« The Donald says yes to bankrolling Affliction | Home | Help wanted – MMACalifornia.net »
UFC 85 this weekend in London
By Zach Arnold | June 5, 2008
Besides the mystery Sengoku III event at Saitama Super Arena, we have an under-the-radar UFC event in London with some pretty intriguing match-ups. Here’s a preview of upcoming attractions:
- MMA Betting Blog: UFC 85 odds – Matt Hughes vs. Thiago Alves
- MMA Junkie: Performify’s picks for UFC 85
- MMA Analyst: UFC 85 betting preview
- MMA Analyst: UFC 85 preview & predictions
- MMA HQ: UFC 85 – Bedlam preview
- UFC HP: Fantasy Preview – UFC 85 Main Card
- NBC Sports: Hungry Alves a real test for veteran Hughes
- MMA Opinion: Hughes should beat Alves by submission
- Canoe (Canada): What the UFC will look like in 2010
- The Telegraph (UK): David Haye supporting UFC’s Michael Bisping
- The Canadian Press: UFC 85 – injuries won’t slow the show
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, UK, Zach Arnold | 43 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
So, is the Sengoku mystery tour going to be available through any standard TV type outlets in the US? I’m not interested in messing with streams, but if I’m up late or early (always) then I might flip over to it.
Who would have thought that professional mixed martial artists would be more afraid of their boss than most other professions in existence? Here’s a very telling excerpt from Rolling Stone’s article about Dana White:
beginning of excerpt
“So how come you’re doing a story on Dana? I don’t understand that. The fighters are what make the sport.” And he goes on from there to make some pointed comments about White and the UFC, none of them laudatory. It’s kind of great to hear. Most fighters won’t say anything criticial of White. But then he stops to think, and what he says next is “Don’t use any of what I just said. Please. I will hunt you down. You don’t understand how this guy operates. He will destroy me.”
end of excerpt
Come on, that story is obviously fake. After all, Dana White is the saviour of the sport and the only thing of value in MMA according to all the “hardcore” fans in response to Kimbo-mania.
Such a joke. Maybe if you kids weren’t so adverse to pro wrestling you’d be able to see, from a mile away, exactly what Dana will do to the sport if he gets his way.
I am sure there are bodies buried underneath the Zuffa offices in Las Vegas. Now that I think of it, that’s where Zane Frazier went.
They should be scared of their boss. He is the boss and he has power over them. Nothing unusual.
And Dana has had his way and the UFC has done pretty damn well. Looks nothing like pro wrestling/EliteXC.
“And Dana has had his way and the UFC has done pretty damn well. Looks nothing like pro wrestling/EliteXC.”
As I said, absolutely clueless, even to the analogy. Pro wrestling, and pro wrestlers, suffer now because there is one dominant company run by some egomaniacs who have a limited view of what the sport should be. Their absolute dominance stifles growth and restricts the athletes. This is bad, and yet I see people clamor for UFC to be able to do the same thing. Dana will kill UFC or kill the sport, if not both, if he continues his Vince McMahon impersonation.
Prime example: He’s brought on ESPN (sort of a big deal) to talk about whether or not MMA belongs on network TV. Does he do that? No, he takes the chance to bash his competition and when the ESPN announcer called him out it he began backpeddling. That’s something I wouldn’t even expect from VKM. That’s completely low class and shows he’s more concerned with his own pocket than promoting the sport itself. Also: See him trashing every fighter who doesn’t sign with him.
Also, where were all the “EXC was fixed” during Hamill vs Bisping? Oh, that’s right, saying UFC was fixed.
Oh my God! Dana promotes the UFC! Your “prime example” is weak. He bashes the competition? Unheard of! And that’s your prime example?
The rest of your whining about the growth of the sport and the poor athletes must come from some vision of an alternate universe.
I suppose if the important issues to you are how Dana talks down the competition, or how Zuffa does things so well that they have achieved the top position in the market, then I suppose you’re right. Or maybe jealous.
Anyone see that Affliction lineup? How about Dream? Those poor top athletes have no where to go but Zuffa.
