew it" had a solid one-liner.

[dervack]

I would be really suprised with ESPN. My pick would be HBO.
A couple of weeks ago, Dana was confident that the HBO deal would still happen even after HBO pulled out of talks, but now he expects the deal to never happen. I would imagine that M1 Global will sign with HBO, since they are new and wouldn't mind givig HBO full control over the show.

[Calis]

Been a while since we've had any updates on here and there's been some big news and such lately.

We've got GSP versus Hughes now on the 29th of December since Serra has been injured. I didn't expect that to be the replacement, and I'm pretty excited. A much more interesting fight to me, but I just don't see Hughes winning it. I wouldn't be shocked though, but he'll have to bring in a much different gameplan than he did last time.

Sean Sherk lost his appeal today on the steroids deal, but he did get the sentence reduced to 6 months, which started from when he was suspended so he's off suspension in January. Worked out well for him, as even if it had got overturned he'd still be waiting for the winner of Penn/Stevenson.

Fedor is going to fight on New Year's Eve. Early rumors were Hong Man Choi, but now it's kind of wishy washy on who he is fighting. Good to see him back even if it is a can. I can handle a can and then have him face Barnett ASAP. That New Year's Eve card that's M-1 Global is having is pretty damn stacked overall. Shinya Aoki, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Gilbert Melendez, Mach Sakurai, Hidehiko Hasegawa, Ricardo Arona, Kazuo Misaki, Joachim Hansen and Luiz Azeredo are some of the names I've heard mentioned for it. They've even signed the screaming announcer lady from Pride which I'm pumped about. She was awesome. This is the closest we'll get to an actual Pride show.

Lets see, Sokoudjou has signed with UFC and is fighting on the Dec 29th card against Machida, so this is a pretty big fight and will propel one of those guys to the top. This fight, the WW title fight, and The Silva/Liddell match shapes up the next UFC as one of the best in a while.

This weekend we have Guida vs. Huerta which should be a pretty good fight. Two high energy guys, and Huerta finally getting a real test. It'll be interesting to see how he handles it, Guida will be a handful.

[Calis]

Fight Night last night was pretty decent. I wasn't at all surprised by the TUF winner, as I think that one could be called from the moment the cast was announced barring an injury. Odd choice to even Mac there with the huge experience gap between him and the rest of the cast. He'll be pretty good in the LW division, but I can't see him being a top guy. He looked completely lost when he fought Mach back in Pride, but we'll see how he shapes up.

Guida vs. Huerta was pretty anticipated, and I don't think it was a letdown at all. These guys are fun to watch and were going full throttle the entire match. I really expected Guida to win this one, with takedowns and just controlling Huerta on the ground. He got the takedowns at will basically, but Huerta was very slick at getting back up, and showed a ton of heart. I think this was the fight he needed to start getting some respect. I'm curious to see who they face him off with next. I think he called out Sherk, but that's a terrible move imo. If Guida could take him down like that, Sherk definitely would, and he'd have better success keeping him there imo. I think he needs one more bigger name before he moves up there. Florian maybe?

Dana announced that Forrest Griffin was the #1 contender at LHW, and would be a coach on the next season of TUF. He also said he'd be fighting the other coach at the end, and they didn't announce the coach but this seems pretty much a dead giveaway that it's Rampage. Great move on their part I think. Rampage is a charismatic guy and I think he'll get over a lot more with the UFC fans with this exposure. I'm not sure how he'll be as a coach, but it should be interesting. Dana also mentioned they were shaking up the show a lot, but no clue if this is just talk or if something big will change in the format. I think something needs to happen. It's growing really stale imo, and I'm not a fan of the dramatic focus. I'd really love a show focused more on the training, but I don't think that would be as popular.

I would've liked to have seen Wand vs. Rampage immediately also if Wand beats Chuck the end of the month. I think that would be a great one, and I think Rampage is a much different fighter than the first two times, and they were both great fights anyway. Who knows, maybe it'll end up not being Rampage afterall and it'll be someone like Jardine or Evans, another TUF alumn. I think it's weird that they announced Forrest as the #1 contender if that's the case though.

EDIT: Forgot to add, the fight with uhh..can't remember their names. The War Machine guy and the Mohawk was a hell of a war also. That fight and the Huerta fight were both great ones to watch. Those two made this a better card than the last few UFC's.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Good chuckle while reading the undercard spoilers from tonight's UFC 81
... Bradley tried to retreat and cover but Lytle was right on top of him, unloading with shots until referee Yves Lavigne stepped in to save Bradley. After Lavigne separated the fighters, the still-dazed Bradley pulled guard on Lavigne and tried to punch, but the referee defended himself and subdued the groggy fighter.

[SirFozzie]

watching via a friend of mine, not a bad first fight, very close so far.

[Travis]

So Lesnar/Mir is about to start.

What's the over/under on seeing the first ever UFC run in?

[SirFozzie]

Wow. That was a crazy ass fight.

[duff88]

Wow!

Lesnar looking very good to start the figth pounding Mir, gets his ankle caugh in some kind of submission (Commentators were saying key bar? Some kind of ankle lock... I'm no expert) and submits. Was pretty exciting for the time it lasted.

[Travis]

Wow!

Lesnar looking very good to start the figth pounding Mir, gets his ankle caugh in some kind of submission (Commentators were saying key bar? Some kind of ankle lock... I'm no expert) and submits. Was pretty exciting for the time it lasted.

