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Keith Kizer’s Nevada judges predictably give GSP decision win over Johny Hendricks

By Zach Arnold | November 16, 2013

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The judges for the main event were: Tony Weeks (GSP), Sal D’Amato (GSP), and Glenn Trowbridge (Hendricks).

D’Amato: Gave GSP rounds 1, 3, 5.
Weeks: Gave GSP rounds 1, 3, 5.
Trowbridge: Gave Hendricks rounds 1, 2, and 4.

More details here.

Event: UFC 167 (Saturday, November 16th)
Venue: MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada
TV: Fox Sports 1/PPV

Event: Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale (Saturday, November 30th)
Venue: Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada
TV: Fox Sports 1

UFC would support Nevada giving Vitor Belfort anabolic steroid pass; testosterone trends #1 on Twitter

Remember how Vitor Belfort said last week that he would stop using testosterone if he could get a UFC title match against the winner of Anderson Silva/Chris Weidman II? Not only that, but he admitted to using testosterone over the past three years — which would include his February 2011 Las Vegas fight against Anderson.

Turns out, Uncle Dana wants Vitor Belfort to fight again in Nevada. There shouldn’t be a problem with Vitor fighting in Nevada if he’s not using testosterone, right? So why doth protest?

“No matter what Keith Kizer says.” Translation = give Vitor Belfort his pass to use anabolic steroids. Religion isn’t the only thing Vitor is thankful for in his life. If the church doesn’t do it for you, though, right down the block is a pharmacy.

Keith Kizer isn’t going to reject UFC’s demands. He owes his job security to the UFC and their political fixers. After the royal screw-up in the Floyd Mayweather fight with judge Cynthia Ross, Kizer kept his job thanks to a cadre of political fixers ranging from Marc Ratner (who helped Kizer take over NSAC), Lorenzo Fertitta (who dealt with Kizer when Kizer handled gaming matters at the Attorney General’s office), Skip Avansino (NSAC boss), and Sig Rogich (top Nevada politico with national public relations firm & owner of UFC stalking horse World Series of Fighting). These men are keeping Kizer’s job security alive. The man is going to do whatever the hell they tell him to do. There’s a reason Chael Sonnen, the king of testosterone users, is a “consultant” to Nevada’s commission on the matter.

Which leads us to point out the absurdity of the situation.

UFC made some Brazilian history on Saturday — two guys in the main event who both got testosterone permission slips.

I don’t use the phrase “TRT” because of it’s purposeful cutesy presentation to make anabolic steroid usage innocuous. As Dr. David Black famously stated on 60 Minutes, testosterone is the base chemical of all anabolic steroids. There’s no denying it. So, I always make sure to use the word testosterone. Now, I’m going to use both the word testosterone and anabolic steroids. Truth is an absolute defense in court and in the press.

The irony of the steroids situation in the UFC is that Vince McMahon would get more heat today than Dana White for publicly backing steroid usage. This is where we are at with the general sports media.

Again, let’s reiterate the four main reasons fighters use testosterone in combat sports:

1. Previous and/or current steroid usage
2. Brain damage
3. Abuse of pain killers (opiates)
4. Damage from weight cutting

Notice how announcers Jon Anik and Kenny Florian talked about Vitor Belfort & Dan Henderson as if they found the fountain of youth? They never uttered the word testosterone.

Event: UFC Fight Night Brazil (Saturday, November 9th)
Venue: Goiania Arena
TV: Fox Sports 1


On Saturday, November 9th at 10:10 PM PST, the #1 Twitter trend was testosterone.

Fighters are debating with each other on Twitter tonight about testosterone usage in the sport. Brett Cooper gets it. Make sure to read his discussion thread in full.

Ranger up: Concussive cognitive dissonance at UFC Fort Campbell event

Event: Fight for the Troops 2013 (Wednesday, November 6th)
Venue: Fort Campbell, Kentucky
TV: Fox Sports 1

A great, enthusiastic crowd at the show and the Tim Kennedy finish was definitely one for the highlight reel. Much better than originally getting booked in a squash match against Lyoto Machida.

That said, every time I watch a UFC troops show I always get this strange, surreal feeling. Reason? On the one hand, UFC is helping raise money for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund to help out veterans suffering from traumatic experiences and yet the mechanism of which to raise awareness is to put fighters in a cage and have people cheer on the concussive dishing out of punches with small gloves.

I fully realize that there are military boxing programs and the service academies cherish college football outings against each other and other schools like Notre Dame. However, there is some irony to be noted about the UFC charity events. It doesn’t take away from my ability to watch the shows but it is a little weird to say you want to help out soldiers suffering from brain damage by booking fighters in a cage to inflict brain damage upon themselves. Entertaining? For sure.

And as I’m writing this, 60-year old Dennis Miller is blaring this on television: “This country’s shot. Everybody worries about everything for God’s sakes.”

I guess that gives me an opportunity to plug an event at the Cleveland Clinic’s Lou Ruvo Center in Las Vegas next Friday night (November 15th) from 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM for anyone involved in the fight business.

The two-hour formal program will feature remarks from Dr. Charles Bernick of the Lou Ruvo Center, Don Hooten Jr. of the Troy Hooten Foundation, nationally recognized sports psychologist Dr. Caroline Silby and author of Unlocking the Human Performance Edge, Jimmy Smith.

Program topics include: Recognizing signs of concussion and the effects of repetitive head trauma, Maintaining optimal nutrition amidst the challenges of rapid weight loss, Understanding performance-enhancing drugs and the latest trends.