I forgot. He dropped Jake O’Brien! What a monster Dana is.
Rollo: These “poor top athletes” make more money outside the UFC. Once these other orgs begin getting exposure, you’ll see more fighters wanting to join a company where they like their boss and have a solid future.
Nobody is jealous of Dana White. He’s in a position now where if he does let go of anything in his power, he’ll collapse in despair and anxiety. No thanks.
His idea of promoting his company is to bash the other companies. Guess what they tell you to do in the business world – never bash others, instead promote yourself.
Leslie’s analogy of UFC and WWE is perfect.
“Oh my God! Dana promotes the UFC! Your “prime example” is weak. He bashes the competition? Unheard of! And that’s your prime example?”
You don’t get it. Dana White was brought on ESPN to talk as a representative of MMA as a WHOLE, not just UFC. He was asked a question about MMA in general, and instead of answering the question he was brought on to answer he took a cheap shot at EXC and the ESPN announcer chastised him for it. When this happened, Dana backtracked (lied) and said, “No, no, I didn’t mention their name!”
That’s petty and harmful to the sport. No undecided viewers are going to care about the nuances between EXC, UFC, WEC, etc. He should have just defended the sport as a whole instead of trying to trash the competition.
Alves weighed in at 174 lbs. Pulled a Carano. How does a fighter miss by that much?
I think it is time for Alves to rethink his weight division. He has been busted for a diaretic, which likely helped him get to a weight class he couldn’t do naturally. And now he is 4 pounds over.
Time to either stop the weights and naturally slim down… and become a Middleweight.
Hopefully Hughes does the same thing to him as the last guy who missed weight against him…
was that his first attempt?
I didn’t watch it… but it sounded like 174 was his one and only attempt. So they are fighting at a catchweight of 174 now.
Zach, out of curiosity, why do you link to the printer versions of articles instead of the primary article page?
One of the biggest problems people have always pointed out about MMA is that it’s hard to promote fighters in a sport that isn’t fixed because everyone loses sometime. While most of us hardcores know and understand that, the casual fan is drawn in by the “unbeatable monster.”
So, why does Dana White market himself the way he does? Huge ego? Maybe. A big name who won’t lose and won’t leave?
Definitely. It just makes sense to have a recognizable face that you know you can rely on for things like TUF, Countdown specials and promotional material.
Of course he’s going to trash the competition, and at this point, rightfully so at times. As much as marketing Kimbo Slice is a money maker for EXC, a lot of casual fans and commentators – who should probably know better – now think of him as the epitome of MMA. If I worked for the UFC and had spent most of the past decade trying to show what high level, Olympic calibre athletes the fighters are, only to have a street fighter become probably the most recognizable face in the sport, I’d be irritated too.
Last I checked, WWE was trading with a market capitalization over a billion dollars, their P/E is around 20 (high by historic standards, but not so much these days), and their revenues and profits were up 75% in 2007 over 2006.
That isn’t failure by my definition.
“It just makes sense to have a recognizable face that you know you can rely on for things like TUF, Countdown specials and promotional material.”
This is a completely separate issue. Having a company spokesman is one thing. Being a loud mouthed, classless egomaniac as the spokesman is another. Having a classless spokesman AND trying to make him the star, is where the problem here lies. Yes, people get knocked out. People in the NBA fall off and retire, and yet you won’t see the commissioner in shoe commercials.
But Dana’s facetime isn’t as much the issue as it is how he chooses to use it, which is poorly.
“Of course he’s going to trash the competition,”
Why? It doesn’t seem obvious to me, at all, that he’d bash the competition. This is not how every business or sport is run. Moreoever, with the ESPN piece, he was brought on as a representative of MMA, not as UFC shill. There was no exscuse for him taking a pot shot at that point, and seeing him backtrack was even worse.
“If I worked for the UFC and had spent most of the past decade trying to show what high level, Olympic calibre athletes the fighters are, only to have a street fighter become probably the most recognizable face in the sport, I’d be irritated too.”