I'm pretty sure they said knee bar, not key. Definitely agree that Lesnar looked good when he was pushing the pace, as soon as he hesitated Mir was able to maneuver to take the ankle. Assuming Brock sticks with it, in a year or so he could push his way to the top of the HW class.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Interesting that, according to one spoiler site at least, that the crowd was really hating on Lesnar during the introductions.

Kind of says to me that it was a standard UFC crowd (wrestling celebs at ringside not withstanding) and that he didn't put non-traditional butts in seats tonight. Considering that he was reportedly the highest paid fighter on the card ($250k base plus $200k bonus for a win) that seems like bad news for Dana White.

[Travis]

pleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleasenogputsilviatosleep

pretty please

[Travis]

WHOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Calis]

Interesting that, according to one spoiler site at least, that the crowd was really hating on Lesnar during the introductions.

Kind of says to me that it was a standard UFC crowd (wrestling celebs at ringside not withstanding) and that he didn't put non-traditional butts in seats tonight. Considering that he was reportedly the highest paid fighter on the card ($250k base plus $200k bonus for a win) that seems like bad news for Dana White.

I don't think he was booed badly and when Stone Cold was shown in the audience he received one of the biggest pops of anyone fighter or celebrity. I don't think they were hating much.

They boo'ed Lesnar after his match though, but that goes for anyone.

On more important subject though..man did I enjoy that main event. I love Big Nog, nobody can make a career off getting pummeled and winning quite like that guy. I'm constantly amazed by his slickness on the ground as well. I'm glad to see him on top again, he deserves it. I'm not sure who they set him up to fight next though. I guess Kongo probably gets a shot if he wins against Herring, but does Mir get a shot already? Not sure what they do.

Decent card overall. No real snoozer fights.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I don't think he was booed badly and when Stone Cold was shown in the audience he received one of the biggest pops of anyone fighter or celebrity. I don't think they were hating much.

They boo'ed Lesnar after his match though, but that goes for anyone.


Interesting, since the spoiler I read indicated the opposite -- that Lesnar was booed heartily before the match but applauded after his post-fight interview.

(I had a feeling it might be a second-rate blogger I was reading, that's kind of why I mentioned this to see if the same impression was gotten by those here who were watching)

[SirFozzie]

If you ignore the LOL cat stuff on the picture, this is a really good reason why the tap.

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/2049/roflbotzumrsf7.jpg

[Calis]

Interesting, since the spoiler I read indicated the opposite -- that Lesnar was booed heartily before the match but applauded after his post-fight interview.

(I had a feeling it might be a second-rate blogger I was reading, that's kind of why I mentioned this to see if the same impression was gotten by those here who were watching)

Oh I could be wrong, to be honest I wasn't paying much attention. I did notice Austin getting a big round of cheers, and I know the fans were booing when Lesnar started talking because he even mentioned it, but I don't think he was picked on really. I don't remember the pre-fight reaction so maybe they did boo him.

Really for losing in a short amount of time this did little damage to him long term. He looked like he just got caught, and I had a feeling going in that it would be an ankle or knee that would end this one. I figured he probably didn't train against that enough and would be unfamiliar. He looked huge and menacing and laid down some good hits in the time he had and got caught. He lost in a way where he didn't get dominated and I think he's in ok shape to continue. I'm surprised they threw him to the sharks like they did to start with, but I guess with the amount they're paying him they didn't want to waste time. The fight went about how I expected.

[JeffNights]

I watched it live, and yeah there were boos but they werent a good majority, more like a even split, if you wanted to hear all boos, go to a video site and check out when Tim Sylvia is introduced, then you will see what booing heartily at a UFC event is. :)

[Maple Leafs]

Why are people posting spoiler tags for a live sports events? Or are there still markets that don't get the UFC PPVs until later?

[Calis]

Why are people posting spoiler tags for a live sports events? Or are there still markets that don't get the UFC PPVs until later?

Yeah I don't get that. I figure if you're not seeing it live, you definitely shouldn't be reading a message board about the subject if you're trying to avoid spoilers. You're asking for it.

[dervack]

Interesting, since the spoiler I read indicated the opposite -- that Lesnar was booed heartily before the match but applauded after his post-fight interview.

(I had a feeling it might be a second-rate blogger I was reading, that's kind of why I mentioned this to see if the same impression was gotten by those here who were watching)
That was in fact what happened. He was booed on the intro but after the interview with Rogan when he said he was beat by a better man and he showed that he's in it for good, he was cheered.

[Neon_Chaos]

Gotta love submission wins, though. I'd have never guessed who won based on how they appeared after the match. :)

[Neon_Chaos]

Also... Brock really sounds like a 14-year old boy. I've said that when he was in the WWE, and he still does sound like a timid little guy. :)

[SirFozzie]

BTW, if you like throwbacks to the old school UFC Days of "Drunk at the picnic" brawling style of MMA, Tank Abbott fights Kimbo Slice on the 16th on Showtime (for their EliteXC series)

[duff88]

Why are people posting spoiler tags for a live sports events? Or are there still markets that don't get the UFC PPVs until later?

The way I saw it: It doesn't hurt or waste much time to use spoiler tags, and if it can prevent someone from seeing something he doesn't want to see, then I may as well use them.

[SirFozzie]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT.

