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These things I know to be true…
By Zach Arnold | May 24, 2010
- That there remains pockets in the media who defend Tim Sylvia, his legacy, and what he’s up to now. I laid out some reasons why he has such a big image problem here.
- That both Dan Hardy & Michael Bisping seem to giving Paul Daley some sympathy after he got cut from the UFC.
- That fighters often deal with day-to-day distractions just like the rest of us.
- That there is a lot of MMA events happening all the world in strange locales, Azerbaijan, that Jordan Breen is keeping his eye on.
- That ESPN Deportes has replaced Bellator on their network with Jungle Fight FC events.
- That discussion about negotiations for a fight between Eddie Alvarez & Gilbert Melendez is not moving the needle online. I don’t know what that says. I do think that Mr. Rebney’s comments in the article were interesting in relation to how he thinks both fighters have high name value recognition with MMA fans in the States, which unfortunately simply isn’t the case.
- That Marlon Sandro will soon, if not already, become a Featherweight that people won’t be able to ignore. Probably won’t see Sandro vs. Jose Aldo, but we could see Sandro vs. Urijah Faber…
- That this weekend’s DREAM show at Saitama Super Arena has absolutely no heat and I have no idea what the point of booking Kid Yamamoto is if they aren’t bothering to hype up his opponent (Kiko Lopez). I’m still astounded that they put Nick Diaz in a main event on a Japanese show in a building that big. He sure got punished for what happened in Tennessee… Here’s the card for this weekend’s show.
- That my thoughts and prayers are with the NOAH family right now, as grizzled old veteran Rusher Kimura died at the age of 68 this morning at 5:30 AM JST due to complications from pneumonia. Almost a year out from Mitsuharu Misawa’s death…
Topics: Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
1. The most underrated element of a great fighter is a great wife or girlfriend. This woman can shield problems away from her man, deal with a lot of small day to day stuff.
2. Scott Coker would be stupid to take Bellator’s offer. They share the same audience. Strikeforce makes more money then Bellator. There is nothing Bellator brings to the table that Coker can’t get anywhere else.
3. DREAM Never Die? Sengoku Never Die? Right now it feels like all of Japanese MMA is dead. With the exception of maybe 1 or 2 fights, there is literally nothing interesting that has happened (or going to happen) during the 1st 6 months of 2010.
4. Tim Sylvia had Andrei Arlovski’s number. Besides that, he was just a big guy in a time when the UFC Heavyweight’s division wasn;t very good.
“1. The most underrated element of a great fighter is a great wife or girlfriend. This woman can shield problems away from her man, deal with a lot of small day to day stuff.”
Don’t forget all the cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping and child rearing!!!
Isn’t all you mentioned what you pay a manager/agent for?
There is a lot more a partner can do then a manager/agent is even responsible for.
Keep a person’s life in order so they only have to concentrate on fighting. Guys who come home to not so good households are going to have a tougher time fighting.
Mike Brown and Randy Couture are 2 higher profile examples.
A girlfriend/wife makes a huge difference in the fight game.
A lot of fighters are very insecure and have fragile egos. Support at home goes a long way to helping them.
That’s also what a lot of the best coaches do. Convince a guy to put his doubts to rest and focus on what he does best and why the opponent fears him.
I’ve seen a lot of guys undermined by bad women at home.
Something that goes unspoken/unreported is that many fighters end up with the wrong kind of women. There’s no one reason for this. But many guys end up with strippers or night club type of women who support them in the early part of their careers. Those women by and large cause lots of drama.
It also doesn’t help things that fighters are often times flush with cash and have a ton of down time on their hands after fights. It’s real easy to get into trouble that way.
It’s universally true that fighters who have a good home life have an advantage in any fight they’re in. Doesn’t always end up making the difference, but it can.
Fighters like attractive women (like anyone else) and the easiest such women to acquire when you’re flush with money and are considered “dangerous” are not generally the most desirable. Further, the mindset of a fighter isn’t generally conducive to making wise choices business or lifestyle choices, IMO.
sylvia was more than just a big guy. he was a big guy with solid all-around skills who effectively used his size, solid defense, and one-punch knockout power to frustrate opponents. not saying his prime would beat the current dos santos, lesnar, cain, carwin group, but i think he would be more competitive than people give him credit for. his biggest problem was that he turned extremely passive after the second arlovski fight, jabbing his way to decisions in order to retain his title (a passivity that still appears in effect based on the pudz & mercer fights). couture and fedor took advantage of this passivity and dominated him.
Melendez/Alvarez doesn’t matter until its booked. They might as well do it since there’s nothing they have for either man that’s remotely as interesting.
As far as the American fanbase is going, DREAM is irrelevant for the most part. Even more irrelevant will be the 205lb GP they do with embarrassing fighters.