WHERE: Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Keep Memory Alive Events Center, 888 W. Bonneville Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89106

Media interested in attending should contact Camille Yameen at 702-737-3100 or [email protected].

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 126 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

126 Responses to “Keith Kizer’s Nevada judges predictably give GSP decision win over Johny Hendricks”

  1. LeonThePro says:

    What’s the deal? Over-saturation till the audience drowns?

    And 2 WMMA fights (3 with finale) out of 44? That’s a meager 7%. Does this still feel non-committal to anyone else?

    • Chris says:

      3 of them are free cards and the PPV is a great card. Whats the problem?

      MMA fans just have to bitch about something, you never see boxing fans complain about this kind of stuff.

      this month boxing has Manny/Rios PPv, HBo fights on Nov 2nd, 9th, 16th and 30th.

      FS1 has 2 Golden Boy shows, NBC has a show.

      You never see boxing fans complain about it, they like fights and they watch them.

      • LeonThePro says:

        I’m not a boxing fan. According to you they eat everything up with no regard for quality?

        Personally I prefer quality control and would rather watch a couple of great events then a flurry of hit and misses. I’m sure the ratings will agree. Oh well that’s what the DVR is for: skip skip play.

      • nottheface says:

        I think there’s a fundamental difference in how MMA and boxing is presented though that plays a big part in the feelings of over-saturation. Since the UFC is ratings dependent for their FOX programming they can’t undersell any broadcast, Every one of them is pretty much sold as being as important or major as any other show. They don’t want to market any show as second tier and give fans an excuse for not tuning in.

        In comparison, champion level boxing is generally confined to HBO and Showtime, two pay channels, that aren’t dependent on ratings but instead subscribers. They are willing to use the “B” labels “Boxing After Dark” and “ShoBox.” They did the same with Strikeforce’s Champion and Challenger cards. Viewers are thus told in advance what is must watch and what is bonus material.

        The other problem lies with the fact that MMA is usually sold by a promoter brand and a whole card where as boxing is sold by a fight. Following MMA you know that there is a bunch of UFC, Bellator, and WSOF cards coming up and while a few cards are sold on a GSP title fight or Weidman-Silva 2, mostly its that a promotion will be holding a card with a bunch of fights. Compare that to boxing where you know HBO and SHO will be putting on 3 or 4 “Champion” shows a month sold around a couple of fights per event. NBC, FS1, and ESPN Fight nights are just habitual tv programing with bonus nights.

        In a weird way, the model that has been such a success for the UFC seems to be backfiring a little. They’ve crossed some magic line where fans just can’t distinguish the events any more.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        HBO will be showing like 7 fights this entire month. NBC Sports has like 2. FS1 has 4 fights. That’s a wopping total of 13 fights by my count.

        FS1 will have 25 to 30 UFC Fights. SpikeTV will have about 20 Bellator fights. AXS TV will have about 12 fights.

        Do we really need 60 fights in a month on TV?

        Hence why MMA Fans are a little more fickle.

        Not to mention the UFC has expanded so much… And they include so many fighters… That you no longer get the sense you are watching the best. You get the feeling you are watching the best, and then a lot of the level below that.

      • Alan Conceicao says:

        I’m starting to see boxing bloggers/journos do it too. Younger ones, typically who like wrestling, but its a thing that’s happening. People are spoiled with the ability to watch things live/shortly after they occur from anywhere in the world and that the premium networks are demanding stacked cards and airing dark matches on secondary networks. If they haven’t been around long enough to remember differently, the “good ol days” when fights weren’t available to view at all or only through tape traders suddenly sounds exotic. It is completely bizarre to me that they can’t decide what they want to watch and what they don’t wish to view, but it is there anyways.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Wheb I cut cable for 6 months, it meant I couldn’t watch every single Yankees game live. Sure I could watch the games on delay through the MLB App, but I no lobger had the ability to watch every game as it was happening.

          Instead I watched it once a week live through an antenna when they were on a local channel. And I would watch them through an antenna when they were on FOX. And I would watch them through the ESPN app on the xbox.

          You know what happened? I watched them much more closely then before. Before I use to have them in the background. But when I had one game to watch a week, it became much more of an event.

          There is something to be said for less is more.

          With that said… I don’t understand the anger fans have for bad cards. Just do not watch. It shouldn’t offend you. Even witg PPV… If the card is bad on paper, then skip it. Even I skip PPV’s.

        • LeonThePro says:

          @ 45 Huddle,

          I agree about your comment less is more, that was what I was getting at. Take for instance this card:

          xxxxx Random Prelims XXXX
          Liz Carmouche vs. Alexis Davis
          Tim Kennedy vs. Rafael Natal
          Gray Maynard vs. Nate Diaz
          Vitor Belfort vs. Dan Henderson
          Demetrious Johnson vs. Joe Benavidez

          I would much rather eagerly watch 1 great card then a bunch of fluff. It makes the UFC events start to feel a little B leaguish when they put guys that aren’t the best in the top spots.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          I’d rather have the choice of watching something than not have the choice. Interest in MMA isn’t dropping because KOTC shows on MavTV to an audience of 4 people. Interest in MMA is dropping for an assortment of reasons, none of which have to do with the fact that it is actually accessible and easy to view. The argument for “overexposure” really only works if you believe that MMA doesn’t interest the general public in any other way than raw violent potential and that the potential is diminished by actually watching the sport.

        • nottheface says:

          “It is completely bizarre to me that they can’t decide what they want to watch and what they don’t wish to view, but it is there anyways.” it’s called the dilemma of choice. You often too many options and instead of making a choice people choose nothing.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          This is true. It is why people have 200 channels and complain nothing is on.

