Current welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has very few peers. Since joining the UFC, GSP has taken on and dominated incredible fighters who hold strengths in all areas.He has defeated world class strikers like Thiago Alves, wrestling phenoms like…
Current welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre has very few peers. Since joining the UFC, GSP has taken on and dominated incredible fighters who hold strengths in all areas.
He has defeated world class strikers like Thiago Alves, wrestling phenoms like Jon Fitch, all-time greats like Matt Hughes and BJ Penn, brawlers like Dan Hardy, jiu-jitsu icons like Penn and Jake Shields and well rounded threats like Matt Serra and Josh Koscheck who present danger standing and on the ground.
While Georges now adapts his fighting style based on the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents, this wasn’t always the case. The man known as “Rush” certainly has the right to be confident in his abilities, but losses to Matt Hughes and Matt Serra taught the champ that he isn’t always the best man in every area of the fight.
Taking advantage of the holes in Hughes’ standup is smarter than rolling with him. Avoiding the heavy hands of Matt Serra is a more intelligent strategy than trading blows and hoping that yours will land harder.
Strategy is the reason that Georges has changed over the years. Now that he has perfected the craft of honing in on the best game plan, his old style of going out there and doing what felt right has faded into the darkness.
Clearly, it works for him. St-Pierre is the king of the division and hopes to remain on his throne for a long time.
This is a look at some other notable fighters who have dramatically changed their styles since the first time we saw them step foot inside the Octagon.
Now that UFC on FX 2 has come and gone, I look at my calendar and anxiously crave UFC on FUEL 2 to get here. Sure, I have the kickoff of Bellator season five to look forward to, but just like a crackhead who is offered weed, it helps, but it doesn’t sa…
Now that UFC on FX 2 has come and gone, I look at my calendar and anxiously crave UFC on FUEL 2 to get here. Sure, I have the kickoff of Bellator season five to look forward to, but just like a crackhead who is offered weed, it helps, but it doesn’t satisfy the juicy UFC fix that consumes me.
Dana White and the boys have done their jobs. When it comes to big-time MMA excitement, nothing can truly compete with a UFC pay-per-view. UFC 144 in Japan showed fans the very best that mixed martial arts has to offer, and did so by offering fans something they had never done before: extend the show by promoting two fights from the preliminary card up to the main card.
What a treat! Many fight fans don’t shell out their hard earned dollars for the pay-per-views. Instead they go to a sports bar, which oftentimes airs the PPV only and excludes the FX prelims. Could you imagine not getting to enjoy the breathtaking moments we experienced in the KO of the Night from Anthony Pettis and the comeback of the year we got when Tim Boetsch knocked out Yushin Okami? It’s just plain wrong.
Hopefully, this will not be a one time thing. Featuring two additional fights on the main card is a great idea for several reasons.
Notoriety
Preliminary – adj. Denoting an action or event preceding or done in preparation for something fuller or more important
Any fighter who has been on the preliminary card of a UFC event knows that it can be a humbling event. The name preliminary tells both the audience and the fighter himself that the fight is less important that the bouts that are happening in just a few minutes. If nothing more, being featured on the “main card” would serve the purpose of boosting fighter morale.
Exhausting The Audience
You can never have too much of a good thing, right? Wrong! When SPIKE TV aired the preliminary bouts back in 2011, they never planned to air more than one hour worth of live UFC programming. This served the purpose of not exhausting the home audience before the pay-per-view.
Have you ever noticed that during the preliminary portion of most events, the crowd is still filtering in, and there are a lot of empty seats? That’s because it takes a lot of stamina to make it through the seven hours of fights that occur in a single sitting.
The home audience is no different. While hardcore UFC fans want to watch all of the fights, the casual fan will watch whatever comes on the pay-per-view broadcast, oftentimes neglecting the cable or Facebook options. The people who care about the preliminaries will watch no matter where you air them. Hell, I watched the FUEL TV prelims in the bar of a bowling alley because the channel isn’t available in my area. Get two extra fights in front of them without having them stuck on FX for a few hours before what they want to see.
By putting two extra fights on the main card, you increase the number of fights that the casual fans get to see and thereby increase the amount of UFC content that they are exposed to.
More Bang For Your Buck
The standard definition UFC pay-per-view sells for $45 a pop. If you want to watch in HD, it’ll cost you an extra 10. For a five card main event, that’s more than $10 per fight. Kinda sucks when you realize that Donald Cerrone vs Vagner Rocha cost you the same price as the epic Dan Henderson vs Shogun Rua.
By adding two extra fights, you get an extra hour of UFC action. Getting a barn burner of a fight like Matt Brown vs Brian Foster can certainly take away the sting of realizing you paid good money to watch Jon Fitch lay on top of someone for 15 minutes. God forbid he finds his way into a main event. Could you imagine nearly half an hour of a guy throwing punches from guard?
Preview vs Free Show
Due to the purchase of several Strikeforce contracts and the addition of three extra weight classes, the UFC has a much deeper talent pool than it did only one year ago. While that is a great thing for business, it is giving away too much for free.
