Russell Peters knows his combat sports. He was an amateur boxer for nine years, is a longtime fan of the UFC and a close friend of several fighters, like Cung Le.
So the well-known comedian has an informed opinion about the state of MMA. And his take isn’t too positive. In an interview with Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Peters took the UFC to task for oversaturation, being a monopoly and underpaying fighters.
“It really is hard to follow the sport and I’m a fan,” Peters said. “I think the problem is that UFC made it about their name as opposed to the fighters. I think that worked in the beginning, the rebranding. And that really saved and created a genre.”
Peters, the third highest grossing comedian in 2013 per Forbes, was a huge PRIDE fan and became slightly disenchanted when the UFC purchased the popular Japanese MMA promotion. He also didn’t like what the UFC did after buying both PRIDE and Strikeforce.
“They shouldn’t have bought PRIDE and Strikeforce and just eliminated them,” said Peters, who has also trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu with former UFC fighter Carlos Newton. “They should have kept them and then instead of UFC Fight Night, they could have had PRIDE night or Strikeforce. It gives you some sort of scope and then puts UFC at a higher level. ‘These are our lesser ones, here’s the big one.’ But if you call everything UFC … somebody was like did you catch the fights last night? I was like, ‘What f—ing fights? I didn’t know there was fights.'”
The UFC has addressed — and denied — accusations that it is a monopoly on multiple occasions, but Peters believes the organization’s stronghold over the MMA industry is an issue.
“When UFC starts buying stuff and then getting rid of it, I’m like, well that’s just monopolizing a sport that doesn’t need to be monopolized,” he said. “There’s enough for it to go around. You don’t need to be the only guy in town. … You do want to be the only one standing. But if you own them all, does it really matter? You’re still the only man standing. It’s more for perception, really. Perception is everything.”
Peters, 44, said he always bristled when people said in the past that MMA has overtaken boxing as the most popular combat sport. Peters trained in boxing for nearly a decade and is the longtime friend of former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.
“I hated when people said that, because I was like no, that’s not the case,” Peters said. “It’s popular right now, but you have to understand boxing has been around forever and there’s far more money to be made in boxing. I think UFC or MMA could have come up if the fighters made more money. But I think everybody is underpaid.”
Peters said his MMA fighter friends have not complained to him about their purses. But he believes it’s because “they don’t really know any better.” Peters cited Floyd Mayweather’s outlandish prize money and “lesser fighters” also making millions as reasons why MMA athletes are not getting their just due financially.
He also doesn’t understand why the UFC has cut ties with big-name stars like Tito Ortiz and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Ortiz fought Stephan Bonnar at Bellator 131 on Nov. 15 and it ended up being the most watched MMA fight of 2014 so far.
“I think that’s a mistake that you’re cutting these guys,” Peters said. “What you’re doing is you’re enabling Bellator to come up more, because these are names people know. If you’re not a huge MMA fan then you’re not going to know who Johny Hendricks is or Ben Rothwell or Anthony Pettis. You’re not going to know these names. But you know the Tito Ortizs, you know the Chuck Liddells, you know the ‘Rampage’ Jacksons.”
Russell Peters knows his combat sports. He was an amateur boxer for nine years, is a longtime fan of the UFC and a close friend of several fighters, like Cung Le.
So the well-known comedian has an informed opinion about the state of MMA. And his take isn’t too positive. In an interview with Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Peters took the UFC to task for oversaturation, being a monopoly and underpaying fighters.
“It really is hard to follow the sport and I’m a fan,” Peters said. “I think the problem is that UFC made it about their name as opposed to the fighters. I think that worked in the beginning, the rebranding. And that really saved and created a genre.”
Peters, the third highest grossing comedian in 2013 per Forbes, was a huge PRIDE fan and became slightly disenchanted when the UFC purchased the popular Japanese MMA promotion. He also didn’t like what the UFC did after buying both PRIDE and Strikeforce.
“They shouldn’t have bought PRIDE and Strikeforce and just eliminated them,” said Peters, who has also trained in Brazilian jiu-jitsu with former UFC fighter Carlos Newton. “They should have kept them and then instead of UFC Fight Night, they could have had PRIDE night or Strikeforce. It gives you some sort of scope and then puts UFC at a higher level. ‘These are our lesser ones, here’s the big one.’ But if you call everything UFC … somebody was like did you catch the fights last night? I was like, ‘What f—ing fights? I didn’t know there was fights.'”
The UFC has addressed — and denied — accusations that it is a monopoly on multiple occasions, but Peters believes the organization’s stronghold over the MMA industry is an issue.
