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UFC media notes and a fan question
By Zach Arnold | October 4, 2006
Update: Luke Nicholson found this interesting link, which includes video clips for the Ken vs. Tito III fight heat-up.
First, the media notes round-up:
- Winnipeg Sun – An article about Krzysztof Soszynski, who has fought in the IFL and recently became TKO champion (note how Soszynski is an IFL fighter and he clearly talks about UFC in bigger terms)
- Marketwire (Press Release) – Randy Couture joins The Fight Network
- Broadcast Newsroom (Press Release) – Promotion for Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz III on October 10th
- Houston Chronicle – Preview of upcoming Shamrock vs. Ortiz III fight
Now, onto the fan question. We are taping a radio show that will be available on the site later this week. Looking at all the upcoming MMA shows (UFC 10/10 event with Ken vs. Tito, UFC 64 10/14 event with Rich Franklin vs. Anderson Silva, PRIDE 10/21 Las Vegas show with Fedor vs. Coleman), I want you to rank those three events (from most interested in to least interested in) in a reply in the comments area and tell me why you rank those shows the way you rank them. I want to gauge what kind of fan appeal there is (if any) for these events and what people are most interested in watching & talking about.
Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 22 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
hhhmmmmm.
UFC 64: I’ve an odd curiosity on how the Franklin/Silva fight goes down as well as an interest in Kuniyoshi/Finch.
Real Deal: Just for the Joey/Robbie fight and to show some support for competition here in the states.
Fight Night: It’s basing it show on one fight and a buch of squash matches. Pass.
1. Fedor vs. Coleman
2. Tito vs. Shamrock
3. Franklin vs. Silva
Alright, the PRIDE event is obviously ranked #1 because a) its PRIDE b) its in America c) I have tickets and d) its a Heavyweight title fight with two of my favorite fighters. Then the Shamrock vs. Tito fight because their last fight ended with a very bad call, and this hatefest needs to come to an entertaining blood-for-blood, toe-to-toe, all out brawl of an end. I actually want to see Shamrock pull off that heel hook and exact his vengeance upon Ortiz. Franklin and Silva ought to be a good fight, but niether are the showmen that the other fighters are, and the undercard isnt exactly appealing either. Ill download it off bit torrent.
1) UFC 64
2) Pride: The Real Deal
3) UFC Fight Night – Ken vs. Tito
————–
I would love to hear talk about the two main events at UFC 64 – esp. the Franklin vs. Silva fight. Next is Pride and their first US show. If you have 5 minutes to spare after that, I guess its ok to talk a little Tito vs. Ken
Really tough to rank the 3 events in terms of how interested I am in them and not necessarily in terms of quality. For example I am pretty interested to see a couple of the TUFers on UFC Fight Night but the quality obviously isnt amazing (especially some of the opponents).
I’d go with
1. Real Deal
2. UFC 64
3. UFC Fight Night
I couldnt give a monkeys about Tito vs Ken. If that had a Karo vs Diego quality matchup as a headliner, it might have been joint #2.
The most interesting matchup for me over the next month is Silva vs Franklin. At the moment, too many UFC PPV undercard bouts are fights that I dont care who wins, therefore I cant really rank that event as #1.
1. Real Deal
2. UFC 64
3. Fight Night
I’m pretty excited to see Fedor back in the ring, even though it’s a piss poor match-up. I would rather see Fedor fight some new blood, and Coleman is a pretty dangerous fighter to be up against after a long lay off. Lightning rarely strikes twice, but a freak injury could happen. Randleman v Shogun, Hendo vs Vitor, and Robbie vs Joey make the card very, very interesting. Butterbean vs Hunt is a freak show, but a damn entertaining one if you ask me. I just have a lot of curiousity as to how this show will come off, and will definetely tune in.
Franklin/Silva will be a great fight, probably my number one fight coming up besides Fedor/CroCop II. However, the rest of the card doesn’t do much for me.
Tito vs Shamrock III makes me want to throw up. Nice to see some TUF guys, but seriously this is not a must watch at all.
I don’t want to repeat what MMA T-Shirts had to say but he/she pretty much summed up my same sentiments.
1. Pride Real Deal, none of the matches excite me but none of them sound like duds either. Overall it’s got enough star power (Fedor, Shogun, Hendo, Hunt, Villasenor, Lawler) combined with the fact that its their U.S. debut to make me put it at the top of the list.
2. UFC 64. Franklin-Silva is the most exciting fight on ANY of these cards, but the rest of this card doesn’t do much for me except Guida-James, which probably won’t even be televised.
