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Reports: Brock Lesnar is back home recovering after surgery
By Zach Arnold | November 17, 2009
Lesnar’s chiropractor told the Associated Press that the big man is back home in Minnesota. Dana White says he is planning on an interim title fight for the Heavyweight division.
Let’s hope it is better than Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman in February. On their newsticker tonight, ESPN ran with the story saying that the fight would be the first bout featuring two UFC Hall of Famers fighting each other.
In other UFC-related news, they reportedly have banned Clinch and RVCA as sponsors (more from Josh Gross). Clinch is the clothing line that Dan Henderson backs. RVCA is a sponsor of Fedor and BJ Penn and Vitor Belfort.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 62 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Couture vs. Coleman?
Next thing you’ll tell me is that the WWE is going to book Hogan vs. Piper for an upcoming PPV.
Couture vs. Coleman is terrible. It’s not fun, funny, entertaining or cool.
Couture/Coleman is a great matchup. If we all get in a time machine and go back to 1998. If we do, I’m going to memorize a lot of football scores and grab me a seat at the sportsbook.
Glad to hear Lesnar is home. Let’s all hope he recovers soon and is able to step back into the Octagon. I think people give him way too much grief. I worked in the Pro Wrestling world years ago. I don’t blame Brock for getting out of it. No place for a good or a sane human to be. As for his football career, do any of you know how hard it is to play football and what is required at the pro level. He got offered a spot on the practice squad at the hardest/most athletic position to play. He probably smartly realized he would wreck his body and there were easier ways to make money. I really don’t understand all the hate for this guy. He’s a great athlete and we’re lucky to have him in the sport we all profess to love watching. He is hands down the best athlete to compete in MMA to date.
Dana should give the guys retirement benefits and insurance if he’s going to pull this crap with their sponsors
Every time Dana pulls an asshole stunt like banning RVCA, I become more and more disinclined to ever support the UFC.
I can already hear 45 Dana’s response: “RVCA knew what they were doing sponsoring Fedor, they chose to sponsor Fedor, so all UFC fighters sponsored by them deserve to lose all their sponsorship money. It makes sense, uh, you guys are just haters. BJ can find a new sponsor anyways. Real fans shouldn’t support RVCA anyways because RVCA supports Fedor and everyone knows that Fedor getting 5.5 million viewers was bad for mma, so RVCA is bad for mma.”
If God exists, the EA Sports MMA game will murder the UFC game and Strikeforce will get a huge infusion of cash, a national TV deal, and Fedor will be recognized as the best figher on Earth by all media outlets. Further Brock will be released from his contract because of health issues, and will then re-emerge to fight Fedor in Strikeforce, with a co-main event of Mousasi vs Dan Henderson.
What if they make Couture vs Coleman a [edited] on a pole match?
Zach, I’m just ribbing you. Take this down if you want.
By the way I will laugh my ass off if Couture-Coleman is the main event. The UFC’s strategy now is to pass off the number 2 fight on a card as the main event instead of canceling the card when the headliners get hurt (see Tito v Forrest, Rashad v Silva), so if karma continues for Dana, whatever the main event is for UFC 109 will be destroyed because of injury, and Dana will make a statement promoting Couture-Coleman to main event status. “These are two hall of famers, two of the best fighters the UFC has ever had, 2 former champions, and this is a fight that fight fans have been dreaming about for years. This is what we do at the UFC; we make the fights that the fans want to see.”
Hmmm… Cancel an event when the headliners get hurt and lose money or promote fight #2 to top spot and guarantee at least 300,000 buys or more. Tough decision.
Shane I think it is one of those things where you don’t want to go to the well too many times…It isn’t just the fact that a less than stellar fight is the main event, but the fact that the UFC knowingly changed the main event to the number 2 fight on the card without acknowledging it. It is belittling to the audience for the promoter to treat the fans like they are morons.
Why is it such a bad fight?
For one thing, I hate to see these guys go up against young hungry bucks who want to pound them into stepping stones. At least in this match-up, there’s not a high chance either one of them will be seriously hurt.
From a rankings perspective, this isn’t such a bad fight either. Vera is near the bottom of the LHW division and Coleman is near the middle (right around Bonnar and Jones).