“When UFC starts buying stuff and then getting rid of it, I’m like, well that’s just monopolizing a sport that doesn’t need to be monopolized,” he said. “There’s enough for it to go around. You don’t need to be the only guy in town. … You do want to be the only one standing. But if you own them all, does it really matter? You’re still the only man standing. It’s more for perception, really. Perception is everything.”
Peters, 44, said he always bristled when people said in the past that MMA has overtaken boxing as the most popular combat sport. Peters trained in boxing for nearly a decade and is the longtime friend of former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.
“I hated when people said that, because I was like no, that’s not the case,” Peters said. “It’s popular right now, but you have to understand boxing has been around forever and there’s far more money to be made in boxing. I think UFC or MMA could have come up if the fighters made more money. But I think everybody is underpaid.”
Peters said his MMA fighter friends have not complained to him about their purses. But he believes it’s because “they don’t really know any better.” Peters cited Floyd Mayweather’s outlandish prize money and “lesser fighters” also making millions as reasons why MMA athletes are not getting their just due financially.
He also doesn’t understand why the UFC has cut ties with big-name stars like Tito Ortiz and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. Ortiz fought Stephan Bonnar at Bellator 131 on Nov. 15 and it ended up being the most watched MMA fight of 2014 so far.
“I think that’s a mistake that you’re cutting these guys,” Peters said. “What you’re doing is you’re enabling Bellator to come up more, because these are names people know. If you’re not a huge MMA fan then you’re not going to know who Johny Hendricks is or Ben Rothwell or Anthony Pettis. You’re not going to know these names. But you know the Tito Ortizs, you know the Chuck Liddells, you know the ‘Rampage’ Jacksons.”
Ronda Rousey is not upset by her random mention in a lewd Eminem song. In fact, she’s kind of honored.
Eminem drops Rousey’s name in the title track of his newly released album Shady XV, calling her “a slaughterhouse in a blouse.” The rapper…
Ronda Rousey is not upset by her random mention in a lewd Eminem song. In fact, she’s kind of honored.
Eminem drops Rousey’s name in the title track of his newly released album Shady XV, calling her “a slaughterhouse in a blouse.” The rapper also makes a reference to her physical features. But Rousey doesn’t mind a bit, she said Wednesday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
“He’s an artist and art isn’t meant to be nice, it’s meant to make you feel something,” Rousey said.
The UFC women’s bantamweight champion is unsure if Eminem is insulting her. And if he is, she said she doesn’t really care.
“I like being called a slaughterhouse in a blouse,” Rousey said. “I think that’s cool. I’m not perfect, but parts of me are pretty awesome and I think if Eminem took the ass Pepsi Challenge, he would totally pick me as his favorite.”
The full verse is as follows:
I got a Magic Johnson
It’s like a Magic Wand allows me to not let a blonde arouse me
If Ronda Rousey was on the couch with the condoms out
Holding a thousand
Magnums at once to pounce me
I’ll laugh in response to how she dances and flaunts it around me
Her flat little badonkadonk is bouncing around
And all I see is Paulie Malignaggi, she’s slaughterhouse in a blouse
It’s hard to tell whether Eminem being positive, negative or somewhere in between. Either way, it’s kind of lascivious. Not that Rousey is bothered by the lyrics at all.
“I feel like getting rapped about by Eminem is like getting armbarred by me,” said Rousey, who defends her title against Cat Zingano at UFC 184 on Feb. 28 in Los Angeles. “It might not be so pleasant if you’re on the other side of it, but it’s so skillfully done you have to be honored.”
With Thanksgiving only a day away, there are several UFC fighters who should be a little more grateful this year.
You hear it time and time again: never leave the fight in the hands of the judges. Apparently that message hasn’t resonated with Diego San…
With Thanksgiving only a day away, there are several UFC fighters who should be a little more grateful this year.
You hear it time and time again: never leave the fight in the hands of the judges. Apparently that message hasn’t resonated with Diego Sanchez. Like Sanchez, there have been a number of fighters this year who have been the recipients of controversial split decisions and questionable stoppages.
Yoel Romero, Johny Hendricks and Rafael dos Anjos have seen their stock rise, albeit without some suspect referee work or judging. As the maddening cliche goes, no one is perfect, and there could be cases made advocating for both men in each bout.
For this particular ranking, stipulations (top-10 seeding, title implications) surrounding bouts will be taken into account, but so will the validity of the ruling itself. Before we make it to the five fortunate men, let’s take a look at a couple of honorable mentions.
With Jon “Bones” Jones set to take on former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier on Jan. 3 at UFC 182, much more is at stake than hardware.
Before Jones makes his eighth title defense—he’s currently three behind tying Anderson S…
With Jon “Bones” Jones set to take on former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier on Jan. 3 at UFC 182, much more is at stake than hardware.
