A summary of Bas Rutten’s excellent interview with Rampage Jackson
By Zach Arnold | September 21, 2011
Now this is the ‘old’ Rampage I used to hear during his PRIDE days when he would do interviews. Of course, I was producing a radio show during that time period when he had his rather… unique… story to tell about finding faith and cleaning up his act. Of course, trouble would soon follow after he signed with the UFC.
When Quinton Jackson respects you as a person, he gives a damn good interview. If he thinks you’re a clown or someone he can bully, he gets preoccupied with mocking you rather than focusing on answering what you ask. Extremely temperamental but when he’s on, he’s on.
“People, they hear me say stuff but they don’t feel what I say. Everybody needs money to make the world go around, you know what I’m saying?”
BAS RUTTEN: “What has changed the most for you since PRIDE?”
RAMPAGE JACKSON: “I got less Asian groupies…(laughter)
“I think my privacy changed a lot, I have less privacy. Like, in MMA you never know who knows you and I go to a restaurant or a place, you never know who be paying attention and then later at the end of your conversation with your friend they’ll ask you a question about Dana White or UFC or something. That’s like the most shocking thing, but you know what? The police… before, honestly, growing up in the neighborhood I grew up in… I really didn’t have much for the police. Now the police are nice to me and stuff and it’s different and that’s really important, you know, like to get pulled over the police and instead of being nervous and stuff like that. Honestly, people don’t understand, I’ve been threatened to been beaten by the police before, the police have threatened to beat my ass before so I never had a good encounter with them. So, now the police pull me over and they notice, like I don’t tell them but (if) they recognize then I’m like, they really nice and so they’re cool. If I deserve a ticket, they still give me a ticket. They treat me like a regular person most of the time but it’s cool not to be afraid and worried about (it)…”
There are three video clips and they are all extremely worthy of watching. In fact, the time will breeze right by as you’re watching them. The emotional and charisma here is off the charts.
After Rampage got done talking about how nice the police treat him right, he was asked about why we haven’t seen him do the ‘Rampage slam’ in the UFC. His answer, in short, is that opponents have wised up on how to defend it (including Wanderlei Silva). He has some interesting comments about Wanderlei the person and his behavior.
Bas then asked him a question that made Rampage very wistful for the old days of PRIDE…
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Bas Boon (Golden Glory) statement on relations with the #UFC & Alistair Overeem
By Zach Arnold | September 20, 2011
The UFC is not wrong!
I want to make the following statement to clear up any speculation.
The UFC did nothing wrong and neither did Golden Glory management when signing up Alistair Overeem with the UFC. It is public knowledge how the UFC does business. The fighters sign their own contracts and agreements. If journalists have any questions regarding Alistair Overeem’s statement about G.G please contact the UFC for any further questions. ALL correspondence between the UFC and Golden Glory was also shared/CC’d to Alistair Overeem, who finally made a decision to sign the agreements.
These are difficult times in the fighting industry. We are still waiting for payment of FEG, as Alistair said in the press, and the future of FEG is still unclear. There is a Dutch law called bibop in the Netherlands which makes promoting events there extremely difficult. There will be a lot of rumors like in the recent past when 4 G.G fighters were released from the UFC and Strikeforce and that was the so called end of G.G relationship with the UFC.
Not long after this rumor, Golden Glory made a mega-deal with Alistair Overeem signing with the UFC. John Olaf Einemo is now back with the UFC and Siyar Bahadurzada just got offered a UFC contract.
There is also some really good news coming soon about the situation in Japan and I really want to let everybody know the details — but I have signed multiple NDAs (non disclosure argreements) and I have to wait before publicly elaborating further.
With Sporting Greetings,
Bas Boon
P.S Try to become not a man of success but try to become a man a value. – Albert Einstein
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 4 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Jim Rome & Larry Merchant talk about Floyd Mayweather’s combustibility
By Zach Arnold | September 20, 2011
On Monday afternoon, Larry Merchant did a nine-minute interview on the Mason & Ireland radio program that broadcasts on ESPN 710 AM Los Angeles. It was every bit the interview that you would expect given the fallout from Saturday night’s fight between Floyd Mayweather & Victor Ortiz.
(Click on the link and you’ll see quotes from the interview.)
On most ESPN platforms yesterday, the consensus is that Ortiz got what he asked for even if it was ‘cheap’ by Floyd to finish the fight in the manner that he did. Jim Rome, yesterday, didn’t mince words about the way the fight played out.
“Right when you think that the sport of boxing has no more i’s left to dot, we get Saturday’s Mayweather/Ortiz debacle in Las Vegas. I mean, you can’t just make this stuff up and there’s plenty of blame to go around here, starting with Ortiz. Number one, that head butt was even dirtier than Mayweather cold-cocking him while he was attempting to hug it out with May. That smacked of a guy who knew that he was totally outclassed, got frustrated, and just snapped. And while Mayweather did not exactly class the joint up by icing a guy that he knew wasn’t paying attention, that’s also on Ortiz. It’s the first thing that you learn as a fighter and the last thing a referee tells you before the fight — protect yourself at all times — and Ortiz didn’t. Mayweather had been there before, Ortiz hadn’t and it showed. You want to apologize? Fine, touch gloves, resume fighting. But what was he doing hugging and kissing on Floyd? Weird, bizarre, and it got him knocked him out.
“Ortiz claims that it wasn’t a far fight and his camp wants a rematch. Classy and clean? No. But it was definitely fair. You don’t smash a guy’s face in with a head butt and then complain when you get hit with a dirty shot. You start down that path and you better be ready for anything and you weren’t. And you can forget about a rematch. Nobody outside your camp wants it. Mayweather was dominating that fight and he would have finished it sooner than later. A rematch is only in order if somebody gets jobbed and nobody was.
“Well, other than the fans, as usual.
“Mayweather, meanwhile, not only wasn’t apo9logizing for how he won, he actually thought it was good for business. As long as you’re looking at him and talking about him, he’s happy.
‘Hey man, I’m good. Controversy is okay. Nothing wrong with some controversy to get people talking. It’s all god.’
“Yeah, it’s all good… for you. Now go ask the million-plus who dropped crazy jack for that PPV if they think it’s all good because I’m guessing a good chunk of them don’t. They wanted to see a clean, natural ending to that fight, not you clocking a guy while he was still apologizing and not prepared to defend himself. Again, it may have been legal, but it wasn’t clean and fight fans got jammed yet again and they’re bent and I can see why. I mean, when was the last time you threw for a PPV card and actually felt like you got your money’s worth?
“As far as the fight that would be worth your money, Mayweather insists that he doesn’t need Pacquiao.
‘All Pacquiao is doing is fighting my leftovers. How can Pacquiao offer me anything? I do the offering. He has to get his business in order. When he fights, he gives up 30% of his check, I get 100%.’
“Wait, what? You’re not fighting, why? Because he has to chip cats off and you don’t? Look, I have no idea what that means or how that relates to anything but I know this — either you’re just ducking him or you won’t fight him because you think that he roids. But his promoter, Bob Arum, says that Pacquiao is now willing to submit to Olympic-style random blood & urine drug testing so that should address your concerns.
“And, by the way, you do need him. If you care as much about your legacy as you say you do and you do want to be considered one of the greatest of all time, then you need him. Maybe not in your eyes but most of the rest of the world will consider your career incomplete if you don’t fight Pacquiao. Skip this guy and there will always be a ‘yeah, but’ to your career. Get used to those questions because you’ll hear them almost every single day for the rest of your life.”
The bright side for Floyd’s PR team in Las Vegas? He may get some jail time soon for his pending legal battles, but it’s not like he went on Steve Cofield’s home radio station (ESPN 1100 in Las Vegas) to channel the spirit of Mike Tyson by talking about ‘wombshifters’ or anything of the sort.
Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Measuring the importance of ground & pound in the current MMA landscape
By Zach Arnold | September 20, 2011
As a 5-to-1 favorite in Saturday’s UFC 135 title fight, Jon “Bones” Jones is one high-profile champion utilizing ground ‘n pound skills in a manner conducive to offense, which goes against the grain of fighters like Jon Fitch & Georges St. Pierre. For this article, we take a look at the introduction of GNP in the earlier days of MMA and how/why it is currently utilized the way it is in the sport.
Continue reading this article here…
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 10 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
UFC on Fox: The importance & need of growing the right demographic for future expansion
By Zach Arnold | September 19, 2011
The reaction on social media circles, amongst MMA fans mind you, was about 95%/5% in terms of fans responding to what Floyd Mayweather did on Saturday night as opposed to what Jake Ellenberger did in beating Jake Shields. In fact, I’m probably being generous in that 95/5 ratio. Floyd Mayweather managed to suck all the non-football conversational oxygen in the room. Mayweather’s performance proved that boxing can still attract mainstream sports attention and do so in a much larger & more significant manner than anything UFC is able to accomplish.
A major key in why a big boxing fight can still command attention is due in part to the nature of the audience it attracts versus the nature of UFC’s audience. UFC’s audience, at least many casual fans, are more entertainment/pro-wrestling fans than they are sports fans. When you combine that with the fact that there is still a lacking of traditional sports media covering MMA and what you get is a niche within a niche. Mayweather’s fight with Victor Ortiz proved an ability to attract casual sports fans. The hype for the PPV was built upon large media platforms with significant scope & leverage. UFC has not been a benefactor of such support… until now.
There are many reasons the November 12th Anaheim fight between Cain Velasquez & Junior dos Santos is a critical starting point for UFC. Besides the fact that it’s a major fight on network television, it’s being promoted on a platform that has experience in promoting sports. Spike TV, for all the deeds they did for Zuffa, is not in the same league. Fox Sports is supporting UFC in a manner which CBS was not willing to back Pro Elite & Gary Shaw. When Pro Elite & Strikeforce events aired on CBS Saturday nights, it was CBS Entertainment and not CBS Sports backing those MMA events. The amount & quality of the promotion that CBS Entertainment gave to MMA was rather… underwhelming.
Fox Sports has lots of platforms to promote UFC under. They have college football on the regional sports networks (RSNs), on FX, and on the network television side. They have a web site with a healthy amount of eyeballs viewing content. The newspaper & digital media support Fox can lend to UFC is something that the company has not seen up until this point.
I mention all of these points because I was struck by just how awesome of a character Floyd Mayweather is in terms of drawing fan interest, both good & bad. He can pull in the average football or baseball fan and convince them every 16 months to shell out the cash on PPV to watch him. He makes a ton of money. It may not be ‘good’ for the sport of boxing in terms of overall health, but the vehicle that is boxing can still significantly outdraw MMA any day for a major prize fight.
The growth of UFC on Fox over the next seven years is going to be critical for the lifeblood of this industry. In additional to keep the current fan base that they already have, Zuffa needs to exponentially grow their amount of support amongst mainstream sports fans. Despite 2011 being a largely transitional year for UFC, it feels like the company has currently hit a glass ceiling (thanks in part due to the inordinate amount of PPVs, something Dana White for years railed against when it came to boxing promoters). In order for the ceiling to get shattered, the demographics and core audience for UFC needs to change significantly.
What makes the November 12th fight with Velasquez & dos Santos so intriguing is that, on paper, it looks like a healthy risk to take. It’s two lighter Heavyweights, both with power, for a title belt in front of the same crowd in which Velasquez beat Brock Lesnar last year. It was the Anaheim audience that brought into the “Brown pride” marketing. Despite the Honda Center being scaled down reportedly due to attendance concerns, I would expect a large & vociferous crowd for the show. The question is what kind of fans will show up for the event — will it be a new demographic that’s curious to watch a UFC show for the first time because it’s on Fox or will it be the conventional audience that UFC draws for the big fights?
UFC knows there’s a lot at stake for the November 12th fight and, yet, they need to somehow manage expectations so that the bar isn’t set too high for what is deemed ‘success’ versus ‘failure.’ One of the more unique aspects of Velasquez’s push last year against Brock Lesnar is that Cain, according to Dave Meltzer, was able to bring new Latino fans into the fold. However, the demographic Cain attracted was primarily English-speaking Hispanic households. Conversely, some fans that normally bought Brock’s big fights didn’t buy the one with Velasquez. Did the “Brown pride” and “first Mexican Heavyweight champion” marketing turn off some MMA fans that otherwise would have watched the title fight?
With UFC big shows on Fox, we’re going to see many of these questions amplified on a significant level. Both Velasquez & JDS need to be on Fox because they have largely been placed behind a PPV firewall and need all the over-the-air television exposure they can get. They are still not major stars and there are big question marks for both fighters heading into the November 12th fight. Can either guy carry a promotion and become a breakout star? How will being on Fox platforms change the way UFC develops new talent and new stars? Can the company manage to attract the imagination of the sports fan at-large in the United States to become more than just a niche sport?
After watching the Floyd Mayweather circus on Saturday night, I’m extremely fascinated to see if UFC & Fox can develop an MMA star that will command the… star power… that we still see on occasion for a big boxing match.
**
Here’s an ESPN Sports Science profile on Jon “Bones” Jones, who fights Rampage Jackson on Saturday in Denver. I thought their ‘hype session’ on Spike with Rogan was goofy and not exactly the kind of thing that will motivate people to be interested in the fight. What does interest me is a motivated Rampage, however. Is everyone still sure that Jones is worthy of being a 5-to-1 favorite heading into the fight?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 37 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
MMA Link Club: Nick Diaz talk 24/7… is he the industry’s most interesting man?
By Zach Arnold | September 17, 2011
He believes in what he’s saying… right?
Dana White & Big John McCarthy talk about the growth of UFC under Zuffa…
Member sites of the MMA Link Club
- Five Ounces of Pain – http://fiveouncesofpain.com/feed/rss
- MMA Fighting – http://www.mmafighting.com/rss.xml
- NBC Sports – http://www.nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/42363531/device/rss/rss.xml
- Cage Potato – http://www.cagepotato.com/feed
- MMA Mania – http://feeds.feedburner.com/sportsblogs/mmamania.xml
- 5thRound – http://www.5thround.com/feed
- Bleacher Report – http://bleacherreport.com/articles/feed?tag_id=3007
- MiddleEasy – http://middleeasy.com/index.php?format=feed&type=rss
- LowKick – http://www.lowkick.com/newrss
- The Fight Nerd – http://www.thefightnerd.com/feed
- MMA Convert – http://feeds.feedburner.com/mmaconvert
- Fight Opinion – http://feeds.feedburner.com/fightopinion
- MMA Payout – http://feeds.feedburner.com/Payout
This week’s MMA Link Club featured stories
Five Ounces of Pain: On UFC’s Ultimate Fighter 14 conference call, both Mayhem Miller & Michael Bisping agree that the other person is annoying & irritating
MMA Fighting (Michael David Smith): BJ Penn, UFC spar over how to hype Nick Diaz fight
“They forced me to say, at the end of the whole thing, they forced me,” Penn said of the way the UFC wanted him to directly address Diaz. “‘You gotta say Nick Diaz’s name now, you gotta say his name.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ They were like, ‘Say you’re gonna beat Nick Diaz. Say you’re going to beat Nick Diaz.’ And I said, ‘I’m going to beat Nick Diaz.'”