Then you’d talk about that with your friends, colleagues, and wife. You wouldn’t talk about it in public. Him whining about BJ Penn not getting an ESPN piece is even more pathetic considering the network deal was his to lose. Remember, he was just saying how horrible the deal was, and now he’s upset that his company isn’t getting the coverage that EXC is? Come on. He’s not entitled to anything, and the sooner he learns that the better off UFC and MMA will be.
I know lots of people who shockingly DON’T find White rude and obnoxious, but rather kind of funny and (somewhat) forthright. Personally, I find him over the top at times, but at the same time it seems to work.
As for bashing the competition, I dare asy that in the sports world, yes, it does usually work that way. The NHL verbally trashed the WHA, the NFL buried the USFL and the XFL and the NBA weren’t exactly big fans of the ABA. If ESPN had wanted to have a decent conversation about EXC with a “representative of the MMA world”, they probably shouldn’t have chosen the president of another company. You’re not exactly going to an unbiased opinion there.
I think it’s a legit gripe of his that guys like GSP, BJ Penn etc don’t get a blip on ESPN when Kimbo gets 20 minute stories on E60. When he says something like that he’s letting the non-hardcore fan that the president of the biggest MMA company doesn’t think Slice is a good representative of the sport, which was probably a goal he had in mind.
“If ESPN had wanted to have a decent conversation about EXC with a “representative of the MMA world”, they probably shouldn’t have chosen the president of another company. You’re not exactly going to an unbiased opinion there.”
Obviously ESPN thought they’d be getting an unbiased opinion from an MMA representative, because they called Dana on his cheap shot rather quickly. Even if they were going for a cheap shot, someone with class would not have taken it.
“I think it’s a legit gripe of his that guys like GSP, BJ Penn etc don’t get a blip on ESPN when Kimbo gets 20 minute stories on E60.”
Well, it’s clearly not that legit when Kimbo’s story is more compelling and he was on a bigger stage that UFC decided to turn down. ESPN doesn’t necessarily do stories on the best and brightest in any sport. Even if the gripe was legit, it comes across as just pathetic to whine about it in public. If the UFC isn’t getting the press isn’t that the fault of the promoter? Should we expect to see Trump crying to the nearest blogger if Fedor doesn’t get an ESPN piece? No, I expect him (or someone he’s hired) to bash in heads until he gets what he wants instead of crying when it’s not handed to him.
Hell, his response on ESPN should have been, “Absolutely MMA should be on network TV and I’d love to see more highlights of our great UFC PPVs on ESPN.” But, no, not Dana.
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. I’d much rather hear an honest answer than a generic, PC response.
In his interview with ESPN magazine he makes the point that since probably 1/2 the people who tuned into The EXC show think they watched a UFC show, it hurt his company.
As for turning down the CBS deal, I don’t imagine it was without reason. I’m sure there’s some jealousy about EXC being on tv first, but I’m sure the UFC still wouldn’t sign the deal that CBS reportedly offered.
One last thing – Kimbo is as interesting a story as the reporting makes him. There’s good stories all through MMA, it just takes a good reporter to tell them.
“I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. I’d much rather hear an honest answer than a generic, PC response.”
It was a cheapshot and at a terrible time. The fact is he made himself and UFC look like an ass at best, and made MMA look bad at worst to the average viewer. There’s just no reason to use that as an opportunity to bash your competition, whether you “honestly” believe it or not (you might notice what Dana honestly believes depends on whether he has a person signed or a deal with a company).
I understand you think he should behave like this if he honestly “feels” this way or that, but he’s an adult and a businessman and should act like it. Just because he thinks something doesn’t mean he should say it. Just because he “feels” a certain way, doesn’t make it true. His lack of class in these matters is only going to hurt his company and the sport, and it’s going to get worse with EXC and Affliction looking to gain ground and fighters leaving UFC.
Now we get to hear the “face” of the biggest MMA org saying how much most MMA sucks and all all these fighters are shit and how the only thing of value will be his $45 PPVs and his expanded cable reality show. That’s not going to be good for MMA.
To be honest, the EXC show on CBS really was second rate in comparison to most UFC events.