As an example, let’s look at the upcoming preliminary card for UFC 145. Miguel Torres v Michael McDonald is a contest that features the No. 6 bantamweight in the world against the man ranked immediately behind him. You’ve also got a marketable battle of Ultimate Fighter winners when Efrain Escudero squares off with Mac Danzig. What’s more is that Stephen Thompson and Matt Brown are against one another after both men providing us with thrilling knockouts in their last bouts.
Tack on a fourth bout featuring heavyweight knockout artists Travis Browne and Chad Griggs and you’ve got a totally separate card with the strength of the preliminaries rivals the level of entertainment and star power that you can see on any Fight Night on FX event.
If you have already watched two hours of fast-paced action that features name-value stars and highlight-reel entertainment, your MMA fix has already been provided and you may actually be dissuaded from ordering the event. By taking the top two bouts off of the prelims and transplanting them onto the pay-per-view, you make the PPV more valuable as a whole, and you give the fans just enough to get them wanting more.
Inside the Octagon, Ian McCall is a force to be reckoned with. For anyone who tuned in on Friday night to see the debut of the flyweight division, you can clearly see that McCall is not just a fighter, but an entertainer as well. Between his in-cage an…
Inside the Octagon, Ian McCall is a force to be reckoned with. For anyone who tuned in on Friday night to see the debut of the flyweight division, you can clearly see that McCall is not just a fighter, but an entertainer as well.
Between his in-cage antics and his own personal brand of humor, McCall will always stand out from the pack. One of the tools that McCall uses in order to be remembered is his unusual, but undeniably memorable, choice of nickname: Uncle Creepy.
This is a look at some of the best nicknames in MMA. Some of the monikers on this list qualified because they are tremendously fitting. Some make the list due to pure badassery. That’s a word, right? If not, it should be.
Just announced at the post fight press conference is information that will make Ian McCall fans happy. Due to a scoring error, a win for Demetrious Johnson was erroneously announced at the conclusion of his flyweight bout with McCall.Based on informati…
Just announced at the post fight press conference is information that will make Ian McCall fans happy. Due to a scoring error, a win for Demetrious Johnson was erroneously announced at the conclusion of his flyweight bout with McCall.
Based on information given at the post fight press conference, an April rematch appears to be on the horizon.
“Controversy seems to be stuck to us like glue these days,” says UFC President Dana White.
Based on the rules of the flyweight tournament, in the event of a draw, the contest would head into a sudden death round, with the winner of that round being scored as the winner.
“Things happen,” McCall said. “We’ll put on another show. I’m happy because I’m a little vindicated but we’ll do it again and that’s awesome.”
White did announce that the bout, featuring two of the top 125-pound fighters in the world, did win Fight of the Night honors. Submission of the Night went to Martin Kampmann for his main event stoppage of Thiago Alves. Knockout of the Night went to Joseph Benavidez for his 2nd round KO. All fight night bonuses are worth $50,000 at this event.
Additionally, White confirmed that both McCall and Johnson would receive their win bonus, despite neither man getting the win.
When asked how he scored the bout, White declined to give his opinion. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not a judge. I went through this sh– last week.”
Ian McCall stayed collected when asked about the emotions he was feeling after hearing the decision. “Whenever I get to fight again. I’m just excited to be here. I get to do this again and make more money? Cool. I’m all in.”
Demetrious Johnson, the announced winner, was less thrilled with the news. “It sucks honestly. It is what it is, you know?”
Before coming to the UFC, Mark Hunt was a PRIDE fighter on a terrible losing streak. Due to his contract specifications, Hunt was able to leverage his way into the UFC. Currently on a two-fight win streak in the Octagon, it looks like Hunt has taken hi…
Before coming to the UFC, Mark Hunt was a PRIDE fighter on a terrible losing streak. Due to his contract specifications, Hunt was able to leverage his way into the UFC. Currently on a two-fight win streak in the Octagon, it looks like Hunt has taken his career path into his own hands and is ready to show the world what he is really capable of.
We know that Hunt is a powerhouse striker, but there are a lot of things that we don’t know. These are the burning questions that we have for Mark Hunt going into his UFC 144 affair with Cheick Kongo.
Sometimes, people say and do really stupid things. Chink in the armor, anyone? Were it not for his little brother’s staggeringly similar behaviors, it would be easy to call Nick Diaz one of a kind. His in-cage antics include verbal assaults, drop…
Sometimes, people say and do really stupid things.
Were it not for his little brother’s staggeringly similar behaviors, it would be easy to call Nick Diaz one of a kind. His in-cage antics include verbal assaults, dropping his hands and putting his chin on display. His out of cage antics include ingesting illegal substances in the buildup to a fight and being genuinely surprised when he fails his drug test.
Diaz isn’t the only man to confuse MMA fans across the globe. This is a look at the 10 most confusing fighters in MMA.
Now that UFC on FX 2 has come and gone, I look at my calendar and anxiously crave UFC on FUEL 2 to get here. Sure, I have the kickoff of Bellator season five to look forward to, but just like a crackhead who is offered weed, it helps, but it doesn’t satisfy the juicy UFC fix that consumes me.