          Yet give them 10 channels and they would be much happier.

          The UFC is to the point that they offer so much that people get confused and just dont watch as much.

          Having 9 weight classes just makes it worse.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          If people actually preferred 10 channels, cable TV never would have never gotten bigger than it was in the mid-late 70s. Next you’ll tell me about how awesome it is NBC does taped delayed coverage a decade into the 21st century.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          It is easy to see why people wanted more channels. If you have 10 channels, and somebody offers you 20 for not much more money…. Which one are you going to take? The 20 channels, obviously.

          But what sounds good from marketing isn’t what is best for the mind.

          They have done studies in various ways that basically prove this premise. People who have had less partners before they get married report higher levels of marital satisfaction.

          http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/your-money/27shortcuts.html

          From the article: “That study “raised the hypothesis that the presence of choice might be appealing as a theory,” Professor Iyengar said last year, “but in reality, people might find more and more choice to actually be debilitating.””

          And…

          “Research also shows that an excess of choices often leads us to be less, not more, satisfied once we actually decide. There’s often that nagging feeling we could have done better.”

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          Instead of a NYT article, here’s a peer reviewed paper:

          http://www.scheibehenne.de/ScheibehenneGreifenederTodd2010.pdf

          There is an obvious fact here that choosing between jams at a store, where money must be exchanged for the product before one can have it, is very different than TV/computer viewing of MMA, where it is simply available constantly. “Consumption of product” with regards to TV viewing is not the same thing regardless how much you want to say it is.

          And these arguments that MMA shows that no one watches because they are A) on channels no one watches B) MMA promotions no one cares about are causing overload on fans is ridiculous. The average fan has no idea they exist, doesn’t care, doesn’t watch, and isn’t affected in the least.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          Oh, for the TL;DR types: The conclusion of that review of previous “paradox of choice” data is that it requires specific conditions be present that MMA doesn’t have to possibly occur and can’t reliably be tested to repeat anyways. The evidence for it is slim.

    • Steve4192 says:

      “And 2 WMMA fights (3 with finale) out of 44? That’s a meager 7%. Does this still feel non-committal to anyone else?”

      Considering their is only one women’s division and eight men’s divisions, 7% doesn’t seem all that far off. Women only comprise 11% of the UFC’s weight classes and and I’d guess right around 7% of the UFC’s total roster. I don’t see much difference between how women’s 135 is currently being scheduled and how men’s 125 was scheduled when it was first added to the roster. Zuffa always takes it slow with a new division.

    • Bix says:

      You’re forgetting that there are likely multiple women’s fights on the TUF finale that haven’t officially been announced yet.

  2. david m says:

    On paper, this is their best ppv card top to bottom in a long time. I am geeked for the 4 top fights on the card. Dunham v Cerrone has barnburner potential as well.

  3. RST says:

    I dont recognize a lot of those guys.

    Which other then the UFC brand itself, seems like an opportunity for ballator or WSOF.

  4. 45 Huddle says:

    The FFTT Card is weak. The Belfort/Henderson card is even worse. It is sad when they have a 12 fight card and I don’t care at all for 11 of the fights. I really don’t see the need for prelim cards on TV for these cards either.

    UFC 167 has a strong prelim show and really strong PPV. Excited for this event.

    I like the two rematches headlining the TUF Finale card.

    *******

    I think the UFC is really screwing things up by trying to build things up slowly. They are caught in a bad middle area. They either need to stop expanding the number of shows and look to get things better.

    Or they need to rip the band-aid off and just go towards a weekly show ASAP. Hit the growing pains all at once and just get the viewers use to seeing live fights every Wednesday on FS1.

  5. Nepal says:

    UFC is doing the right thing with Sergio Pettis. He’s fighting Vaughan Lee on the GSP undercard. Sergio is only 2 months out of his teens. Vaughan has a 9-5 record, 2-3UFC and is 31 years old. Perfect first fight for Pettis.

    Great main card. 4 of the 5 fights are great. I think I’m looking forward to Rory vs. Lawler the most.

  6. 45 Huddle says:

    Both UFC 165 & 166 got between 300k and 350k PPV Buys…

    Is the sky falling?

    • david m says:

      Cain has the charisma of a roll of toilet paper, Junior can’t speak English and comes across as too nice of a guy, Jones has negative charisma (not like Floyd who knows how to be a heel, but just like a douche bag), seemed entirely invincible, and Gustaffson didn’t seem to have any chance on paper to win.

      • duck says:

        That’s a few times I have seen you write that JDS can’t speak English, it’s fine to me and outside of Vitor Belfort he probably has the best English out of all the big name Brazilian fighters.

        • Fluyid says:

          I’m not clued in to how JDS comes across on TV, but he speaks really good English. I’ve had full conversations with him. He has no trouble at all with the language… at least in person.

        • david m says:

          I’m just pontificating on why he isn’t a big draw. I feel like language is part of it. Maybe he just comes across as too nice too. Otherwise, why? He is exciting, knocks people out, looks like a million bucks, etc.

        • rst says:

          @ David M, I’m not a fan of the race card… but… You dont have to look past ourselves locked down…

      • rst says:

        “Cain has the charisma of a roll of toilet paper,…”

        Are you suggesting that Cain is about as affable, as a gun pointed in your face? You might be right.

  7. cutch says:

    The Brazil card is being held on Globo in Brazil, well the top 2 fights.

    That’s why this card exists, nothing to do with Sky Sports, it features Brazil’s second biggest star against a legendary opponent and two guys from the first season of TUF.