The winner of the fight should get a Top 10 LHW for his next fight followed by a title shot if he wins impressively. This was, after all, Rua’s path to the title. After losing to Griffin, he first beat Coleman, then a Top 10 fighter in Liddell.
One good option is to match the winner of Griffin-Ortiz against the winner of Couture-Coleman.
Coleman vs. Couture is a fun fight. They should put Bonnar vs. Vera on the undercard.
I’m not a big fan of Brock’s from a personality perspective, but that’s a lot less important when someone is recovering from an illness (oh brother do I get that). Get well soon, big guy.
@Fluyid: LOL Good one! Only problem – Hogan’s just signed with TNA Wrestling…
Could you provide the “More from Josh Gross” comments please? The link goes to Twitter and I don’t like sites like Twitter and won’t join them. Much appreciated.
On one hand, its UFC 109: Age In The Cage. Two men at a combined age of 90 do battle…for what? Pride, I guess? Oh, and money. Interesting to see how active Randy’s been since his divorce. Coleman? Well, shooting fish in a barrel talking about dollars and cents for him.
There’s positives and negatives:
+For Coleman, its the only fight against a name opponent that he can win at this stage of his career. I remember seeing Randy struggle to tap guys from the bottom on Pros vs. Joes.
+They aren’t getting beat up by young kids that might really hurt them.
As a result, it might be competitive in the way Holyfield’s fight was with Lou Savarese. Both guys were finished, but against each other, it was an entertaining fight.
-They are still beating each other up.
-You don’t get a fresh star out of this. You get a title contender that’s in his mid-late 40s.
Were you the WCW Roadblock?
That’s great news about Brock.
No so good news about Couture-Coleman. Like has been said, 11 years ago it would have been an awesome grappling contest. Now Randy just waits for Mark to gas since his cardio sucks and then lay on top of him and pepper him with weak hammerfists that he’s simply too tired to block until the ref stops it. And if this is the main event I’ll die laughing. UFC 109: Grapplin’ Grandpas.
As long as Couture/Coleman is nit the main event…. And as long as the winner doesn’t get a title shot…. I don’t see the problem with that fight. It won’t be fun to watch, but it’s an even fight with 2 guys with no reflexes. It is when a fight like that leads to a title match that there is a huge issue.
As for the banned sponsors…. Stop te complaining people. The UFC has wert right to ban whatever they want on their shows. A NFL player recently did the Captain Morgan pose after a touchdown, and that move has been banned. Not a logo. Not a verbal plug from a player. But a pose. What the UFC is doing is no different then every other professional sports league, including college sports (Jordan’s kid fiasco as an example). I swear you people are like children sometimes. Will complain about anything.
It’s a crappy high profile fight main event or not. If Strikeforce ran Don Frye vs. Tank Abbott as the semi-main event to their next show you’d go on a 4 paragraph rant about why this is bad for the sport. It’s a guy who looked like crap a week ago versus a guy so poor he’s training at the YMCA for this fight. It’s sad. But that’s ok with you? Couldn’t they even feed one of them to Kimbo or Dana’s new favorite Scott Junk if they want to have a sham fight?
As for comparing NFL to UFC sponsorship problems, there is no comparison. The NFL does not have any logos or player endorsements allowed on the field and touchdown celebrations are strictly prohibited (I saw a Charger penalized for handing the ball to a cheerleader Sunday which was ridiculous.) The UFC allowed RVCA to endorse fighters for years and has no real reason to ban them. Even if you do want to compare the Captain Morgan incident, it’s a children’s role model glamorizing hard liquor versus a simple clothing company. Huge difference.
As long as UFC is willing to step into the sponsor’s shoes and make the fighter whole I don’t see any reason why they shouldn’t be allowed to determine who is allowed to show their logos in the cage.
It’s not that people think the fighter isn’t going to be sponsored by someone else, it’s the repeated knee-jerk fascism Dana keeps showing every time somebody pisses him off. They sponsor Dan Henderson, so what? BJ Penn is more famous than Henderson and more people associate him with the sponsorship than Hendo or Fedor. RVCA stood by MMA fighters before it became trendy and would be there after Budweiser and Harley Davidson move on, and that’s the thanks they get? This isn’t Rick’s Tire Barn or Condom Depot’s embarrassment, or even War Machine inevitably plugging his pornos on his trunks in his next fight. It’s a clothing company sold in far more stores than Affliction or TapOut.
