MMA Ground N' Pound » opinions

UFC 136 and Frankie Edgar: Why I Love MMA

Tim — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 04:46:51 +0000

Even though UFC 136 didn’t have a UFC “superstar” fighting on the card, I was looking forward to the event as much as I had any event this year. The Pay-Per-View card looked to be filled with solid matchups, and the main event featured the third fight between Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar. The first fight between the two was a solid fight, but as the main event of UFC 125, the second fight turned into an all-time classic. The only question that remained was whether or not the third fight could possibly live up to the excitement and drama of the previous battle.

I was out with friends the night of the event, watching the fights at a bar in downtown Chicago. The majority of the people there were focused on the TVs that had college football on, and weren’t paying much attention to the UFC. Their reaction as the night went on was interesting.

The main card opened with lightweight contender Melvin Guillard taking on Joe Lauzon. Lauzon had historically had trouble in his career when dealing with upper echelon compeititon, and as a guy who was only 2-3 wins away from a title shot, Guillard certainly qualified as one of those types of fighters. Since joining Greg Jackson’s gym, Guillard had fought with a much more patient style, but in the opening moments of his fight with Lauzon, it appeared that Guillard had thrown that out the window. He came in looking for the knockout and Lauzon stunned him with a left hook. Guillard could never fully recover, and was submitted under a minute into the opening round.

People love knockouts. Some of the people there watching college football turned around to watch the replay of the knockdown and submission. A few “ooohs” and “aaahhhs” were audible, but the crowd quickly turned back to their preferred game.

Next up was a rematch between Leonard Garcia and Nam Phan. Garcia had lost the first fight in the eyes of many, but somehow won the decision. UFC President Dana White disagreed with the decision, and made the decision to book the rematch for this event. The fight was very reminiscent of their first fight as Garcia swung wildly and Phan placed the more precise shots.

The bar had the audio on from the fights, so as the commentating crew of Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg were loudly praising both fighters, more and more heads turned to the fights and away from the football games. By the third round, most of the patrons were focused on Garcia’s comeback attempts that would eventually fall short as Phan rightfully won the decision.

Chael Sonnen took on Brian Stann in the next fight. Most of the crowd had returned to their normal viewing by the time this fight got going, and though Sonnen won in dominant fashion, the crowd wasn’t motivated enough to change what they were paying attention to on TV. It wasn’t until Sonnen called out UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the audience at the arena that the people I was surrounded by turned their attention back to the UFC.

Sadly, the Kenny Florian/Jose Aldo co-main event basically lost whatever new viewers the UFC had gotten at the bar through the first three fights. Florian was competitive in the first round, but never really proved to be a threat to Aldo’s featherweight title.

Finally, it was time for the main event. It appeared that most of the people in the bar had not seen the second matchup between Edgar and Maynard, as there wasn’t a whole lot of buzz in the place as the fight got under way. As Edgar was getting pounded again in the first round, more and more people started paying attention to the fight. I could hear conversations about “How is he still standing?” and “Why isn’t the ref stopping this?” The first round played out similarly to the first round in their second matchup with Edgar taking a beating but not staying down.

As Edgar got back into the fight in the second and third rounds, the people in the place became transfixed with the fight. Much like the second fight, Edgar came back strong in the next few rounds, showing few ill effects from the beating he had taken just a few minutes prior. The attitude in the place seemed to be “I don’t know who these two guys are, but damn that little guy is tough.”

When Edgar connected and dropped Maynard in the fourth round with a right hand and quickly finished him off, the place erupted. I’d guess less than 25% of the people in the place knew who it was that had won the fight, but the way he did it after coming back from such adversity early on in the fight instantly earned Edgar the respect of everyone in the place.

Who knows, maybe seeing the fights and the way Edgar came back from the brink of defeat to retain his title earned him and the sport a few new fans in bars much like I was in across the country. Or, maybe these people will never watch another fight again and forgot about what they had seen 15 minutes after it happened. Judging by the rumored Pay-Per-View buyrates for the card, not many people witnessed Edgar’s courageous comeback. But I did, and fights like that and fighters like Frankie Edgar are the reason that I love MMA.

Can UFC 121 Become the Biggest UFC Pay-Per-View of All-Time?

Tim — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 05:23:18 +0000

The simple and most likely answer to this question is “no.” However, I think there are some reasons to believe that if certain factors are met, UFC 121 in October could become the biggest UFC Pay-Per-View of all-time, surpassing the 1.6 million buyrate for UFC 100.