    There was a Brazilian article stating that the UFC made $130 million in 2012 in Brazil in TV rights, that’s both Globo (Network TV) and Combate (Subscription TV showing Combat Sports)

  8. Zheroen says:

    45 Huddle scoffs at Bellator scoring over a million viewers for their last card, meanwhile Machida-Munoz on FS2 barely breaks 100,000.

    http://themmareport.com/2013/10/ufc-fight-night-30-preliminary-ratings-very-low-122000-viewers-on-fs2/

    Yeah, that Fox Sports deal just keeps looking better and better…

    • 45 Huddle says:

      One company lost tons of money for their ratings. The other one made money. I will give you two guesses to figure it out.

      • Zheroen says:

        Wow, record time for the astroturfing apologist to respond with a talking point that ignores the elephant in the room of steadily-declining viewership. I’m impressed.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Just happened to be the time that I posted.

          Not sure what angle you are going for, but here is the reality of the situation.

          The UFC and Bellators ratings have nothing to do with each other. So lets examine one and then the other.

          **********

          UFC

          The ratings need to improve. They need to get to an average of 1 Million per show. That is for all shows on FOX SPORTS 1.

          The shows on FOX SPORTS 2 are a whole different animal. Those shows are for different countries that we just happen to be getting over here. Do the ratings need to go up? Absolutely! The ratings on FOX Sports 2 need to start averaging closer to 500,000 per show. The ratings will naturally go up as FS2 gets in more homes and is on HD for more providers.

          With all of that said…. FOX SPORTS is partially sacrificing the ratings so far by starting the main cards at 7pm. Why are they doing this? Because for FOX, having higher ratings from 7 to 11 (including TUF) is more profitable then having a 3 hour window. But it does bring down the average overall.

          This has always been a long term thing. It could end up being a failure. Lets see what the ratings are in August 2014 for a better indicator of that.

          And right now, FOX is happy that the UFC is bringing up the average of their station by a large percentage. I doubt the UFC is happy about such a drop.

          **********

          Bellator is a completely different animal.

          There ratings for SpikeTV standards are not good on average. They sacrificed an entire season of ratings for a PPV that never happened. They spent a ton of money for a PPV that never happened.

          So getting 1 Million viewers for a show that had 3 championship bouts and was advertised for 2 months is not very good when you consider the money that was spent.

          The ratings will likely be up for in a few weeks as well as Rampage is fighting.

          But right now Bellator is a mess. Everything they have put on TV has failed. Fight Master was a failure. Event Replays are a failure. The live events got pushed to Friday Nights.

          For the 1 Million Viewers last week…. They spent $500k on fighters. They probably spent over $1 Million in PPV advertising and fees. And they couldn’t even get 4,000 people to the arena for it.

          I used to say the same thing about Strikeforce back in the day and people would tell me I didn’t know anything. And I used to say this while Strikeforce ratings were going UP!

          The writing is on the wall. The wheels are falling off of Bellator. They don’t even want to invest $100,000 per live show into them yet they are spending big money for guys like Rampage who will now be on free TV.

          If you take this entire season as a whole, Bellator has likely lost a lot of money. Viacom is not Frank or Lorenzo Fertitta. They will sink this before going $40 Million in the hole.

          *****

          One more thing about Bellator & Viacom.

          They have worked their hardest to not become a feeder system to the UFC. They have actually hurt themselves by being so cut throat with their current fighters.

          And yet they have lost Hector Lombard. They are going to lose Ben Askren. And they are 1 fight away from losing Eddie Alvarez. Despite all of this legal troubles and contracts to basically enslave the fighters to their company….

          They are still becoming a feeder league to the UFC. And guaranteed that is being talked about in the board meetings when Bellator comes up.

          Filtering Fighters to FOX AND losing money? That won’t last forever.

        • Zheroen says:

          My point is that focusing on Bellator’s woes is a misdirection. I don’t expect Bellator to hold out for very long or even remotely sustain anything even approaching a meager alternative to the UFC, I’m honestly not aware of anyone outside of a comically-contrarian message board poster or two that believes otherwise. My main concern is with the stale nu metal-esque promotion/production of the UFC hemorrhaging viewers and interest with each successive card they stage. Why is Gustaffson’s return fight being broadcast on FS2, as opposed to a Fox network show? If anything, this is a golden opportunity to build up support for a potential rival to Jones’ dominance of the LHW scene after the critical acclaim of their title fight. Instead, because he wasn’t particularly fancied by the power-brokers like White that call the shots within, he’s being thrust back to the sidelines and out of the spotlight, for no logical reason. The match-making lately is awful, and there seems to be a narrative for the booking of fights/high-profile television slots that is irrespective of actual performance. The inability to acknowledge what is happening in the ratings and the actual fights as juxtaposed to the “vision” of what DW et al would like to see happen is starting to create a substantial disconnect in the fanbase.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          They are chasing expansion at the expense of their most reliable market.

          Hence why Gustaffson is on FS2 instead of FOX.

          It is a horrible decision. I don’t think anybody would deny that.

          DFW obviously lives in a bubble. So does Lorenzo Fertitta. They think the main guys are established enough with PPV… When the guys like Gustaffson, Machida, and others should be on FOX time after time instead of FS2. FS2 should be for the fighters nobody cares about…. Like The Fight For The Troops Card…

        • 45 Huddle says:

          You know it is bad when a fan like myself… Fast fowarded through most of the FFTT card yesterday. Too many weight classes. Too many fighters. It’s a heaping mess.

        • cutch says:

          The company that pays the UFC in the UK pays them good money and they want some decent fights at a normal time, i’m sure that’s the same for the UFC’s other European partners.