3. UFC Fight Night. I hope Herb Dean is assigned to Tito and Ken’s fight AGAIN. His stoppage at 62 was perfectly legit. I have zero interest in the main event which really kills my anticipation for it. The undercard and prelim fights could be interesting but nothing jumps out at me.
Question to everyone.
Do you think that doing this third match sorta devalue Dean’s officiating value? Does it give the casual a fair arguement to complain about every ref call that looks controversial to them?
There is NO way Herb will ref Tito/Shamrock III….Big John refs all the main events anyway.
1. Real Deal
2. UFC 64
3. UFC Fight Night
I’m sounding like everyone else, but that’s how it goes. The Pride card isn’t up to their usual standards, but it’s still well beyond what the UFC is able to put out at the moment. Further, Pride obviously wants to showcase a number of their stars for the new American audience (hence the U.S.-heavy matchups).
I actually think a number of the Real Deal fights are more competititive than people think (Randleman/Shogun, Henderson/Belfort, Lawler/Villa, Nakamura/Eastman). As for the UFC, the only fight that really has my attention is Franklin/Silva. So this is a pretty easy choice.
1) UFC 64 I want to see what Anderson Silva can do.
2) Pride. Fedor is the man.
3) fight night. Tito v Ken…please.
Real Deal
64
Fight Night
Pride always has great fights and I am excited to see the fans’ reactions to Pride’s production as compared to UFC. Fedor, Shogun, Hunt, and Josh always seem to have great fights.
I’m interested to see how Franklin does against Silva and I hope to see Sherk win the Lightweight title
And it will be nice to have free fights on Spike after a full month.
1. UFC 64 — It has, by far, the most compelling fight: Franklin v. Silva. For the belt, great match-up, intriguing fallout no matter who wins, Franklin’s toughest test (especially coming off his long layoff).
2. PRIDE Real Deal — Seeing Fedor fight. Period. None of the fights have the significance of Franklin v. Silva, though I suppose one could argue that the event itself is the most significant of the three simply because it marks PRIDE’s entrance to the U.S. market.
3. UFC Fight Night. Interested in some of the lower-card match-ups. I really like watching Ortiz fight, but, um, not against Shamrock (again).
1. PRIDE.32
2. Fight Night 7
3. UFC 64
1: Can’t wait to see all the expensive pyro light up the arena and make all the empty seats painfully visible. But really, I’ve been looking forward to this since it was announced, if for no other rrason that it’s a familiar brand in an uknown territory. Robbie Lawler’s return to big time has only helped. Even if all the fights suck ass, half the excitement here is to see how the show looks on TV, what the crowd is like, etc.
2: Petruzelli vs. Hamill I want to see. Ortiz vs. Shamrock is always entertaining, and another TUF Champion gets going or not. I also hope we get to see Marquardt’s fight on delay. Plus, the FN shows have gotten better as of late, which certainly also helps.
3: I still don’t care about Rich Franklin. If he loses here, UFC’s MW-division is screwed(at least until Silva loses the belt), and if he wins he still won’t have proven anything. Ah well, this fight I would be perfectly happy to just read the result of. Sherk vs. Florian I like. Both have looked good lately, and the LW-title is back, so yay to that. Jardine’s progression is interesting to follow, but Mike Nickels is a big time turnoff for me – as I associate him with nothing but the worst of Fight Nights and/or TUFinale-shows. Pass.
I dont know how to quote but what the hell would Rich Franklin have to do to prove something to you? Hasnt he at least proved that he is really good, even if in your mind he isnt perhaps #1?
p.s. I’m a guy to the person going he/she to me above 🙂
p.p.s. It’s cool to have loads of people posting responses! 😀
1) Pride: The Real Deal
2) UFC 64
3) UFC Fight Night – Ken vs. Tito
Pride first because I’m interested in hearing any new info you guys have regarding their Vegas show. What their spending, how ticket sales are going etc. Do you guys still feel they’ll lose money? Are they holding back a little in order to go all out on New Years Eve? Anything else you can shed about their future including more on the Tyson/Macau deal would be cool too.
UFC 64 second because the Silva-Franklin matchup is so fascinating. It’s one of the best matchups Zuffa has put together in awhile and part of it has to do with it NOT being a rematch.
Lastly the Ken-Tito fight. Unlike Silva-Franklin it’s not an intriguing fight because the answers (how the fight will go, why it’s on SpikeTV) are fairly obvious, however this fight should give the fans and the fighters some much needed closure.