Before Jones makes his eighth title defense—he’s currently three behind tying Anderson Silva for the most in UFC history with 10—he caused a stir at the UFC 178 media day by inciting a brawl with Cormier that led to Nike dropping Bones from his sponsorship. Now, it’s easy to speculate who caused the brawl, as both men should share the blame, but UFC President Dana White appeared to believe the culprit was Jones. Then, to make matters worse, the pair of heavyweights engaged in a heated off-air exchange following an ESPN interview.
Jones and Cormier would be docked a portion of their purses for their upcoming championship bout and required to serve community service. The altercation and off-air banter will undoubtedly enhance the marketing power and overall buildup for this five-round showdown, but it changes some things, namely for the champion. Jones, whose reputation had already been questioned and attacked—even by his fellow fighters—now will have a much more difficult time getting back in the public’s good graces. But should he have to?
Jones stepped into the Octagon at the tender age of 21, quickly establishing himself as a destructive heavyweight prospect. He won and won some more, dispatching gatekeepers—but only one top-10 opponent—before landing a shot at UFC gold when former training partner Rashad Evans went down. Jones was a combination of speed, athleticism and unpredictability rarely seen in the UFC.
The now 27-year-old dominated former Pride champion Shogun Rua en route to becoming the youngest UFC champion in the promotion’s history. Jones went onto finish two of his next three opponents, Rampage Jackson and LyotoMachida, before a firestorm ensued.
UFC 151 was set to take place on Labor Day weekend, Sept. 1, but an injury to title challenger Dan Henderson sidelined Jones’ fourth title defense. With the threat of the entire event being canceled, Jones had a choice of taking a fight with two-time middleweight title challenger ChaelSonnen or forgoing the risky endeavor. As he told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour (h/t Ken Pishna of MMAWeekly):
The reason why I’m so good at fighting is not because I’m this freak athlete with two brothers in the NFL and I’m just that great at fighting; my secret to success is being so prepared. I train five times a day – I really doubt that other light heavyweights train five times a day – and I study every night. Why would I go against everything I stand for and take a last-minute fight?
Regardless of whether one thought that Jones could manhandle Sonnen, like the men previously put before him—and he later did—it would be difficult to imagine adjusting to someone of Sonnen‘s ability on just eight days’ notice. As the champ pointed out, although similar to Hendo, Sonnen is quite different being that he is a southpaw and employs a different takedown style (with accompanying submissions).
Sonnen also smothers you on the offensive end as opposed to Henderson, who waits with his right hand cocked, baiting you into a brawl. Jones’ employer, White, had some choice words in a media conference call back in late August of 2012 (h/t MMAWeekly):
This affects everybody, UFC employees, Mandalay Bay employees, fighters that need that money, families that took vacations…This is one of those selfish, disgusting decisions that doesn’t just affect you, you just affected 16 other family’s lives, kids are going back to school, the list goes on and on. I don’t think this is a decision that’s going to make Jon Jones popular with the fans, sponsors, cable distributors, television network executives, or other fighters.
While Jones may have been looking out for himself, the fact that the UFC had to cancel an event for the first time in its history speaks volumes. It not only cost fighters but the Las Vegas economy, too. So while we saw Jones become a part of history in a dark light, we would later see bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw put in the same position a few months ago and still elect to fight, albeit against much less of a challenge and an unknown competitor.
If we backtrack just a few months before the UFC 151 fiasco, Jones crashed his 2012 Bentley Continental GT into a telephone pole in Binghamton, New York, and was arrested for DUI in May 2012. He received a $1,000 fine, and he was able to proceed with his UFC career uninterrupted. Surprisingly, the incident did not scare off sponsors.
“I actually believe my DUI set me free in some ways. It set me free from a lot of fan expectation,” Jones told Joe Rogan (h/t MMAWeekly). “I was definitely coming into a sport as a young man trying to be perfect for people, and that’s why people call me fake.”
That last nugget is telling for a number of reasons. For one, it means he cares. It shows that he’s honest. For some others, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Prior to the cancellation, Jones fought Evans at UFC 145. The fight was a test on multiple levels, marking the first time Jones’ character had been attacked.
Leading up to the fight, Jones had been a model citizen. He answered the call to fight for the title as Evans’ replacement and had finished three former champions in a row.
“Because it’s so hard to insult me technically — everyone has seen my performances — what else can you go to?” Jones told Fox Sports. “My character. How do you judge someone that you don’t know?”
Jones is right. In a similar situation, pound-for-pound great Anderson Silva had seen his reputation targeted by ChaelSonnen following his lethargic title defenses at UFC 97 and UFC 112. Are some people just better at putting on a front than others? More or less, but I do know one thing: Winners bother people.
