Mixed Martial Arts Thread (UFC and others)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Deattribution

To be fair here, I think he had pink streaks in his hair for National Breast Cancer Awareness month which I know he didn't mention, but I think he was so blown away by the moment considering he wasn't even going to be on TV initially.

If that's indeed the case then I'm happy to give him a pass on it, I figured it was just a pseudo-punk fashion statement. Then again, if I didn't know then I imagine most of the audience watching last night didn't know & therefore the damage to his marketability with the audience is probably done either way.

[Flasch186]

Originally Posted by Deattribution

Barnett already said he doesn't want the Fedor fight in Jan, so the only fight that leaves is Arlovski vs Fedor, and that will be over very quickly with a sub by Fedor.

Odds are though that the next Affliction show doesn't happen, or is the last show they have.



If the audience isn't 'us' then the mainstream boxing fans don't even know who any of those people even are, and all they see is a old wrinkly Shamrock, another one with so much metal in his mouth he couldn't fight a chicken and a smug looking gorilla with blonde hair who hasn't won a decisive fight that didn't involve Ken Shamrock since 2001.

you have no idea what weight the name 'Shamrock' has to the uninformed.

and Jon me and you could very easily sit around the table and work up an entire marketing scheme to get the next CBS card over just on promos alone and video highlights. This event last night did only a slight bit of damage to the ability to make it 'work' however if the editorial's financial picture is true than those are problems that are more difficult to overcome.

[Deattribution]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

you have no idea what weight the name 'Shamrock' has to the uninformed.

and Jon me and you could very easily sit around the table and work up an entire marketing scheme to get the next CBS card over just on promos alone and video highlights. This event last night did only a slight bit of damage to the ability to make it 'work' however if the editorial's financial picture is true than those are problems that are more difficult to overcome.

I think you're really overestimating the value of all this, including Shamrock.

The only way EliteXC last is if they make money, and the only way they make money is if they get people to buy PPVs, which they intend on doing but may never get to. Nobody will pay to see Shamrock (either of them) Kimbo, Carano ect. Even Ortiz, he's worth some buys but he's not stupid enough to get onto a sinking ship. In the last couple months he's been joining Affliction, EliteXC, starting his own promotion, returning to the UFC. Basically as always, he's doing anything to get his name out there, and hopes the UFC bites.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

you have no idea what weight the name 'Shamrock' has to the uninformed.

Actually Flasch, we both should have a pretty good idea. "None whatsoever" to the truly uninformed, as that implies they know zero about him. And to the tangently interested, Vince's inability to get the guy over provides a pretty good insight into how marketable he is to a considerable portion of the available audience.

and Jon me and you could very easily sit around the table and work up an entire marketing scheme to get the next CBS card over just on promos alone and video highlights.

We could ... but CBS isn't likely too IMO. Airing this at all was controversial inside the network, there's no sign that they're going to put forth much effort beyond the standard level. And the promotional efforts by Elite that were made leading up to last night (as either that editorial I linked mentioned, or a couple of others I read last night referenced, can't remember which) turned into personality ops for Slice & Carano far more than event publicity.

The problem is that outside of those two (and the Cyborg), I really don't see much to promote to the masses here. And Slice just got devalued heavily. There might be something that could be done with pink hair boy from last night but that's iffy at best IMO (depending upon his regular packaging, he seemed more like street trash that the average stay-at-home viewer on Saturday would avoid on the street than be interested in watching or knowing more about). Otherwise, what are you going to promote when you consider that the vast majority of these guys are anonymous with their own genre, much less the mainstream. Right now even good competitive fights in this promotion are ultimately as compelling as watching two strangers on the street in a random scuffle.

[Flasch186]

Carano EASY
Cyborg EASY
Pink haired guy EASY
If you can get Arlovsky again (EASY with his fangs)
Shamrock will sell to the Saturday nostalgia viewer who thinks to himself ("Hey, Ive heard of that guy....he kicks ass")
Tito Ortiz (see above)

I see 2-3 matchups there that are good enough for a saturday night AND sellable.

[Matthean]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

Carano EASY
Cyborg EASY
Pink haired guy EASY
If you can get Arlovsky again (EASY with his fangs)
Shamrock will sell to the Saturday nostalgia viewer who thinks to himself ("Hey, Ive heard of that guy....he kicks ass")
Tito Ortiz (see above)

I see 2-3 matchups there that are good enough for a saturday night AND sellable.