NBC Sports (Mike Chiappetta): Primer for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night event on Spike TV from New Orleans
Cage Potato: Video fact check — did the UFC really ‘force’ BJ Penn to say he’d beat Nick Diaz?
MMA Mania (Brian Hemminger): The key for Jake Ellenberger to win is to strike, strike, strike
The key for Ellenberger will be to land a strike with power without trying too hard and leaving a huge opening for an easy takedown. Perhaps what would work best would be if “The Juggernaut” can really work his jab. If he can find a home for a short, snappy punch then he can build confidence to throw that nasty power strike and hurt the former Strikeforce middleweight champion.
5th Round: Nick Diaz lost at least $1 million from UFC 137 demotion
Bleacher Report: Paul Daley says America is no longer the center of the MMA training universe
I don’t see the benefit of training in the US. There are a bunch of fighters I’ve beaten that have lived and trained permanently in the US, and conversely, there are a bunch of guys I’ve lost to that have never trained in the US. I don’t think the US is the hub it used to be back in the day when I went over to American Top Team.
Middle Easy: BJ Penn talks about his match-up with Nick Diaz in this raw, uncut interview
Low Kick: Leandro Issa talks about Shinya Aoki being a great teammate and someone he learned a lot from
The Fight Nerd: 20-minute interview with ‘Joe Palooka’ comic creator, Joe Antonacci
MMA Convert (Jim Genia): That awkward feeling for both Spike TV & UFC on Saturday night
You know what’s awkward? When you and your long-term girlfriend make plans months in advance for a grand cruise to the Virgin Islands, but you end up breaking up a week before the vacation and start dating someone else. Unfortunately, the trip has already been paid for and the tickets are non-refundable and non-transferrable. What do you do? Do you cancel and absorb the fiscal loss with a grimace? Or do you put on your game face and go with your clearly bitter ex-girlfriend anyway?
MMA Payout: Interview with ‘Warrior’ star Joel Edgerton
“I thought it was a good script and an ambitious project.” Edgerton’s participation in the movie was due in part because of director Gavin O’Connor. He was a fan of his work on Miracle and Pride and Glory. “If you are going to do a movie on MMA, you had to do it right and breathe life into it.” Edgerton added, “He’s (O’Connor) the right person to do it as you see it (Warrior) now.”
O’Connor, produced the raw, HBO documentary, “The Smashing Machine,” which featured MMA fighter Mark Kerr. Edgerton recalls watching it when it came out and saw it again in preparation to work with O’Connor, “I saw it again. I think it was an interesting template for what Warrior is about.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Jed Meshew on Dana White’s most philosophical question ever asked on The Ultimate Fighter
By Zach Arnold | September 14, 2011
By Jed Meshew
“Do you want to be a fucking fighter?!”
Six years ago, Dana White posited that question to sixteen upcoming mixed martial artists in the middle of a gym in Las Vegas, Nevada. Several weeks later, Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar would put on what is widely viewed as the most influential fight in the history of MMA. On that night, all sixteen contestants from the first season of The Ultimate Fighter would fight. Of them, eight are still fighting in the UFC, five went on to challenge for a title, and one eventually became a champion. It was a blend of highly touted prospects and established veterans each vying for a golden opportunity into the UFC and though other seasons have produced great fighters and even a few champions, none rival the depth of talent present in the first season of the show.
Instead, each of the subsequent seasons have become increasingly formulaic, the rosters shallower, and while the ratings have only taken a marginal hit the show is no longer creating stars as it did in the first few seasons. Instead, the truly talented fighters who once would find their way into the TUF house are now receiving direct contracts into the UFC and the show’s cast has been relegated to mediocre fighters and over the top personalities rather than true top shelf prospects.
However, season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter looks to break this trend with a roster as deep as the original season. Opening up the new divisions in the UFC has, quite frankly, legitimized those weights to potential fighters. Instead of being put in the awkward position of fighting dramatically above one’s natural weight or toiling in relative obscurity for significantly lower pay, smaller fighters now have the option of fighting at their appropriate level (save for flyweights who will still have to wait another year or so until the UFC can clear up the logistics). By creating belts in these weight classes, the UFC has opened up a hitherto untapped cache of talent and the sudden influx of fighters clawing for a spot into the UFC at this new developing weight range has resulted in an entire season of quality fighters. Unlike the last several seasons, where there is perhaps one great fighter amid the ranks if any, this season boasts a cast where the question of who wins is legitimately difficult to answer. Make no mistake — this cast has at the minimum several future top-10 fighters and probably at least one champion as well.
Who to watch for
The high quality of fighters accrued for this season of The Ultimate Fighter is highlighted by the UFC seemingly recruiting out of the top camps in the sport right now. TJ Dillashaw and Bryan Caraway are both Team Alpha Male fighters; Marcus Brimage and Micah Miller both train in Coconut Creek Fl. with American Top Team, and John Dodson and Diego Brandao are products of the Jackson Mixed Martial Arts system. Mixed in with these men are a host of other up and comers training with UFC veterans and in elite gyms around the world. The cast boast six fighters who honed their skills in the Bellator Fighting Championship, as well as several EliteXC and Sengoku veterans, the Cage Warriors featherweight champion, the Ring of Combat featherweight champion, the King of the Cage flyweight champion, and a myriad of fighters decorated in wrestling, jiu-jitsiu and kickboxing. Top to bottom this class is the deepest since the first season and quite possibly the most talented group ever assembled.
Headlining this group is Urijah Faber protégé TJ Dillashaw. Training at Team Alpha Male with Faber and Joseph Benavidez, Dillashaw was a reasonably accomplished amateur wrestler and has adapted an mma style which matches what one would expect of an Alpha Male product. He puts on a high pressure offense and has an intuitive sense of ground and pound. He is hyper aggressive and though he may occasionally make positional lapses in his zeal for damage, his quickness and instinctive grappling game have kept him safe from any real trouble. Dillashaw is one of the rawest talents on the show, but his wrestling abilities and natural athleticism should carry him far and I fully expect him to develop into a perennial top 10 fighter given time.
John Dodson is another fighter of particular interest. A product of Greg Jackson, “The Magician” is already a a top ten fighter… in the flyweight division. He, along with Jimmie Rivera, are awaiting the impending flyweight division but in the mean time have decided to try their hand at the UFC bantamweights until an adequate home is created for their talents. Dodson has spectacular physical gifts and has proven his ability to take a punishment and continue fighting seemingly unfazed. He is a talented grappler with very capable standup and should be a force for quite some time once the flyweight division is established and could even make waves in the developing bantamweight division.
Probably the most recognizable fighter in the house will be Cole Miller’s younger brother Micah, who is well positioned to make a deep run towards the finals. Micah’s style is very similar to his brother’s which has resulted in a four year career in the UFC, so I see no reason why Micah wouldn’t have similar success. Expect to be seeing him in the UFC for many years to come. These three fighters are just a small sampling of talent that the TUF 14 cast contains.
Back to the basics
Though the talent level harkens back to the original season, it will be tough to capture that magic both in viewership and in relevance. Reality television is over-saturating by nature and The Ultimate Fighter is no different. What originally was a novel and unique idea was quickly packaged by Spike executives and presented for viewing consumption with decreasing quality in exchange for quantity and ratings.
The first season was a magical blend of talent and turmoil, combining the volatile nature of men who fight in cages professionally with real emotional arcs. In the first season everything seemed real (though its possible it was completely different). These weren’t people trying to get famous for reality TV, these were fighters trying to make a life for themselves and the audience responded. Chris Leben breaking down and crying on national tv is what made him a star and part of the reason he is still beloved today and also partly why many people still intensely dislike Josh Koscheck. The genuineness of the first season has been lost in the subsequent years (probably around the time Gabe Ruediger missed his weight cut) and has been replaced by trite character archetypes. Each season, the viewer can be relatively certain they will see doors smashed, angry guys yelling at each other, drunken debauchery, and some mixture of tears and urine. Its the norm now.
