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.

Good chuckle while reading the undercard spoilers from tonight's UFC 81

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

So Lesnar/Mir is about to start.

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

Wow. That was a crazy ass fight.

Wow!

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.

pleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleasenogputsilviatosleep

pretty please

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.

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)

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

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.

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. :)

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.

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.

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

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. :)

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)

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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