Bloody Elbow

Chonan vs. Carneiro at UFC 88

ChrisNelson — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:14:59 -0000

The rematch between former DEEP champ and PRIDE fighter Ryo "The Shark" Chonan and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu wizard Roan "Jucão" Carneiro originally scheduled for last month's UFC 85 card will now take place at September's UFC 88 in Atlanta, GA, Tatame.com reports. Chonan was forced off the June card due to a rib injury, leaving Carneiro to face UFC newcomer Kevin Burns, who stunned the highly-favored black belt with a second round triangle choke submission.

The first fight between Chonan and Carneiro took place at DEEP's 18th Impact card in 2005 and ended in a controversial third round stoppage when Carneiro suffered a cut on his right eyelid due to a flying knee. That match came less than two months after Chonan's shocking flying heel hook submission of Anderson Silva at PRIDE Shockwave 2004. However since signing with the UFC nearly a year ago, Chonan has fought only once, dropping a lackluster unanimous decision to Karo Parisyan at UFC 78 last November.

In other UFC 88 news, the manager of Rousimar "Toquinho" Palhares has confirmed to Tatame that the match between Palhares and former PRIDE welterweight and middleweight champ Dan Henderson will take place on the card, despite Henderson denying the bout last week.

AFFLICTION Fires Counter Low Blow to the UFC

imapimp08 — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:16:29 -0000

I've gotta give props to Affliction. It looks like they wont take this battle with the UFC lying down. I'm amazed that the Fertittas and Mr White allowed this to happen in "THEIR TOWN."

Affliction to air across the street from UFC: Silva vs. Irvin

Posted by MMAFighting.com 07/03/08—7:49 PM

Featured Story: No The battle for viewers between "Affliction: Banned" and "UFC Fight Night: Silva vs. Irvin" continues.

Affliction announced Thursday that its "Banned" event on July 19, which takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, will air live on closed circuit television at the Gold Coast Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, directly across the street from the Palm Hotel & Casino, the site of the UFC Fight Night special headlined by Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin.

The viewing at the Gold Coast Hotel & Casino will begin with the Fox Sports Net broadcast at 5pm PT followed by the pay-per-view broadcast at 6pm PT.

Affliction: Banned
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Honda Center in Anaheim, CA

Pay-Per-View Card:

Fox Sports Net Card:

265 lbs. | Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Paul Buentello
185 lbs. | Vitor Belfort vs. Terry Martin

Undercard:

205 lbs. | Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Edwin Dewees
145 lbs. | Savant Young vs. Mark Hominick
205 lbs. | Justin Levens vs. Patrick Speight
170 lbs. | Mike Pyle vs. JJ Ambrose

Nevada To Consider New Unified Rules In 2009

ChrisNelson — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:52:36 -0000

On the same day that the Association of Boxing Commissions passed a revised set of unified rules for MMA at their annual conference in Montreal, MMAJunkie's Steve Sievert spoke with Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer -- who quickly squashed the hopes of fans wishing to see the rule changes implemented right away.

While Kizer is a proponent of consistency and uniformity of rules for the sport, he doesn't expect the NSAC to adopt the revised regulations immediately. The NSAC typically reviews rules on an annual basis, with the next assessment expected next year.

Kizer also expressed some doubts over the modified weight classes, which would have light heavyweight division ranging from 205 to 225 lbs., and heavyweights from 225 to 265.

"I don't get that one," Kizer said. "I'm surprised by it. I need to understand the reasoning behind the change. I didn't think there was a big concern over how the weight classes were structured. This change creates a significant weight differential in the division and leaves only a 40-pound gap at heavyweight."

Nevada and California -- despite being two of the most active regulatory bodies for MMA in the States and two states which the UFC has frequented for events -- did not send representatives to the ABC conference.