If you get Showtime, watch the end of the Edson Berto fight during the replay. It is an unbelieveable KO. I can't describe it, except to say.. wow.

[SirFozzie]

Someone PM'd me to just say it. Berto had Yves Edwards with a single leg, but with seconds left in the round, it didn't look like anything would happen, but Edwards leapt off the ground with his uncaught leg and delivered a flying knee to the head of Berto who was bent over, instant KO.

[SirFozzie]

Holy shit, ANOTHER KTFO. 8 seconds into Round 2..

[watravaler]

Tank Abbott had about 10 seconds worth of energy...lay off the beer man!

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://sports.myway.com/news/02282008/v1846.html

LOS ANGELES (AP) -Mixed martial arts will air on one of the major television networks for the first time.

CBS announced a deal Thursday with ProElite, which produces MMA events, to broadcast in prime time a sport that has been growing in popularity. The plan is to televise two-hour live specials four times a year on Saturday nights.

ProElite CEO Douglas DeLuca called it a "pivotal moment for the sport."

ProElite already produces MMA events for its EliteXC fight division on the Showtime cable channel, which is owned by CBS.

"Mixed martial arts is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and a wildly popular entertainment vehicle for upscale, young adult audiences," Kelly Kahl, CBS Primetime's senior executive vice president, said in a release.

edit to add question: For the people who follow this a lot more closely than I do, isn't EliteXC/ProElite compared to the big boy(s) only about a notch above your local Friday night indy wrestling fed compared to the WWE? I mean, I wouldn't even consider the people who just produced Slice vs Abbott to be as close to the top as I consider indy wrestling's Ring of Honor.

[Deattribution]

edit to add question: For the people who follow this a lot more closely than I do, isn't EliteXC/ProElite compared to the big boy(s) only about a notch above your local Friday night indy wrestling fed compared to the WWE? I mean, I wouldn't even consider the people who just produced Slice vs Abbott to be as close to the top as I consider indy wrestling's Ring of Honor.

EliteXC would be along the lines of TNA compared to WWE. They have some talent, not a ton and they're willing to attempt to get some named fighters but they are no where near as stacked and professionally ran as the UFC.

This is a big thing for them if they can manage to snag a few big names (Andrei Arlovski, Josh Barnett, maybe Fedor for a fight or two) they can become pretty big since they'll now have the marketing tool to build up the fighters and that's about all it takes.

[moriarty]

This deal could however provide major cash/exposure to Elite so that they can start paying some bigger names. The three names Deattribution mentioned above (assuming the UFC doesn't resign Arlvoski) as well as Matt Linland, Tito Ortiz and some others would help their cause.

I'm sure there's quite a few fighters in the UFC now who would walk when their contracts expire if the cash is there, and if the org. provides the same level of exposure (which network tV can provide). Dana isn't the easiest guy to work with, but since the UFC is the biggest name in town few 'names' have rejected them to date (other than Fedor and eventually Randy).

Either way, it's probably a good thing for us as it pressures the UFC so that they don't do stupid crap like raise the PPV rates yet again.

[Calis]

Elite XC is a middle of the road organization as far as I'm concerned. I wouldn't say it's quite TNA level, because it's not even second fiddle as Zuffa controls the #2 org here as well. I'd say it's third tier, a little above strikeforce.

I can only hope that this deal allows them to land some more name fighters, because right now their roster is pretty limited, and I'd hate to see MMA flop horribly on network TV and for people to get a bad taste in their mouth about it just because a company was way over it's head.

Kudos to Gary Shaw though, I never thought they'd pull off something like this. I'm interested to see what the effects of this are.

More importantly though, Silva vs. Hendo this weekend! I can't wait for that one.

[Deattribution]

I compare them more to TNA because it's not as hard to take that #2 spot, while WEC is a solid promotion - if EliteXC picks up a few of the names thrown around in this thread - Tito Ortiz was an even better example, Ortiz-Frank Shamrock (who they already have) rematch could sell more PPV's than TNA sells all year (they average about 30k or less) which is what it's all about.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I compare them more to TNA because it's not as hard to take that #2 spot, while WEC is a solid promotion - if EliteXC picks up a few of the names thrown around in this thread - Tito Ortiz was an even better example, Ortiz-Frank Shamrock (who they already have) rematch could sell more PPV's than TNA sells all year (they average about 30k or less) which is what it's all about.

FWIW, I was only making a comparison in terms of "TNA is the #2 promotion, ROH is probably #3, etc", i.e. only their relative position to their competition, nothing to do with buy rates, etc.

Judging from your phrasing above, WEC is currently what you consider the #2, which makes them basically TNA in terms of what I was talking about.

[Deattribution]

FWIW, I was only making a comparison in terms of "TNA is the #2 promotion, ROH is probably #3, etc", i.e. only their relative position to their competition, nothing to do with buy rates, etc.

Judging from your phrasing above, WEC is currently what you consider the #2, which makes them basically TNA in terms of what I was talking about.

It's difficult to compare. WEC is absolutely no competition at all to the UFC as it's meant to be a sister promotion, and somewhat of a farm league. They have alot of talent but in different weight divisions. They don't run PPVs. You could take the majority of their talent and put them on a UFC card and nobody in the casual UFC crowd would know who they were. Plus the only exposure on TV they get is from the VS network, and to boot, while it won't happen, the UFC could shut them down anytime they wanted.