I would add Shields in there as well.

[Flasch186]

Shields isnt aimed at the same target as those i listed above. If I can get someone to turn on due to shields, bonus.

[Deattribution]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

If that's indeed the case then I'm happy to give him a pass on it, I figured it was just a pseudo-punk fashion statement. Then again, if I didn't know then I imagine most of the audience watching last night didn't know & therefore the damage to his marketability with the audience is probably done either way.

Okay, so maybe he's not too marketable as a 'tough guy' afterall

hxxp://deadspin.com/5059233/meet-the-man-who-felled-kimbo

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Deattribution

Okay, so maybe he's not too marketable as a 'tough guy' afterall

hxxp://deadspin.com/5059233/meet-the-man-who-felled-kimbo

On behalf of Elite XC I can only say "Whew"
hxxp://www.bustedcoverage.com/?p=7817
Busted Coverage: Booze, Ladies And Football » Seth Petruzelli Knocked Out Kimbo, Isn’t Really Into Gay Ground And Pound

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

If that's indeed the case then I'm happy to give him a pass on it, I figured it was just a pseudo-punk fashion statement. Then again, if I didn't know then I imagine most of the audience watching last night didn't know & therefore the damage to his marketability with the audience is probably done either way.

I don't know, Jon..how old are you? I think my generation looks past things like pink hair now, shocking as that may sound. I mean, after all...it is just hair we're talking about here..not a mile long rap sheet.

[Karlifornia]

It doesn't matter what he does or doesn't stick his dick into. If it matters to you, then you need get a hobby or something, and not worry so much about other people.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Karlifornia

It doesn't matter what he does or doesn't stick his dick into. If it matters to you, then you need get a hobby or something, and not worry so much about other people.

Aside from what I think of the morality of the subject personally, we were talking about what in this portion of the thread? Yep, that's right, the marketability of certain fighters.

And if you think there wouldn't be additional issues marketing a gay MMA fighter then you're so out of touch with reality that you would really be better served in the future by remaining silent & allowing people to assume your ignorance rather than operating a keyboard & proving it.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

And if you think there wouldn't be additional issues marketing a gay MMA fighter then you're so out of touch with reality that you would really be better served in the future by remaining silent & allowing people to assume your ignorance rather than operating a keyboard & proving it.

Purely from a marketing standpoint, don't forget that people will also pay to watch somebody they want to see get knocked out.

An openly gay MMA champion would probably draw plenty of buys, from at least two very distinct audiences.

(i.e. cool people, and bigoted losers)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

An openly gay MMA champion would probably draw plenty of buys, from at least two very distinct audiences. [/size]

LOL, nice try. But you've got to be smoking crack if you think it'd be a net plus for a company trying to survive on network television.

[Flasch186]

Net not a a plus but this is quite possibly the easiest marketing job I could have IF, and this is a big IF, I get ad time on TV where I need it to be and unlimited usage of cameras, editing, and on air talent.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

Net not a a plus but this is quite possibly the easiest marketing job I could have IF, and this is a big IF, I get ad time on TV where I need it to be and unlimited usage of cameras, editing, and on air talent.

And if your Aunt Sally had different plumbing, she'd be your Uncle Fred.

[Karlifornia]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Aside from what I think of the morality of the subject personally, we were talking about what in this portion of the thread? Yep, that's right, the marketability of certain fighters.

And if you think there wouldn't be additional issues marketing a gay MMA fighter then you're so out of touch with reality that you would really be better served in the future by remaining silent & allowing people to assume your ignorance rather than operating a keyboard & proving it.

Why not give it a try? It's easier to sit back and maintain the perceived status-quo, than it is to to break new ground, and pave the path to a better world. It's risky. There are issues with him having pink hair, and pictures of him kissing dudes, sadly. What I am wondering is if people react negatively to that because they feel they would be labeled negatively as a consequence, rather than them really feeling hatred toward the participants of that behavior.

I think most people just float along with the current, knowing that they are out of harms reach by doing so. I think that someone with a relatively wide-reaching platform (like EliteXC) could surprise people just enough by coming out and saying "Hey, we support gay fighters"..and the tide could slowly turn. It wasn't long ago that people were saying the same thing about Jackie Robinson.

None of this matters at this point, though, because Seth Petruzelli is probably not gay.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

LOL, nice try. But you've got to be smoking crack if you think it'd be a net plus for a company trying to survive on network television.

