Russian Tweets

Interesting news from twitter last night saw M1 global calling for a match between Fedor and Cain Velasquez in Moscow!

Now I realize that this is pure fantasy for a variety of reasons but indulge me for a minute...that fight would be a great spectacle (especially in Russia) and a match up that lots of fans would love to see. Of course there is a less than 1% chance that it would happen, I don't think the UFC would ever co-promote with any other organisation and lets face it Fedor hardly catapulted himself back to relevance with a decision win over Jeff Monson last weekend. I'm sure that Dana will have some fun at M1's expense over this one.

The only potential positives about this fight from a UFC perspective (and I realize that I'm clutching at straws here) are;

1. Velasquez is no longer the champ, if he were to lose it wouldn't devalue the belt in any way by having the "champion" outside of the UFC

2. I imagine Russia would probably be a difficult market for the UFC to crack. A one off partnership with M1 might actually make sense here and could be great for building the UFC's profile in previously uncharted waters.

UFC 139 Wow

Well a lot has been said and written about UFC 139 already but it was a truly fantastic event. Here are some of my thoughts now I've had a couple of nights to get over the excitement;

1. Shogun v Henderson was in my opinion the best MMA fight ever. I haven't heard anyone come up with a really credible contender.

2. How could the last round not be scored 10/8 to Shogun? He mounted Dan four times! It's getting tiresome but judging in MMA needs an overhaul. Judges across the board favour stand up striking over grappling when scoring. It could also be argued that round three was a 10/8 to Hendo, for what it's worth I had the fight as a draw.

3. Both these guys are true warriors, I hope they got paid a shed load of money.

4 Hendo seems to be at his peak at age 41. He now fights like Chuck Liddel, really just using his wrestling to keep the fight standing and waiting to land that right hand bomb. Having a granite chin also helps. If I had a choice I think I'd like him to fight Silva (providing he can get past Sonnen) rather than Jon Jones. I think Jones would out-wrestle him and be big enough and strong enough to hold him down.

5. Will Shogun ever come to a fight in really great shape? He looked flabbier than usual for this one. He was gassed by the end of the second round but to be fair to him he seemed to stay at the same level for the rest of the fight and actually finished much stronger than Henderson (although being 12 years younger has to help). I can't help but support this guy. I would love to see him fight Rampage in Japan but I think that fight may come too soon for him to recover. He's only 29 and I think he'll put together another run at the title sooner rather than later.

6. Wanderlei Silva still has something left in the tank. It was great to see a typical swarming finish from him, a real blast from the past. I still get nervous whenever he gets tagged and he looked unsteady after eating the spinning back fist in round one but he got the win in impressive fashion at the end. I'm not sure what's next for him, the Cung Lee fight was perfect, a big name but not hugely dangerous. I'm really interested to see who he gets next.

7. Cung Lee would probably lose to the majority of middleweights in the UFC. He's 39, has poor conditioning and has never really focused fully on MMA. It's only down to huge natural ability that he can compete at that level at all. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't see him return.

8. Urijah Faber was awesome. I hope the rumour is true that he will be the next coach of the ultimate fighter alongside Dominic Cruz. They despise each other and it would really help build their rivalry to a new level.

The Ageing Fighters Biggest Fight - Staying Relevant

Lets get this straight I'm a huge Pride fan, I lived in Japan when Pride was in its heyday. It was my introduction to MMA and I'll always cheer for the ex-Pride fighters when I watch them fight (although I did lose faith with Cro-Cop, his heart just wasn't in it at the end). These guys are a dying breed, and it got me thinking about the battle to stay relevant and stave off retirement that these ageing fighters are facing. Randy Couture laid down the blueprint, he kept himself in tip top shape, always came to the Octagon with a watertight game plan and showed huge heart and desire. His comeback win against Tim Sylvia is one of my favourite all time fights. This weekend we'll see another fighter in a desperate battle to keep his career alive....Wanderlei Silva. He's probably one of my all time faves. Undoubtedly one of the most intimidating fighters in MMA history, a guy who finished fights. His UFC career though has been less than spectacular, he also looks pretty weird following the surgery he had to remove all the scar tissue from his face. It's almost like he's wearing guy liner...weird. Despite this he's still my boy but he's on borrowed time. His chin is Liddelesque in its fragility and he still seems to approach fights without a solid game plan. The biggest issue for me though is his change of attitude. I hate to hear him talking about "entertaining the fans", he talks about putting on a good fight being more important than winning and his legendary intense stare down has disappeared. I realize that if you are losing fights then it's more difficult to feel like a killer who scares his opponents stiff but if he has any chance of keeping his career alive he has to tap into the animal that he once was. Don't get me wrong I'm not advocating that he starts rushing across the cage recklessly. He just needs to get mean. For what its worth I think he'll beat Cung Lee who is flashy but overrated in my opinion. If we are lucky we may just see Wanderlei in a few more fun fights before the end.