EliteXC on the other hand is actually moving in a direction to compete with the UFC, and as far as any of the north american promotions go, they're the only ones who look like they could make their own niche market. There are plenty of rumours and hype surrounding Mark Cuban, Oscar De La Hoya, and various other 'businessmen' who are going to revolutionalize MMA and compete with the UFC, but alas - none of them even have as much as a basic cable tv deal. (not counting the IFL which is a different beast altogether and on the verge of going out of business anyhow).

[JonInMiddleGA]

What Deattribtution's explanation of the landscape makes me wonder, as a casual observer, is whether there's really room for a second MMA promotion at all.

I mean, let's face it, we're talking about an organization who just put Tank Abbott in a primary role for their last show. And in Abbott, we're talking about a guy who used to get winded in tag matches in WCW a very long time ago (hell, I think he got winded walking to the ring a few times).

Yeah, I know ... but the undercard yadda yadda ... but that was one show yadda yadda. Still, that's their most recent public face so it's certainly influential in how I view them.

On the bright side for them & the new deal, the vast majority of the public will have no idea about any of that good or bad so they'll start with a clean slate. But if the first show is a dud (or worse for them, they have a card that looks good on paper but then turns out to be duds anyway), this could be a disaster that gets pulled after one or two airings.

[Deattribution]

I don't know if there is in the US, there is just already too much competition with the UFC, the WWE, Boxing and to a lesser degree TNA for what is a very similiar crowd when it comes to the masses.

With that said, the opportunity EliteXC has is pretty big - they can bring in an entirely new audience. If they can also get some of the 'real media' interested, that's big too - but unfortunately for them, like the WWE and wrestling when the real media talks about MMA, they call it the UFC.

I was watching Around the Horn yesterday and they brought up MMA, and one of the guys mentioned how it was a desperate sport and his 'sources' were telling him they only do about 55k buys for PPVs, and none of the other 4 people even disputed that, They are clueless. While they're only a small segment it's generally the same reaction/knowledge. PTI's reaction was it's a brutal sport only watched by the under 40 crowd.

It's going to take alot of money to compete with the UFC, and I'm not sure if breaking up the UFC's monopoly they currently have on the sport is even good for the fans, since once guys start jumping - that just means less possible 'super fights'. This could actually end up helping the UFC more than it helps EliteXC, if they put on a low budget circus like the last show - it still could pique new people's interest and they will want to see what the #1 promotion is like.

[BYU 14]

GSP put on an absolute clinic last night dismantling Serra to take the WW title back. He did pretty much whatever he wanted to Serra and those knees that ended it were just brutal.

It will be interesting to see what UFC does in the coming months. Silvia has left so an already sparse HW division gets worse. No superfights at LHW, MW and WW, outside of a Jackson\Nogeira <sp> fight at LHW, but that is on hold. GSP and Silva are dominant in their divisions, so the only real fight of interest there is having one of them go up or down a weight class and fight ewach other. Probably easier for GSP to move up, and with the strength he has shown against Hughes and Serra his last two times out, Silva won't throw him around.

Nate Quarry has improved his stand up a ton, but last night was no way to gauge it as Starnes had no interest in fighting.

[BigMak]

GSP absolutely destroyed him. Figured Serra would lose but I was hoping it would at least be a fight. I think the UFC will build up Hughes and Serra again. With neither being champion, this fight can take place now.

The Penn - Sherk fight should be interesting. Sherk does have a tendency to fight a boring and very technical match but I think Penn could make it exciting.

Franklin is probably the best contender at MW and Silva has beaten him handedly. MW and WW have strong rosters. Only problem is the champions in the divisions are head and shoulders above the rest.

[Calis]

Yeah, GSP absolutely manhandled him. I think he squashed any doubts that the first fight wasn't a fluke, and I can't imagine the 3rd fight going any differently than this one. Man, his takedowns are just unbelievable. I can't imagine what Serra's ribs feel like also. Brutal fight.

Franklin's escape from Lutter's armbar was one of the best I've seen, extremely slick move. I thought he was in serious trouble there, but Lutter once again showed his lack of endurance.

There's some fights left at middleweight now. I think a Quarry/Bisping fight would be a fun fight to watch, and they could hype up a Bisping/Franklin fight as a main event type fight if they wanted for another England card. Still nothing for Silva, but the division is shaping up a bit better than in the past.

I think there is some quality LHW matches coming up, and still some good stuff. I think Jardine vs. Wandy will be a fun fight to watch. Chuck vs. Evans I can't see being good, but anything with Chuck will bring in the fans. I'm excited to see Machida against Tito, and I think can finally help bring Machida into the limelight more. Hopefully Shogun can bounce back after his surgery and look better than he did against Forrest. Thiago Silva is another guy who has a lot of interesting match-ups. I think the LHW division is in extremely good shape right now.

The Heavyweight Division is up in the air though. I think Werdum vs. Vera will be a good match, and apart from that it is up in the air. I mean the next hyped fight in that division is what, Lesnar vs. Coleman? That's not good. Sucks, I'd really have liked to see Couture vs. Big Nog. If Cro-Cop hadn't been a wash another match-up from those two would've been big. I wish Barnett didn't have such issues with UFC, because he opens up some good matches as well.

The next UFC card is looking like a very stacked card. I'm excited about that one.

