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Inside the UFC

By Zach Arnold | January 12, 2007

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By Zach Arnold

I watched Thursday night’s UFC TV show and I have to say, that was an amazing hype show that delivered. If you want prime example A of why UFC is the American king of MMA, that show (which, in the credits, has Joe Rogan listed as both host and producer) was it. The opening video package (watch the show online) with Joe Rogan doing the preview of what was to come on this week’s show was nothing short of a grade-A effort. The most impressive thing about Rogan on the show this week was his ability to put anything and everything over. Sean Salmon? He put him over as a tough unknown fighter that, like Anderson Silva, could win right away in UFC. Rogan stated that with UFC growing in popularity, more and more newcomers would be entering the Octagon. Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin, two guys coming off bad losses? Rogan put over the fact that their March 3rd fights would be important to watch to determine how each man will rebound. Randy Couture’s big announcement? Rogan said that it was so big, that even he didn’t know what was going to be said and was told by Dana White to “go f— yourself” when asking about what the big announcement was.

The big announcement from Randy Couture was that he signed a 2-year, 4-fight deal with UFC. His first fight is on March 3rd in Ohio versus Tim Sylvia. I think it’s for the Heavyweight title, but I’m not sure. Anyhow, Randy was fabulous in his promo on the show. He absolutely, in the nicest demeanor possible, buried Tim Sylvia’s “conservative” fight style and basically called the guy a belt mark without using those terms. You could just see the $$$$ signs after this first interview.

I want to encourage everyone in pro-wrestling or MMA to watch this show and learn how to promote some very intricate storylines in a simple manner that everyone can understand. Rogan was on fire here and more than earned his paycheck.

Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

8 Responses to “Inside the UFC”

  1. Mike Sawyer says:

    Tim a belt mark? I once saw him wearing it in the VIP at the Spearmint Rhino….

  2. Jason Bennett says:

    I completely agree with you Zach. The show did a phenomenal job of creating interest about matches that appear very lop-sided, at least on paper. That is a sell that was honest and straight. Randy’s comments on Tim were dead on but still very strong in setting up a story line for fans to follow. The card is not bad considering they will be bringing some of the biggest names to an unused territory (for the big shows); Couture vs. Sylvia, Franklin vs. MacDonald, Hughes vs. Lytle, that’s at least 4 huge names on the card – kinda unusual for a UFC card lately.

    I think Tim’s an excellent fighter who gets a bad rap. He did have 3 of last 4 fights become conservative but it doesn’t take away from his capabilities. Randy has had trouble in the past with handling bigger fighters and Tim will be the biggest. If Randy controls from a clinch to get top position on the ground, I still think Tim’s ground work, which proved successful against Monson, will be adequate to survive Randy’s ground and pound. Tim will get his next KO here and I really don’t look forward to seeing Randy lose.

  3. Stu says:

    The interview Rogan did with Chuck was very weird, sounded like Rogan cut of Chucks answers the entire time.

  4. JThue says:

    If this is pro-wrestling, Cro Cop is now officially only trailing Liddell’s status by the end of 2007(Couture over Sylvia, Filipovic smothers the รƒยผber legend). Since it’s not ALL pro-wrestling it’s not official ๐Ÿ˜€ Will check out the show.

  5. GassedOut says:

    I saw the show, and I have to agree with Zach here. Rogan is on fire with this one. This is the kind of show that is going to really drive the PPV buys, and last night was all about the Benjamins in that respect.

    Not bad for a stand-up comic. ๐Ÿ˜‰ The guy is a class one salesman in the best sense of that word, speaking as a salesman.

  6. Nikita says:

    When the debate over “What Pro Wrestling Can Learn From MMA” comes up, this show illustrates how UFC has found a formula to sell fights to an audience that WWE and pro wrestling in general have either failed or refuse to grasp. This show was part sportscenter, part infomercial, and was entertaining to watch. It will go a million times farther towards selling the UFC PPV than anything else the WWE has done to sell a PPV in ten years.

  7. I agree last nights show was firing on all cylinders. The match is for the title and he did have a good point about Sylvia’s fighting style in his last match. UFC 68 should be pretty good.

  8. superhaloman says:

    Rogan seriously needs to learn how to interview people. He needs to stop asking four questions at once and then answering them before the interviewee has chance to get a word in.

    He should ask one short question and then do follow-up questions to coax complete and informative answers from the fighters.

    Hopefully, that way we can avoid mostly useless interviews of otherwise interesting people, like Big John. That opportunity was butchered because Rogan needs a lot practice when it comes to getting people to relax and talk. That is his responsibility as interviewer, and I’m sure he could be very good at it if he only tried.

    As it is now, Rogan talks more than the guys he is supposed to interview.

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