UFC 3-Year "Standings": Welterweight Division

Richard — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:28:25 -0000

Almost done now. Y'know until Saturday when all of these become outdated. Anyway, here are the Welterweight standings:

Rk	Fighter	Class	Win	Loss	Draw	PCT	FB
1	Jon Fitch	170	8	0	0	1.000	0.0
2	Georges St. Pierre	170	7	1	0	.875	1.0
3	Thiago Alves	170	7	2	0	.778	1.5
3	Diego Sanchez	170	7	2	0	.778	1.5
3	Josh Koscheck	170	7	2	0	.778	1.5
6	Marcus Davis	170	6	2	0	.750	2.0
7	Anthony Johnson	170	2	0	0	1.000	3.0
7	George Sotiropoulos	170	2	0	0	1.000	3.0
9	Mike Swick	170	2	0	0	1.000	3.0
9	Spencer Fisher	170	2	0	0	1.000	3.0
9	Kenny Florian	170	2	0	0	1.000	3.0
12	Karo Parisyan	170	4	2	0	.667	3.0
13	Drew Fickett	170	4	2	0	.667	3.0
14	Akihiro Gono	170	1	0	0	1.000	3.5
14	Ben Saunders	170	1	0	0	1.000	3.5
14	Dong Hyun Kim	170	1	0	0	1.000	3.5
14	Kevin Burns	170	1	0	0	1.000	3.5
14	Mac Danzig	170	1	0	0	1.000	3.5
14	Matt Brown	170	1	0	0	1.000	3.5
14	Paul Kelly	170	1	0	0	1.000	3.5
14	Troy Mandaloniz	170	1	0	0	1.000	3.5
14	Yoshiyuki Yoshida	170	1	0	0	1.000	3.5
14	Duane Ludwig	170	1	0	0	1.000	3.5
24	Matt Serra	170	2	1	0	.667	3.5
25	Dustin Hazelett	170	3	2	0	.600	3.5
25	Matt Hughes	170	3	2	0	.600	3.5
25	Joe Riggs	170	3	2	0	.600	3.5
28	Jonathan Goulet	170	4	3	0	.571	3.5
29	Josh Burkman	170	5	4	0	.556	3.5
30	Luke Cummo	170	3	3	0	.500	4.0
30	Jess Liaudin	170	2	2	0	.500	4.0
30	Paul Taylor	170	2	2	0	.500	4.0
30	Roan Carneiro	170	2	2	0	.500	4.0
30	Brock Larson	170	1	1	0	.500	4.0
30	Sean Sherk	170	1	1	0	.500	4.0
30	Jon Koppenhaver	170	1	1	0	.500	4.0
30	Matt Arroyo	170	1	1	0	.500	4.0
30	Roman Mitichyan	170	1	1	0	.500	4.0
30	Tamdan McCrory	170	1	1	0	.500	4.0
30	Rich Clementi	170	1	1	0	.500	4.0
30	Anthony Torres	170	1	1	0	.500	4.0
30	Nick Thompson	170	1	1	0	.500	4.0
30	Joe Stevenson	170	1	1	0	.500	4.0
30	Melvin Guillard	170	1	1	0	.500	4.0
45	Josh Neer	170	2	3	0	.400	4.5
45	Nick Diaz	170	2	3	0	.400	4.5
45	Luigi Fioravanti	170	2	3	0	.400	4.5
45	Forrest Petz	170	2	3	0	.400	4.5
49	Tony DeSouza	170	1	2	0	.333	4.5
49	Jason Von Flue	170	1	2	0	.333	4.5
51	Billy Miles	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Chris Wilson	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Dan Barrera	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	David Bielkheden	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Dorian Price	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Jared Rollins	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Jason Gilliam	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	John Kolosci	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Kyle Bradley	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Paul Georgieff	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Richie Hightower	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Ryo Chonan	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Stevie Lynch	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Dennis Siver	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Josh Haynes	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Ross Pointon	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Shonie Carter	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Jeff Joslin	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Gleison Tibau	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Jeremy Jackson	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Pat Healy	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Kurt Pellegrino	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Derrick Noble	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Aaron Riley	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Keith Wisniewski	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Kit Cope	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Jay Hieron	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Frank Trigg	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
51	Brian Gassaway	170	0	1	0	.000	4.5
80	Chris Lytle	170	2	4	0	.333	5.0
81	Pete Spratt	170	1	3	0	.250	5.0
81	Kuniyoshi Hironaka	170	1	3	0	.250	5.0
83	Alex Karalexis	170	0	2	0	.000	5.0
83	Sammy Morgan	170	0	2	0	.000	5.0
83	Ansar Chalangov	170	0	2	0	.000	5.0
83	B.J. Penn	170	0	2	0	.000	5.0
83	John Alessio	170	0	2	0	.000	5.0
83	Dave Menne	170	0	2	0	.000	5.0
83	Keita Nakamura	170	0	2	0	.000	5.0
83	Chad Reiner	170	0	2	0	.000	5.0
83	Edilberto de Oliveira	170	0	2	0	.000	5.0
83	Jason Tan	170	0	2	0	.000	5.0
83	Tommy Speer	170	0	2	0	.000	5.0

It's pretty hard to beat 8-0 over a three year period. Hey look, two lightweights tied for ninth at welterweight. And who is that tied for 83rd? Why, it's B.J. Penn.