Long before White said a word, I honestly felt that having them be the company to make the first impression for a lot of people was a bad, bad thing.
What’s not good for MMA is it moving towards a boxing model, which is what all the “non-exclusive” contracts and business models like EXC and Affliction seem to be leading to.
Sad it may be to a lot of people, having a strong, exculsive contract company that can properly promote itself and it’s fighters is by far the best thing for MMA.
Classless as White may be at times, he’s not stupid. It would have been a bad idea for him to say anything particularly good about EXC.
I think a better model comparision is WWE model vs Territory/Puroresu model.
Basically you have one dominant promotion that is in power, controls everything, and limits options or you have multiple successful companies who at times may work together for mutual benefit. There’s still healthy competition, some companies succeed, some fail, but there’s more diversity and more options for fans and fighters.
I’m not expert on boxing, but it doesn’t seem MMA resembles it with it’s clearly defined brands and promotions. People aren’t signing on with venues or cable networks, but a few specific companies that put on regular shows. Played right this avoids a lot of the problems boxing has.
I don’t think it compares much to pro wrestling at all. I hate the fact that since they look vaguely alike, everyone compares MMA and pro wrestling.
The landscape really does resemble boxing right now, as I said with the new “non-exclusive” contracts. That means fighters can fight for essentially whoever/whenever they want. Good for the fighter, bad for the sport.
Having a stable roster of fighters allows a company to properly promote and build to fights, without worry of what a fighter will do outside of their promotion.
Hypothetically, imagine that Slice wins the EXC heavyweight championship. Outside of EXC, he fights and loses on an Affliction card. Now, EXC has a champion who just lost and a commodity they spent time promoting has been hurt while they recieved no benefit. That’s a very simplictic example, but I think it’s a clear one.
“I don’t think it compares much to pro wrestling at all. I hate the fact that since they look vaguely alike, everyone compares MMA and pro wrestling.”
I’m not everyone and I didn’t compare them based on anything about how it’s structured. I’m sure if I cared for soccer there would be an analogy there. However, by limiting your analogy to boxing, you’re failing to see the differences between what we have in MMA and what occurs in boxing.
Did EXC send Kimbo out to Dream to get knocked out? No. They allowed Nick Diaz, who was without a fight in the states, to go out, make some money, and put on a good match. That’s the same thing you see in puro. How is that bad for the sport? You seem to think that all promoters are idiots who aren’t concerned with self preservation. No one’s going to give anything up without getting something in return. No one’s going to risk their company helping another. Again, if we’re talking companies looking to set up shop for the long term, like in wrestling, and not shady managers who get their cut either way.
Even if EXC did something crazy like allow Kimbo to fight in Affliction. You can expect to see the EXC name all over the show and to see an Aff. fighter on the next CBS show.
“His idea of promoting his company is to bash the other companies. Guess what they tell you to do in the business world – never bash others, instead promote yourself.”
Where the heck did you get that from? That’s not how the business world works. Sure, they may try to teach ‘ethical’ business theories in an academic setting like business school, but unless “Business 151: Sleeping your way to success”, and “Business 212: Climbing up the corporate ladder by taking credit for things you didn’t do” are classes that they offer, then they’re promoting an idealized version of reality. The business world is a cut-throat jungle, and only a fool would pretend otherwise.
Bashing your competition may not be nice, but it works, and lots of companies (and politicians) do it. I’m reminded of the Subway(?) commercial where the guy is getting fast-food for his co-workers, and they ask him “Will you get me a ‘can my ass look any bigger’ with a side of ‘flabby thighs'”. It’s a not-so-subtle bash of Subway’s competitors, pointing out that fast-food restaurants like McDonald’s and Burger King make you fat if you eat there. It was designed both to make the competition less appealing and subway more appealing. It was effective, and they had no moral qualms airing it.
To further my point, take a look at the PC vs Mac commercials. The one where PC is in a meeting with a therapist is a particularly good example. It pointed out how bad Vista was, etc, then pointed out all the ways Mac was better.
