WSOF2

[allBthere]

World Series of Fighting 2 was the best broadcast of MMA outside of UFC PPV's since pride.

It is head and shoulders above UFC on Fuel/FOX whatever. It was a fun card, Great finish by Josh Burkman of all people with the knee!

I have no idea how big the venue was but they made it look like any marquee venue and had great little features that were shot well, even the prep point before walk-out was draped and lit.

I'm impressed. NBC brought a fun night of entertaining fights on the Card via RAy Sefo. I don't know who the PxP man was, but he did well and Bas Rutten also did well without getting in the way of himself for the most part and getting silly. The host looked a tad uncomfortable but also did well. (personally I'd replace her with someone more enthralled with the sport.

I'll be watching the next one that's for sure. It felt like a breath of fresh air into the MMA broadcast scene filled with either super annoying commentary, bad shooting/live mixing/cheap 'feel' ... this was the big boys putting on a show and it really worked for me.

In terms of pure fighting - It lived up to it. There was a mis-match that not many would have predicted, the main event was very competitive and for me went down to the wire (I swore I saw Rumble stunned in the 2nd round by Arlovski punches and wouldn't have booed if he won) ...

I really think they have something here, no rush on the events with promises of monthly etc, they are just taking their time and putting on a good show - as I said I'll continue to watch and just enjoy. Props to Sefo and whoever is involved in the NBC team.

[ManiacMatt1782]

Re: WSOF2

It was Revel casino in Atlantic city. Interesting note, 1st event held there was UFC.

[aholbert32]

Re: WSOF2

World Series of Fighting 2 was the best broadcast of MMA outside of UFC PPV's since pride.

It is head and shoulders above UFC on Fuel/FOX whatever. It was a fun card, Great finish by Josh Burkman of all people with the knee!

I have no idea how big the venue was but they made it look like any marquee venue and had great little features that were shot well, even the prep point before walk-out was draped and lit.

I'm impressed. NBC brought a fun night of entertaining fights on the Card via RAy Sefo. I don't know who the PxP man was, but he did well and Bas Rutten also did well without getting in the way of himself for the most part and getting silly. The host looked a tad uncomfortable but also did well. (personally I'd replace her with someone more enthralled with the sport.

I'll be watching the next one that's for sure. It felt like a breath of fresh air into the MMA broadcast scene filled with either super annoying commentary, bad shooting/live mixing/cheap 'feel' ... this was the big boys putting on a show and it really worked for me.

In terms of pure fighting - It lived up to it. There was a mis-match that not many would have predicted, the main event was very competitive and for me went down to the wire (I swore I saw Rumble stunned in the 2nd round by Arlovski punches and wouldn't have booed if he won) ...

I really think they have something here, no rush on the events with promises of monthly etc, they are just taking their time and putting on a good show - as I said I'll continue to watch and just enjoy. Props to Sefo and whoever is involved in the NBC team.

Gotta disagree with you. The production didnt look much different than what they did a few months ago. They cut some of the behind the scenes looks from the last card but it was similar. Also NBC had very little to do with the production. WSOF managed it.

Regarding the play by play man, I hated Harris and thought he was off his game. He was always decent in the WEC so I dont know what happened on Saturday. He called one of the fights a "game." Said Tyson Nam was a Bellator vet when he never fought in Bellator. Very little research into each fighter.

And Bas.....I know ppl love Bas because of Pride and Inside MMA but he should never be allowed to interview fighters after a fight. He referenced title sjhots when the WSOF doesnt even have them. Mispronounced names. I'm just not fan.

I dont think Goldie/Rogan, Anik/Florian, Schiavello/Miletich, Ranallo/Miletich or the Bellator guys are perfect but I would take them any day of the week over Harris and Rutten.

[Sandman42]

Re: WSOF2

Harris is forever on my **** list for that last or 2nd to last WEC card where he said one fight should be stood up while a guy was trying to lock in a triangle. Bonnar almost flipped out on him when he said that. Rutten got old after Pride, I just don't think he's a good color commentator.

If I had to pick a best duo it would probably be Wheelock/Smith from Bellator or Schiavello/Miletich. Miletich breaks down the grappling very well but he does favor wrestlers way too much (i.e. him acting like Tyron Woodley was a world beater) and as long as you like his shtick Schiavello can be fine. Wheelock and Smith seem to have the best chemistry though. Wheelock is like the anti-Goldberg in that he makes fun of Spike's ad reads all the time.

[Dos_Santos]

Re: WSOF2

Harris is forever on my **** list for that last or 2nd to last WEC card where he said one fight should be stood up while a guy was trying to lock in a triangle. Bonnar almost flipped out on him when he said that. Rutten got old after Pride, I just don't think he's a good color commentator.