Yeah, it would definitely be an easier sell for UFC.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Sounds like a lot of industry talk in this thread, but add me to the list that enjoyed the show on Saturday. I don't know a whole lot about the MMA scene, but I enjoyed watching that Caruso girl. She looked like the girl next door walking into that ring and flashed a great smile. Then she proceeded to bludgeon that other girl, much to my surprise and delight.

[PilotMan]

I liked the fights as well. I was very happy to see Kimbo get beaten. I think that it is better for everyone if he was exposed now as opposed to later. We will see soon enough if Lesar can live up to his hype or be exposed as completely out of Couture's league. I like where UFC is going with their heavyweight division over the next little while. Too bad, they can't get Fedor in there, it would end all competition.

[TLK]

Report: Ken Shamrock was going to be “paid to stand with him as well”

By Zach Arnold | October 7, 2008 | Print This

Update: In this radio interview (time mark - 40 minutes), Dave Meltzer claims that he had heard about the Seth Petruzelli “stand-up” scenario before Petruzelli himself brought it up on the radio on Monday morning.

“He’s backtracking. Uhm… I will also say that the story that he said, I had heard that story, uhm, long before, uh Seth Petruzelli said it. So, I believe it to be true. I cannot tell you that as a fact.”

Meltzer hopes that the athletic commission(s) looks into this and that this type of demand should not be allowed unless the commission sanctions a fight specifically as a stand-up match and markets such a bout to the public that way.
Start of original posting
This report is in the latest edition of Figure Four Weekly, published by Bryan Alvarez:

Seth Petruzelli said that he was paid to stand with Kimbo. Well, he said that and then he claimed he never said it. For what it’s worth, we heard in the days leading up to the fight that Ken Shamrock was being paid to stand with him as well. It’s a pretty shady way of doing business, and while it’s not outright working the fight it is attempting to give one man an advantage — or a perceived advantage, as did didn’t help Kimbo one goddamn bit — over another.

You can subscribe to Bryan’s publication by going to F4WOnline.com.
Within the timespan of 24 hours, we have Seth Petruzelli’s radio interview comments on EXC management allegedly ‘kinda’ hinting that they wanted him to stand-up only against Kimbo Slice and now we have Bryan Alvarez putting his name on the line by flat out reporting that Ken Shamrock was going to be ‘paid to stand with [Kimbo]’ as well. The audio already exists of Petruzelli’s comments, and Alvarez has put his reported claims in print to his readership.
Now, compare Petruzelli’s initial comments and Alvarez’s report to comments Jared Shaw made to MMA Weekly last night:

“Why in a million years would we ask Seth to not take Kimbo down? That’s crazy. That’s all Kimbo’s been working on is the ground game. Ken Shamrock, 84 percent of his wins are submission and through the ground, so Kimbo was ready for the ground. If anybody knows Seth Petruzelli, he’s a K-1 fighter, I wouldn’t want him standing. So to say ‘don’t take him down,’ that’s ridiculous.”

Petruzelli lost his two matches in K-1 competition, including a loss to Bob Sapp… all of this in 2004.
Fight fixing or bribery to alter the outcome of what is supposed to be a legitimate, sanctioned fight is a felony in the United States. Again, this is not Japan. This is not professional wrestling. Elite XC’s event was sanctioned by the Florida State Athletic Commission. There’s a lot of reasons to care about this story. If what Petruzelli and/or Alvarez said is true, then people involved in the production of last Saturday’s event should be prosecuted. Prosecutions for similar-type crimes has happened before in the fight industry, so there’s no excuse to let this incident go unpunished if indeed any crimes were actually commited.
In regards to media coverage of this situation, this should not simply be a one-day-and-go-away news story. We are talking about the image of MMA being tarnished in the States and the implications are damaging for everyone involved in the business. It’s a lousy scenario for everyone who supports this business and a fight fixing scandal of this magnitude could certainly turn off potential corporate sponsors — the kind of corporate sponsors Elite XC wants to get to survive as a company if they want to make it to their fourth event on CBS.

It goes from bad to worse...

[Rich1033]

I dont think you can compare Brock Lesnar to Kimbo. Lesnar is a legit top wrestler who already has a win against a guy that is better than anyone Kimbo will ever fight(and I know that doesnt say much). Lesnar just needs some experience while Kimbo needs some talent.

Ths big thing to me about Lernar/Couture is that its 5 rounds. The longer it goes the better Couture should be. Thats when his experience should really start to take over.