Bashing your competition works in the business world, and it is particularly effective in the fight world. Something to do with fans enjoying a good fight, I don’t know.
And if Diaz had gotten his ass handed to him? Then EXC has some bruised goods on it’s hands.
If you don’t like my boxing analogies – and they do hold true, trust me – how about looking at the NFLPA.
If they wanted to, they could play hardball during the CBA negotiations and get guaranteed contracts. The problem is that it would only be a short term gain for them. They’d be getting their full contracts, but a few years down the line those contracts would start to shrink up. The quality of the league would suffer, therefore brining down the amount of $$$ available for contracts.
Essentially, getting 50% of a huge pie is a lot better than getting 100% of a tiny one.
To reiterate, I don’t think the business model of EXC nor the one that Affliction seems to be going for stand much of a chance of being successful in the long run, and could very well end up hurting MMA as a whole.
MMA resembles pro wrestling a HELL alot more than boxing. You don’t see sanctioning bodies in MMA (except for WAMMA or whatever the hell it is called. I’m not talking about YAMMA) and you don’t see regional title belts (like international or Fedalatin, OPBF, etc.) in MMA. The only thing boxing related (especially in UFC) I have seen are the ten point scoring system, and the REALLY shitty interim title policy. Why the fuck the UFC decided to use the interim title policy is beyond me, but there you go.
And I am not so sure if the ten point must systme is really primed for MMA, but whatever. I agree with Leslie on the territory/puro comparisons in business with MMA, especially the lending out of talent to other promotions.
Cross-promotion = boxing. That’s the truth. If Kimbo ever becomes EliteXC champ, you think Shaw will allow him to fight Affliction’s champ? No fucking way. Each promotion will protect their champion and then continue to feed them cans. We already know that Shaw is not above shenanigans like that. MMA is quickly following in the landscape of boxing with the emergence of Shaw.
I don’t mind two dominant organizations, but this clusterfuck of organizations will be the downfall of MMA. Everyone’s out to make a buck, Shaw, White, and t-shirt guy. Greed is everywhere, from fighters to promoters. Each organization will have its own champion who fight cans without ever facing each other.
If this ever happens, I’m done as a fan. Greed is destroying the sport.
Quicker-loading, usually.
Here’s the artwork for Randy’s new movie, the “The Scorpion King” prequel “The Scorpion King 2: Rise of the Warrior” (yeah, makes sense right, it takes place BEFORE the first film but is getting the 2-treatment):
http://img66.imageshack.us/my.php?image=scorpionking2r1artpic2mn7.jpg
And just like i predicted when we first talked about the film, it’s going straight to DVD this august. The budget is between 5 and 6 mio U$, and Randy got around 100k for his role as Sargon. Yeah, he probably should’ve stayed with the UFC…
“And if Diaz had gotten his ass handed to him? Then EXC has some bruised goods on it’s hands.”
How? Diaz’s gimmick is marketable win or lose, it’s not like there’s a huge amount of people who would have even seen the fight, and it’s not light the whole company is built around him.
“To reiterate, I don’t think the business model of EXC nor the one that Affliction seems to be going for stand much of a chance of being successful in the long run, and could very well end up hurting MMA as a whole.”
Just because they’ll allow fighters to take outside fights? Why? It doesn’t really make any sense and making up scenarios about EXC allowing Kimbo to fight Fedor doesn’t help your point. That wouldn’t ever happen and, even if it did, EXC would make sure they got as much out of it as Affliction.
Your point only makes sense if we assume all these companies are run by complete idiots that want to lose money. Instead we have a company that’s drawn in Donald Trump as a financial backer and signed numerous top talents UFC has failed to secure, and another company that turned some homeless guy with a beard into the most well known MMA fighter in history. These people aren’t idiots.
We get going around in circles with this discussion I’m afraid.
I’ll just finish by saying the same thing as the guy above – talent sharing=boxing. Yes, it will generate some “Dream Matches”, but it will effectively dilute the MMA scene that those won’t have the audience that they would otherwise.
Now, if one of these other companies came in and tried to follow the UFC’s more exclusive model, then I’m all for it.