In many respects, The Ultimate Fighter can be viewed as a microcosm of the UFC and MMA in general. MMA has long struggled with balancing the sport versus the spectacle; trying to increase revenue through viewership while still maintaining the integrity of an athletic endeavor. Its why Bob Sapp and Kimbo Slice are huge stars despite only a modicum of talent and why Pride pitted the greatest HW of all time against Zuluzhino. And though under the Zuffa banner the UFC has, for the most part, foregone these “freakshow” type of fights this is still the same company which put James Toney in a cage with Randy Couture, so the degradation of a reality show based around fighters being forced to live together for six weeks with no form of entertainment other than alcohol should come as no surprise to anyone.
What has kept the show afloat the past few seasons has really been both the power of the UFC brand and the stars the company has attached to the show. The last four seasons have been coached by Brock Lesnar, Georges St. Pierre, Chuck Liddell, and Quinton Jackson quite possibly the four biggest names in the company. Throw the presence of Kimbo Slice in season ten and its clear to see that the UFC is using its biggest stars to attract eyeballs to the show.
Will personalities sell this time around?
Season 14 is no exception to this rule as Mayhem Miller, fresh off his MTV Bully Beatdown fame, will be coaching opposite Michael Bisping. While this is likely the gimmick which will attract the most viewers, its quite possibly the least interesting angle of the whole show. Even though Bisping and Mayhem are both highly capable fighters and their interactions will probably be rife with “TV gold” due to Mayhem’s antics their forced rivalry just pales in comparison to the genuinely interesting story-lines revolving around this cast, most notably that there are several sets of teammates on this season who could potentially be matched up with each other. Not only that but there are two brothers who could feasibly be forced to fight. In the current UFC climate where fighters refusing to fight teammates puts the kibosh on several tremendously entertaining fights (*cough* AKA *cough*) the possibility of brothers going toe to toe simply for a chance at a contract rather than huge sums of money is both refreshing and intriguing.
The Ultimate Fighter 14 is an important season for the UFC, marking a potential turning point for the franchise and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Increasing the talent level on the show bolsters both its credibility as a source of talent as well as presents the potential for increased viewership which could prove important considering the ensuing move from Spike to FX and the possible changes which could occur as a result of the new production team. When the UFC signed their network deal with Fox they made sure to retain control of the production of their product; however, White admitted that he sees “this Fox deal as a fresh start for us, so I want to change everything…. everything is going to have a different feel to it.”
This change can already be felt with the impending doom of the “Gladiator Man/Face the Pain” entrance which the UFC has used since 2002. The Gladiator man entrance has been consistently derided by the majority of the MMA media as an encapsulation of all the deplorable stereotypes associated with MMA and the UFC’s willingness to dump is indicative of their continuing efforts to to push their company brand further into the mainstream. When The Ultimate Fighter makes its move to FX it will become a show in the Fox family of programs; a representative of both Fox and the potentially reinvented UFC. If Dana White is serious about refreshing the UFC in look and style then the most obvious place to start would be the company’s flagship series; which begs the question, if the demographic to which the Gladiator man intro appeals is the same group that enjoys watching urination and destruction of property on TUF and if they are moving away from that demographic, do the production values of the show change the with it?
The answer is most probably yes. The UFC name brand alone is now enough to draw in the eyes of the coveted male 18-35 demographic, and while the show is reality TV and with thus be allowed some leeway, I expect to see the baser forms of debauchery curtailed under the Fox banner. The fighters themselves have begun to do a decent job of policing themselves from perpetrating sophomoric acts in recent seasons and the UFC seemingly moving from the “meathead” population (which they already have a hammerlock on) to try an bring in new viewers will only result in less ridiculousness. Also, the fact that FX is intending to broadcast live fights creates an interesting wrinkle in the system which will impede the production team from forcing story arcs as reality TV is wont to do.
Instead of having an entire seasons worth of material to edit into a finished product the TUF production team will be working on a weekly basis so they will have less material with which to craft story-lines and will be forced to present what is available. The combination of FX having a say in the content and the transition to weekly live fights will invariably end up with a tamer show, focused on the prospects themselves rather than the drama in the house. Any drop in the ratings which would be caused by the lack of drama should be offset by the fact that FX is available in more homes than Spike is and thus is going to naturally draw in more viewers. Also, the live aspects of the fights is a major upsell for the network and the UFC. Live television has s certain magic the taped broadcasts cannot replicate and thus live fights are more likely to draw in viewership than a prerecorded show.
Will the Friday night time slot sink the show?
The biggest potential hiccup for The Ultimate Fighter and FX is the unfortunate time slot which it will occupy. Friday night is a relative dead zone of programming so it will be interesting to see how the show can handle that. The fact that it is a dead zone means there won’t be much competition at the time slot for the male demographic and with football taking up Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays there is a window there for TUF to produce results. When FX ran their Toughman Series in the same time slot it consistently placed top in the males 18-35 demographic and that was sans the same marketability as the UFC brand name. Also, ESPN has been posting solid ratings with their Friday Night Fights series so the opportunity is certainly there for the first season of TUF on FX to do well. And if the show can succeed on FX supported primarily by the talent of the fighters, it gives the UFC more incentive to continue recruiting top tier prospects for the show rather than filling it with mid levelers. Attaching the UFC name brand to live fights, as well as moving the show onto a bigger network with the Fox marketing machine behind it, could very well bring more eyeballs to the TV. I don’t know and I won’t know for certain until the season premieres. But what I do know is that the UFC has a unique opportunity to start anew here and rebrand their franchise.
The show has become stale and outside of a few athletes being injected into a still thin Heavyweight division has not produced a truly talented prospect in years. With the change in both network and time-slot and possibly casts with improving talent levels, the UFC has the chance to revitalize their flagship franchise and re-establish The Ultimate Fighter as its premiere feeder program. For the past few years TUF has lost sight of the goal of developing prospects into contenders and champions in lieu of promoting headlining fights but now is a perfect time to return The Ultimate Fighter to its roots and introduce the world to the next generation of UFC stars. Whether or not they do is up to them, but just the potential for true high caliber fighters on weekly TV has me eager to find out.
Jed Meshew is an aspiring writer/journalist who will hopefully be writing content more frequently. You can contact him with comments, questions, concerns, or criticism at [email protected] or on Twitter at Twitter.com/StanleyKael.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 20 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Kurt Angle explains why imitating Fedor is impossible
By Zach Arnold | September 13, 2011
“Fedor, he always has this smile on his face, you don’t know if he’s mad or happy. I can tell you this — when I was casting for [the movie], they tried at least 48, 49 different fighters and actors. They couldn’t get the right look and if they did the person was full of tattoos, so thank God I was at the right place at the right time. I was near the end of the line where they were going to just settle for somebody. I came in, I blew them away with my sparring, my technique, my striking, and my takedowns, thank God. Then they… I knew where they were going when they said we want you to be a Russian fighter named Koba that shows no emotion. I’m like, Fedor. So they asked me some questions. They said, how much you weigh? I said 230. They said, can you lose 30 pounds? I said yeah, sure. They said, can you not tan for a couple of months because obviously Fedor is pale. And they also asked me if I had any tattoos and I thought, well, Fedor doesn’t have tattoos. “No, I don’t,” and I lied, I have one on my back. So, thank God, in the movie they covered it up.
