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Does the media really believe in both Griffin and Lytle winning at UFC 86?
By Zach Arnold | July 3, 2008
MMA Predictions has an interview with Loretta Hunt, talking about Randy Couture’s new biography.
- The Canadian Press: THQ promises UFC video game will be ‘as real as it gets’
- Arash Markazi (SI): UFC takes major leap into virtual world… again
- Dan Wetzel (Yahoo Sports): Punch, punch lines make Rampage a UFC star
- USA Today: ‘Class clowns’ Jackson, Griffin set to meet at UFC 86
- Fox Sports: Determined Chris Lytle still aiming for the top
- Sportsnet (Canada): UFC 86 predictions – Lytle should win by KO
- NBC Sports: Win or lose, Chris Lytle brings a show to the octagon
- Todd Martin (CBS Sports): CBS Sports staff split on who will win Jackson/Griffin UFC 86 fight
- Dave Meltzer (Yahoo Sports): Forrest Griffin goes from reality star to headliner
- The Baltimore Sun: Forrest Griffin should win by submission in round four
- MMA Opinion: Forrest Griffin is delusional
- AOL Fanhouse: Pick the favorites in all the fights!
- The Canadian Press: Gut ‘Check times kick in for Josh Koscheck
- UFC HP: Ricardo Almeida – ‘new’ guy with old-school fight values
- Fighters Only Magazine (UK): Interview with James Irvin
- Steve Cofield: BJ Penn says he’ll fight Jon Fitch-GSP winner on 12/27 show
- The Chattanooga Times Free-Press (TN): Chattanooga’s MMA appeal keeps growing
- Brandweek Magazine: Punching their lights out – Tapout takes center stage
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 14 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
A couple of things:
1) I am seriously looking forward to the UFC 2009 video game, especially now that we know the developer is Yukes.
2) The fact that there is still alcohol in the house for TUF 8 sends the message loud and clear of how the UFC and Spike hope, expect, and indirectly encourage the fighters to act in the house. On a related note, suddenly it’s not so hype-worthy and “This season has so much crazy stuff”-worthy when a fighter (Mikey Burnett) suffers a career-ending spinal injury during the aforementioned drunken antics (although, of course, it was his own choice to get drunk).
3) In trying to determine why the ratings have been down for every single season of TUF for the past four seasons, they have overlooked (or ignored) one simple, fundamental fact: There is one reality show on television that features aspiring young fighters all signed to UFC contracts trying to make a name for themselves and get the biggest contract. There are countless reality shows on television featuring a bunch of people in a house acting like drunken idiots. By making the show less about the former and more about the latter as the seasons have passed, they’ve made their show all-too-similar to so many other reality shows and far less unique.
4) Kevin Iole is making some pretty serious allegations against a pro boxer in the main story on Yahoo.com right now, saying that Francisco Lorenzo was faking his head injury during his fight with Humberto Soto. Saying that the referee made the incorrect ruling and saying that a fighter was faking a head injury are two very different things.
Oh, and Jesse Taylor’s status after smashing a limo window at a Fertitta-owned casino went from, “He’s out of the finals and out of the UFC!” to, “He’s out of the finals and will instead be fighting on a different primetime special on Spike TV one whole entire month after the finals!”
Quite a tight ship they’re running, as evidenced by the fact that Jon Koppenhaver is still employed after what he did (a vicious assault case) and Chris Leben is still employed and in a main event after what he did (failed to comply with his court sentence for a drunk driving arrest, and didn’t tell his employer that he wouldn’t be allowed into England because of his outstanding warrant until after they found out about it themselves).
To defend Iole, Soto getting up and basically dancing after he was awarded the DQ win from the “I’m near death!” moment while the NSAC was deciding whether to give him the win was fishy to say the least. And given the fact that there have been pro fighters and fights (most notably most of Marcel Thil’s big fights and Max Schmeling’s Heavyweight title win over Jack Sharkey) where they seemed to have intentional hammed up the damage dealt (or even blatantly fight getting hit low) to get DQ wins does kind of warrant suspicion of the serious of damage dealt, IMO.