          The UK also pays far more per ticket than almost everywhere else in the US and that’s for shows headlined by guys like Mark Munoz, not Anderson Silva.

          So the UFC European shows will only be on Fox Sports 2, guess what if they are that worried about it, they can always re-air the main event on Fox Sports 1, as I’ve heard there’s not much on there.

          Hell if they wanted, they could probably put all his UFC fights on a 2 or 3 hour hype show.

          I just looked at his record and he just fought Shogun on Fox and it didn’t exactly make him a superstar.

  9. 45 Huddle says:

    1) Letting fighters roid up.

    2) Too many watered down cards.

    3) Bad Channel For MMA.

    UFC is shooting themselves in the foot.

    ***********

    Dana White is becoming just as bad as the boxing promoters he has complained about. There is no reason Vitor Belfort should be allowed to roid like this. It is beyond obvious this is why he has a brand new career at like 38 years old. It just isn’t normal. And it is killing the credibility of the UFC.

  10. Manapua says:

    45 Huddle is so upset that he was 100% WRONG about his “Bellator will be gone in 6 months” prediction that he made 3 years ago lol.

  11. Manapua says:

    “And yet they have lost Hector Lombard. They are going to lose Ben Askren. And they are 1 fight away from losing Eddie Alvarez. Despite all of this legal troubles and contracts to basically enslave the fighters to their company….”

    UFC was in the same position losing fighters to PRIDE. It’s a natural position to be in for a growing company against an established one.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      What champion did they lose to Pride?

      The closest one was Bustamante and that was after they closed down the division he was in.

      • Jonathan Snowden says:

        The UFC certainly lost top talent overseas, including champions like Bustamante, Mark Kerr, BJ Penn and Randy Couture as well as their top historical drawing cards Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock.

        • Manapua says:

          They also couldn’t sign the best fighters at the time because PRIDE was bigger and paid a lot more. 45 Huddle seems to have forgotten history in that regard.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Correct, they lost top talent overseas. But to Manapua’s point, they never lost a UFC Champion to Pride. They lost Kerr to Pride, but he was only a tournament champion.

          And they abolished Bustamante’s division and he was no longer a champion when they went over.

          So what he said was incorrect.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Not to mention that the UFC losing fighters and Bellator losing fighters isn’t close to being the same.

          The UFC was losing fighters to a completely different market. Bellator is losing fighters in the same market (US).

          The UFC was losing fighters to Japan but was still the #1 “brand” in the American Market. Bellator is the #2 defacto company and they are trying to take on an established company in the same market. Much much much harder thing to do.

          Not to mention the Fertitta’s were willing to lose $40 Million to make an impact on a new market. Bellator is not going to be willing to lose even half that much on an already saturated market.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          Specifically to PRIDE, they never lost a champion other than Bustamante. Of course, they did lose Jens Pulver to free agency. They also didn’t abolish the middleweight division. They also lost Couture as champion (the first time) to Shooto.

      • Diaz's cashed bowl says:

        abolished the division?!?! then why did the ufc continue to have fights at 185 at every show after Busta defended his title and left for pride?
        and pride picked up pretty much every past ufc champions in severn taktarov ruas gracie shamrock frye smith kerr coleman metzger newton and busta while he was the champ etc…. they never stripped busta, they never got rid of the 185 division, they simply weren’t willing to pay him his worth.

        The fact is they were the stars of the ufc and they all got a better contract with pride. Ufc got rizzo barnett pete williams and rico, a bunch of flash in the pans junk basically.

  12. Zheroen says:

    Well, I’ll give Zuffa credit, they did appear rather sincere about attempting to attain mainstream credibility for awhile there. That appears to be completely out the window, though.

  13. rst says:

    I know that you would NEVER lie to me Boss! But are you implying that steroids are for sale in the fight capitol?

  14. rst says:

    “UFC would support Nevada giving Vitor Belfort anabolic steroid pass…”

    Sometimes I hate the ufc. Not MMA, just the ufc.

    @ belfort/Hendo, one the one hand no matter how flashy belfort pulls it off, it disgusts me the way he pulls it off.

    I find belforts trt “accomplishments” about as stimulating as michael bay CGI fest. (Unfortunately I’m apparently in the minority opinion regarding both.)

    On the other hand, I love Hendo but as Fowlkes so eloquently put it, he was patient zero unleashed this scourge on the sport. So there’s is a Pyrrhic poetry that he should fall victim to it.

  15. 45 Huddle says:

    Every single website I could find had the exact same scoring (I did too). Hendricks won rounds 1, 2, & 4. Horrible decision.

    Did GSP piss hot and he knows he is going to be out for a while? That was my first guess!

    Either way, Hendricks is the uncrowned champion and if GSP does not fight him again it will be a huge black eye to his legacy.

    Hendricks vs. Lawler for either an interim belt or the new belt is probably next.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      1. George’s corner told him he was down 2 to 1 after 3 rounds.

      2. Two of the judges had GSP winning the first round and up 2 to 1 after 3.

      3. According to Ariel Helwani, all 16 members of the media had it 3-2 for Hendricks.

      The only guy who says that GSP is winning it that I can find is Kenny Florian, and he is a complete UFC Schill…

      Absolutely horrible.

  16. Jonathan says:

    This win does nothing to tarnish GSP’s legacy. The man has been in the top 3, if not the top, P4P fighter for years. One fight, a win or a loss, does not “tarnish” one’s legacy. Was it a close fight? Yes.