The biggest factor in the equation is the biggest name in the sport, Brock Lesnar. Lesnar has turned into a bonafide PPV superstar, drawing an estimated 1.0-1.3 million buyrate for UFC 116 basically single-handedly. Shane Carwin was a threat to Lesnar’s title, but certainly didn’t do much to promote or hype the fight. The co-main event of the card was a fight between Yoshihiro Akiyama and Chris Leben. Akiyama is a pretty big draw overseas, but that likely didn’t translate into much of a buyrate bump here in North America. Leben is a fun fighter to watch, but certainly didn’t draw any buys by himself. It would have been interesting to see how many more PPV buys there would have been had Wanderlei Silva not had to withdraw from his scheduled fight with Akiyama due to an injury. It likely would have given the buyrate a decent bump.

However, that Lesnar was able to draw one of the top 3 buyrates in the company’s history single-handedly is an impressive feat. Lesnar also headlined UFC 100, which currently holds the top spot in UFC PPV buyrate history at 1.6 million. That card also featured Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves in a welterweight title fight, as well as Dan Henderson against Michael Bisping after the two were opposing coaches on The Ultimate Fighter.

The scheduled card for UFC 121 falls somewhere between the star-studded UFC 100 card and the star-challenged UFC 116 card. In addition to Lesnar taking on Cain Velasquez, Tito Ortiz is scheduled to return to the Octagon to face Matt Hamill. Ortiz was once one of the biggest draws in the UFC, but time, injuries and lack of performance have taken their toll on Ortiz’s star-power and drawing ability. His main-event fight with Forrest Griffin at UFC 106 only drew a reported 330,000 buys. Ortiz did coach the last season of The Ultimate Fighter , well most of it anyway, before he was replaced by Rich Franklin due to an injury. His name is still good enough for a slight bump in the buyrate, which is something that couldn’t be said for anyone else on the UFC 116 card.

Also on the scheduled card for UFC 121 is Jake Shields. Shields is the former middleweight champion of Strikeforce, but has never been known for being a flashy or extremely popular fighter. His presence on the card will most likely have little effect on the buyrate of UFC 121. However, the combination of a heavyweight title fight between Lesnar and Velasquez, plus Ortiz in the co-main event and an undercard that features Shields and Diego Sanchez (scheduled to fight Paulo Thiago on the main card) is a much stronger card on paper than the UFC 116 card.

Also, the challenger to Lesnar’s heavyweight title needs to be taken into account when talking about potential buyrates. Prior to UFC 116, Shane Carwin did little to really hype or sell the fight. He pretty much relied on people talking about his size similarity to Brock to help sell the fight, but his personality is pretty non-descript. Cain Velasquez isn’t known as a big talker either, but depending on how the UFC handles the build up to the fight, he can certainly become a huge help to the eventual buyrate.

Velasquez is proud of his Mexican heritage, and proudly sports a “Brown Pride” tattoo across his chest. It has become a somewhat controversial topic inside the MMA community. However, the Spanish speaking audience has always been a reliable audience for boxing and even professional wrestling, where Rey Mysterio Jr. was considered a decent draw as a headliner. The Latino audience has been somewhat slow to embrace MMA, but if the UFC can tap into that market with their pre-fight promotion of the event, it could be a big boost to the overall buyrate numbers.

In addition to the fighters on the card, there are other factors that will affect the final buyrate figures. First of all, the Lesnar/Velasquez fight has to live up to the hype. Many buys of UFC 116 were generated after the event itself, when word of Lesnar’s dramatic comeback started to spread to those who hadn’t yet seen the event. The Lesnar/Velasquez fight has to be intriguing enough to sell a good number of pay-per-views after the event initially airs.

In my opinion, the UFC also has to have a strong run of cards prior to UFC 121 to build momentum going into the event. UFC 114 is reported to have drawn about a million buys, and UFC 115 did a solid 500,000-600,000 buys with the Rich Franklin/Chuck Liddell main event. Those two pay-per-views built some momentum that carried over into UFC 116. The UFC is expecting good buyrates for the next two events. UFC 117 features a main event between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen, while UFC 118 features a rematch between B.J. Penn and Frankie Edgar for the lightweight title, as well as a fight between Randy Couture and former boxing champion James Toney that is sure to garner some publicity. However, UFC 119 in September lacks a huge buzz as a rematch between Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria serves as the night’s main-event. UFC 121 will get some free publicity the week before the event though, as UFC 120 is expected to air free on Spike on October 16th. Expect lots of promos for Lesnar/Velasquez during that free card.

