MMA / UFC - Official Thread

[nick]

never got why people compare Boxing to UFC. One uses just your hands, the other you can use your entire body. Guess you can compare Football to Hockey because they're both contact sports ..

[DRiccio21]

ok, but I don't know what that has to do with anything being talked about here.

On a boxing card, you're lucky if you get one exciting fight, two would be extraordinary. If you don't have 2-3 on an MMA card, that card is basically viewed as a failure. You're almost never gonna see that in one night of boxing. You definitely will never see 5 like the UFC main card had Saturday. In boxing you get a great fight here, and one there, and one somewhere else. UFC generally has flurries of great fights. Yes, boxing is structured differently, the rules are diferrent, but at the end of the day the goal is the same: Finish your opponent or make the judges think you won. You obviously like boxing, and that's fine, but to claim that uf is making ignorant statements is actually pretty ignorant.

this has nothing to do with what i like, i like both sports. so its not really a preference thing.

it has to do with a random dig he took which i found to be odd comparing two things that are completely different.

[GeorgesGoons]

never got why people compare Boxing to UFC. One uses just your hands, the other you can use your entire body. Guess you can compare Football to Hockey because they're both contact sports ..

One of the smartest things I've read from you in a while Nick. Welcome back.

I used to be a huge boxing fan in the 90's, the fight cards for the most part were pretty darn good from top to bottom.

I am a huge MMA fan now, I just like the excitement of it compared to boxing. I watch boxing now and all I can think of is the guy is asking for an inside leg kick with the way he stands.

I do have a feeling that the UFC (and somewhat MMA in general) is going to have a hard crash pretty soon if things don't change. A lot of fighters do not like the Reebok deal and could potentially send them to other organizations. In general the fighters are not getting paid enough for what they do. There needs to be a union of sort to protect them from Uncle Dana's hard stance on how he deals with fighters (you have a legend in Randy Couture and Dana will not let him set foot in the arena of a UFC event because of some dispute between the two).

[autiger730]

Here's the thing, it would take a massive migration of talent to cause any kind of shift. That just isn't going to happen. Bellator is the only competition for UFC and they don't pay shit compared to what the UFC does. You might see some lower level guys here or there go, but for the most part, nobody is going to jump ship. Anyone with championship aspirations is staying put. No one cares who the bellator champ is in any weight class. Strikeforce at least had a few strong classes and had the showtime deal so they could pay much more than Bellator. If bellator happens to start doing well, Zuffa will just buy them and disband it. A union would be the best thing that could happen for the fighters, but they seem to be all talk when it comes to forming one.

[ReignOnU]

I wouldn't be so sure of that. While I'm not a diehard Scott Coker fan, he's far from an idiot. Coker built Strikeforce from the ground up and if you remember, he used Affliction as a major player when the UFC got into a pissing contest with them. Coker was contractually retained by Zuffa after the purchase of Strikeforce, then replace Rebney as the President of Bellator. Bellator has a tv deal and when this Reebok deal goes into full effect, you can bet that Bellator is going to exploit the other sponsorship avenues. If the sponsorship money is as significant as some fighters have suggested, I could certainly see some of them starting to jump. It's not something that will happen immediately, but a slow migration of talent can certainly build a division. I think it's a bit disrespectful to not recognize that Bellator already has some marketable talent. Will Brooks is really fun fighter and Liam McGeary could sellout a card in England on his own. I'd love to see him get some high level competition at 205. He's 6'6 and has a really nice striking arsenal.

Honestly, even though the card is headlined by a freakshow between Shamrock and Slice, I'll probably enjoy the rest of the 138 card. I don't think the matchups are great, but that goes back to the depth of the company right now. In due time, that depth could and probably will come. I don't see Bellator ever owning the MMA landscape, but I certainly think they can be a viable 2nd option to the UFC down the road.

Somewhat related to that is the fact that Coker is willing to work with other organizations. When he was in Strikeforce, he nearly had a cross-company program set up with Dream and it wouldn't shock me to see him figure out a way to work with Glory (kickboxing promotion) or another MMA promotion. Sakakibara (SP?), the former head of Pride, is also rumored to be interested in working with Bellator on co-hosting events.

[autiger730]

I just don't see Bellator getting to the talent level strikeforce once had. At one time, heavyweight was a much better division than the UFC heavyweights, middleweight was too. No one really cared who the Strikeforce champ was though. Coker isn't an idiot, by any stretch of the imagination. Neither is Dana. He's not doing all this crazy shit for shits and giggles. I got to think that this is all part of some plan he has, and we've just yet to see what the goal is.