As for saying my points only make sense if the companies are run by idiots…well, I’m not so sure they aren’t. EXC has lost over 30 million so far, and there’s no way that Affliciton will make money off of their show. Not too smart in my book.
As for turning down the CBS deal, I don’t imagine it was without reason.
Dana and the UFC basically were forced into doing TUF because all their other concepts were rejected by networks. Not just because it was MMA, mind you, but because Zuffa demands total control, and they couldn’t march in and get that with any major network. Its why they ended up off CBS, who brought in their own lighting, cameras, and an announcer that was better than any MMA announcer out there (though there’s the few stragglers who do actually laugh at Mauro Ranallo’s euphemisms for dick touching during Gina Carano, but I digress).
As for the people complaining that MMA would be “ruined” in a situation where fighters bounced between promotions, congrats for establishing yourselfs as TUF newbs/fairweather fans. You would have left years ago when Uno jetted to the UFC because they pay more than Shooto. You would have given up when Dana sent over Ricco and he got robbed in PRIDE. You should just walk out the door now, given that Zuffa has a definitive champion in 4 of MMA’s 9 major weight classes, and I’d go further to say that one of those (135) is still in a reasonable amount of doubt. These are issues that are likely to never, ever be cleared up. Having promoters willing to put their best fighters against one another should the money be right could feasibly clean this mess up, but that there’s actually resistance to that is mind numbing in its ignorance.
Mind numbing? That people would want to avoid the problems that boxing has run into? That’s mind numbing?
And no, I’m not a newb or a fairweather fan, I just happen to prefer an MMAverse where figheters are in one company exclusively for their contracts.
I’d have no problem if EXC or Affliction succeeded and became the equivalent of a new PRIDE, but the way they’re set up, it isn’t going ot happen.
Mind numbing? That people would want to avoid the problems that boxing has run into? That’s mind numbing?
What problems are those? You mean the top fighters not fighting one another? Yeah, because the two best heavyweights in the world are clearly Noguiera and Mir.
And no, I’m not a newb or a fairweather fan, I just happen to prefer an MMAverse where figheters are in one company exclusively for their contracts.
What concievable benefit is that to you?
I’ll answer both those points in one.
With the way boxing is set up, you never know if a fight can be put together or not. If my promoter doesn’t like your promoter, then it’s not going to happen.
And even when the big fights DO come together, they’re often under promoted.
Think of how popular boxing could be if there was a single organization that tried to sign all of the best fighters and then promote the fighters and give some build up to rivalries and big fights. It’s not hard if you try….just picture the way the UFC does things right now.
IF you think MMA will be better off going the way of boxing – an alphabet soup of organizations, which are all meaningless, fighters picking and choosing opponents instead of match making, fights that are never put toghether, plummeting popularity – then more power to you. Personally, I like it when things are a bit more organized.
Call me crazy, but that’s just me.
With the way boxing is set up, you never know if a fight can be put together or not. If my promoter doesn’t like your promoter, then it’s not going to happen.
So the better option is a morass of belts with fights you are fully aware will never happen, a complete lack of clarity, etc? Hell, the best fights in the UFC I’m not even sure will happen depending on the weight class. Will Noguiera ever fight Werdum, or will they simply release Werdum if he beats Vera in a boring fashion and have Vera/Noguiera anyhow? Or how about Okami/Silva? Okami’s obviously the best guy not named Silva or Franklin at 185 and pretty much earned his shot. Technically he even has a win over Silva. So, will they ever fight, or is Okami going to have to beat ex-TUF guys forever while they have Silva fight more ex-TUF guys because it “pops a buy” or whatever?
And even when the big fights DO come together, they’re often under promoted.
Do you actually follow boxing to be able to say that? Obviously there was a pretty competent job of promoting Mayweather/De La Hoya or Mayweather/Hatton recently.
Think of how popular boxing could be if there was a single organization that tried to sign all of the best fighters and then promote the fighters and give some build up to rivalries and big fights. It’s not hard if you try….just picture the way the UFC does things right now.