They said pretty much from the get go that Taylor would be back. I mean, right there in the show Dana says “Take a couple months off, get your head together, give me a call.” Its not like they’re actually gonna release the guy. They have a pretty tight contract and for them to spend 3 months of television to hype him up and them let him go to EliteXC would, from a business perspective, be absolutely stupid. They want him to lose first, then they’ll release him.
“There are countless reality shows on television featuring a bunch of people in a house acting like drunken idiots. By making the show less about the former and more about the latter as the seasons have passed, they’ve made their show all-too-similar to so many other reality shows and far less unique.”
That is SPOT ON. They have fallen into the pattern that all reality shows seem to fall into which is the inevitable focus on producer-induced drama instead of the actual goal. Well said.
UFC did the right thing with Taylor. Everybody is entitled to a second chance. Even NFL & MLB players who really mess up get second chances.
But by kicking him out of the finals, it could be the best thing to happen to him. Give him a wake up call he probably needed. And at the end of the day, if he continues to win, he will still be able to be a star.
Good to see another one of my pieces in here. (I’m the one who called Forrest delusional)
I’m pissed about the Lorenzo fight, but I’m all for not giving Soto a title after that sorry excuse for a bout. It’s one of many reasons why I stopped watching boxing, and the only reason I watched that card is because I got to see it for free with a friend.
As for Taylor: I’m all for him coming back and fighting, because I think that the way Dana treated him by throwing him out of the organization altogether was nuts (though I agree with his disqualification from the tournament). It’s good that Dana has the decency to let a guy who’s a decent fighter show his worth in the organization, now that he’s starting to get his stuff together.
Perhaps my memory is bad, but I am pretty sure that Dana made it clear that Taylor could return to the UFC if he cleaned up.
I think actually told him to go home and get cleaned up, and to call him in a couple of months.
“On a related note, suddenly it’s not so hype-worthy and “This season has so much crazy stuff”-worthy when a fighter (Mikey Burnett) suffers a career-ending spinal injury during the aforementioned drunken antics (although, of course, it was his own choice to get drunk).”
Exactly, it was his choice to get drunk. While Spike plays up the whole trashing the house aspect, the UFC needs to give these guys every opportunity to self-combust before giving them the chance to fight in the finale. While its unfortunate that Burnett was injured, it was still his own actions that brought it about.
“Quite a tight ship they’re running, as evidenced by the fact that Jon Koppenhaver is still employed after what he did (a vicious assault case)”
Vicious? Really? Were you there? Did you read the testimony? Did you hear both sides?
No, I wasn’t there. However, Koppenhaver pleaded guilty to felony assault for beating and choking a man, a beating which occurred both before and after he knocked the man unconscious, and which fractured the man’s eye sockets in four places.
Regarding Leben: It is notwhere near that simple.
Leben left Oregon to clean up his life, but was unable to transfer his probation to the Islands.
He did tell the UFC and headed back, his own choice, to deal with the consequences. Long before he went back, he had cleaned himself up and gotten his priorities straight.
I know nothing about the War Machine incident, but Leben has consistantly worked to improve his life.
Jeremy— Leben “told” UFC management only after they found out from elsewhere and basically asked him, “Is it true that you have an oustanding warrant in Oregon?” At that point, he said “yes” after failing to disclose it to them previously, and this was barely a month before a scheduled PPV main event. That is how it was reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter at the time.
Also, people generally don’t “clean up their life” by violating the terms of their probation instead of completing what they were sentenced to complete. He is lucky to have not been given a jail sentence in the first place for that DUI arrest; the least he could have done is complied with the things that the judge ordered him to do in lieu of jail time.
As for what Leben has done since then to clean up his life, I have no first-hand knowledge of that myself, so I’ll take your word that he has worked to clean up his life in the past few years and I’ll hope that he continues to do so in future years. It’s just that he could have said when he was booked for a U.K. PPV main event, “By the way, I have an outstanding warrant in Oregon and might not be allowed into the U.K.” rather than failing to do so until management confronted him about it.
No, I wasn’t there. However, Koppenhaver pleaded guilty to felony assault for beating and choking a man, a beating which occurred both before and after he knocked the man unconscious, and which fractured the man’s eye sockets in four places.
He’s since followed that up with talk about how he wants to move to the Phillippines so that he can beat the hell out of anyone that looks at him funny and die in a knife fight at an early age. That War Machine fellow certainly is a good representative for MMA!