45,
Comparing RVCA getting banned to the NFL banning Captain Morgan poses is either incredibly stupid or incredibly disingenuous. I am going with the latter. NFL players are not allowed to wear logos from individual companies except those that the entire team wears. UFC fighters, by contrast, are allowed to wear logos. Sponsorships are a huge percentage of their income, and now the UFC just arbitrarily decides that RVCA can’t sponsor anyone in the UFC? That is taking money from the fighters’ mouths. There is no similar situation in the NFL. You know this. Why are you even debating it? I hope BJ pulls out of his fight with Diego unless he is allowed to wear RVCA. Im sick of the bully tactics and the rabid fanboys who automatically say anything the UFC does is correct. Grow up.
Comparing the UFC to the NFL is still one of the dumbest arguments out there.
The NFL chooses which logo’s are allowed on their broadcasts. From the company who creates the shirts to the logo that is on the cups. Just because they are more strict, doesn’t mean it isn’t the same.
Plain and simple…. All sports organizations have a right to ban what is shown on their broadcasts. The level of strictness is difference, buy they all do it.
And banning a pose is far far worse then banning a company logo. Basically, the NFL has retricted body movements. When the UFC stars doing that, let me know….
Lastly, everybody is mad because of the reasoning of why the UFC did it. The Henserson one is bush league. The Fedor one makes sense. Why would you want the same sponsor as a competing company has on their top fighter? That’s just smart business.
And lastly…. Whether it is NASCAR banning cig ads, the UFC banning RVCA, or The NFL banning poses…. They all take money out of the athletes hands. The reasoning behind it makes little difference. But the main point is that, these sports leagues give these athletes a stage to make money at doing something they love. And they have a right to stop them from doing certain things.
The free speach guy in me would love to see that illegal, but that us life…. Stop your complaining.
I should really have condensed these into one….
The UFC could never do this stuff to Harley or Bud. But these small companies are at the mercy of the UFC. And now they know…. Whether it is right or not, that their company which relies so
much on the UFC for exposure, cannot go and advertise on competing companies shows. It is ruthless business…. At the very core of cut throat…. But it willxertaibly send a message and make sponsors think twice. And what it will do is make the option if competing outside of the UFC that much less attratcive.
Welcome to competition boys. You wanted it…. Sodomy complain when the effects of it occur.
You’re talking about a tiny Nike or Reebok or Champion logo on the sleeve that the NFL players do not make money from. If they endorse a player they do so outside of the field. Like Adrian Peterson doesn’t wear an Nike logo on his pants because he has a personal endorsement deal with them. You might have a point if you were comparing logos on the mat.
It was a touchdown celebration that has a whole list of rules regulating those and a hard liquor company being glamorized in front of children by a star player versus a freakin’ t-shirt. And if sponsors start making up bodymovement trademarks UFC would ban those too.
Affliction whom they welcomed back also sponsors Strikeforce fighters, as do other clothingline sponsors if we looked into it.
My God, man, have some dignity. Dana’s not perfect.
Also, yeah, Zack, the UFC is really not comparable to the NFL. They are a promotion company, not an alliance of a couple dozen independent but connected businesses. And this latest incident illustrates why it’s such a bad idea to concentrate power so tightly. There are times when the good of the sport runs against the good of a particular operator within it. In the NFL, the sport takes precedent when that happens. In MMA, the promoter does.
“The NFL chooses which logo’s are allowed on their broadcasts. From the company who creates the shirts to the logo that is on the cups. Just because they are more strict, doesn’t mean it isn’t the same.”
The NFL also has multiple owners, profit sharing, arbitration, health care, pensions, and guaranteed minimum salaries. But hey, other than that, the UFC & the NFL are pretty much the same.
“Lastly, everybody is mad because of the reasoning of why the UFC did it.”