Finally, the main fighters on the card (Lesnar, Velasquez, Ortiz) need to remain healthy. There are not many events that the UFC plans where at least a few fighters don’t drop out due to injuries prior to the fight. This is the part of the equation where luck will play a major role.

In the end, it comes down to Lesnar and the UFC. Lesnar seems to be becoming more and more popular everyday. The amount of press he got after his victory at UFC 116 almost guarantees that his next fight will draw nearly the same amount of pay-per-view buys regardless of opponent or the quality of other fighters on the card. Brock is the biggest star in the sport, and his presence on the card will account for the majority of Pay-Per-View sales, but Dana White and the UFC have to do an effective job of marketing not only Lesnar, but also Velasquez as a credible challenger (which he is) to make the event even bigger. The opportunity is there for this event to become the biggest UFC pay-per-view of all-time. It’s now up to the fighters, the marketing and a little bit of luck to make it turn out that way.

Why Is Everyone Counting Tito Ortiz Out?

Tim — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:48:40 +0000

I’ve read and heard a variety of opinions since Forrest Griffin defeated Tito Ortiz via split-decision at UFC 106. The majority of people have come to one conclusion: Tito Ortiz is done as a top light heavyweight. I’m not saying that I necessarily disagree with this opinion, but to base it off of Saturday’s fight is ridiculous.

Ortiz went three rounds with one of the top five light heavyweights of the UFC. On my scorecard, he won the second round, and came close to winning the first two rounds. He was picked apart by Griffin in the third and lost the split-decision. Sure, there were many things to not like about his performance. Despite training with boxing guru Freddie Roach, Ortiz’s striking looked slow and pedestrian. He was completely gassed in the third round. His footwork looked slow and sloppy. However, some of the things being said remind me of what was said about Mauricio “Shogun” Rua after his decision win over Mark Coleman at UFC 93.

Sure, Shogun was much younger than the 34 year-old Ortiz. However, he was also coming off a major injury (knee) and looked completely gassed by the 2nd round. He couldn’t finish the 44 year old Mark Coleman, who was even more tired. It was a tough fight to watch, and it was hard to believe that was the same “Shogun” who had dominated PRIDE just a few years earlier. If you read many articles after that fight, “Shogun” was done, finished, couldn’t compete in the UFC. The injuries had taken their toll on him and he wasn’t the same fighter anymore.

Fast-forward nine months later and watch Rua go five rounds with one of the most dangerous light heavyweights in the world, UFC champion Lyoto Machida. He suddenly looked like his old self. He took Machida the distance, and very easily could have gotten the decision over him as well. Suddenly, those opinions of Rua being done look silly and very premature.

Ortiz was coming off an 18 month layoff and a major back surgery. He took the former UFC light heavyweight champion the distance. His takedowns and ground and pound looked similar to the Ortiz of old. He was certainly slower, lacked a little explosiveness, and didn’t have the cardio that he used to have, but given all the factors that were going against him, I was impressed by his performance.

I’m not saying that Ortiz will have a Rua-like rebirth. The odds are certainly against it. He’s older, and has a much different and narrower skill-set than Rua. However, to completely write him off as a has-been is a bit premature in my opinion. Can Ortiz compete with Machida, Rua, or Nogueira right now? Probably not. Can he reclaim a spot in the top 10 in the light heavyweight division? I think he can.

Let’s give him a little more time to get his cardio back up to where it normally is, let him get some of the cage rust shaken off, and then let’s evaluate him. Otherwise, we may look back at what is being written and said right now about him and laugh at the stupidity.

Anthony Johnson’s Days as a Welterweight Need To End

Tim — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:29:08 +0000

According to Steve Cofield at cagewriter, some reports indicate that UFC welterweight Anthony Johnson collapsed just prior to the weigh ins for UFC 106. This comes after a horrendous and dangerous attempt at cutting weight for his contest with Yoshihiro Yoshida at UFC 104. Reports prior to that weigh-in said that Johnson was being carried through downtown L.A. because he was too weak to walk.

Prior to that fight, Johnson claimed that a knee injury caused him to balloon in weight even higher than he normally gets in between fights, and that caused the problem. He ended up weighing in at 176 pounds for the 171 pound limit. He showed up at that weigh in looking very weak. He ended up beating Yoshida in under a minute, and vowed that he would change his diet and lifestyle, and that his weight cutting experience for that fight would ‘change his life.’