[PilotMan]

Well, that's the point that I was really making. Lesnar is green by MMA standards, and the argument was whether he should even be in that fight after 3 fights. Should he be pushed as a main event draw before he is established, like Kimbo?

[Calis]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Well, that's the point that I was really making. Lesnar is green by MMA standards, and the argument was whether he should even be in that fight after 3 fights. Should he be pushed as a main event draw before he is established, like Kimbo?

I think in the UFC's case it's a good move. There HW division has been weak, and it's done a complete turnaround due to this fight. People are excited, and it's a no-lose situation for them. If Randy wins, he's Randy. I don't think that reflects too poorly on Lesnar, and if Lesnar wins he's instantly credible and sets up a huge fight with Nog or Mir.

So I think from a business standpoint it's a good move for them.

From a sporting standpoint? No way he's earned a title shot. He beat a gatekeeper and lost to a guy who also shouldn't be getting a title shot. The problem is who else do they put in for the title? I think Werdum is the one getting the short end here because he should be next on the list.

I don't think Lesnar deserves to be there, but I can't fault the UFC for doing it and he matches up very well against Randy.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Well, that's the point that I was really making. Lesnar is green by MMA standards, and the argument was whether he should even be in that fight after 3 fights. Should he be pushed as a main event draw before he is established, like Kimbo?

Big difference in the sense that Kimbo is (was) EliteXC while anybody following UFC recognizes that the HW division is their weakest division and while Couture is a marketable name, after him it's pretty dry. If Brock were in any other weight division in the UFC, even with his "name" he wouldn't be getting a shot this quick. Of the young guys making a push to improve that division Brock is the best draw right now.

Earned it, no, a more legitmate MMA fighter than Kimbo right now, definitely. As big of a role in the company as Kimbo, not even close.

[Deattribution]

Something I never understood with Kimbo - His most recent fight he gets 500k (and lost out on an additional 100k by losing), and how I understand it they upped his purse to 'make it worth his while' to fight Petruzelli, and his fight before that I believe he made 250k.

Now my question is, who in their right mind pays Kimbo, a completely unproven fighter that kind of money?

Who were they bidding against? There is absolutely no way the UFC would of paid him over 100k, if that, and that's assuming the UFC ever even wanted him. So who does that leave to pay him? Affliction? At the time of his signing, they weren't even around, Strikeforce couldn't pay that kind of dough, and theres really no other viable options. It just seems like decisions like that is why EliteXC will be gone in a year.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Deattribution

Who were they bidding against?

They're bidding against the option of not having him. Who else is EliteXC going to have headline a primetime network TV slot?

[Deattribution]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

They're bidding against the option of not having him. Who else is EliteXC going to have headline a primetime network TV slot?

What was he gonna do, stay fighting on youtube instead of taking 50k or 80k a fight?

[SirFozzie]

If Chris Leben established the baseline of acting like an ass on The Ultimate Fighter (1.0), Junie is about a 23.4 on that scale. Wow.

[Travis]

If Junie isn't kicked off next episode that might be it for me for TUF. I was quite disappointed he wasn't booted last night and it sure didn't take him very long to regress back to his norm.

That or hell, just put him straight into a match with Nog.

[SirFozzie]

Travis, you may be done with TUF. Someone reminded me elsewhere that there was a bit on the season preview where Dana says to someone (not shown) . "Dude, you should have been kicked out three times already".

This might have only been part two of three or four.

[Arctic Blast]

The guy is an obnoxious little prick...problem is, he's also one of the few guys on the show this year who looks like you could be a legit fighter. They really need to stop running this thing twice a year, because they're running out of guys.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Happened to run across part of an interesting show on National Geographic Channel a few minutes ago. Fight Science researching MMA, including a segment with Randy Couture. They tested his lactic acid level at rest, then tested it again after he locked a sparring partner in a guillotine choke for 60 seconds ... and the levels went down like 20% (from 5.something to 4.something). As one of the researchers said "you're not human", which seems like as good an explanation as any to me.

edit -- Heh. The program ended with a clip of Ortiz slamming a crash test dummy ... and breaking the arm off at the shoulder.

[AlexB]

Anybody watching UFC 89?

Spoiler

England's 0-2 so far, and despite the crowd booing the Taylor/Lytle decision I thought Lytle was a clear winner.

A couple of decent, but not spectacular, fights so far - I think the UFC know it's a relatively weak card: I didn;t appreciate UFC 90 was the week after! Is it PPV over there?