I’m not mad at all. It’s just another example of Dana acting like a petty scorn girlfriend. It’s more silly than anything. I can’t believe anyone would really want a monopoly with them running the whole sport.
I do think the RVCA thing is the most interesting given the UFC’s shaky past with BJ though. He is tight with those guys and even trained for the Florian fight in their warehouse.
Petty? More like a guy who is going right after his competition. That is all this RVCA thing is. And what is BJ Penn going to do about it? GSP was mad about Affliction being banned and Zuffa just coughed up some extra money in the way of a BS UFC video game ad that was so tiny nobody can see it.
Plain and simple…. All you guys do is say how you want competition. Well, this is the UGLY side of competition. Somehow you think that there will be no negatives from it, only increased fighter purses and more options. So funny. As long as the UFC doesn’t think they will lose their fighters over this (which is obvious since they did it)…. The ones it hurts the most is Strikeforce.
There is more to competition then just getting fighters. There is competition for the channels they are on, the video games they are in, and web the sponsors.
I’m nit saying Dana White is a nice guy. But he isn’t a bad guy either. From a business perspective, this is ruthless and great at the same time. The UFC acts like the big kid on the block and throws aroud their weight to hurt others. This is something Microsoft didn’t do with Apple. They never attacked when they were working their way back up. And see how well that ended for then? They are still dominant, but they have lost market share.
Yes, petty.
GSP is not the type of guy who will throw a fit and raise a big deal if something doesn’t go his way. BJ Penn certainly is.
Pay per view sales on Pacquiao vs. Cotto:
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=524718&publicationSubCategoryId=69
LOL @ the comparison with NFL Players. The big difference is, NFL players are getting paid bazillions, while MMA fighters scrap for every cent they can get. Who cares if NFL players aren´t allowed to wear or display sponsor logos/etc. They would get paid incredible amounts of money from their contracts with the NFL anyway. MMA fighters, except the upper echelon such as Liddell,Couture,etc., aren´t making jack and being paid by sponors brings home the bread. Now if the UFC paid these guys enough money, regardless of status, let´s say a minimum salary that´s enough to train full-time, then it would be great, but tell me… what is a fighter supposed to do that gets 5000/5000? That´s not even enough to cover the training camp, much less live off. Pay the fighers more, or give them a chance to get paid elsewhere. Anyway, this is not a business move by Zuffa, this is again childish BS. If MMA is really growing like the UFC and everybody else likes to claim, then the UFC will not be the 800 lb. Gorilla forever. As soon as another company gets brand name recognition, and is able to pay their fighters good money without drawing losses, you´ll see enough fighters migrate over. The market has turned into a oligopoly with the UFC, SF, Bellator, etc. and the next natural step will be a polypoly and at that point the uFC will have to cater the interests of the market, not it´s own.
Was that some kind of Freudian typo slip?
And yes, the BJ situation could get ugly. He’s due for a blow up anyway. I predicted yesterday with everybody on IR and Anderson Silva questionable for anything BJ would be the next to play games and here we go. Hopefully GSP can fight 4 times in 2010 and people still want to pay to see Tito. Otherwise: Kimbo vs. Carwin for the Interim title.
Should minor league baseball players be able to wear advertisements on their shirts to make more money? They don’t make that much. Seems only fair, right? According to your logic, that is basically what you are saying. That an organization’s rights to limit what somebody on their playing field wears is directly related to the amount of money they pay them. Sorry, but welcome to the real world. Doesn’t work that way. Whether the athletes are paid $10 Million or $10….. They signed a contract with a company that has a right to restrict what they wear during the show. Those fighters can wear those T-Shirts around the rest of the time, just not at company sanctioned events. They are free to do commercials. Gatorade is not a sponsor of the UFC, but there is no issue of GSP being part of their promotions. Or with Under Armor as well.
The amount they are making has absolutely nothing to do with this debate. It’s a nice try, but it doesn’t have anything to do with it. It creates a different end result for fighters, but it doesn’t really encompass what the central issue is. This “issue” boils down to two basic elements:
1) The ability for a company to control what is being shown on their broadcasts. The UFC has that right. So does NASCAR. So anybody who owns a product. Heck, go work at the local Wal-Mart, and they have a right to tell you what to wear and how to do your hair. Perfectly legal.