However, if the reports are accurate about Johnson collapsing prior to the weigh-ins for UFC 106, things haven’t changed that much. I’m well aware that many fighters cut large amounts of weight for their fights. Forrest Griffin reportedly walks around at about 235 pounds and cuts to the 205 limit. Anderson Silva walks around at around 215 pounds and cuts to 185 for his fights. Even Brock Lesnar has to cut a significant part of weight to make the heavyweight limit of 265 pounds.

Cutting weight is a part of life for MMA fighters, I understand that. Typically guys cut to one weight class below what their normal walking around weight is. For example, George St. Pierre walks around at about 185 pounds before he begins training, and then he cuts to 170 for his fight. That gives him a size advantage over many smaller welterweights. However, the weight cut is not dangerous, and he’s able to maintain his strength and cardio throughout the fight.

What Johnson tries to do before every fight defies logic however. Reports indicate that Johnson typically walks around in the 210-215 pound range when he’s not training. He did note that he was over 220 pounds before he started training for the Yoshida fight at UFC 104. That was 50 pounds worth of weight he needed to cut to make the welterweight limit. That’s insane and unhealthy.

His performance suffers because of the huge weight cut as well. He was visably gassed late in the 2nd round against Josh Koscheck at UFC 106 on Saturday. The weight cut sapped him of his conditioning and strength as the fight went on. I realize that Johnson believes that he has a better chance at contending for a welterweight championship than he does in the middleweight division.

However, if he cuts from 215 or 220 to the 185 pound middleweight limit, he’ll still be bigger than most of the guys in the division. His conditioning will improve, and his stamina in later rounds would benefit. He’s clearly outgrown the welterweight division, and it’s time that he started taking his long-term health into consideration before he attempts another 50 pound weight cut.

Reaction to Kimbo Slice vs. Roy Nelson

Tim — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:34:31 +0000

Ah, those clever people over at Spike TV and the UFC! Clever editing, tons of buzz, tons of promotion, all done to give us the illusion that Kimbo had a shot to beat Roy Nelson on tonight’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter. In reality, the majority of us knew that wouldn’t be the case, but still many of us in the MMA community have been analzying still frames of promos like it was the Zapruder film. “It looks like the punch lands flush!” “I saw a promo where Kimbo was ground n’ pounding Roy!” We were taking quotes from Kimbo, Dana White, Rashad Evans, and Roy Nelson trying to figure out if any word could be a clue to the outcome of the fight. We were all duped.

Yeah, don’t feel stupid, I did it too. The promotional machine did it’s job however. The episode more than likely had more viewers than any other fight in the history of the UFC. However, all of us who watched the show saw a fighter who still hasn’t learned the basics of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or any kind of ground game, and another fighter who was less than overwhelming against a MMA rookie.

In fairness to Kimbo, his standup looked slightly better than the last time I saw him fight. He even through a leg kick in there. His takedown defense was adequate in the first round, even though Nelson outweighed him by 35 pounds. As soon as the fight hit the ground though, Kimbo was done. The fight could have been stopped at the end of the first round as Nelson had Kimbo in a crucifix and was raining down light shots. None of them were doing any damage, but Kimbo wasn’t defending himself. Referee Herb Dean allowed the fight to enter the 2nd round.

The 2nd round began with some more standup, but after getting hit with a couple shots, Nelson quickly took Kimbo down again. He got the same crucifix position, and was able to do enough damage this time to end the fight. He was far from dominant, but his only goal was to survive the fight and not get hurt so he could continue in the next round. Mission accomplished. He still has the best background of any guy on the show, and is a heavy favorite to win the UFC contract.

As for Kimbo’s future, I’m pretty certain he’ll have a home in the UFC. Hopefully he continued to work on his ground game throughout the rest of his time on the show, and there is speculation he’ll come back in the competition as an injury replacement. Either way, he’s scheduled to fight in December, likely at the Ultimate Finale on Spike TV. He’s been training at American Top Team in Florida, one of the top camps in MMA and home to fighters such as Thiago Alves, Thiago Silva, Mike Brown, Jeff Monson and Luis Cane, among many others. Hopefully Ricardo Liborio is working on basic things that can help him at least defend himself on the ground.