    Was it out and out robbery? No. We’ve seen much worse robberies than that I’m sure. Look at Rutten vs Randleman.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      All 16 members of the MMA Media polled all had it for Hendricks.

      How is that not a bad decision?

    • Diaz's cashed bowl says:

      first off, rutten won that fight. randleman broke his nose early but stopped fighting after the first 6-7 minutes and never landed a punch during the 6 minutes of overtime, while rutten landed over 70 blows to the head opening up his head.
      Rutten landed knees to the head while in the guard, an incredible feat. He actually knocked him out for a second but no one noticed. The only judge who scored it for Randleman was Catalfo who was his training partner.
      Second i was rooting for gsp but he lost that fight pretty clearly it was 49-46 or 48-47 for johny with one “n”.

      • Jonathan says:

        We’re going to have to disagree on that one!

        I watched that fight and I was like “No way Randleman loses this one!”

        goes to show you how divergent some opinions can be when two different people watching the same thing.

  17. Jonathan says:

    I’ve said this for other close fights. If there’s not a clear cut winner, and it comes down to how one round ins scored, then it cannot really be called a robbery.

    The truth of the matter is that more fighters need to learn to finish more higher-end opponents.

    That is why I liked Anderson Silva so much as a P4P fighter. He finished high-level opposition.

  18. 45 Huddle says:

    Fight Metric had Johny Hendricks winning 3 to 2 as well… And that doesn’t even factor in who landed the harder strikes, which Hendricks did.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      Helwani is saying Dana White was super mad during the interview on FS1…. It hasn’t aired yet. Should be interesting.

  19. Alan Conceicao says:

    Everyone realizes GSP is probably fishing for more money now that he’s the only draw in the company, right?

  20. 45 Huddle says:

    Dana White thinks Johny Hendricks CLEARLY WON the fight.

    Said he was BLOWN AWAY THAT GSP WON THE FIGHT!!

    He is going after the NSAC now.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      DFW is saying that the the governor needs to step in.

      That is he AFRAID to do fights in Nevada now.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        DFW is saying that GSP either needs to fully retire or keep fighting. None of this haitus stuff.

        He said he owes it to the UFC. He owes it to the belt. And he owes it to Johny Hendricks.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          DFW said that GSP’s camp knew he lost the fight. That he was in the cage and they knew they lost.

        • Zheroen says:

          Vince McMahon meltdown-mode, in full effect.

        • The Gaijin says:

          Honest, LOFL that GSP “owes” the UFC anything. If anything they owe him far, far more than they ever have or ever will pay him.

          Dana is melting down because his cash cow PPV draw and figurehead for the Canadian market is leaving him. He’s never came across more like Don King.

  21. Jonathan says:

    Dana White came flat out and said that Hendricks won, flat. He called the NSAC “atrocious”, and called for the Governor to step in and fix the commission. Dana said that he is “fucking scared” to come back and run fights in Vegas.

    Watching the live press conference right now.

    Dana is also calling for a rematch, and raking GSP over the coals for announcing that he wants to step away from the sport.

  22. 45 Huddle says:

    He is not stopping either. He is going after GSP for wanting time off. He said he either needs to retire or keep fighting. None of this take time off stuff as champion…

  23. Jonathan says:

    I think that you and I are watching the same news conference lol

  24. Alan Conceicao says:

    Oh man, lots of bloggers firing up to talk about what Dana White probably won’t accomplish with the NSAC along with very important takes about GSP.

    Dana’s rage sounds like the yelling of a very impotent individual at the moment.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      He is goating GSP into looking like a coward until he comes back to fight Hendricks again.

      It hurts when your champion doesn’t beat the previous champion. That is where the frustration comes from.

      And GSP knows what this sport is about. You keep on fighting until the next best thing proves he is better then you. That is sort of what you sign up for when you enter the sport.

      • Alan Conceicao says:

        That’s usually how it works, yeah. But he doesn’t have to sign up for anything. He will if Dana puts the money in front of him, but maybe Dana doesn’t want to?

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Of course he can do what he wants. But he is taking a giant sh!t on the sport if he does. And he knows that.

          His legacy is trashed if he walks away after a fight like that.

          I don’t think this is money based. It is one of three things:

          1) He failed a drug test, he knows it, and is trying to be pro-active in stepping away for a little bit.

          2) He doesn’t think he can beat Hendricks again and is trying to get out of the fight.

          3) He is exhausted with the sport and wants to retire but is afraid to actually say it, just in case he changes his mind.

        • Jonathan says:

          Calm down 45,

          One fight does not a legacy make, one fight does not destroy a legacy…especially one as good as GSP.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          It isn’t the fight that will hurt his legacy. It is winning a bad decision and then walking away instead of giving your opponent a rematch. And doing it when you are only 32 years old? Not good.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          No one will care in 20 years if he took time off now. Or retired. “Trashed” LOL. Every single fighter in MMA history must have a horrible ass resume then.

          He’s getting $5-6 million a fight and he wants more and he knows he’s the only guy who can draw like this left. Don’t be stupid.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          It’s not money.

          He said he is going crazy. That he can’t sleep at night.

          He is cracking…

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          And $12 million for a rematch would make him sleep better.

        • Zheroen says:

          “It’s not money.

          He said he is going crazy. That he can’t sleep at night.

          He is cracking…”

          Mark.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          Hey now, he really believed that GSP was at the hospital. Dana said so. Dana never blatantly lies at the post fight presser!

        • 45 Huddle says:

          I don’ think so.

          Anderson Silva seemed relieved when he lost the belt. GSP can’t lose the belt with the NSAC being so bad and he can’t handle the pressure.