If I had to pick a best duo it would probably be Wheelock/Smith from Bellator or Schiavello/Miletich. Miletich breaks down the grappling very well but he does favor wrestlers way too much (i.e. him acting like Tyron Woodley was a world beater) and as long as you like his shtick Schiavello can be fine. Wheelock and Smith seem to have the best chemistry though. Wheelock is like the anti-Goldberg in that he makes fun of Spike's ad reads all the time.

Agreed on Miletich and Wheelock.

[aholbert32]

Re: WSOF2

Harris is forever on my **** list for that last or 2nd to last WEC card where he said one fight should be stood up while a guy was trying to lock in a triangle. Bonnar almost flipped out on him when he said that. Rutten got old after Pride, I just don't think he's a good color commentator.

If I had to pick a best duo it would probably be Wheelock/Smith from Bellator or Schiavello/Miletich. Miletich breaks down the grappling very well but he does favor wrestlers way too much (i.e. him acting like Tyron Woodley was a world beater) and as long as you like his shtick Schiavello can be fine. Wheelock and Smith seem to have the best chemistry though. Wheelock is like the anti-Goldberg in that he makes fun of Spike's ad reads all the time.

I'm starting to like Anik as play by play guy. Doesnt rely on catchphrases like Goldie.

[redsrule]

Re: WSOF2

I like Anik, but I still thought the UFC should have used Mir instead of Florian. Mir is/was a great commentator, as is Stephan Bonnar.

[Sandman42]

Re: WSOF2

Anik/Florian is a solid combo too. Anik is improving, at the start he was pretty quiet and Kenny did most of the talking.

Goldberg on the other hand.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rFa6ITHGwpY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[redsrule]

Re: WSOF2

NSFW
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/e7ifCrCxT0s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[allBthere]

Re: WSOF2

Gotta disagree with you. The production didnt look much different than what they did a few months ago. They cut some of the behind the scenes looks from the last card but it was similar. Also NBC had very little to do with the production. WSOF managed it.

Regarding the play by play man, I hated Harris and thought he was off his game. He was always decent in the WEC so I dont know what happened on Saturday. He called one of the fights a "game." Said Tyson Nam was a Bellator vet when he never fought in Bellator. Very little research into each fighter.

And Bas.....I know ppl love Bas because of Pride and Inside MMA but he should never be allowed to interview fighters after a fight. He referenced title sjhots when the WSOF doesnt even have them. Mispronounced names. I'm just not fan.

I dont think Goldie/Rogan, Anik/Florian, Schiavello/Miletich, Ranallo/Miletich or the Bellator guys are perfect but I would take them any day of the week over Harris and Rutten.

I like Goldberg and Rogan the most, I don't like Anik and Florian because they both sound too much alike and both of their voices are whiney - but I just find Anik irritating. It's not just the content of what they say to me, but HOW they say it and how they sound. Ranallo is hella annoying, more than anyone else to me, and I've met him and he was a dikhead.

My post was not primarily about the commentator team, but how I was pleasantly surprised by the overall package and it's quality. I never saw WSOF1, I just streamed this last one and also appreciated they did the stream on MMA weekly knowing people outside the US would have problems watching it so did this consensually. So if #1 was the same, well good for them it was a very good live broadcast and I can't say the same for other promotions.

From a broadcast perspective it was really well done - The camera work, sound-mixing, lighting/camera colouring/irising, graphics, pre-produced segments etc, it was better than the rest which to me have been tacky, annoying and/or cheap feeling. They really nailed the 'atmosphere' and to me I was truly surprised because I was expecting bodog or bellator which seem cheap and strikeforce which was annoying etc.

I thought it was really solid and I thoroughly enjoyed it as a live show - and that's the bottom line. IF you guys would rather see a bellator show - fine, but to me this was really good. All these things add up to create a good overall package. This is what I do for a living and my 1st impression was that I was impressed

As I said for me just sitting down and enjoying the show:

UFC ppv = #1
WSOF = #2
UFC FREE = #3

...the rest (most of which I'll skip because it's not compelling enough, plus I watch a LOT of boxing and I'm at my sports 'limit')

ps. you changed this into a commentator thread, but seriously you guys didn't like the show? Besides that one dominant fight (and even that was not truly boring because it was pretty violent) the fights were pretty good. I really enjoyed the main event and it was different than I expected.

[TheShizNo1]

Re: WSOF2

LOL, you guys are really going into this commentary discussion.

I like Mir a lot. I enjoy listening to Sonnen on the cards he's an analyst for.


I generally like commentators that have experience in the sport they're commenting on.

[redsrule]

Re: WSOF2

I disagree quite a bit. For starters this event almost didn't happen because they had issues with their cage. Second, their prelim card that was supposed to be free had a TON of issues, for the second straight event, which is garbage.
Then you add in the clock error in the first round of Arlovski/Johnson (not WSOF's fault) it just wasn't a great second showing. Also the fights were decent, but putting Filho on a televised main card is never smart. You never know if he is going to start seeing ghosts mid fight or not.