There has been talk about Kimbo possibly dropping some weight and competing in the light heavyweight division. I don’t think he has anywhere close to the speed he’d need to compete at that class, but he seems willing to try it if the UFC asks. If Slice can become a mid-level Heavyweight or light heavyweight in the UFC, all parties involved will consider this whole experiment a major success.

Strikeforce parts ways with Buentello/Still can’t write a press release

Tim — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:12:54 +0000

Former UFC heavyweight contender Paul Buentello may be headed back to the Octagon after securing his release from Strikeforce. In what has become typical Strikeforce fashion, the statement on Buentello’s exit makes it appear as the loss will not hurt the organization. However, the statement also makes Strikeforce look like a joke. Here is the statement from Coker:

We offered Paul a six-figure contract to fight Fedor, but he turned it down. Paul’s decision is understandable considering Fedor’s level of skill but, at the same time, Paul didn’t really fit into our plans. He’s been a solid journeyman fighter and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

Ok, so let’s get all this straight. First, you mention that you offered Buentello at least $100,000 to fight the “best heavyweight in the world” who has just signed with your organization. Then, you say that the fighter you selected to be the first opponent for your biggest signing to date didn’t really fit into your plans. Finally, you finish the statement by calling Buentello, who once again you were trying to sign to fight your biggest star, a “journeyman.”

That leaves a few questions for anyone who read the statement. First, what kind of confidence do you have in Fedor if the first person you wanted him to fight is a “journeyman?” Secondly, if Buentello didn’t fit into your “plans,” why would you feed him to Fedor in the first place? It’s not as if Buentello has great name recognition to the casual MMA fan so that a Fedor victory would look impressive. Coker is basically saying that he wanted to feed Fedor a can (his implication, not mine).

This isn’t the first time that Coker badmouthed an exiting fighter. Just a few weeks ago when Phil Baroni left the organization to head to the UFC, Coker released this statement:

Phil “The New York Badass” Baroni has been released by world championship mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion STRIKEFORCE.

The 33-year-old Baroni, a native of Long Island, N.Y, has lost four of his last seven bouts. In his last appearance, a welterweight (170 pounds) matchup with Joe “Diesel’’ Riggs at St. Louis, Missouri’s Scottrade Center, Baroni sustained a one-sided defeat by way of unanimous judges’ decision.

“We wish Phil the best of luck and hope he can revive his career,’’ STRIKEFORCE Founder and CEO Scott Coker said Thursday. “If he can, maybe one day, he can return and fight for us.

Now that press release is pretty standard stuff for an organization, but Coker couldn’t help from taking a few subtle swipes at Baroni along the way. In comparison, the UFC generally doesn’t issue press releases after a fighter is released.

Buentello is a solid heavyweight, and has a 27-10 career record. He fought Andrei Arlovski at UFC 55 in a heavyweight title fight, suffering his only UFC defeat in four fights. He was signed with Affliction when the MMA promotion went under. He won his past two fights over Gary Goodridge and Kirill “Baby Fedor” Sidelnikov, both in events for Affliction. He had this to say when told of Coker’s statement:

I’ve never claimed to be the best in the sport. But to say I turned down Fedor because of his skill level is a slap in the face.

Buentello would actually be in the top 5 heavyweights in Strikeforce if he was with the organization. The only guys he would be behind would be Fedor, Brett Rogers, and Fabricio Werdum. That’s a testament to how thin the Strikeforce heavyweight roster is currently.

I guess the only obvious explanation is that nobody has taught Coker how to craft a press release yet. You don’t release a statement that makes both the fighter your parting ways with, as well as your own organization, look bad. Coker was obviously aware that Buentello would most likely end up in the UFC, so he wanted him to sound like a worse fighter than he is. In the process, he made his own organization look like a joke.

Ray Mercer is delusional

Tim — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:19:44 +0000

So, it’s official…boxing really damages the brain. Former heavyweight champion Ray Mercer recently did an interview with Eastsideboxing.com. In the interview, he basically says that MMA fighters are scared of him because of his 12 second KO of former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia. Here’s what he had to say:

J.S: So have you anything else in the pipeline – either in boxing or in MMA? People are still talking about the way you iced Tim Sylvia in what was it, nine seconds?

R.M: (laughs) Yeah, I’m willing to take anything that’s offered to me, you know. But those MMA guys, they don’t seem to want to fight me. I don’t get it. I thought they had heart, and yet they won’t fight me and I’m nearly 50-years old, man!