Good Morning From Las Vegas: UFC 86 Pre-Fight Presser

VikingPhotography — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:37:39 -0000

Fronted by Luke Thomas and hoping the author of this post updates his work when he gets a chance.

Opinions and observations now added; click through to view

It's a glorious, sunny day outside as I look north up the strip from my 29th floor room in the Mandalay Bay. My laptop reports the outside temperature as 34 Celsius - a touch warmer than the 16 Celsius that I'd be enduring back home in Scotland.

In just two hours, I'll be in down in the events centre taking photos for ESPN at the pre-fight press conference for UFC 86.

Attendees are Dana White, Quinton Jackson, Forrest Griffin, Patrick Cote, Josh Koscheck, Ricardo Almeida, Chris Lytle, Joe Stephenson and Tyson Griffin. There'll probably be a few other fighters from the card milling around in the room even if they're not on the roster for interviews.

Now as a photographer, I'm no journalist - but I'll do my best to write up any interesting comments or anecdotes from my viewpoint once the conference has wrapped.

Oh, and if there's any BE readers in the area, be sure to drop me a line.

UPDATE:

So the press conference wrapped about just over an hour ago but I got stuck behind waiting to get portraits of all the fighters... a bit like "pick a number and get in line" when there's so many journalists looking for one-on-one interviews.

Anyways. Quinton was his usual comedic self and he took a few light verbal jabs at Forrest. Jackson stated that he'd seen the Griffin v Bonnar fight whilst still with Pride and had picked Bonnar as the winner... he muffled this jibe a little by stating he's no referee and that was just his opinion. Overall Jackson was very relaxed, affable and in good spirits.

By contrast, Forrest was a man of few words as ever. He did reference Quinton's remarks about his punching power, saying "I used to fight taekwondo, and you got penalised for hitting to hard... but I've been working on it.". Forrest looked a lot trimmer than I remember him being in Belfast during '72... but that could be a trick of the mind.

Before the presser they maintained a good distance from each other as they waited to go up on the podium, not even making eye contact. It was all smiles and handshakes between the two comedians during the face-off but there's no doubting that, come Saturday night, these two will go at it hammer and tongs; although the latest series of TUF was without much in the way of "fireworks" between these coaches there'll be bombs dropped in the Octagon.

Patrick Cote and Ricardo Almeida had nothing bad to say about each other, being very respectful at all times. Each praised the others skills and past performances. It's anyone's guess as to what will motivate these guys to a win but, as a father of two children, I'll go out on a limb and say that Almeida's desire to prove himself to his autistic son will provide an inner fuel that Cote might not have a match for.

Chris Lytle proved that he's not taking his fight with Josh Koscheck lightly; "Usually when they call me up asking me to fight, I say 'I'll do it!" even before they tell me who it is... I jump in at the first second. This time, when they said it was Josh, it took me about three seconds before I agreed."

Lytle obviously has that fighter's heart of being willing to go up against anyone at anytime - but he lit out of the press conference at lightning speed once the face-offs had been staged. He disappeared so fast that he could have a profitable sideline as a magic act here at the Mandalay. I don't think anyone got to put one-on-one questions to him; I can only guess that he wanted to get straight back to the business of pre-fight training.

Koscheck, by contrast, stuck around for every interview opportunity going... and there were a lot of folk waiting to do so. Nothing that he said during the open forum part of the press conference stuck in my mind so apologies that I can't share anything.

Lastly, Dana White stuck it out the longest. I overheard a few snippets of interviews.

"Look, if you have $800 million in funding and do it right, you should be around for a long, long time." - referencing the demise of the IFL through lack of business acumen.