[Flasch186]

this CBS show has been ok thus far sans the dancers BUT the girl-fight just stole the show thus far. Carano was tagging Taylor and then when Taylor shot Carano, the speed with which Carano brought the shin up in a choke was awesome. Later it was obvious that Carano broke Taylor's orbital and the fight was called but so far it was easily the best fight of the night thus far. Yet to fight:

Lawler
Slice

[Eaglesfan27]

Agreed that the Carano-Taylor fight has been the best by far. I don't watch a lot of MMA, but I'm enjoying the show tonight.

[Flasch186]

I just started getting into it and am excited about the fight tomorrow night...

[EagleFan]

Good show so far. Glad to see some prime time network coverage. Not sure what the big deal is for the people who were trying to give CBS crap about showing this. It's no different than showing boxing. Well it is different in that it's more entertaining to watch than boxing.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Not sure what the big deal is for the people who were trying to give CBS crap about showing this.

Well when the head of the network isn't happy about it being aired, it does sort of create some room for criticism to get additional play. In general the level of violence (brutality?) is where the criticism is usually aimed.

And if I read the recap here right & one of the female fighters ended up with a broken orbital, I suspect the amount of hell being raised will go through the roof on Monday.

Meanwhile, in other MMA news, former WWE wrestler Bobby Lashley appeared at the AFL show in Atlanta last night and announced that he was joining the company with a debut apparently scheduled for an October PPV appearance back in Atlanta. I haven't seen any crowd estimates on the show but as of late Thursday/early Friday, I was getting emails from Ticketmaster offering free tickets so I'm guessing the paid wasn't pretty.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Well that probably wasn't the ending viewers were looking for.

I guess I've watched too much wrestling but the decision to stop the fight came just in time for 11pm and provides some controversy. If I were the suspicious type ... I'd be thinking this might be a horrible bit of booking.

[Flasch186]

Well, what was even more controversial is that they shouldve waited the 5 minute period to recover than made a decision. Instead they called it....We'll have to hear what was decided here in a bit, I suppose. That was a war though.

[SirFozzie]

They probably wanted to get Kimbo out ASAP, they're already cutting in to local news time.

Wonder if this means the next Saturday Night Fights (in three months) will have the rematch.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Smart move by the owner to announce he was going to pay them both their win bonus.

[Flasch186]

i expected a better pop from that announcement, but meh.

I liked the Smith guy's comments, very self-deprecating but funny nonetheless.

[JonInMiddleGA]

They probably wanted to get Kimbo out ASAP, they're already cutting in to local news time.

I flipped over figuring the title fight was the main & that the freak show had already taken place. For unintentional comedy purposes, I'm not sure whether I should hope Kimbo loses tonight & puts a damper on the Tyson hype or if I should hope he wins & stays in position to bring Tyson to the MMA.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Pretty good line there from Frank Shamrock, about "I'm a bad dude but Kimbo Slice scares me".

[Jim G.]

What struck me about Tyson, after he got heavy and his quickness left, was how much punishment he could absorb and how bad he was at avoiding a punch.

I doubt a fight between him and Kimbo would A) last more than one minute and B) be all that entertaining from a real fighting perspective.

Then again, that's how Tyson built his own reputation 20 years ago - pounding overmatched and carefully selected opponents in 45 seconds. Some irony there.

[Eaglesfan27]

That Thompson intro video didn't do him any favors.

[SirFozzie]

They're doing a good job of building him up as a monster.

[cartman]

Jimmy Lennon Jr. just annoys the beejeezus out of me.

[cartman]

What the hell was wrong with that dude's ear?

[Flasch186]

Slice lookin good in the preseason....Im impressed.

[TLK]

Hell of a first round considering the fighters...

[JonInMiddleGA]

That wasn't nearly as bad as I would have expected if you told me how much time would be spent on the ground.

[JonInMiddleGA]

DDT !

Shades of the Jake the Snake.

[Jim G.]

Is this some sort of a joke?

[Eaglesfan27]

Seemed like an early stoppage there.

[Jim G.]

Definitely a joke. I guess they have to protect their money-maker.

[SirFozzie]

WAY quick on the stoppage, but oh my god, that's the ugliest ear wound I've ever seen

[JonInMiddleGA]

So does Thompson get a fine/lose part of his purse for the facewash of the ref?

And did Thompson come in with the ear like that or did that happen in the first round?

[Flasch186]

"He popped his ear!"

he came in with it.....I think he should be penalized for bringing a second into the ring, attached to his head.

[cartman]

And did Thompson come in with the ear like that or did that happen in the first round?

My comment came after I saw it during the introductions.

[SirFozzie]

So does Thompson get a fine/lose part of his purse for the facewash of the ref?

And did Thompson come in with the ear like that or did that happen in the first round?


Think that happened in the first round.

Legend of Kimbo took a hit there

[JonInMiddleGA]

My comment came after I saw it during the introductions.

Yeah, I thought it had to be pre-existing but wasn't sure. That brings us back to your question originally I guess "WTF happened to the guy's ear"

Legend of Kimbo took a hit there
Y'think? I kind of think more of him now than I did before the fight. I figured that much ground time would have been the end of him

[EagleFan]

Think that happened in the first round.

Legend of Kimbo took a hit there

He came in like that. It was there during the prefight introductions.

[Jim G.]

I think he could only have improved Thompson's ear with a couple more shots.