“But what I did is I studied tapes of Fedor and he’s… you’d think it would be easy because he really doesn’t show any emotion but I couldn’t figure him out. Like, he’s getting ready to fight, he has a little cracked smile like… you know, it just stays like that. And, I’m like, they want me to be this guy, I’ll try to be him but me because I can’t figure this guy out, he’s too complex.
“But, yeah, they based it off of Fedor and, at the time, he was undefeated besides the fight where he got the cut so he was a lot more popular at that point, this was two years ago, two and a half years ago when we filmed it. So, yeah, I lost the weight, quit tanning, I learned the techniques. The great thing about being a pro-wrestler, thank God, is that I could learn the choreography 30 times faster than other fighters, I learned the choreography like that and they were worried about that because I had to be on the road 4-5 days a week wrestling and I was only there limitedly so I promised them that I would learn the technique very quickly and I did. So, they were very impressed by that.
“I’m just happy to be a part of this movie. I knew it would be a huge success but I didn’t know it was going to be this big.”
As to his reaction on getting some of his speaking scenes cut:
“I understand now, Fedor doesn’t interviews and… they had me learn Russian and I learned it for three months and I did it very well, thank God, but I think they went back and said, you know what, Fedor doesn’t talk, let’s pull that out. I was a little sad, you know, it’s like, oh man…
His personal thoughts on the upcoming Brock Lesnar/Alistair Overeem fight at the end of 2011:
“I have a lot of respect for Brock. I think that in any fight he’s in he has a chance. You don’t realize how strong and how athletic Brock Lesnar is until you get in that ring with him. I’ve sparred with him in real wrestling. I’m not going to tell you who won, I’ll say I was very happy with the outcome. But I’m a much more experienced wrestler. Brock Lesnar is the best athlete over 250 (pounds) that I’ve ever seen in my life. He benches over 600 pounds, I’ve seen him squat over 1,000 pounds. This guy is an animal, so you can’t say that he has no chance. He always has a chance and, you know what, he can take a punch. Of course, he’s gotten knocked down and he’s got knocked out, but he can take a punch. The guy’s an animal, so he has a shot every time he goes out there and I wish him the best.”
Here’s a bonus clip of BJ Penn talking about finding a ‘perfect’ fight in MMA (he says he hasn’t had it, yet) or the perfect fighter (he says all the top fighters are flawed). Very interesting interview.
As for whether or not Nick Diaz has really, truly agreed to fight BJ Penn… depends what media outlet you read, but the general consensus is that, as of this moment, nothing has been signed.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 8 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Jake Ellenberger: Carlos Rocha was a more dangerous UFC opponent than Jake Shields is
By Zach Arnold | September 12, 2011
“It’s been a good, hard 8-10 weeks, I haven’t had any injuries which has been, it’s been a blessing but… I’m ready for training to be over. We had a tough day today, a real good hard push. I mean, I’m excited to fight, you know. Jake Shields’ is just another guy, another guy in the way for me to get to a world title, so I’m excited.” — FightHubTV.com interview
INTERVIEWER: “And I feel that a lot of people have you under the radar, really underestimating you.”
JAKE ELLENBERGER: “That’s probably true, it really doesn’t matter to me. Jake Shields, like I said, he’s beat some high-level guys, I don’t think it’s a huge step up in competition at all. I mean, honestly, I think Carlos Rocha, the guy I beat back in February, I think he was more dangerous than Jake Shields. You know, Jake Shields, he presents some different problems for me but I’m prepared, I’m ready, I’ve done everything I can to prepare for this fight. I’m going to make him as uncomfortable as possible, so he’s got a lot more to worry about than I do.”
INTERVIEWER: “Going back to tactics for this fight right here, GSP some say that he didn’t pressure him as much as many like to see him. Martin Kampmann pressured Jake a lot and a lot of people felt Jake, conditioning-wise, they called that into question. Do you plan on pressuring Jake more than those two last opponents he’s had?”
JAKE ELLENBERGER: “I can assure that, from bell to bell… I’m sure as his night follows day I’m going to pressure him from bell to bell. GSP didn’t pressure him at all, Martin Kampmann did (but) I think it was a little too late when he started to pressure him. It’s going to be pressure from bell to bell. I’m going to make him tired. The thing about Kampmann is I think if he could have kept position and could have controlled his wrestling and the gates of where the fight went he could have pulled out the victory there but, you know, wrestling’s going to make you tired and I’ve been there, I’ve been there a million times so… you know, that’s… I’m going to fight him like I do everyone else, there’s going to be pressure the whole fight.”
INTERVIEWER: “A lot of people are really worried to get on the ground with Jake knowing his BJJ credentials but I feel like knowing the guys that train over here at Reign and the amount of talent that comes in here, people like Werdum helping the team over here that you might be in a position where you’ve seen a lot of the things that Jake could throw at you and you’re fully prepared.”
JAKE ELLENBERGER: “Yeah, you know, listen, a fight is a fight and you can’t respect the guy you’re fighting. You can’t be afraid, you can’t be timid, you can’t fight timid. Hesitation will get you caught, it’s get you beat. I have, you know, I am aware at what he’s good at, I’m aware of his strengths but it’s not going to effect the way that I fight him. I train with plenty of high-level guys. Honestly, I don’t respect, when I fight him, I’m not going to respect anything. I’m going to come after him and find a way to win. But… I’m not going to fight timid at all. His ground game, you know, sure, he’s got a good ground game but… that doesn’t matter, you know. He’s going to hit and he’s going to get hit a lot.”
Here’s an interview from last Friday that Jake Shields did on Comcast Sportsnet Bay Area w/ Dave Benz. It was tough for him to do this, but he’s a trooper and came through in the end. Of course, when you’re an independent contractor and yet considered “the exclusive property of the UFC” as Lorenzo Fertitta likes to say about his fighters, you have to be a company man. Ask Kurt Pellegrino about that.
As for whether or not Ellenberger could get a Welterweight title shot if he beats Shields, the answer is… perhaps, yes, because Jon Fitch sure as hell doesn’t look like he’s ever getting a title shot again.
Jake Shields (-170) vs. Jake Ellenberger (+150)
Card line-up for UFC 9/17 New Orleans event
Will be interesting to see if Spike runs a bunch of Bellator ads during the UFC telecast and if there’s any tension between the parties at the event.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Jordan Breen on why Carlos Condit vs. GSP is a better fight than Nick Diaz vs. GSP
By Zach Arnold | September 10, 2011
“I like the Condit fight more. I think if someone’s going to hurt and ruin Georges St. Pierre, it’s one-shot business. You hit him in the face, he’s crushed, he’s on weak legs, you follow up, you put him away. You follow that Matt Serra blueprint. Death by a million cuts is what Nick Diaz employs and that’s not how Georges St. Pierre loses. Nick Diaz beats a guy, beats a guy, beats a guy, and then finally its just one body shot too much, there’s a straw that breaks the camel’s back, and that dude goes down and he’s toast. Georges St. Pierre is someone that if he even gets to the second level of Red Alert, if he takes a flush punch to the face, you’re probably looking at a knee tap or a power-double or something to get that dude on the mat.