[ReignOnU]

I just don't see Bellator getting to the talent level strikeforce once had. At one time, heavyweight was a much better division than the UFC heavyweights, middleweight was too. No one really cared who the Strikeforce champ was though. Coker isn't an idiot, by any stretch of the imagination. Neither is Dana. He's not doing all this crazy shit for shits and giggles. I got to think that this is all part of some plan he has, and we've just yet to see what the goal is.

I think someone mentioned... it wouldn't shock me that Zuffa was setting up for a sale. Legitimize it with the testing, market it with Reebok, and load up the talent... then flip it.

I know we'd like to think that fighters are in it for the glory, but many are in it because it's something they are good at and they can make a living doing it. If Coker can figure out how to generate the revenue, he can slowly rip away talent and build. Complete hypothetical... what if Coker figured out how to get in good with Glenn Robinson, who is obviously a businessman? Robinson and the Blackzillians start flocking towards Bellator... that's a helluva lot of talent moving quickly. They start generating more revenue with their events, maybe mix in some PPVs, which Strikeforce could successfully pull off, then they go back and snag more talent... the revenue stream grows.

Crazy would be to think that M1 would ever do anything logical or Sakaibarra or however you spell it would be able to bring Pride back from the dead. Bellator has a foundation with a tv contract and a pretty savvy leader with a proven track record... and UFC seems to be leaving an opening, just like they did with Strikeforce, in terms of marketing... but maybe on a larger level.

[nick]

lmao shamrock

[ReignOnU]

Somewhat related to that is the fact that Coker is willing to work with other organizations. When he was in Strikeforce, he nearly had a cross-company program set up with Dream and it wouldn't shock me to see him figure out a way to work with Glory (kickboxing promotion) or another MMA promotion. Sakakibara (SP?), the former head of Pride, is also rumored to be interested in working with Bellator on co-hosting events.

...and that took all of 2 weeks from my posting to happen. Coker announced Tito v McGeary for the title, a 4 man tournament with Vassel, Newton, Davis and King Mo... and a co-event with Glory. I had a feel something was up today when Rico Verhoeven tweeted about kickboxing and MMA tonight.

[autiger730]

lmao shamrock

Lost $100 bucks on that fucking jobber. What a fucking joke. Nobody gets a RNC like that and loses it.

[ReignOnU]

Definitely looked sketchy... wouldn't put it past Bellator and those 2 guys right now. It's not like doing stuff like that is unheard of, just look at the Pride history.

[GeorgesGoons]

If Bellator wants to be taken serious they need to get rid of Kimbo, Shamrock, Tito and the rest of the guys fighting a decade past their prime. They need to focus on 1 or 2 weight divisions and go canvas the whole country, Europe and Russia for the best fighters at that weight and sign them. They should be looking at the UFC and see what is their weakest divisions are and try to capitalize on that. Me personally they should be trying to get LHW talent from Russia and look at the 125 division. Besides mighty mouse there is nobody at 125 in the UFC and at LHW the guys are starting to show their age.

[ReignOnU]

Alexander Schlemenko the former 185 champ for Bellator, tested positive for steroids at 133. The CSAC suspended him for 3 years and fined him $10k. That's how you swing a hammer.

[ReignOnU]

Also... if you haven't heard... Aldo has a fractured rib. The fight with McGregor isn't canceled yet, but it's certainly on thin ice now.

[autiger730]

Alexander Schlemenko the former 185 champ for Bellator, tested positive for steroids at 133. The CSAC suspended him for 3 years and fined him $10k. That's how you swing a hammer.

Ouch.

[nick]

ald'oh

[GeorgesGoons]

Also... if you haven't heard... Aldo has a fractured rib. The fight with McGregor isn't canceled yet, but it's certainly on thin ice now.

This is a lose / lose for him. If he doesn't fight he gets to listen to McGreggor talk shit until he comes back. If he comes out and loses then he shouldn't have fought and gave himself some time to heal.

[ReignOnU]

Not exactly a winning proposition for McGregor either... apparently Frankie Edgar has been training just in case something happened in this fight. He's already let Dana know that he's ready to step in. I think Edgar is a far worse match-up for McGregor than Aldo is.

[GeorgesGoons]

Keep Edgar to fight night cards, he is so boring to watch lately

[autiger730]

Keep Edgar to fight night cards, he is so boring to watch lately

By "lately" you mean "every time he has ever stepped in a cage," right?