"I guarantee you; in eight years time, this sport will be bigger than the fucking NFL. It transcends all boundaries." - grand visions for the sport of MMA

'Eighty-five percent of our guys went to college; I wouldn't dream of telling them how to act, what to say - they all have their own unique story" - referencing both Pride FC's penchant for 'packaging' fighters (Quinton as a hobo) and also the perennial boxing story of 'grew up in a rough neigborhood, without boxing I'd be dead or in jail' (Dana's words)

The one dissapointment was that Joe Stevenson and Gleison Tibau were trimmed from appearing at the eleventh hour; the reason given was that the UFC wanted to keep the primary focus on the three main fights. Taken in conjunction with the 'Countdown to 86' that aired recently, that makes sense - but I'm sure there were a few folk looking to talk to Joe about his comeback trail following UFC 80.

Well, that's all folks. The weather outside is now 42 Celsius and, as soon as I'm done filing all my shots I'm going to head out and soak up some of it. Pity the WiFi in my room is so S L O W.

See you at the weigh-in's tomorrow.

UFC 3-Year "Standings": Middleweight Division

Richard — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:34:30 -0000

I assume at th point you've already seen my explanation for the standings here and here, so without further ado:

EDIT: “Fights Back” is just “Games Back” like you’d find in the standings of any other sport in the newspaper. The equation is (FighterAWins – FighterBWins + FighterBLosses – FighterALosses) / 2. That’s the determining factor because it in my opinion it doesn’t make sense for 1-0 to trump say 3-1.

Rk	Fighter	Class	Win	Loss	Draw	PCT	FB
1	Anderson Silva	185	6	0	0	1.000	0.0
2	Yushin Okami	185	6	1	0	.857	0.5
3	Martin Kampmann	185	4	0	0	1.000	1.0
4	Chris Leben	185	7	3	0	.700	1.0
5	Mike Swick	185	4	1	0	.800	1.5
5	Thales Leites	185	4	1	0	.800	1.5
7	Nathan Marquardt	185	5	2	0	.714	1.5
7	Rich Franklin	185	5	2	0	.714	1.5
9	Demian Maia	185	2	0	0	1.000	2.0
9	Michael Bisping	185	2	0	0	1.000	2.0
11	Dean Lister	185	3	1	0	.750	2.0
11	Nate Quarry	185	3	1	0	.750	2.0
13	Jason MacDonald	185	4	2	0	.667	2.0
13	Kendall Grove	185	4	2	0	.667	2.0
15	Amir Sadollah	185	1	0	0	1.000	2.5
15	David Terrell	185	1	0	0	1.000	2.5
15	Logan Clark	185	1	0	0	1.000	2.5
15	Matt Lindland	185	1	0	0	1.000	2.5
15	Matthew Riddle	185	1	0	0	1.000	2.5
15	Ricardo Almeida	185	1	0	0	1.000	2.5
15	Rob Kimmons	185	1	0	0	1.000	2.5
15	Rousimar Palhares	185	1	0	0	1.000	2.5
23	Patrick Cote	185	3	2	0	.600	2.5
24	Ed Herman	185	3	3	0	.500	3.0
24	Jorge Rivera	185	3	3	0	.500	3.0
24	Drew McFedries	185	2	2	0	.500	3.0
24	Jeremy Horn	185	2	2	0	.500	3.0
24	Rory Singer	185	2	2	0	.500	3.0
24	Terry Martin	185	2	2	0	.500	3.0
24	Chael Sonnen	185	1	1	0	.500	3.0
24	Charles McCarthy	185	1	1	0	.500	3.0
24	Jason Day	185	1	1	0	.500	3.0
24	Luigi Fioravanti	185	1	1	0	.500	3.0
24	Marvin Eastman	185	1	1	0	.500	3.0
35	Alan Belcher	185	2	3	0	.400	3.5
35	Kalib Starnes	185	2	3	0	.400	3.5
37	David Loiseau	185	1	2	0	.333	3.5
37	Jorge Santiago	185	1	2	0	.333	3.5
37	Trevor Prangley	185	1	2	0	.333	3.5
40	Alessio Sakara	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
40	C.B. Dollaway	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
40	Dan Henderson	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
40	Danny Abbadi	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
40	Dante Rivera	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
40	Dennis Hallman	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
40	Floyd Sword	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
40	Joe Riggs	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
40	Josh Haynes	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
40	Ross Pointon	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
40	Solomon Hutcherson	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
40	Steve Byrnes	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
40	Steve Vigneault	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
40	Yuki Sasaki	185	0	1	0	.000	3.5
54	Evan Tanner	185	1	3	0	.250	4.0
54	Scott Smith	185	1	3	0	.250	4.0
54	Travis Lutter	185	1	3	0	.250	4.0
57	Chris Price	185	0	2	0	.000	4.0
57	Crafton Wallace	185	0	2	0	.000	4.0
57	Edwin DeWees	185	0	2	0	.000	4.0
57	Gideon Ray	185	0	2	0	.000	4.0
57	Jordan Radev	185	0	2	0	.000	4.0
57	Justin Levens	185	0	2	0	.000	4.0
57	Rob Yundt	185	0	2	0	.000	4.0
57	Ryan Jensen	185	0	2	0	.000	4.0
65	Ivan Salaverry	185	0	3	0	.000	4.5
66	Joe Doerksen	185	0	4	0	.000	5.0
66	Pete Sell	185	0	4	0	.000	5.0