UFC on Fox and other ramblings

It's been a little while since my last blog post but I've been manic with work so it's nice to finally sit down and pen some thoughts.

Last nights fight was dramatic and in my mind predictably short. It was wonderful to see the UFC live on network television surely a huge stride in our fantastic sport becoming truly mainstream. This feeling was dampened slightly by reports that the viewing figures only reached 4.6 million for the hour broadcast. When all the numbers are fully crunched and they release the data for the number of people who actually watched the fight itself I think (hope) the figures will be a lot higher. After all you can't expect the casual/new fan to watch a 60 second fight and then sit through 55 mins of extended punditry. Nearly everyone who I've heard discuss the topic felt that they should've showed the Guida v Henderson fight as part of the hour (including UFC employees like Joe Rogan). This seems blindingly obvious and seems to be a decision taken by Fox rather than the UFC. I'm sure some television executive has a good reason for this that no one else has thought of yet.

The fight itself was short, brutal and dramatic. There were question marks over Velasquez coming into the fight regarding ring rust and injuries picked up in training but I think he just tried to swim in the deep waters of Dos Santos' striking and drowned. He is still the number 2 heavyweight in the world for me, but knockout victories over Zombie Nog and Brock "not the face" Lesnar have perhaps mislead us all as to his ability on the feet. Dos Santos is one of the nicest guys in the game and a real killer to boot. There is still a slight question mark about his ability to stuff the take down of an elite heavyweight wrestler but there aren't many fighters that fall into that bracket anyway. Lesnar might test this theory if he can get past Overeem and both Barnett and Cormier have the credentials to take him down. I actually think his biggest test will be the eventual and inevitable rematch with a super motivated Cain Velasquez who will come back with a tighter game plan next time.

UFC 137 viewpoint

Well I got two out of my four picks right, which is why I rarely bet on MMA! UFC 137 was a decent card saved by an awesome main event. I have to say Nick Diaz was fantastic, better than I thought he would be. BJ had a good first round (which he won in my opinion), but Nick's cardio, pressure and endless barrages of quickfire combinations proved too much for the plucky Hawaiian. I respect BJ's heart and chin but if that fight had been five rounds we would've seen a stoppage. Really interesting that Nick now leapfrogs Carlos Condit for the next shot at GSP. Apparently Condit "agreed" to step aside. That's like getting an offer from the mafia that you can't refuse. He must be gutted (although I'd be surprised if the UFC didn't give him some form of financial sweetener). Nick was pretty clever calling out GSP after the fight and in fairness it is the fight that we all want to see. GSP also needed to look like he wasn't avoiding Diaz, it's like standing up to the school yard bully...you can't put it off. I think the one remaining question mark hanging over Diaz is his ability to handle an elite MMA wrestler. That question will be answered one way or another in the GSP fight. The rest of the card was just ok for me. Cerrone looked great. Kongo proved to be the really solid gatekeeper that he is and Mitrione will have to go away and learn from that performance. I hope that Mirko is genuinely serious about retiring this time.....I hope that BJ will reconsider, he still has something to offer.

"Too Much UFC"......not for me.