Oh, it would be nice if there was one title and everyone was gunning for it. The problem is that is not actually how MMA works.
IF you think MMA will be better off going the way of boxing – an alphabet soup of organizations, which are all meaningless, fighters picking and choosing opponents instead of match making, fights that are never put toghether, plummeting popularity – then more power to you.
If you believe there isn’t an alphabet soup of MMA titles already, that matchmaking by the promoters is always being done to create the best fights, that there aren’t questionable decisions that go the way of favored fighters by said promoters (even for Dana: remember Bonnar/Jardine and Mir/Christison?), and that Big Brother will always know best, there’s not really a whole lot to say given how much of a lost cause you become.
Is there an alphabet soup of MMA titles right now? Yes. Can you pick out the one title that actually means something right now? Yes.
Can you do the same in boxing? No. People long for the days when it was just the WBA, WBC and IBF to deal with.
Do I bury my head in the sand and think everything is perfect as it works now? No, I don’t, but I still think it’s better than moving on to boxing style of promoting that pretty much scorches the earth and leaves little for the future.
Yes, the two Mayweather fights did big business, but what/who else is out there to follow up on that success? And outside of De La Hoya, who else out there has been a consistent, big time draw the last few years?
If you want to tell me that you’d rather see MMA go down that route rather than continue on the track that the UFC and PRIDE put it on, then I say enjoy the taste of dirt you’ve got your head buried in.
Most Boxing writers actually tend to point to The Ring’s titles as being the ‘legit’ crowns (although I still personally prefer lineal claims).
I was glad when The Ring stepped up and did what they did, but I don’t really want a magazine deciding the champions for me.
I prefer the lineal claims too, not to mention an actual championship (The Ring hasn’t started handing out titles have they? I’ve effectively stopped watching boxing the last few years.)
To respond to some stuff here.
Matt; Yes Ring Magazine does give out title belts. They look exactly the same as they always have from decades past. Oh, and the Rot Jones-Felix Trinidad ppv from January did over 500,000 buys, about the same as Hatton-Mayweather.
You and Tomer like going by strictly lineal claims? So you believe Sam Peter to be THE heavyweight champ then? Who do you consider to be THE lightweight champ? Nate Campbell or Joel Casamayor? Casamayor is the Ring champ, and personally I go with him. But he and Campbell are fighting in a few months, so we will see then.
Oh, and also Matt. We prefer if there were NO sanctioning bodies, let alone the WBA, WBC, and IBF. But I will take those three over all of the other ones if I really had to though.
Is there an alphabet soup of MMA titles right now? Yes. Can you pick out the one title that actually means something right now? Yes.
Really? Who is the heavyweight champion? Randy Couture? Noguiera? Fedor?
No, I don’t, but I still think it’s better than moving on to boxing style of promoting that pretty much scorches the earth and leaves little for the future.
Ah yes, the future. what boxing needs to do is build guys up with lots of fights with increasing skill when it comes to opponents like MMA traditionally has. Oh wait, you mean that boxing has been doing that all along, and that MMA traditionally throws its prospects in deep water way too early?
Yes, the two Mayweather fights did big business, but what/who else is out there to follow up on that success?
Depends what you quantify as “success”. Do you mean shows doing 2 million buys? Well, there aren’t any others.
And outside of De La Hoya, who else out there has been a consistent, big time draw the last few years?
Outside of Chuck Liddell or Tito Ortiz, how many consistent big draws has MMA had in the US *ever*? If the argument is that they do a consistent 300,000 or so when there’s no blockbuster guy, well bud, I got news for ya.
For what it’s worth, there are rumors that Okami is Silva’s next opponent. There were rumblings that it would be at UFC 87.
With GSP defending his title against Fitch, and Huerta and Florian in a number one contender match, that seems unlikely, but UFC 88 isn’t out of the question.
D.,
There is ONE other major MMA draw, and probably the biggest in North America ever thus far. Kimbo Slice. Whether eveyone admits it or not, he is a marketing phenom. Far from the best fighter, but he does get attention. You can argue Ken Shamrock to an extent I guess. Maybe even Randy Couture.