“So, in terms of actual style, I don’t think that Nick Diaz was ever a guy to really be seriously threatening to Georges St. Pierre. I mean, he’s a still great Welterweight and still deserves a crack, but I didn’t think he had it. Now, Carlos Condit, he still has poor takedown defense and it’s probably going to be the thing that does him in in this fight. He’s going to be taken down, he’s going to get beat up, he’s probably going to have his guard passed. He can try to reclaim it but there’s going to be a lot of top-position hustle going on. That said, Carlos Condit is long and has some reach like Nick Diaz but he’s a more well-rounded striker, he kicks more, he knees more, he elbows more, and now he’s even become a puncher. Carlos Condit used to kind of punch like a wet noodle, he used to kind of fight in a way (like) Diego Nunes where he circles around and kicks a lot and does that kind of thing. More aggressive, but he didn’t have punches in his game. Ever since he really starched Dan Hardy with these nasty, nasty punches we’ve started to see a more serious puncher come out in Carlos Condit. Then, turns around to the Dong Hyun-Kim fight, rips his face off with a flying knee. Dong Hyun-Kim is a guy who might have cardio issues but historically has been able to take a pretty darn good lick and he just wiped him out with that flying knee.
“Carlos Condit actually has that one-strike power that can rattle a guy’s brain and get the snowball rolling down the hill. I don’t know that Nick Diaz could have done that. So, based on the most likely way for someone to actually beat Georges St. Pierre and overcome the physical and technical abilities that he has, I think they have to land that one hard crushing shot standing and I think now you actually have the chance to see that with Carlos Condit where we probably didn’t have that chance with Nick Diaz.
“As pointed out repeatedly and ad nauseam at this point, just not as interesting for most people. But the PPV buys, though? I think more than anything the PPV buys for UFC 137 will reflect how many people are simply interested in Georges St. Pierre for Georges St. Pierre because in Condit you definitely have a hardcore fan’s pleasure. The only people that are going to share the thought that I just shared are people who watch a lot of Mixed Martial Arts and who care on that level. Just most people who want to go and see a scrap and know the guys involved probably prefer Nick Diaz and will be bummed that he’s not in the fight and perhaps justifiably so.
“Condit actually tries to sweep and get up off his back, he strikes from his back. Diaz just lays there and goes for submissions and always seems amazed when he ends up losing a decision as a result of it. So, that’s one angle. And the other is Condit & Diaz might be similarly competent strikers but Condit strikes with a lot more tools and a lot more power and, as I said, I don’t think Georges St. Pierre’s ever going to be the guy who goes down from a million cuts. You got to slice the throat pretty quick. If you just hurt him a little bit, a teensy bit, you’re just going to get taken down and assaulted. What’s the point? You need the homerun… because one strike is what you need to get the ball rolling, it can’t just be 11 million punch combinations. You think Nick Diaz is going to get the chance to land (on GSP) the kind of shots he put on Paul Daley? Not a chance in hell.”
The larger point about why Nick Diaz deserved punishment for no-showing his press duties
In response to a caller who says that Roy Jones Jr. skipped out on press conferences and it didn’t hurt fan interest in his big fights and how there’s a double standard being applied to Nick Diaz here…
“Do you really think that Fox officials look at this and think, ‘oh, this is great, we can sell this.’ They’re horrified. This isn’t about selling a fight. It’s not about a press conference at all. It’s about professional decorum and doing the things necessary to help a product and help yourself and help your brand and all these things. I mean, if Nick Diaz didn’t get show up to any press conferences and showed up to fight, would it make a difference? Maybe not, I mean I’m sure he’d probably lose a five-round decision anyways if he did show up to fight. But that’s not the point.
“First of all, the fact that he’s done it serially… I mean, it’s not like he missed one press conference. He missed repeated flights, no one could find him, he ran out of his home when his trainer… Georges St. Pierre is trained by Greg Jackson and so forth. Nick Diaz has a second father in Cesar Gracie and he ran out of his home and ran away. He’s in no position to be even training to fight on this level, not a chance.
“On top that, it’s about everything else. It’s not about a fight. It’s about sponsors looking at the UFC and going, ‘you can’t even make your fighters show up, you’re a joke, how can we pay you money?’ It’s about Fox looking and going, ‘wait, you guys have press conferences and you just let your fighters not show up? Really? Like, you think that’s acceptable?’ So, it’s not about him missing one press conference. If it was, I mean, it’s happened before. Nick Diaz has missed ton of press conferences and people go ‘oh.’ This is different. It’s a concentrated chain of self-destructive behavior that went on for a week, culminating in this.
“Put it this way — if you don’t think this was a big deal why do you think Cesar Gracie reacted the way he did? If Nick Diaz normally killed someone Cesar Gracie would typically be the first guy to go, ‘yeah, he was in Nick’s face, Nick didn’t do anything wrong.’ Cesar Gracie’s that guy. What do you think it says that a guy who essentially has another son in Nick Diaz goes, ‘he’s a 28 year old man, he needs to take responsibility for himself.’ You don’t think that suggests a different situation?”
Why fans have celebrated Nick Diaz’s act for so long & what his fans do next
“I think if you do want a look at the fact that Nck Diaz does have something askew inside his psyche, again, look at the comparison to his brother Nate. They’re highly similar people brought up in a highly similar environment and unlike most brother they don’t try to diverge and have different interests. Nick and Nate… these guys train together, eat together, do a lot of things together, share largely the same circle of friends, these brothers don’t get away from one another all that often, whether professionally or personally and, yet, when you really look at it and meet them they’re different people. And the thing that comes across strongly is I would describe Nate more aggro and in-your-face, Nick is normally more stand-offish unless provoked and he said as much quietly in the past and even sometimes outwardly in the media, I mean he has problems with social anxiety and doesn’t like, as I said, fitting in and playing the game and all these things.
“And I think the nature of the UFC is a lot different. It’s one thing for him to show up at a Strikeforce press conference after he fights and have a couple of hardcore fight journalists there field questions at him… I mean, when you’re dealing with, your second father, the man’s who’s trained you for over a decade, Cesar Gracie, shows up to your home and you run out the back door, this is not garden variety ‘Nick Diaz being Nick Diaz.’ This isn’t the equivalent of Manny Ramirez taking a day off in a 162 game baseball season and going to have a drink at a local bar and watch his team on TV much to the chagrin of the Red Sox. No, it’s not that dynamic.
“I think people have talked too much about Nick Diaz’s issues in the wrong light… It’s sad. This is a guy who is a talented fighter, not the greatest Welterweight in the world but a talented, exciting, and in many cases popular fighter who many people like watching fight who simply has massive psychological issues that often either result in him making a fool out of himself or reflect poorly on him when he does things like this.
“So, as far as the Nick Diaz situation goes, I do think Dana White may have overreacted in a ridiculous way but even if I like the Condit/GSP fight more forthright and directly, I really think that… I think that people really do need to take a good, hard look and the psycho and social elements of Nick Diaz right now. And consider the fact that in sports there’s a lot of things that go on. At the end of the day, these are still people. That’s the thing that often gets forgotten. For most people who are Nick Diaz fans, they look from a long, long distance away and think, ‘oh, yeah, Nick Diaz, he’s a great fighter, whatever.’ But Nick Diaz is also a dude, he’s just a guy, he’s a guy in his late 20’s who makes some horrible decisions who in addition to being a great fighter is also a really, really flawed person in a lot of ways and it shouldn’t be surprising. MMA attracts a certain kind of person in many cases who’s often given to not being the most well-adjusted person. I mean, MMA is a sport that, yeah, your average dude can love and compete in. But at the same time this sport attracts a different breed for a great many reasons and sometimes it plays out negatively in a very, very obvious fashion. But we shouldn’t be surprised. We court these kinds of personalities and in the case of Nick Diaz maybe celebrate them to excess. It’s kind of scary the amount of joy in which we derive in other people’s neuroses or psychopathy or just mental anxiety and anguish.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
MMA Link Club: You buying or selling Vitor Belfort/Cung Le as UFC SJ top fight?
By Zach Arnold | September 10, 2011
Video produced by our friends at The Fight Nerd.