With all the bashing he gets, one forgets just how many fights Chris Leben has won in the UFC. I mean, with the amount of crap he takes some places you'd think he was Pete Sell.

BJ Penn to Fight Winner of Fitch/GSP

Tha Realness — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:10:28 -0000

Jason Perkins of www.fightline.com has the news:

UFC 87 will go a long way towards determining BJ Penn's future opponents. Penn recently told Fighters Club TV that he is set to move up to 170 to face the winner of UFC 87's Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch contest. The fight, contingent on the health of the victor, will take place at the UFC's annual New Year's Eve card this December 27th in Las Vegas.
Penn also plans to retain his lightweight title and will likely face the winner of Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta, which also takes place at UFC 87, at a later date.

Penn also left open the option of moving up to middleweight after cleaning out the light and welterweight divisions.

I'm all for the best fighter's fighting one another. However, I'm also not a fan of fighter's moving between weight classes...especially if they are the champ. It just causes alot of problems as far as stability/rankings within weight divisions. If Penn were to beat the winner of Fitch/GSP...he would then be the champion of two weight divisions at the same time...ala Dan Henderson in PRIDE. I would like to see Penn fight the winner of Huerta/Florian first, and if he won that fight...then relinquish the LW belt to move up and challenge GSP/Fitch. Until then...let's see how this story unfolds.

Dana White Speaks On Jesse Taylor/Fighter Behavior

Tha Realness — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:56:14 -0000

Information courtesy of Kevin Iole at Yahoo Sports:

“A lot of guys, they get off the show and they’re embarrassed by what they’ve done. And think about this: I’ve faced a lot of challenges since we’ve had the UFC, but I have a kid (Taylor) who pissed his pants on television and now I have to turn him into a star.”

“Without a doubt, the kid deserves another chance,” White said. “He made himself look like a fool, and he’s aware of that, but everyone deserves another opportunity and we’re going to give it to him. He acted like a moron. He’s embarrassed by it, which he should be, but what he did doesn’t amount to enough to ban him forever. Come on. He was just young and stupid, but at least he seems to have learned from what he did.”

According to the article, Jesse Taylor enrolled in Alcoholic's Anonymous after being embrassed by his behavior after the last season of TUF ended. I have to say that I can't fault White for giving the kid another chance. Three months or more is enough time for a young man to reflect on his mistake and realize the opportunity that was pissed away. The guy DID earn his way into the TUF finals. Most people seem to forget that tapings for TUF actually ended months ago...although because the incident happened at the end of the show it would seem Taylor's return to the octagon is premature.

Another nugget from the interview is in regards to the fighter's behavior in the house. Many people have suggested that Zuffa has influenced what the fighter's do while in the house. White's response...

“Whoever told you we encouraged them to tear up the house is (an expletive) liar,” White said. “Nobody ever told them what to do on the show.

According to Iole the repairs to the staircase which was destroyed during the last season cost $70,000 to repair. Any damages done to the house during the filming of the upcoming season will have to be paid for by the fighter's.