Listening to my favourite podcast recently "The MMA Hour" with the excellent Ariel Helwani, the subject of "too much UFC" is often raised. Ariel and many other guests have been in agreement that there are simply too many UFC events these days. I've been thinking about this subject for a while now and it's something that I just can't agree with. Dana White has often stated that their long term aim is to make MMA the biggest sport in the world. It's a lofty goal but one which I would love to see realized. In all honesty I can't ever see MMA overtaking football (soccer for my American readers) in world wide appeal, but if it could even get close I'd be more than happy. The UFC has seriously ramped up the number of events over the last 12 months and the frequency of cards is only set to keep increasing. Being honest I can only see benefits to this "saturation approach". Look at other sports for a start, the most popular sports in the world saturate TV channels with live events and replays most nights of the week. Most of these sports don't operate a PPV model but the rational is still the same. More UFC events is surely better for the fighters, it means that they have to carry more fighters on the roster (giving more fighters access to the UFC health care), this raises standards across the sport allowing more fighters to train professionally with the increased financial security of being associated with the UFC. It also allows fighters to fight more often, increasing their visibility and marketability. The recent Fox deal will also have a major impact on the sport, giving fighters access to a wider market in which they can promote their brand. There is an argument that PPV numbers will suffer with an increase in the number of events. This is inevitable initially as viewers pick and choose cards in a time of economic uncertainty, but whilst individual cards may have slightly lower figures, the overall number of PPV buys should be higher with the vastly increased number of events. The fights on Fox will also introduce MMA to a whole new audience which should mean increased PPV buys with time. The increased number of shows combined with The UFC soon to be shown on network television also goes a long way to help the legitimization of the sport. MMA is still tarred with the brush of being a "no holds barred" "barbaric sport" in many quarters. The "saturation approach" should slowly erode this misconception as the sport becomes more and more accepted in the mainstream. I can't wait for the day that MMA is reported as a mainstream sport on the back pages of newspapers here in the UK. The more events we see, the higher profile fighters become in the USA and the rest of the world, the more likely it is to happen. The argument I've heard against this is that many fans can't afford to buy every PPV. We are lucky in the UK in that we pay an annual subscription fee and we then get to watch pretty much every event the UFC puts on. It's undoubtedly true that with an increased number of events more fans will have to pick and choose which events they watch, but that's always been the case. If the UFC only put on 6 shows a year there would still be fans that couldn't afford to watch all of them, so where do you draw the line? The important question is can the UFC genuinely have ambitions of being the biggest sport in the world whilst only having 12 or so shows a year? I'll let you make up your own mind...

Is Winning Enough?

A Recent debate at the Arm Bar Forum http://thearmbar.forumotion.com/f1-mma-forum about the next welter weight challengers got me thinking. I mean if Diaz wins then he gets the next shot, that's pretty much universally accepted, then we have the likes of Ellenberger, maybe Rory Macdonald, even Rumble Johnson with a couple more wins. There is however an elephant in the room, and his name is Jon Fitch. Most of the guys in the forum felt that Fitch would probably beat all of the contenders I've listed above. Incredibly he has lost just one fight in his 15 UFC appearances. To be fair it was a heavy loss to GSP but then again who has pushed the champ close recently? Some websites list Fitch in their pound for pound top 10, and with a record like that, it's difficult to argue. Yet despite this Jon Fitch is not being mentioned as a title contender, don't get me wrong I love the UFC but it seems in Fitch's case the fact that he is a top fighter is overlooked because he isn't "exciting". Sure Fitch tends to grind his way to decision wins, and hand on heart I would rather watch Anderson Silva fight all day long. Despite this I respect the fact that he is a tough SOB, and I think that it's important to remember that MMA is a sport and in sport winning is what matters most. I'm sure the UFC feel that Fitch v GSP 2 won't sell as many PPV's as a fresh match with one of the contenders above but I don't care about that, I want to see the best fight the best. If those guys would all get wrestled to a decision loss by Fitch, then that's their problem, they need to improve as fighters.  I don't think the UFC should protect them from Fitch because they are scared he will derail the fresh meat. Since Fitch lost to GSP he went on a 5 fight win streak before a draw with BJ Penn. Prior to his fight with Fitch, BJ was coming off back to back losses to Frankie Edgar and a win over the once great but terminally declining Matt Hughes. How are they both rewarded? Penn is in this weeks main event against Nick Diaz, Fitch gets a banana skin of a fight against Johny Hendricks (who is outside of the top 10, but very dangerous). Does that seem fair to you? Maybe we should look at it like a business, we all want the sport to grow and the best way to do that is put on exciting fights and increase the PPV numbers. Combined with that you have to say that in the UFC the cream really does tend to rise to the top. All of the champions are well deserving of the title. I just think that on this occasion if a guy has a record like Fitch's then regardless of his style you have to let him fight the top boys and consider him as a title contender.