However, there’s a flip side to Jones’ words. If he is so confident in his ability, and wants to make Cormier eat his own words, then why not say it in front of a national audience?
Yes, he has a brand to represent, but people would appreciate the honesty even more, and it wouldn’t seem like he’s hiding part of himself. Sure, the media and the public could criticize him for that, but it would remove the “fake” moniker and take some of the pressure off of the young champion.
When you’re a highly sought-after commodity, who does promoting, commercials and is on the front cover of magazines, it’s easy for the public to throw rocks at you. Granted, you should never get behind the wheel of a car intoxicated—if Jones hits someone or hurts himself then we’re singing a different song here—but he was a 24-year-old adult with a lot of time to grow. The process helped humanize the champion.
Jones is just one example of a polarizing sports figure. Let’s take Jones and the UFC 151 debacle and compare it with Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James’ decision to leave his home state back in July 2010. James was an 18-year-old savior when he joined Cleveland in 2003 and went on to lead the team to one NBA Finals appearance while earning back-to-back MVP awards.
In July 2010, James made it known, on national television, that he would be joining the Miami Heat. It was a catastrophic decision that left many of the locals in Cleveland, not to mention his former owner, distraught and bitter. The King would receive much flack for his elaborate spectacle on ESPN but also in how he handled himself upon his arrival in South Beach.
Never before had an athlete become so vilified. But then as time went on, and people eventually let go of all the angst, James shed the villain moniker—at least he himself did. James and Jones are both winners, and people easily mistake those smiles, and that happy-go-lucky-attitude, for cockiness. The bicep-flexing, the chalk toss, the crazy stances and acrobatic kicks all feed the general public’s desire to hate winners.
The hate goes back farther, though, as franchises like the New York Yankees and Boston Celtics have heard the public’s outcry in years past. Athletes like Sidney Crosby and Brett Favre have also felt public wrath.
What both James and Jones were thinking about is how their present situation would effect their career going forward. Jones could take a risk, and possibly lose his title, while being looked at admirably in defeat, or Jones could play it safe as he chose to do.
Now, in the thick of Jones’ title reign, he has given the media, and the public, brand-new ammunition. His transgressions have validated what Evans, and a portion of the public, have felt for years. Jones is a company prop who will say and do the right thing in front of a camera. With Jones appearing at least mortal in two of his last four title defenses, this would appear to be the opportune time for criticism to sink in.
Jones has successfully waded through it before, so there’s no reason he can’t again against Cormier, who is similar in style to former challenger Evans. Cormier is a strong wrestler—NCAA Division I All-American and Olympic trials winner—with a powerful clinch and striking game.
Jones doesn‘t owe anything to the media or public. Jones deserves to be forgiven over something that can easily happen in the schoolyard of an intermediate school. He is on the national stage, but that doesn‘t make him any less human or free from making mistakes. Jones is not a cheater, nor has he been accused of domestic violence.
Having remained relatively quiet over the last two years while adding to his legacy, Jones has went about his business. He has even had talks with Reebok over a new sponsorship deal. With a knockout of Cormier at UFC 182, the public will have no choice but to eat its words and move on.
Bellator MMA has carved itself a nice spot in the mixed martial arts community. With the return of Scott Coker as the organization’s president, there seems to be a growing air of confidence that the promotion is heading in a better direction, per…
BellatorMMA has carved itself a nice spot in the mixed martial arts community. With the return of Scott Coker as the organization’s president, there seems to be a growing air of confidence that the promotion is heading in a better direction, per Sports Illustrated. Unfortunately, one of the toughest challenges in the MMA industry is to create stars that fans want to see. Bellator continues to work on this process and with that in mind, here is a look at some of the best fighters it has on its roster.
This list includes some of its current champions and other fighters who are worth a view. If these men and women were free agents it would not be a far cry to see them land in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Joseph Benavidez is in a rough spot within the UFC flyweight division. After facing and falling to Demetrious Johnson two times in just about 15 months, he is well out of the title picture. However, he is still ranked No. 2 behind John Dodson…
Joseph Benavidez is in a rough spot within the UFC flyweight division. After facing and falling to Demetrious Johnson two times in just about 15 months, he is well out of the title picture. However, he is still ranked No. 2 behind John Dodson. With his win over Dustin Ortiz at UFC Fight Night 57, he moved his record to 8-2 within the Octagon.
The following fight suggestions would allow him to stay active while not eating too many up-and-coming contenders at flyweight. These men are all ranked within the division but are not big-name prospects who would derail their momentum if they lost to Benavidez. These fights will keep him active while allowing him to put together a worthy resume in pursuit of third title shot if he can stay victorious.
With Jon “Bones” Jones set to take on former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Daniel