          I’m not bashing him. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be champion for years and trying to do everything perfect in order to stay like that.

          But he is mentally cracking…

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Helwani is the one I saw that said he was headed to the hospital and that he was not going to the press conference.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          Helwani said it because Dana said it. The UFC pays good money to Ariel so he can act in the place that Kevin Iole once did.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Helwani works for MMA Fighting and FOX Sports. He doesn’t get a check from the UFC…

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          hahahahahaha 45. That’s a good one.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          Before I get a libel suit, MMAFighting has a “good relationship” with the UFC, which is what made them attractive to be a huge expenditure on for SBNation umpteen months ago.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Why are you laughing? You said something that was wrong.

          You said Helwani is getting paid by the UFC, and that is just not true.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          He’s not getting paid directly. Maybe.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Now he isn’t “directly” paid.

          You are slipping man.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          Whatever. If you think Ariel is a 100% independent journalist who’s working without any level of editorial control and/or financial assistance from the UFC over the last couple years, you’re in dream land. No one is dragging this guy around for UFC programming because he’s the most knowledgeable about the sport or because he’s the best sports journalist alive.

        • The Gaijin says:

          Dana clearly and explicitly said in the press conference, in response to a question about whether he talked to GSP after the fight, “Georges St. Pierre jumped directly into an ambulance and went to the hospital.” (I’m paraphrasing, but it’s pretty much word for word).

      • Zheroen says:

        Based on your previous history of bashing fighters who stick around too long, if a fighter leaving while still champion is also one who trashes their legacy, is there anyone who can walk away from the UFC with their reputation intact, in your eyes? A company man who was a sub-top 10 fighter who never seriously-challenged for the belt like Chris Lytle, perhaps?

        • 45 Huddle says:

          If you are champion (and healthy), you should be defending your title until you lose.

          Once you are no longer champion, you should be able to get an easier fight to go out on a win and retire in celebration.

          Forrest Griffin went out on a win.

          Matt Hughes should have gone out on a win but he kept on trying to fight.

          It is certainly possible.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          Wait, Forrest Griffin went out of the UFC with his “reputation intact”? Is this a joke?

        • 45 Huddle says:

          I didn’t say he went out with his reputation intact. I said he went out with a win.

          Look, Dana White is CONSTANTLY trying to get fighters to retire. And fighters get mad at him for it because they think they still have another run at a belt. If fighters are going out without their reputation intact it is typically their own fault.

          So to blame the UFC for this is a joke. It is the nature of the fighters mentality. They want to keep going until they are far past their primes.

          *****

          But when it comes to champions…. Yes, they should keep on going until they lose the belt. It’s sort of like Bret Hart wanting to leave the WWE still as champion. Not cool…

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          lmao at Dana “constantly wanting fighters to retire”. Except when they have something to offer to him, of course.

          Comparing GSP, a guy in a real combat sport to Bret Hart, a wrestler. LOL.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          It’s about doing the right thing for the business.

          Walking away as a champion is not doing the right thing for MMA. It is hurting it.

          And you are just wrong. Liddell could have made Dana White millions more over a few more years fighting scrubs. White wanted him to retire.

          They could have milked Griffin for a few more dollars. instead they CONVINCED him to retire.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          Meanwhile, on Twitter, I see MMA Supremacy RTing this from the scrum:

          “Dana says he got a text from Koscheck that sounded like retirement. Dana thinks that’s premature.”

          Because losing 4 of 6, dropping your last three, and being KOed in two straight against dropping levels of competition aren’t indicators that perhaps it is time to step away. Yeah, Dana tells dudes to retire all the time, 45.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          Supremacy skews everything anti-UFC.

          Helwani wrote: “Ariel Helwani ?@arielhelwani 10m
          Dana said Kos sent him a long text after that sounded like retirement but he doesn’t think he’s done yet.”

          That has nothing to do with him wanting to retire or not. It has to do with whether he thinks Koscheck is serious about retiring or not. Huge difference.

          But nice try.

        • Alan Conceicao says:

          Is that what “encouraging a fighter to retire” sounds like to you, 45? Since they apparently encouraged everyone else to retire exactly when they should have. Or tried to, but then gave them tons of fights anyways and built them as serious threats.

  25. Jonathan says:

    Johnny doesn’t seem to broken up.

    That’s good old Oklahoma strength.

  26. Alan Conceicao says:

    WOW, the trauma unit at the Vegas hospital works fast. And GSP beat all that traffic in time to get back to the MGM Grand for the presser. Amazing effort. 5 snowflakes.

    • Jonathan says:

      That is what I was thinking. And he had time to put on a suit.

      When he showed up, I was like “Where did he come from”

  27. 45 Huddle says:

    From Helwani… After talking to DFW: GSP’s issue isn’t has big as he thinks it is. and DFW seems confident that a rematch will be happening in the near future.

    ***********

    GSP is going to lose the rematch. Just like Jon Jones will beat Gustaffson if they rematch. You can sort of tell which way things are heading….

    • David m says:

      That makes no sense. GSP clearly won the last round against Hendricks, whereas Gustaffson lost the last round against Jones.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        Nothing to do with the last round of each fight….

        You can tell which way things are heading in the big picture:

        1) GSP is getting slower. Hendricks is getting better. Hendricks can improve being in a 5 round fight. GSP has nothing to improve on because he already knew what 5 rounds felt like.

        2) Jon Jones had an off day an expected his takedown to work against Gustaffson. It didn’t work and he got shell shocked and almost lost. But Jones is a 100 trick poney, while Gustaffson is basically a puncher. Jones can game plan much better for next time and win that fight. I am a big Gustaffson fan and I can’t stand Jones…. But Gus needed to win that first fight. He will lose the rematch rather easily.