Member sites of the MMA Link Club
- Five Ounces of Pain – http://fiveouncesofpain.com/feed/rss
- MMA Fighting – http://www.mmafighting.com/rss.xml
- NBC Sports – http://www.nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/42363531/device/rss/rss.xml
- Cage Potato – http://www.cagepotato.com/feed
- MMA Mania – http://feeds.feedburner.com/sportsblogs/mmamania.xml
- 5thRound – http://www.5thround.com/feed
- Bleacher Report – http://bleacherreport.com/articles/feed?tag_id=3007
- MiddleEasy – http://middleeasy.com/index.php?format=feed&type=rss
- LowKick – http://www.lowkick.com/newrss
- The Fight Nerd – http://www.thefightnerd.com/feed
- MMA Convert – http://feeds.feedburner.com/mmaconvert
- Fight Opinion – http://feeds.feedburner.com/fightopinion
- MMA Payout – http://feeds.feedburner.com/Payout
This week’s MMA Link Club featured stories
Five Ounces of Pain: The Diaz Dilemma — MMA isn’t a beauty pageant
UFC knew what they were getting themselves into when they moved Diaz over from Strikeforce to UFC. He held up Strikeforce more than once, whether he was unwilling to take a drug test on time or his actions in the last ever Strikeforce show on CBS or his lack of cooperation in trying to put fights together that the fans wanted. Even though we didn’t always know where Diaz was, we knew who he was. He was going to smoke weed, he was going to trash-talk opponents during fights, and he was going to be himself. That’s why so many fans flock to him.
MMA Fighting: Remaining heavyweights ponder uncertain stakes in Strikeforce GP
Alistair Overeem got dropped from the tournament and signed to the UFC, so the four fighters who are left behind have to figure out for themselves exactly what’s at stake when the Grand Prix lurches onward this Saturday night.
As Josh Barnett pointed out, the winner now gets “a nice, shiny belt,” so there’s that. But aside from the hardware, what else is at stake? The answer to that depends on who you ask.
NBC Sports: Chiappetta’s primer – Strikeforce GP
On Saturday, (Luke) Rockhold returns in a championship match against middleweight kingpin Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. It’s a big jump from where he was in February 2010 to where he’s going on Saturday. He’s being rushed. There are no two ways about that, and it will be an uphill task to seize that golden opportunity.
Cage Potato: ‘Warrior’, as reviewed by real-life MMA fighter Nick Newell
I was fully expecting campy dialogue accompanied by terrible acting, and boy was I wrong. The plot made sense and unraveled well. All in all, WARRIOR really packs a punch (get it!). Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) is a former high school wrestling star and Marine with a past filled with demons, which eventually come out as the movie unwinds. After the death of his mother and going incognito for a number of years, Tommy returns to the home of his alcoholic and abusive father Paddy Conlon (Nick Nolte) to remind him that he’s a piece of
shitwhile also asking him to help him train for MMA competition.
MMA Mania: Know your Bellator – interview with Ben Saunders (part one & part two)
Everyone’s different. I’ve even toyed with the pros and cons, what aspects it takes to get your mind right. How do you accomplish that? At the end of the day for me, it’s always been when I tell myself that at no other point in time other than right there, right when that door closes and that ref says, “Fight!,” that is the only time where I actually get to go out there with no shin guard, no knee pads, no elbow pads and go really try to hurt someone.
5th Round: Jake Ellenberger expects an inspired Jake Shields following death of father
Bleacher Report: Carlos Condit speaks about Nick Diaz, GSP, and UFC 137
Middle Easy: Fedor track suit investment opportunity
Low Kick: Rich Franklin out 2-3 months with shoulder injury
MMA Convert: Jacare about to put a beatdown on Luke Rockhold
Let’s do some math. On the Souza side of the equation, there’s a Brazilian wielding some of the best jiu-jitsu on the planet, a Strikeforce middleweight belt, and experience slaying all sorts of killer competition. On the Rockhold side of the equation, there’s a jiu-jitsu brown belt, a resume full of wins over less-than-stellar competition, and an injury hiatus that encompasses the last year and a half. Now, based on my calculations, on Saturday night someone is going to be outclassed exponentially, divided brutally, and subtracted from the cage. Any idea who that’s going to be?
MMA Payout: Significance of Bellator fall preview video & prelims on Spike.com
Topics: Media, MMA, StrikeForce, UFC, Zach Arnold | 9 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Julien Solomita: Will we see a Second Act from Fedor?
By Zach Arnold | September 9, 2011
By Julien Solomita (StreetMade.com | @streetmadeteam)
“That which does not kill me makes me stronger” – Nietzsche
People that have been the best, at whatever it may be that they do in life, have gained knowledge that others would die for. These champions know what it takes to earn a title, and to rein supreme in competition. They have seen the necessary sacrifices it takes to make them so successful, and the powers of hard work and determination at its finest.
What a lot of people forget when a champion loses or a king is dethroned is that this person is capable of once again becoming a champion.
Fedor Emelianenko has had one of the most decorated, and accomplished careers in the history of mixed martial arts. Throughout his professional fighting career, he has blasted his way through many opponents, even when he was outmatched. Fedor became the Pride Heavyweight champion at PRIDE 25 where he defeated the thought-to-be-invincible Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Nogueira had been dominating the division with his dangerous ground skills, and his powerful hands. Fedor came in and won the stand up game, while surviving Big Nog’s guard as well, earning him the unanimous decision that would crown him champion. He never gave up that title.
Fedor’s 2004 submission victory over UFC veteran Mark Coleman displayed the true versatility to his game that many people didn’t know existed. Brutally knocking out Andrei Arlovski was one of the most influential victories for Fedor’s career, as Arlovski was the former reigning UFC heavyweight champ, and Fedor planted him to the ground with an overhand right while he was backed up against the ropes.
Recently, Fedor Emelianenko’s career has sustained a rough patch. He is still fighting and is the same person, just with three more losses on his record, but in reality this means very little. As Dan Hardy recently stated, “records are for DJs.”
His submission loss to Fabricio Werdum was the result of a careless and expedited approach when after knocking the Brazilian down; Fedor curiously pounced and was captured in a deep triangle choke.
In his next fight, Emelianenko was (again) significantly outmatched in the size department when he fought Antonio “Big Foot” Silva. Any good fighter can get caught in disadvantageous positions, and will know how to escape them. But for Fedor, escaping the mount of the freakishly colossal Silva was just too much to overcome, and the doctor stoppage occurred when the heavy ground and pound swelled up the Russian’s eye, earning him his second straight loss.
Any sports fan knows the detrimental effects that a losing streak can trigger in an athlete’s demeanor. It can take a competitor out of his element, both mentally and physically. It can also impede an athlete’s competitive mindset as removing this vice that the losing streak holds subconsciously becomes the athlete’s new endeavor. The fight world witnessed Fedor Emelianenko become afflicted by this in his July 30th fight with Dan Henderson, in what was his last contracted Strikeforce bout. Fedor never shows even a hint of emotion, (refer to: the horrifyingly blank Russian stare down) and it wasn’t until the fight was under way that Fedor’s irritability manifested. Fedor thought he had dropped Henderson, but quickly realized it was a loss of balance and coordination that actually sent Henderson down into a semi-pulled guard. When Fedor pounced on top of the American, he was not as careful as he needed to be as he was promptly reversed, then put asleep by Henderson’s right hand.
This third straight loss was very frustrating for Fedor and all of his supporters.
Many people, including Strikeforce’s blatantly inappropriate “Fan Poll” that night, for whatever reason assumed that the 35-year-old warrior would retire following his fight against Dan Henderson. A fighter who has won as much and lost as rarely as Fedor Emelianenko definitely has what it takes to move forward and reach even higher than ever before in his career.