J.S: Your 9-second win sure got a lot of hits on You-Tube, and the fight sparked a debate among fans of boxing and MMA. Boxing fans said, “I told you so. No way an MMA guy beats a boxer!”

R.M: Yeah, and I fought him [Sylvia] his way, with his rules.

JS: Yes, but you never gave him a chance to get his thing going, you slammed him with that right hand to the head so quick!

R.M: That’s right. I definitely don’t think those guys should be messing around with boxers. We’ll KO them because they don’t have the heart we do. It kills me how none of those guys want to fight me now. They say they have heart in that sport, but I don’t know. They don’t wanna do it, with those four ounce gloves on. I thought they were tough. I was supposed to fight a guy after Tim Sylvia, but he turned it down. I’m really surprised none of those guys will take a fight with me, I really am.

So let me get this straight. Ray Mercer is actually brain damaged enough to say that MMA fighters are afraid of fighting him…in a MMA fight? Is he actually serious? Yes, Mercer beat a former UFC heavyweight champion in Tim Sylvia. However, Sylvia showed up for that fight at 310 pounds, 50 pounds heavier than in his UFC days. He obviously hadn’t trained for a fight, let alone someone with a dangerous right hand. However, before you start giving Mercer too much credit and start believing that he could actually be correct, let’s remember how his first MMA fight went.

That’s right. Mercer was submitted by Kimbo Slice in the 1st round of their fight. Submitted. By Kimbo Slice. Did you get that? Kimbo was also getting the better of Mercer in the striking department as well, so that arguement goes out the window.

I have respect for Mercer as a former heavyweight champion, but he is simply spewing nonsense. He connected on a lucky punch with an opponent who’s only form of exercise in the months leading up to the fight was seeing how many cheeseburgers he could eat in one sitting. He would not be competitive with any top, middle or even the majority of lower-tier MMA fighter. No decent MMA fighter is “scared” to fight him.

Mercer has riled up the boxing purists too. Those guys that say that MMA fighters aren’t real fighters, and that any boxer could step in and beat a MMA guy. MMA fans are more realistic. We know that a MMA fighter would beat a boxer any day of the week in a MMA fight. Manny Pacquiao wouldn’t last five minutes against Miguel Angel Torres. Floyd Mayweather would be taken down and pounded out by Urijah Faber or Mike Brown in about two minutes. There’s no denying it.

There’s also no denying that if those fights were pure boxing matches, Torres would be done by the end of the 2nd round and Mayweather would KO Faber rather quickly as well. If the much talked about Anderson Silva/Roy Jones Jr. fight ever happens, I’m fairly convinced that Silva would win under MMA rules, while Jones would win under boxing rules.

My point is that the two sports are vastly different. Being good at one doesn’t really give you any chance to compete in the other. Guys like Mercer and the boxing fans that think that his fluke win prove that boxers are the superior “fighters” need to comprehend that the two sports use different skill sets that don’t really transition very well to the other sport, and that’s ok.

There’s not a competition between the two sports. There’s no need to “trash talk” and badmouth fighters of the other sport. Fans of each sport need to enjoy that sport for what it is without dreaming of what would happen if Silva fought Roy Jones Jr., or if Torres fought Pacquiao. Enjoy those fighters for the skills they do possess and and for how those skills have brought them to the elite level of their respective sport.

Brock Lesnar: Good or Bad for the UFC?

Brock Lesnar: Good or Bad for the UFC?

Tim — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:34:10 +0000

The fact that this is even a question is downright silly to me quite honestly. I had my own opinions, but I wanted to hear what other people had to say about Brock Lesnar and his post-fight actions. Here is a sample of the responses:

Terrible, this is not clown Vince Mcmahons WWE. The UFC prides itself on class.

old saying… any pub is good pub… tacky yes but it was fine.

Lesnar has no respect. He is a douche bag but he will make Dana money.

It was better than good. Take it from me, someone who doesn’t watch or care that much for the UFC, it was a HUGE deal. It’s sparked some more interest in it. The only reason why I bothered caring about UFC 100 is to see how Lesnar would do

I think it’s great. MMA finally has a guy who doesn’t give a shit about being classy. It really does get tiring seeing guys touch gloves after each round or striking exchange and hugging after each fight. Look at Nick Diaz, he’s the best “heel” in the biz right now. He just absolutely does not care and is as real is it gets.