    • The Gaijin says:

      “From Helwani… After talking to DFW: GSP’s issue isn’t has big as he thinks it is.”

      The new rumour/insane speculation du jour is that GSP is going to come out and that’s why he wants the time off. I say it’s probably 1,000,000,000,000,000 to 1 that this is the actual case…I think I will just stay away from speculating until we find out what the reason actually is here.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        It would explain why he didn’t show interest in Mandy Moore…

        Doubt it is true but would be awesome if it was. Hate to see people hide who they really are. And every big time celeb or athlete who comes out makes it easier for the next person.

        • The Gaijin says:

          TMZ is reporting it is a two-fold issue: (i) his father is very sick and (ii) an unwanted pregnancy with someone who is not his significant other – he doesn’t want a child with her but she wants to keep it.

          http://www.tmz.com/2013/11/18/georges-st-pierre-pregnancy-illness-derail-ufc-fighter/

          If true, (i) would be a really tough thing to deal with and I could see wanting to step away and be with your dad to support him and enjoy whatever time he has left. It would be very hard to concentrate and train for the type and level of fights/opponents GSP faces while having that weight on you. Some people would continue fighting, probably because they need to keep making $ to live, but for GSP he has that luxury of taking time away. For (ii) while that sucks and is probably a big kick in the pants, it is also a welcome to pro sports-type thing unfortunately and one of the things they warn pro athletes about ALL THE TIME…I could see how it would be a total mind-f*ck to an image conscious guy like GSP who seems to be obsessed with planning and have things just so.

  28. David m says:

    I had GSP winning rounds 2,3, & 5. Round two was the only really close round.

    Joe Rogan thinks he is scoring fights under Pride rules. Acting like Hendricks dominated is an absolute joke, he just doesn’t mark up.

    If anyone here isn’t smart enough to understand why Dana and Joe Rogan would be pushing Hendricks as winning the fight, knowing that GSP was going to retire, then humanity had no hope.

    • bigweeze says:

      The fight scoring is limited by the 10 point must system, as opposed to half point or Pride rules. By that system, it was conceivable that GSP won 1,3,5 given the unified rules’ scoring criteria.

      I’m not a fan of the champion getting bias for being the champion, but it does cut the other way for the challenger sometimes when someone does better than expected (see Penn-Edgar I). Neither scenarios are ideal.

      I’m not sure how you scored 2, but people and the judges thought it was Hendricks pretty unanimously, and that 1 was the debatable round.

      I suspect that Dana/Rogan had some hidden agenda going on Saturday night. Dana, understandably. But Rogan is largely a stand-up guy, and I find most of his biased commentary to be excusable as unintentional excitement. Rogan’s refusal to give up the mic was very curious given that GSP is the UFC’s greatest champion, best PPV draw, a model employee and seemingly it’s nicest person.

  29. Jonathan says:

    Well it looks like all of my predictions were right!

  30. rst says:

    Haven’t seen it.
    But good!

    That (almost) evens out getting a predictable decision over Condit.

  31. rst says:

    Well after finally seeing it (whats the hurry), hendricks probably won. He is pretty good. But he’s still as big of a jerkoff as I’ve suspected he is so I have no problem with him losing an arguable decision. I wouldn’t have a problem with there just being a point or two jerkoff penalty.

    Pretty good card though. Rory is good but obviously not terribly strong. Lawler/woodley would be fun to see. It reminds me of that old Eddie Murphy skit about singers always wanting to be actors and actors wanting to be singers how guys like koscheck are always trying to get into a brawl with much better natural brawlers. But taking advantage of stupidity is fair game.

    Also Chael/Shad seems to support my theory that Shogun just wasn’t (and probably never will be again) interested. Chael is okay, he can beat middle of the road guys, guys past their prime and guys who dont care, but he’s not particularly good. And although anderson is great but not as great as him beating up on a weak division made it look like to the easily impressionable. With Shad, Weidman, alligator, Lyoto, etc… 185 is better now at this moment than it ever was before. Maybe even a legit division.

  32. 45 Huddle says:

    The Bellator show with Rampage got 793,000 viewers. I am actually shocked on that one. I thought it was going to break 1 Million.

    That can’t be good news. He had to cost a lot of money and he couldn’t bring in the ratings.

    • Zheroen says:

      Source? MMA Weekly says the average was 1.1 million, with a peak of 1.4 million.

      http://www.mmaweekly.com/rampage-jackson-debut-propels-bellator-to-seasons-second-best-tv-ratings

      Nevermind, thought you were talking about Alvarez-Chandler.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        What you are seeing with Bellator is the same thing that happened with Strikeforce.

        In order to increase the audience they are paying a lot of money for newer fighters (like Rampage). And those fighters are basically increasing the average viewers from 600k to 800k. You have to ask if paying a guy like Rampage probably at least $250,000 is worth 200k worth of viewers. The answer is probably no, especially when the gates aren’t that great either.

        With that said, Cheick Kongo is a good investment because he costs about $60,000 to increase the ratings by about 200k.

  33. 45 Huddle says:

    GSP/Hendricks prelims did 998,000 viewers.

    A step in the right direction for that channel.

    Really interested to see what the average ratings are for live UFC events in August 2014. A full year to get fans used to the UFC on that channel…

    Better to determine if it is a bust or not.

  34. Manapua says:

    “Bellator will be gone in 6 months” – 45 Huddle 3 years ago

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