Franklin vs. Hamill at UFC 88

Mike Fagan — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:07:45 -0000

According to MMARated:

MMARated.com has learned that Rich Franklin will face Matt Hamill at UFC 88 at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, GA on September 6, 2008. This fight will mark Franklin's return to the 205 lbs division.

MMAJunkie.com first reported that Franklin was considering moving up to the light heavyweight division yesterday. Today, MMARated.com was able to confirm the switch as well as his opponent.

Seems like a fairly easy showcase fight for Rich. Hamill is a fairly one-dimensional fighter who has cardio issues. He might be able to take the first round with his wrestling, but as the fight goes on, I expect Rich to be able to keep it standing and dominating with strikes.

Muhammad Ali Act: Good For MMA?

Tha Realness — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:23:50 -0000

Rob Maysey of MMAFA.tv thinks so in a very long article...but it's definitely a good read...here's some of the highlights

The following response is to a statement made by Makan Delrahim a lobbyist hired by Zuffa:

Is it really a “whole different story?” Should the Muhammad Ali Act apply to MMA? In May of 2008, even Marc Ratner, the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for Zuffa stated that there “is absolutely no reason that the sport should not be regulated along with the sport of boxing.”5

Does this matter to mixed martial artists, and should they care? In short, the answer is yes. The activity undertaken by Zuffa “to do everything they possibly can to not be listed under the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act of 2000″ is directly hostile to the interests of mixed martial artists, and the stakes are enormous.6

The following quote from the article talks about Zuffa's exploitative business practices and other defects in how MMA fighter's are affected:

What actions constituted “exploitative business practices,” and what is meant by increasing “honest competition and the integrity of industry?” The Senate Committee Report details each of these items:

long-term promotional contracts and options hurt the boxer and the sport;

organizations do not have credible ratings procedures;

organizations have inconsistent procedures, and state regulations do not adequately regulate promoter contracts;

difficulty for state commisssions to individually monitor promoter-boxer contracts, and necessity of a federal mechanism to prevent hidden agreements; and

promoters forcing boxers to give options in return for getting a title fight.

Each of the defects noted above applies in full to the current status of mixed martial artists.

As I stated it's a LONG article...and I simply couldn't post it all here...but feel free to check it out...and drop your thoughts.

Joe Stevenson interview

strictlymma.com — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:36:43 -0000

Ariel Helwani at MMArated.com interviewed Joe Stevenson this week. It was pretty basic stuff, but a few interesting tidbits to report....

As for his next fight saturday, he was offered Tyson Griffin but is to close of a friend with him and said he won't fight Tyson or Gray Maynard unless its for the title.

His dream fight right now is Shinya Aoki and went as far as to ask Joe Silva for the fight. Didn't happen for the obvious reasons.

Joe is one of the true nice guys of the sport and is a fantastic ambassador. Rooting against him is like rooting against Santa Claus in my opinion. I hope Joe gets back on a winning streak and gets back into the thick of things in the Lightweight division.

C.B. Dollaway vs. Jesse Taylor

UFCblogger — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:31:36 -0000

According to mmajunkie.com Dana White has backed away from his statement that jesse Taylor would never fight in the UFC again. He is set to face the guy who replaced him in the finale C.B. Dollaway on July 19th @ Ultimate Fight Night 14.

It really doesn't bother me that White has back tracked since I think most people deserve a second chance. I actually like this fight and hope that it makes it's way to the show so I can see it.

Can Brock Lesnar Broaden the MMA Fan Base?

Cannon J — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:59:30 -0000

via farm3.static.flickr.com

MMA Payout has an interesting piece on Brock Lesnar, and his drawing power as it pertained to UFC 81:

This was like a A Tale of Two PPV's. On one side you had the 300k folks that represent the WWE audience that tuned in to see how their past hero would do in a real fight. That number indicates Brock is just a massive draw, almost a one man PPV. The UFC's marketing pact with WWE for this card seems to have paid off in spades.

On the other Hand you have the just over 300k regular UFC ppv buyers who bought the show. That number is below the avg 400k buys that a normal UFC PPV would draw. Was there a wholesale rejection of the wrestling star Lesnar being interjected into the UFC? Or was it a case of buyer fatigue due to there being 2 other UFC ppvs in the five weeks previous to the Lesnar Mir showdown? I would guess a little bit of the former and a whole lot of the latter. With GSP-Hughes, Chuck-Wanderlei, and BJ Penn soaking up most of the hardcore audience prior to this early February PPV, those viewers decided to take a break on the untested pro wrestler.