Since Brock Lesnar is just one man and doesn’t represent the entire sport, UFC has a great chance to highlight the nice guys of the sport to create a balance and generate buzz about future fights. So I think it should be good.

Obviously there’s a mixed reaction on Brock’s post-fight actions. I’ve read countless columns and blogs, listened to my local sports radio outlet with my buddy Laurence Holmes and his callers and talked to my own friends, some UFC fans, some not. I’ve come to one conclusion. Brock, even with his post-fight antics, is GREAT for the UFC.

One way to look at things is to look at the economic impact Lesnar has had on the UFC. Take a look at the Pay-Per-View numbers from his recent fights.

UFC 81- 650,000 PPV buys
UFC 87- 625,000 PPV buys
UFC 91- 900,000 PPV buys
UFC 100- Expected to be over 1,000,000 PPV buys

Those are HUGE numbers, especially when you look at the PPV numbers of the events before or after Brock Lesnar fights. For example, Brock’s debut at UFC 81 drew 650,000 buys. UFC 80 did 250,000 buys (although it was on tape delay). UFC 82, which featured Anderson Silva (one of the UFC’s biggest stars) against Dan Henderson for the middleweight title, did 325,000. UFC 90, again featuring Anderson Silva, did about 300,000 buys, compared to the 900,000 buys for UFC 91 with Lesnar vs. Couture in the main event. He brings people in. People want to watch what he’s going to do. Whether it’s former pro wrestling fans, casual fans, or hardcore MMA fans hoping that Lesnar gets his ass kicked doesn’t matter. He creates buzz, and buzz = revenue for the UFC.

There are many classy guys in the UFC, guys like Rich Franklin. Franklin is one of my favorite fighters, but there’s a reason he’s been put on cards that have taken place overseas in his past two fights. He can’t carry a Pay-Per-View card. He drew about 320,000 buys for his UFC 93 contest with Dan Henderson, which is a solid figure for an overseas card, but he can’t carry a major card in the U.S. He’s a great ambassador for the sport, but he doesn’t draw people in.

Anderson Silva is one of the most talented fighters in all of MMA, and certainly belongs in the top 5 pound-for-pound rankings. He can’t sell a Pay-Per-View either. UFC 90 with Silva in the main event drew 300,000 buys. UFC 97 did better, but that was mostly because that card also featured Chuck Liddell. Silva is a classy guy and a great fighter…but he can’t sell a pay-per-view.

You may be asking where I’m going with all this. It’s quite simple: Brock Lesnar = money. Sure the post-fight speech was stupid. Ripping on the UFC’s main sponsor is a downright idiotic thing to do, and we know that Dana White took him to task for it. However, I don’t have a problem with Lesnar getting in Mir’s face after the fight. There doesn’t have to be a hug after every fight. This isn’t hockey where everyone shakes hands after a playoff series. This is human combat, and sometimes you’re fighting a guy you just don’t like or respect. Mir said a lot of things going into this fight that were mainly for promotional purposes, but when you’re a competitor like Lesnar is, he couldn’t turn that switch off right after the fight. His adreneline was still pumping through his system. As Lesnar has stated, he waited 15 months for that rematch and there was a lot of pent up anger that he was still trying to let go of even after he won convincingly.

I’ve also heard people say that Dana White should suspend Lesnar or even void his contract and kick him out of the UFC for his actions. Are you kidding me? Dana White is in no position to tell anyone else how to speak or act in front of a camera or a microphone. Research Dana White/Loretta Hunt if you want to know what I’m talking about. Now, it’s Dana’s right to run the company any way he wants, and I’m sure having Lesnar rip on a sponsor is not exactly his favorite thing to hear. But how is he going to tell Lesnar it’s bad for the UFC when he goes off, if White himself goes around calling reporters obscene names? If Dana was all that worried about the UFC’s public image, he’d remove himself from a speaking role with the company (something I would not want him to do).

Finally, I’ve heard talk about how this hurts the UFC’s attempt to go “mainstream.” I don’t believe that to be the case for one second. UFC 100 will probably go down as the most watched Pay-Per-View in the company’s history, and it’s caused nothing but conversation the past few days. Places where I would never expect MMA to be discussed are having water cooler conversations about it. The media is covering it in ways they never have before. Sure there will be some people turned off by the whole episode, but I guarantee you that more people will be watching now than there were before. Lesnar created a buzz amongst casual fans and even amongst people who had never watched the sport before.