This is the before shot:

http://www.bigoven.com/uploads/Cauliflower.jpg

[Flasch186]

Y'think? I kind of think more of him now than I did before the fight. I figured that much ground time would have been the end of him

agreed

[EagleFan]

Not impressed with Slice at all. He has power but that's it. There are a hell of a lot of UFC fighters that would eat him alive.

[Flasch186]

for 3 fights...not bad.

[Jim G.]

Think that happened in the first round.

Legend of Kimbo took a hit there

I think it did, too. We knew he had taken on a fringe MMA guy (the former Boston policeman) and held his own in a long battle with mixed rules before getting pounded. This was before he started training in MMA.

Aside from that, I don't think he'd ever gone more than a minute. What surprised me was how quickly he got tired on the ground.

I have a lot of respect for the MMA guys, and know they have to be in tremendous shape to stay active for three five-minute rounds, but both those guys were out on their feet after one round.

Worse than losing for Slice was looking beat. If Thompson had any ground skills, both would have happened the next time he got Slice down. The ref had a quick hook there, and he had stood them up too quickly late in the first round.

That was more a joke than I had expected, and I'm coming away with more respect for the top MMA guys, because Slice has had real training for a while now and is still a long way from being a top contender.

[Schmidty]

I just heard about this. Watched his internet fights.

I don't pay much attention to anything other than the Ultimate Fighter, and the free stuff, but that guy seems ripe for the picking. How in the hell did he win?

He seems like if anyone takes him down and pounds him, or even tries a lame submission, he'd be toast.

[PilotMan]

As far as MMA goes, Slice is way to overhyped for someone of his skill and development. I didn't get to watch the show last night, even though I intended too, but I generally agree that he shouldn't have been headlining the show.

The real fight it tonight. If anyone wants to see a real fight, Pulver-Faber tonight should be fantastic.

[EagleFan]

He seems like if anyone takes him down and pounds him, or even tries a lame submission, he'd be toast.

When he was first taken down he did an okay job of getting out of it but that was mostly using brut force against an opponent who isn't exactly a top contender.

In the second round when he was taken down and got his arm trapped he pretty much ran out of gas and had no answerd at all. He was just lucky that he wasn't going against a better quality opponent or it would have been lights out.

[Calis]

Just got to watch the fights this morning.

As for the main event, absolutely horrible stoppage. It very much looks like a fix. The only other possibility is they were trying REAL hard to not look too bloody on TV, and the ear thing just caused them to get it over withI would've liked to have seen Slice do better. I don't care much personally about the guy, but he's obviously Elite XC's most hyped guy and they need him to shine to do well here. I didn't think he looked horrible though, he handled himself a little better than I expected but he obviously has tons and tons more to learn, and not enough years to do it.

Really would've liked to see the Lawler/Smith fight continue, that one had a lot of potential.

Not a bad showing overall for them though. It wasn't anything spectacular, but they booked it well..they obviously didn't want to take chances with slow lay 'n pray style fights. I'll be curious to see what the ratings look like.

Good couple weeks for MMA though. We had a very solid UFC card last weekend, this show last night, tonight we have Faber vs. Pulver, and then next week another UFC.

[Deattribution]

I thought the show was terrible, there are only two real explanations for all 3 of the stoppages and neither of them have anything to do with real MMA.

Either CBS didn't want alot of blood in the Women's fight, and the Kimbo/Thompson fight or they were both rigged.

You'll never see a fight in the UFC stopped because of a mouse under the eye, no matter how big it is, nor will you see one stopped because of a busted cauliflower ear unless the fighter quits. Unless it's over the eye, or really deep, the fight goes on if they want to continue. And that still doesn't explain the eye poke NC by Lawler, you could see he was noticably embarrassed by how he got out of that beating. Coincidently all three of these decisions went in favor of their 3 golden gooses. :rolleyes:

[Flasch186]

well consider me naiive then:

The girl, Taylor, looked to me to have a broken orbital. The fact that it went from no swelling to enormous swelling in a matter of seconds PLUS the doctor putting his hands directly on the bone to feel it spoke volumes.

The fighter, Smith, who got poked told the Doctor, "I can't see." I believe he meant, "I Can't see right now but give me the 5 minutes and we'll check then." However, he didnt. supposedly he said, "I can't see." twice but I only saw it once. As a Doctor you'd be assuming quite a bit of risk to allow anyone to go out there after telling you that.

The Slice stoppage I felt was timely. The opponent shouldve ended it in round 2. In round 3 I saw him go to La La land 2 or 3 times, His ear was going to be ripped off of his head and Slice was landing bombs repeatedly. Taken 1 of those things on it's own maybe it couldve gone longer. Combining those factors and I felt the stoppage was appropriate.

However, Im new to the sport so consider me a laymen.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Much like Flasch, I don't follow MMA all that closely but then again, we're pretty much the audience the show was intended for so ... I though the Lawler fight stoppage was premature, making the call without giving him the five minutes was a very bad decision IMO.

On the other hand I agreed with the stoppage in the Kimbo fight, all that seemed likely to happen if it continued was seeing at least parts of a guy's ear come off and that's not something I'm really interested in watching.

[BigMak]

I didn't think it was a good showing. Each fight was basically stand up. There was no wrestling, no submissions and very little ground and pound (only Slice fight). This event was not a true showing of MMA. If this organization is going to be used to grow the sport, then they need to display better matches.