2) The reasoning behind this banning, which is competition. The vast majority of the people on this board want competition for the UFC. I am not one of them. Now this issue is a DIRECT result of competition. And now you want to complain about that to? You can’t have it both ways.
Every week there is another false “UFC sucks” report. This is another one of those. Just because the NFL has more owners and the athletes are paid more… The central idea is still the same. That somebody who puts out a product has a right to restrict what is or isn’t on it. Either this UFC hate gets in the way of your brain capacity… Or there isn’t much there to begin with.
A whiney, never happy bunch you guys are. This is your MMA competition. This is exactly what you have been asking for over and over again. And now you have it, and you b!tch about what effects it has on the business.
I swear there is a lack of logic skills here.
“Should minor league baseball players be able to wear advertisements on their shirts to make more money? They don’t make that much. Seems only fair, right? According to your logic, that is basically what you are saying. That an organization’s rights to limit what somebody on their playing field wears is directly related to money. Sorry, but welcome to the real world. Doesn’t work that way. Whether the athletes are paid $10 Million or $10….. They signed a contract with a company that has a right to restrict what they wear during the show. Those fighters can wear those T-Shirts around the rest of the time. They are free to do commercials. Gatorade is not a sponsor of the UFC, but there is no issue of GSP being part of their promotions. Or with Under Armor as well.
The amount they are making has absolutely nothing to do with this debate. It’s a nice try, but it doesn’t have anything to do with it. It creates a different end result for fighters, but it doesn’t really encompass what the central issue is. This “issue” boils down to two basic elements:
1) The ability for a company to control what is being shown on their broadcasts. The UFC has that right. So does NASCAR. So anybody who owns a product. Heck, go work at the local Wal-Mart, and they have a right to tell you what to wear and how to do your hair. Perfectly legal.
2) The reasoning behind this banning, which is competition. The vast majority of the people on this board want competition for the UFC. I am not one of them. Now this issue is a DIRECT result of competition. And now you want to complain about that to? You can’t have it both ways.
Every week there is another false “UFC is sucks” report. This is another one of those. Just because the NFL has more owners and is paid more… The central idea is still the same. That somebody who puts out a product has a right to restrict what is or isn’t on it. Either this UFC hate gets in the way of your brain capacity… Or there isn’t much there to begin with.
A whiney, never happy bunch you guys are. This is your competition. This is the real world. Get use to it.
“The market has turned into a oligopoly with the UFC, SF, Bellator, etc. and the next natural step will be a polypoly and at that point the uFC will have to cater the interests of the market, not it´s own.”
Bellator got the worst TV deal ever and likely won’t be on after the 2nd season. What news have we heard from Strikeforce lately? If their telecast went so well, news would be circulating about an extension and about more fighter signings. And can you sake Sengoku? Another failed organization. By the end of 2010, it will be down to the UFC, DREAM, and Strikeforce will be hanging on but hurting. Hardly an oligopoly when DREAM and the UFC have none of the same markets….
Sodomy = So don’t….. It’s what happens when the phone auto corrects and I don’t catch it.
The idea that RVCA could, should, or would be banned just because they are one of Fedor’s sponsors is pathetic, and it is even more of the “jealous girlfriend” behavior that Dana White has been displaying since the Fedor vs. Rogers fight took place. The head of a supposedly billion-dollar company should not be behaving like a jealous girlfriend in elementary school.
Uhhhh…..what kind of phone are you using? Is this some kind of new iPhone app made to disturb people?
“Sodomy = So don’t….. It’s what happens when the phone auto corrects and I don’t catch it.”
Yeah whatever dude…now your whole “ask 100 high school students what they think” point from the other day is 100x creepier.
I also want to add that if 46-year-old Randy Couture vs. 44-year-old Mark Coleman is the main event of a $45 PPV, which would be one month after coming-off-a-knockout-loss Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva is the main event of a $45 PPV, which would be one and a half months after Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz (0-4-1 in their last 5 fights) is the main event of a $45 PPV, then maybe it’s not such a good idea anymore to run 13 PPV events per year. Even cutting it down to 11, or just back down to 12, would reduce the number of sub-par PPV main events. The UFC obviously can’t control injuries, but they can control the fact that they’re running 13 PPV events per year.