[Arctic Blast]

Originally Posted by Jari Rantanen's Shorts

Spoiler

Anybody watching UFC 89? England's 0-2 so far, and despite the crowd booing the Taylor/Lytle decision I thought Lytle was a clear winner.

A couple of decent, but not spectacular, fights so far - I think the UFC know it's a relatively weak card: I didn;t appreciate UFC 90 was the week after! Is it PPV over there?

Would have been a better card if Thiago Silva hadn't hurt his back, which forced the cancellation of his gith with Machida. Actually kinda curious to see who they put in with Machida now...every other upper echelon light heavyweight seems to be tied up already...so does he just wait around for Silva to heal up?

[Flasch186]

i think its on tape delay - spike TV tonight (at least I hope so)

[AlexB]

Spoiler

Even Count Good fight. Surprisingly Leben across with a lot of class as well.

Not sure about the boos during the Jardine/Vera fight: it wasn't that bad, but every time I've seen Brandon Vera I get the feeling he doesn't really want to be there. I don't know where he goes now tbh - drops down to LHW to avoid mismatches and in the two LHW fights I've seen he still looks weak.

[Deattribution]

No need to worry about how to market the next Kimbo show --

ProElite/EliteXC is Finished

Sources have confirmed that ProElite, which is the parent company for EliteXC, will be closing its doors this Friday. Sources close to the situation verified that the employees for the struggling MMA company received word today that the company’s last day of work will be this Friday. During the company’s two years of business, it has been reported that they have lost nearly $60 Million, causing many to believe that, despite their valuable deal with CBS, it was only a matter of time before the ship sank.

Graciefighter.com, which is run by Caesar Gracie, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu coach for ProElite fighters Nick Diaz and Jake Shields, posted the following message on their website, confirming the report:

"We are confirming that EliteXC has folded. What this means for our fans and supporters is that there will not be a Nick Diaz vs. Eddie Alvarez fight on November 8th. However Jake Shields in the UFC has now become a real possibility. We will be updating our site for future developments."

In ProElite’s attempt to be more competitive to the UFC’s stranglehold on MMA, they acquired a number of smaller MMA promotions, most notably King of the Cage and Cage Rage. Rumble on the Rock, the Hawaiian promotion owned by JD Penn, the older brother of UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn, had been leasing his promotion to ProElite. Our sources have confirmed that JD was laid off this afternoon as well.

EliteXC just held their third CBS promotion, “Heat,” last month, which turned out to be another primetime ratings success. However, on the event, the company’s golden boy and former street fighter, Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson, was knocked out by MMA journeyman Seth Petruzelli in 14 seconds. As he fell to the mat, it seems as though he took EliteXC’s hopes for a future with him as well.

Two days after the upset, Petruzelli went on a local Florida radio show stating that EliteXC management offered him more money if he made his fight against Kimbo strictly a stand up battle. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees the Florida State Boxing Commission, is currently investigating EliteXC regarding Petruzelli’s claims.

Word is that Petruzelli’s statements and the investigation were the final nails in ProElite’s coffin.

Petruzelli took down the 'legendary' Kimbo and the entire company all in one night. Impressive.

[Rich1033]

Good stuff, thats what they get. Marketing Kimbo like that was one of the most shortsighted things I have seen. They did have some good fighters, Im excited to see where they end up. I guess Im also curious to see where Kimbo ends up.

[dervack]

Originally Posted by Rich1033

Good stuff, thats what they get. Marketing Kimbo like that was one of the most shortsighted things I have seen. They did have some good fighters, Im excited to see where they end up. I guess Im also curious to see where Kimbo ends up.

Hopefully back to the backyards. My guess is that Affliction will sign him, if anyone, since Dana has said he wouldn't sign Kimbo when someone mistaken Kimbo for a UFC fighter. I'm more disappointed that it'll be harder to see fighters like Nick Diaz and Gina Carrano in the US, since Diaz probably wore out his welcome in the UFC and Dana is not a big fan of Women's MMA. And what about Robbie Lawler? They had some good fighters, but no real great ones.

[EagleFan]

In another unexpected turn of events the sun will rise tomorrow.

Who didn't see this coming? That company put on some of the most fraudulent fights this side of WWE. You knew they tried to pick fighters to tank it for the overrated Kimbo, other fight outcomes were jokes with early stoppages when it looked like the fighter they were marketing would lose it it went to the judges (or would find it even harder to explain if the judges declared their marketed favorites the winner).