[Deattribution]

well consider me naiive then:

The girl, Taylor, looked to me to have a broken orbital. The fact that it went from no swelling to enormous swelling in a matter of seconds PLUS the doctor putting his hands directly on the bone to feel it spoke volumes.

The fighter, Smith, who got poked told the Doctor, "I can't see." I believe he meant, "I Can't see right now but give me the 5 minutes and we'll check then." However, he didnt. supposedly he said, "I can't see." twice but I only saw it once. As a Doctor you'd be assuming quite a bit of risk to allow anyone to go out there after telling you that.

The Slice stoppage I felt was timely. The opponent shouldve ended it in round 2. In round 3 I saw him go to La La land 2 or 3 times, His ear was going to be ripped off of his head and Slice was landing bombs repeatedly. Taken 1 of those things on it's own maybe it couldve gone longer. Combining those factors and I felt the stoppage was appropriate.

However, Im new to the sport so consider me a laymen.

There are some people saying (I didn't see it) that they could see Taylor in the corner saying 'I'll do whatever Elite XC wants' right before the stoppage. Sounds fishy, but it wasn't a hugely controversial decision, just unusual and when you throw it in with the other two it is suspect.

With the eye poke, in most cases the doctor never even comes into the octagon to check the guy's eye unless he's visibly shaken from it. And when they do, they don't look in the wrong eye more than the hurt eye and stop the fight. I've never seen a fight stopped due to an eye poke involuntarily (a mild one at that), and I've watched lots of MMA.

With the main event, Kimbo was getting destroyed on the ground - they stood them up (for no real reason other than that Kimbo wasn't doing anything), and then he was taken down and completely destroyed again til the end of the round and it still kept going. His ear wasn't going anywhere that is the most common 'injury' for wrestlers there is, and it SHOULD of been drained before the fight but even without he was in no danger with his ear.

Thompson was coming off two losses, he was suppose to come in and get knocked out because of his 'suspect chin' and his ear alone gave away the fact that he wasn't going to just stand and bang the whole fight. When they saw Kimbo was going to get exposed (which he did) they had to figure out a way to get him the W. He was no more shaken than Kimbo, they were both gassed. Kimbo was embarrassingly gassed considering he spent a good 6 minutes of the fight on his back eatting elbows and punches like dead weight.

[JonInMiddleGA]

There was no wrestling, no submissions and very little ground and pound (only Slice fight).

The general consensus has been that wrestling & submissions would be ratings death.

You might say the preferred presentation (from a largest audience standpoint) is something along the lines of "full contact boxing" instead of what the variety MMA actually includes.

[Deattribution]

And to clarify, I wasn't nor do I think anyone was naive for liking the show but I'd greatly suggest watching WEC tonight on VS or a UFC ppv (or the UFC fight night coming up) if you want to see good fights without BS biased finishes.

[BYU 14]

I thought the Lawler/Smith was excellent and definitely begs for a rematch based on the circumstances. Smith said afterward he was trying to take his full 5 minutes and I put the stoppage more on the Doctor, who either didn't fully understand the rules or does not have much, if any experience with MMA/Boxing and overreacted. Regardless, crappy way to end an excellent brawl. Classy thing for Elite to give both men their win bonus.

The stoppage in the Carano fight was justified, again a more experienced fight Doctor may have let it continue, but as Flasch said, she possibly suffered a fracture with the amount of swelling that occured almost immediately. Her Eye would have been completely shut fairly quickly if she had contniued and it would have ended then. I have seen Boxing matches stopped because of swelling.

The Slice fight was a complete joke and I am glad it happened on national TV. Kimbo's mystique was pretty much shattered and hopefully this derails the whole hype train surrounding him. Dude is a badass at what he does best (Street fight) but he will never be a top MMA guy. Thompson was a low level Pride guy and is completely on dimensional. Anybody with a solid ground game would have destroyed Slice in round two. He also should have taken about 30 knees to the ribs, which Thompson seemed to have no interest in doing at all.

Brett Rodgers who won the opening fight had destroyed Thompson inside of a round when they met and was pissed he was not allowed to fight Slice...I doubt he gets a chance now after this showing. Slice will become the Butterbean of MMA, a character they match largely with stiffs so they can ride the Gravy Train as long as possible. I imagine Dana White is still laughing somewhere.

At least Faber/Pulver tonight will redeem the weekend for MMA

[JonInMiddleGA]

With all the talk about the finishes, I wonder how many people were thinking what I wondered for a bit: whether these were "worked shoots" instead of actual fights. Basically scripted with the ending called in advance but designed for everything to look as real as possible to the casual observer.

It isn't exactly unheard of with MMA fighters, several names have participated in such events through the years (Severn, Frye to name a couple) and it's done okay in Japan at times. So with last night's endings, it doesn't seem out of the question to at least wonder.

Thing is, I wonder what the "I wonder" percentage would be among MMA fans vs MMA casual observers vs MMA first time viewers.

[BYU 14]

The general consensus has been that wrestling & submissions would be ratings death.

You might say the preferred presentation (from a largest audience standpoint) is something along the lines of "full contact boxing" instead of what the variety MMA actually includes.


That's a good point Jon, the live TV, fights were definitely biased towards guys better known for their stand up and they stood fighter up a little pre-maturely a couple of times from the ground. Then again I don't know how the Slice fight could have possibly helped their cause in terms of garnering a new audience of those who did not have a lot of exposure to MMA.