Have to agree with those characterizing this as petty. It’s borderline vindictive. I don’t really care if UFC is within their rights to do it, or whether it is analogous to behavior of giant sports leagues, or even if it is a logical business move. Nothing to get sad over or whine and moan about, but reflective of narrow-minded pursuit of interests common to promoters.
Oh and Age in the Cage isn’t so bad as long as the rest of the card is exciting.
I’m behind the Couture-Coleman main event because of the name possibilities are awesome, and this is just off the top of my head:
-Age in the Cage, Grapplin’ Grandpas, Middle Aged Mayhem, Mid-Life Crisis, Senior Sizzler, Elder Abuse, Geriatric Genocide, Retirement Home Rumble, Venerable Violence, Octogenarians in the Octagon.
Or more likely: Not A Typo, It’s $45. Yes, That’s The Main Event. Stop Laughing.
“2) The reasoning behind this banning, which is competition. ”
I lost interest about halfway through your diatribe, but the reasoning behind this isn’t competition. It’s Dana jumping the gun once again and acting like scorn girlfriend because something didn’t go his way.
Do you really think this hurts the bottom line for RVCA? Up until recently the only MMA fighter they sponsored was BJ. In another Dana fit of teenage female rage he decides to stick it to a company which will barely hurt them at all, and just hurts two guys who are challenging for titles in the near future: BJ & Vitor.
It looks like we’re in for more installments of the award-winning series, “Anderson Silva and His Manager Publicly Contradict Each Other about His Physical Condition.”
Here is Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, talking to MMA Junkie: ”
“Anderson’s recovery is going really, really well,” Soares said. “He’s coming back, and his recovery is doing really good. His physical therapy is going really well. He’s getting better range of motion. He’ll be back 100 percent for sure.”
And now here’s Silva himself talking to Portal das Lutas, as quoted by Fighters Only: “I went to the doctor who takes care of me in Brazil on Monday. I had surgery in the United States but there is communication between the two medical teams. To sum it up, some movements aren’t at the expected stage [of recovery]… I’m crazy to come back, train hard and fight but some moves still hurt so much. I just came from jiu-jitsu training where I was teaching my students and I could not even could make some positions with them.”
I’d post the links to those articles, but doing so would result in an automatic “Your post is awaiting moderation” message from WordPress.
I do own an iphone. Obviously I didn’t type in “So Don’t” properly, because if I did, it wouldn’t have autocorrected. Probably missed the space.
As for my knowledge of what 12th graders know about MMA…. Welcome to substitute teaching to pick up an extra couple of dollars. That is how I know.
To imply that somehow I am molesting children is completely overboard. And pretty sick. Ever seen the preachers on TV that denounce gay marriage or adultry? They are typically the one’s who do it themselves behind closed doors. So the people making fun of me for a simple typo…. Perhaps you should look in the mirror at your own problems….
Zack’s joke still showed more maturity than Dana White, sadly.
And wasn’t Silva supposedly ready to go against Vitor to solve the UFC’s problems yesterday?
45 Huddle obviously takes the internet way too seriously….but you already knew that.
And wasn’t Silva supposedly ready to go against Vitor to solve the UFC’s problems yesterday?
His elbow will feel much better when the check clears…I mean, when he heals.
As more and more information comes out, it looks like possibly 1.5+ million PPV buys for the Pacman-Cotto fight.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091117-236707/82M-seen-from-Pacquiao-Cotto-pay-per-view
Anyone notice tonight that Zuffa is counterprogramming themselves? WEC from 9-11, and TUF from 10-11.
Zack… Nice way of backing off your words. I don’t take the internet seriously… but making the comments you are making would get you banned from most forums online…. And it says a lot about your character to even make a comment like that. But hey, if those are the thoughts going through your mind, you are the one who has to live with that. Onto more important topics…
I’d be surprised if Pacquiao vs. Cotto didn’t get 1.5 Million buys. On paper, it was the best fight of the year.
I would also be surprised if Manny vs. Floyd doesn’t get 2 Million.