The people that tuned into the UFC for the first time on Saturday got a great show. They saw a world class athlete in Georges St. Pierre completely dominate his opponent with a mix of all the disciplines he has learned. They saw a pretty entertaining striking match between Alan Belcher and Yoshihiro Akiyama. They saw a brutal knockout from Dan Henderson on Michael Bisping. And yes, they saw a large man beat another slightly smaller man into a bloody pulp in the main event. Are you telling me that people who watched for the first time were ok with Henderson hitting Bisping on the canvas after he was clearly unconscious, and ok with Lesnar beating Mir into a bloody mess, but were all of a sudden offended by his post-fight actions? Give me a break. The people watching for the first time who were disgusted by Lesnar were probably disgusted by the whole show to begin with. Those people may not watch again. So what? There were plenty of other people who tuned in for the first time and were completely enthralled by everything they saw INCLUDING the post-match interview. Those people will watch again and tell a friend.

The UFC is still growing. Will it ever be football or baseball? Most likely not. However, the reason it’s not isn’t because the heavyweight champion had a lapse of judgement in a post-fight interview. It’s because combat sports will always be a so-called “niche” sport. The job of the UFC, Dana White and the fighters is to make sure that all of those who would be fans of the “niche” tune in. They are well on their way to doing so. UFC’s old slogan was “As real as it gets.” Guess what…that was as real as it gets.

This brings me back to one of the quotes I brought to you at the beginning of this rambling piece:

Since Brock Lesnar is just one man and doesn’t represent the entire sport, UFC has a great chance to highlight the nice guys of the sport to create a balance and generate buzz about future fights. So I think it should be good.

That’s exactly the point here. Brock Lesnar is just one man in the UFC. However, if he can bring in an audience that hasn’t normally watched the sport and they get to watch great athletes and great guys like Georges St. Pierre, Rich Franklin, Kenny Florian, and Lyoto Machida, then he’s done his job. Those people will start liking the sport just as much for those guys as they will for the big mouthed heavyweight champion. That’s the way the sport will continue to grow.

Bobby Lashley’s future

Tim — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:11:16 +0000

I’ve been asked a few times to comment on the future for former WWE superstar turned MMA fighter Bobby Lashley. Lashley is coming off a 1st round victory over Bob Sapp this past Saturday, and his MMA record now stands at 4-0.

As a MMA prospect, he isn’t thought of in the same realm as guys such as Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin or Cain Velasquez. He doesn’t have the same freakish athleticism of Lesnar or the size of Lesnar or Carwin. He weighs around 255 on fight nights, but guys like Lesnar and Carwin have to cut weight to make the 265lb limit for the UFC. Lashley was a NAIA champion wrestler in college, but when you compare that to Division I caliber wreslters in Lesnar and Velasquez, or even a Division II champion in Carwin, that doesn’t seem overly impressive.

Guys like Lesnar, Velasquez and Carwin have ascended the ranks of the UFC quickly heavyweight division quickly because of their freakish athleticism and skills that are becoming more and more well rounded. Lashley trains with American Top Team, one of the best gyms in all of MMA, but has yet to show the skills that many MMA “top prospects” are already showing by their fourth professional fight. Lashley is just three months removed from struggling to a decision victory over journeyman Jason Guida, a guy that Lesnar, Carwin or Velasquez would smash in about 90 seconds, and at 32 years old, he’s running out of time to make an impact (Yes, I know that Shane Carwin is 34 years old, but he’s probably about one fight away from a UFC title shot and he’s much further along than Bobby Lashley).

Additionally, I’m not sure how serious Lashley is taking his new career in MMA. He recently appeared with TNA wrestling for a few shows and if he is trying to balance a MMA career with a pro wrestling career, his already questionable future as a heavyweight prospect will look even bleaker.

This isn’t to say that Lashley isn’t a talented fighter. He does have skills and is definitely a marketable guy. But does he belong in a conversation about MMA heavyweight prospects? I don’t think so at this time. A good place for him to go would have been “The Ultimate Fighter” season 10. We’ve all heard about Kimbo Slice being in the field, but there are some legit heavyweights in the cast. It would have been interesting to see how Lashley matched up with guys like Brendon Schaub, Roy Nelson or Darrill Schoonover. We could have gotten a real feel for where he was as a prospect, but for now, he’s not in their class either. He has time to show me otherwise, but he needs to start showing more very quickly before he is written off as just another pro wrestler trying to make it in MMA.