[BYU 14]

With all the talk about the finishes, I wonder how many people were thinking what I wondered for a bit: whether these were "worked shoots" instead of actual fights. Basically scripted with the ending called in advance but designed for everything to look as real as possible to the casual observer.

It isn't exactly unheard of with MMA fighters, several names have participated in such events through the years (Severn, Frye to name a couple) and it's done okay in Japan at times. So with last night's endings, it doesn't seem out of the question to at least wonder.

Thing is, I wonder what the "I wonder" percentage would be among MMA fans vs MMA casual observers vs MMA first time viewers.

This is a fairly common practice in Japan, with the hook being you never know when.

From my perspective, whether it was implied or directed, there was no way they were going to let Slice lose that fight unless he got knocked cold or choked out. Thompson's style was tailor made for Slice and I think they in no way anticapated him giving Kimbo so much trouble. It seemed as soon as he had the slightest excuse the Referee couldn't stop the fight quick enough.

[TLK]

EliteXC on CBS Television Ratings-
<hr style="color: rgb(80, 80, 80);" size="1"> <!-- / icon and title --> <!-- message --> 3.3/6

Not terrific, but not awful either...

It outdid game four of the Stanley Cup Finals on NBC which drew a 2.6/5 last night...

Take it for what it's worth. I've never heard of ratings released this quickly. The poster later says the official ratings will be out tomorrow.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Take it for what it's worth. I've never heard of ratings released this quickly. The poster later says the official ratings will be out tomorrow.

Those are almost certainly the overnights, which could have been leaked already I imagine.

Question is whether that 3.3 rating is Households (in which case it's at or below their Saturday night average in May) or if it's A18-49 (in which case it's a big jump over recent weeks).

[Rich1033]

Kimbo is what he is. I dont have any reason to knock him. He works hard and is trained by Bas, so he is on the right track. The guy doesnt have much of a wrestling or Jits background, its just going to be a long time(if at all) before he has the skills to compete with top tier fighters. Im not going to hate him just because EliteXC is using his name to make money.

Coincidently all three of these decisions went in favor of their 3 golden gooses. http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

I dont understand this. Carano was beating Young badly, I have no problem with decision. Lawler was on his way to victory, that stoppage didnt help him at all. Kimbo is the only one I can agree with. You had to know going into this that they werent going to let the fights get very bloody.

I didn't think it was a good showing. Each fight was basically stand up. There was no wrestling, no submissions and very little ground and pound (only Slice fight). This event was not a true showing of MMA. If this organization is going to be used to grow the sport, then they need to display better matches.

Well we all knew this going in. The card was setup to be a bunch of striking. They got exactly what they wanted. Knowing that going in, I enjoyed the card. Baroni/Villasenor was probably the only match that underpreformed.

I just hope they dont feel the need to keep trotting out Kimbo every time they are on CBS. There are several good matches they can put out there now. The Lawler rematch should have some hype. Carano always puts on a great show. Shamrock did very well commentating, so he should draw interest. Chung Le is a another guy they can throw out there that will be very entertaining to the masses.

IMO, Jason Miller is one guy that would turn into a huge star if put on network TV.

[Deattribution]

I dont understand this. Carano was beating Young badly, I have no problem with decision. Lawler was on his way to victory, that stoppage didnt help him at all. Kimbo is the only one I can agree with. You had to know going into this that they werent going to let the fights get very bloody.


Lawler was losing that fight, he had the first round but the second and what was left of the third could of easily been judged in Smith's favor.

[Calis]

Let me also add that I get slightly annoyed by Carano NEVER making weight. I understand she's attractive and the female face of MMA but I do find it a bit much that she is consistently not making weight. Fight at a heavier weight if you can't make it. We'd never hear the end of it if a guy was doing this. Just a minor annoyance though.

As for Jason Miller, I believe he's setup to fight Jacare on the next Dream card which should be a very interesting fight. Jacare looks amazing so far, but he hasn't been in with higher level competition though so I'll be interested to see how it goes. Dream has a couple of pretty good Grand Prix's going on right now. I'm excited to see their lightweight tourney finish up, and the middleweight one has a couple good match-ups like the Miller one I mentioned and then a horrific matchup where they're setting Sakuraba up to be murdered by Melvin Manhoef. Sakuraba will end up brain dead before his career is done.

[Oilers9911]

Elite XC is a joke. The early stoppage in the Lawler-Smith fight was the worst I have ever seen and the stoppage in the Kimbo (overhyped) Slice fight was pretty weak too. That busted cauliflower ear wasn't going to hurt anyone. What a weak showing. I am thinking UFC is not at all woried about Elite XC. Hell, the IFL and Hardcore Championship Fighting were 10 times the promotion Elite is.

[Eaglesfan27]

Is the Versus HD channel dropping out every few minutes for a few seconds for anyone else? I'm just starting to watch the first fight on the HD-DVR, and it is annoying.

[BigMak]

Is the Versus HD channel dropping out every few minutes for a few seconds for anyone else? I'm just starting to watch the first fight on the HD-DVR, and it is annoying.

No problem here

[BYU 14]

:( Is the Versus HD channel dropping out every few minutes for a few seconds for anyone else? I'm just starting to watch the first fight on the HD-DVR, and it is annoying.


Happened here a few times too

[Eaglesfan27]

These fights tonight have been much more entertaining than last night's card.

[EagleFan]

That was a very entertaining fight. It's a shame that didn't go the distance.