Although hardcore MMA fans often cringe at comparisons of the sport to professional wrestling (me included), you can't deny that wrestling enthusiasts are a huge target audience that MMA promotions would like to add to the ranks of their devoted fan bases. Lesnar and Bobby Lashley have landed lucrative contracts. Kurt Angle is always threatening to make the move to MMA. Lesnar's presence on the UFC 81card quite obviously had a big impact on PPV buys. Two established mixed martial artists, Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson, were only able to muster about 325,000 buys for the next event.

Will Lesnar continue to draw more fans?

...While Lesnar was impressive in his just over a minute loss to Mir, his mainstream/wrestling fans make view the quick submission negatively and not purchase his follow up fights in the UFC. If they are willing to sample Lesnar again, the UFC seems to be hoping a hard sell won't be as necessary this time to recapture those buyers.

It's hard to predict what pro wrestling followers will do, but I don't think the loss to Mir will hurt Lesnar's drawing power. Lesnar was in control for most of the match, and MIr is a former champion with a world-class ground game. As long as Lesnar can bounce back with an impressive performance at UFC 87, he'll keep adding to the number of viewers. However, Lesnar will have a tough obstacle in the form of Heath Herring. Mark Coleman would have been a much more favorable opponent, but if Lesnar can defeat Herring, he'll maintain the interest of the pro wrestling community while gaining respect from hardcore MMA fans.

MMA and professional wrestling have a history of interplay in North America and Japan. This is evidenced in MMA Payout's list of most important MMA fighters. Pro wrestling just has a bigger following due to its more prominent role in the entertainment industry. As much as I hate to say this, the promotion that does the best job in converting pro wrestling fans to MMA fans will have a huge leg up on the competition. If no promotion does this effectively, MMA, as a sport, will need to find another way to gain a broader following.

The Tale of Two Kids: The Superfight No One Wants to See

Mike Fagan — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:31:46 -0000

The recipe should be simple. Take two top ranked pound-for-pound fighters, add a pinch of international rivalry, and throw it all in some sort of contained fighting area. The end result should be a fight-of-the-decade caliber contest and buttloads of money for all.

Yet, Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto and "The California Kid" Urijah Faber may never have the opportunity to cook up this special sauce.

It's not for a lack of interest on either side. Sherdog recently had a piece on "Kid" where he had this to say:

Yamamoto also issued a challenge to WEC featherweight champion Faber, who has been long suggested as a worthy opponent for the aggressive fighter.

"He is welcome to come. I want that fight soon," said Yamamoto.

While Urijah Faber, who seemingly brings up Yamamoto in every interview he takes part in, called out the Japanese sensation last year in the LA Times:

"That's the fight I want," he said. "That's the guy people think can beat me. His name is out there so much. Most people say we're the two best guys at the weight. "

Unfortunately, promotional ties and economics get in the way. Faber is tied to Zuffa-owned World Extreme Cagefighting. Yamamoto fights for the new Dream promotion controlled by the financial monster FEG. Neither has any sort of name recognition in the home of the other.

Economically, the fight makes the most sense in the Land of the Rising Sun. Yamamoto has a much bigger presence in Japan than his American counterpart has in his own country. The problems with that scenario is 1) Zuffa has had a fairly strict policy of not renting out fighters after being burned by DSE and 2) Urijah Faber is as unknown in Japan as "Kid" Yamamoto is in the States. The incentive for FEG to ship an extraordinary amount of money to Zuffa simply does not exist.

The shame of the situation is that fans miss out on a pound-for-pound encounter between two guys who almost have a Ken/Ryu mirror image of each other. Both have very good wrestling backgrounds and have integrated technical standup to their games. While the edge in both may favor Yamamoto (who had Olympic wrestling aspirations and has also competed in K-1 kickboxing), Faber would come into the match as the bigger fighter.

From my perspective, Emelianenko/Couture is the only dream fight more intriguing. Unlike the heavyweight fight, however, the trans-Pacific kids are both in their physical primes. And with 38 wins and only 2 losses between them, it's a shame we may miss out on it.

Video of "Kid" wrestling his kid in the extended entry.