Keep up the great work guys!
UFC-64- Franklin is the man. Best show in MMA. Octagon > Ring.
Fight Night- Shamrock retires after another beatdown.
Pride- Ring
1) UFC 64
2) UFC Fight Night- Ken vs Tito
3) Pride
I’m not a fan of Pride. Had KOTC or any other promotion had a PPV event coming up, I’d rank them higher than Pride as well.
Unfortunately I will be away and miss those 3 shows…Actually the only one I will really miss not seeing is the Pride Deal, even if they are lopsided, still better quality than anything the UFC has put out this year.
UFC 64 is real weak, I hope Silva can keep Franklin from pounding him, but I doubt it.
UFN, it would be real fun if Ken could beat Tito, but I doubt it. I have no interest in it, Ken will be embrassed again.
I need to preface my rankings by saying none of these shows are must see shows.
1. Pride. Fedor is the best fighter on the planet. His first fight w/ Coleman was very entertaining and Coleman looks improved since then. Shogun is a force and there is bad blood between his camp and Randelman’s. Barnett/Natsula should be a great technical fight while Hunt/Butterbean should be bloodbath. Hendo/Belfort could be great or it could suck ass.
2. UFC 64. Franklin/Silva should be great. Not excited by the rest of the card. I’ll try to catch Franklin/Silva on youtube. If I’m sitting at home the night of the fight and the Mets or Yanks aren’t playing I may order it.
3. I don’t even want rank the UFN. I’ll put a tape in the VCR and watch it on fast forward. On the card I’m most interested the Matt Hamill fight. I think the whole Ken/Ortiz feud is a work. I don’t like making statements like that about this sport but it’s how I feel. Why else is Tito already signed to fight Chuck? Why are they teasing Dana v Tito later this month. You don’t see the NFL putting out Super Bowl posters with Bears vs Steelers today or even boxing promoting matches down the line. Boxing will say so & so will fight so & so if one of them or both win their next fight(s). But UFC is saying it’s Chuck v Tito on Dec 30th. What if Ken wins?
I am a fan of good fights and also of most current/live fights where I know at least one of the 2 fighters, so all 3 events are on my “must-see” list.
I can’t say this is a very accurate order because I want to see them for very different reasons, they are all pretty much equal to me.
1) PRIDE – because there are more fights with *good* fighters that I am familiar with and because it is their American debut.
2) UFC 64 – because I want to see Franklin “prove himself” to a lot of people who don’t get it yet. And to see the Sean Sherk/Ben Stiller fight for the new/old belt.
3) UFN – because I want to see how the TUF guys are progressing and because I want to see Tito server Ken a beatdown that nobody will be able to make excuses for.
1. Pride Real Deal
Like the other guys, I’ll be there and am stoked about it. Plus, I’m curious about how Fedor is doing and if he’ll be as bad ass as he was before the layoff. And I’m really excited to see him, Shogun, Barnett and Hunt and Butterbean fight in person. And I expect the Dan Henderson Vitor Belfort fight to be a good one. Basically, even if most of the fights are set up to be squashes, they feature the most compelling fighters for my money and my interest is further sparked by the fact that it’s Pride’s debut show and that, once again, I’ll be there!!!
2. UFN—It’s on free tv, so I’ll watch it. Plus, I’m curious as to whether or not Shamrock will make it past the two minute mark. And it’ll be interesting to see if there is another breakout (Bonnar Griffin) type fight between the contestants this time, I don’t really expect one, but you never know.
3. UFC 64- I’m interested in the Franklin Silva fight like everyone else but the UFC is charging too much money (Waaa, waaa, you’re a cheap skate. I know, guys.) for their one big fight on the cards business model but I’m not interested enough in the fight to actually order it, so I’m obviously not that interested.
MMA T-Shirts Says:
October 4th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
I dont know how to quote but what the hell would Rich Franklin have to do to prove something to you? Hasnt he at least proved that he is really good, even if in your mind he isnt perhaps #1?
————————-
– Yes, he has proven that he’s good, but the weakness of the middleweight division(as is the case with Hendo/PRIDE) leads me to expect more in order to rate him as a pound for pound top guy. And since he has nothing else about him that makes me want to see the guy fight, I’m not interested. Having said that, it looks like 2007 has potential to be the best year so far in the UFC MW-division, and that I DO look forward to. Whether it’s Franklin or someone else, I expect I’ll rate their MW champ higher a year from now.