[Calis]

I really wanted to see Alvarez vs. Diaz so that's disappointing and was looking forward to seeing Cyborg take on Carano. I hope we get to see those fights take place on another show.

Shields would be nice to see in the UFC, but the people who think he'd give the likes of GSP trouble are insane. I was disappointed with the way he looked in his last fight. He's still a top guy, but I'm not sure where he'd fall in the UFC division.

Is Strikeforce fine in all this? I wonder if we'll see them try to grow a bit more or what. I know they partnered with them, but I don't think there was any ownership.

[PilotMan]

Robbie Lawler, Alvarez and Shields all would be good draws for the UFC. I wonder where Mark Cuban is going to be in all of this? I hadn't been following the aftermath all that closely and had no idea that Ken Shamrock had a disagreement with EXC before his fight and used his training session that he was ultimately hurt at to blow off steam. It's funny how all this drama has turned out. Still I think that there is room here for another #2 promotion in the US. The UFC won't gobble them all up and there is too much talent out there that needs a place to go to get exposure.

[Arctic Blast]

Elite XC was an absolute debacle. Horribly, horribly run promotion.

Shields will be in the UFC...they basically have a stranglehold on the welterweight division, and they'll land him. They probably also land Paul Daley, who's a pretty exciting fighter, and extremely popular in the UK, where they're trying to increase their exposure. Alvarez is a real UFC possibility, but I've read he really likes fighting in Japan, so we'll see with him. Diaz probably ends up with Strikeforce or Affliction. Lawler could easily end up back in the UFC, or could be a high profile get, again, for either Affliction or Strikeforce. Feijao goes UFC.

[Rich1033]

Id love to see Eddie Alvarez in the UFC, but I cant see him doing anything that denies him the chance to return to Japan to fight Joakim Hansen for the Deam title. Other than that, Id hope the UFC picks up a guy or two(Im thinking Rodgers) to flesh out their HW division. ProElite had a ton of guys that put on good fights, Im just not sure if any of them can challenge UFC's top talent.

Strikeforce is working with NBC, Im sure they will try to take this chance to bolster their roster with some entertaining fighters. It would be nice if Affliction could build up some other divisions, but Im not sure if they are in a position to spend much more money.

[DeToxRox]

With all that promotion for Fedor on CBS during the Elite show I wonder if Affliction is going to try partnering with CBS for a few shows.

[BYU 14]

The biggest downside for me is that I really wanted to see a Carano vs Cyborg fight....hopefully somebody puts this together still.

[saldana]

This is amusing considering that during the CBS show, they showed Tito Ortiz at ringside, and talked to him about the possibility of him being in EXC. He basically said that within the very near future he would be signing with them...if they were on the verge of going broke, I wonder how they planned on affording what would have been the most recognizable name in their stable.

I also wonder where that leaves him with Dana and UFC since he is now more or less homeless.

[PilotMan]

Can't believe that nobody is talking about last nights fights. I have to believe that White wasn't real happy to see Werdum get knocked silly after promoting him as the next guy in line. Also, Silva looked to be toying with Cote, in fact, the fight was really good, it just looked like it was going to get a whole lot better as the rounds went on. I wonder what a Silva v. Forrest Griffin fight would look like? I thought that the crowd sucked last night. They seemed to be booing everything and everyone. The refs seemed to be warning the guys a lot for anything that went to the ground. Personally, I really would hate to see the ground games be less and less important just for the sake of ignorant fans.

[Calis]

Alves looked really impressive last night. I thought he was good but I underestimated him. I thought when Koscheck stepped up to replace Diego he was in trouble. I figured he would be taken down at will, but his defense is much better than I originally thought. Is it good enough to stop GSP's takedowns? I doubt it, but now that fight seems a lot more interesting.

Silva looked to be intentionally dragging that fight out as long as he could. Not sure if he was going to try some explosive finish or if he's just bored in there. It was odd. He was winning the exchanges easily and I believe could've ended it whenever he wanted but was taking his time dancing around. I think he was pretty pissed when it ended because he never got to do whatever the hell he planned to.

Hated to see Werdum lose because I was one griping that he got screwed in this Heavyweight deal because he'd earned a shot a helluva lot more than Lesnar or Mir did. He leaned right into that shot though, pretty brutal.

The Sherk/Griffin fight was fun to watch also. A pretty good show overall for them which was good because last week's was not their best by a longshot.