Upon hearing the news of a Monson vs. Fedor M-1 fight set for November, I wasn’t quite sure how to react. I was unimpressed with Monson’s last performance and assumed Fedor deserved better. However, on second thought, I realized that Monson is one of very few fighters that has had a decorated and accomplished career and is still a relatively big name in the sport.
While Monson may not be currently considered a top 10 Heavyweight, he was previously on an 8-fight win streak, submitting five out of eight opponents. The streak was snapped when he lost a decision to Daniel Cormier at Strikeforce’s heavyweight grand prix. Monson’s versatility and strength on the ground is second to none, and his pair of gold medals from Abu Dhabi’s ADCC grappling championship can vouch for it. He has some of the most experience with submission grappling of any active mixed martial arts fighter, and is an extremely taxing opponent to finish. Daniel Cormier’s heavy hands battered and punished Monson for three full rounds, at the end of which Monson was still standing. An efficient training camp that focuses on Monson’s stand up will be crucial for him to successfully stand and trade with Fedor. With a win over “The Last Emperor”, Jeff Monson would see a possible spot in the top ten rankings. Sure, Monson absorbed the onslaught by Cormier, but he must prepare for an even more overwhelming, and viciously relentless offense from the Russian. If Jeff Monson will be able to trade successfully enough to get Fedor to the ground or in his guard, he will have found his best prospect for victory. Fedor’s relentless striking attack, and his stealth jiu-jitsu match up enticingly with Monson’s ground skills and toughness. There are few heavyweights in the world that are permitted by contract and willing to take a fight with Fedor at this point. I believe Fedor is still dangerous as he is learning how to pinpoint and fix the mistakes responsible for his recent defeats. Fully grasping what led to his minor collapse could tremendously improve Fedor’s game.
One last point that will be critical in the outcome of this bout is the homecoming for Fedor. This fight takes place in Russia. He will have the clear home field advantage. He has been roughed up in his last three fights, all of which took place in the United States. Could Fedor be hungrier than ever to snap this losing streak and do so in front of his Russian faithful? This could be either an amplified edition of Fedor fighting for his country, or a hindering added pressure.
Should Fedor defeat Monson; there are a number of things to consider. First of all, where does he go next? If he puts Monson away with ease in an impressive finishing victory, maybe he will have rediscovered the innate passion that he seemed to have lacked in his last few fights. There is much speculation as to what Fedor is fighting for now. Has his motivation become for the paycheck rather than the passion that originally got him so far in the sport? If Fedor truly still loves fighting, and can still lay it all on the line, he will be more successful than if he has lost sight of his true love for the sport.
A win in this fight for Mr. Emelianenko will open up only a small amount of prospective worthwhile heavyweight fights. These potential fights will skyrocket should Fedor make the drop to light heavyweight. “The Last Emperor” has fought his whole career at Heavyweight and he has used his superior speed and technique to beat bigger opponents. He would be facing a new side of competition should he drop to 205. This may be new territory for the Russian veteran, but a drop in weight class during a struggling point in a fighter’s career can often unearth new opportunities. Kenny Florian dropped from lightweight, and after just one featherweight victory, a title shot presented itself. Whether or not Florian actually deserves the shot, the point is that people want to see the athletes challenging themselves with a new set of opponents at a different weight. A new exciting “Kenflo” ready to make a run at 145, grabbed the UFC’s attention after what they believed was an impressive win over Diego Nunes at UFC 131. Florian was rewarded.
Beating Jeff Monson could very well put Fedor in a similar situation as the UFC could become excited at the prospect of new weight class for the Russian legend.
There are endless 205-pound possibilities for Fedor in both Strikeforce and the UFC. A fight with Roger Gracie or King Mo after their fight in Cincinnati on September 10th could be an intriguing opportunity for Fedor, should he re-sign with Strikeforce. Winning his next fight decisively could get Fedor back under the Zuffa umbrella and could lead to multiple big name fights.
What will be interesting to see in such a situation where Fedor makes the cut is how will he have changed as a fighter? He may find a new ability to use his grappling as a bigger factor in fights, as he wouldn’t have to worry about a 265-pound behemoth smothering him. The size differential has always been a burden to Fedor who has handled it incredibly for the vast majority of his career. This would no longer be an obstacle for Fedor.
Joe Rogan, during his Tapout Radio interview discusses Fedor not having a chance to be the best at heavyweight because of his size, and hits it on the head,
“If there was a 225 pound weight class you know he might have been one of the greatest of all time. But as a heavyweight? I think there’s always going to be guys that are like just going to be able to beat him.”
By fighting guys his own size, Fedor could evade some of the positions that he has been unable to escape from at heavyweight, and reveal an improved flow to his ground attack. Handling the strikes of the largest competitors in MMA is what Fedor has been used to for many years fighting at heavyweight. Although the light heavyweights will be quicker than his previous opponents, the overwhelming strength and power are lesser in the hands of a 205-pound fighter compared to the monsters at heavyweight. With a drop in division, Fedor has the capacity to be lighter, quicker, and for the first time, bigger than his opponents.
The comeback of a losing fighter is something everyone, both fans and skeptics, get excited over. The upcoming bout between Jeff Monson and Fedor Emelianenko strikes me as something that will end up being what a lot of people don’t expect: a great fight. Should Fedor stand and trade with Monson, there will most likely be someone going down and after losing three straight.
I believe that Fedor is, still, in fact Fedor. He has always been relatively undersized for his weight class but his exceptional hand have proven to possess devastating power, and will once again be tested. The outcome of his next bout could possibly spark the manageable weight cut that has been put aside for years. Will Fedor Emelianenko resurge as the great fighter he has proven to be and catch a second wind in his career?
After all, it is the second act that people really love.
Julien Solomita is a student at Chapman University. He can be reached on Twitter @JulienSolomita. His personal web site can be accessed here.
Topics: M-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Nick Diaz: “Looks like someone doesn’t want me to win!”; UFC gives him BJ Penn fight
By Zach Arnold | September 8, 2011
“Another Youtube video… driving back, um, from… whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa… let me fucking trying to get back to Stockton here…
“(To another driver) FUCK YOUR MOTHER!
“Trying to get back to Stockton here, I was in San Francisco at the last minute trying to get on a airplane this morning to go to a press conference for the UFC… wanted me to fight for the title against Georges St. Pierre and now they’re telling me that they’re going to give the fight to Carlos Condit… which I think is ridiculous and Georges thinks its a great idea because Carlos Condit poses an even greater threat, so… I guess that just leaves me out… fighting one second I’m, um… I’m about to come into some money doing a little bit of boxing, you know… fucking probably lose some teeth but I’m ready to get paid, you know… so I’ll fight whoever and whatever and anything, you know, I’d definitely rather fight GSP of course, but… I was ready to do some boxing and they didn’t like that so they got me OUT of that and they got me into a fight with GSP for, you know, same money or more money or whatever but now it looks like they get to save money and I don’t get paid and locked in a new contract, all these dealmakers making deals, you know… all I know is I’m ready to fight, so… you know, I’m sorry I didn’t make it to the beauty pageant but, you know, I’ve never not showed up to a fight and, um… I’ve never backed out of a fight in my life, that’s not what I do, so I just wanted to throw all of that out there and… I don’t know… you know, I’m ready to fight and I think that, uh… this is pretty much done here… so, peace out.”
Carlos Condit will now face Georges St. Pierre on October 29th in Las Vegas. The news of Diaz getting yanked out of the fight with St. Pierre was all over the Bay Area news headlines on TV Tuesday night.
On Wednesday night, Dana White said that he was going to give fans the fight ‘they wanted’ and booked BJ Penn vs. Nick Diaz as the semi-main event for UFC 137.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 49 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |