As we prepare to watch the 13th Ultimate Fighter Finale tonight we will be treated to what could possibly be the most exciting finale fight since Forrest Griffin battled Stephan Bonnar on The Ultimate Fighter Finale 1. Clay Guida vs. Anthony Pettis has…
As we prepare to watch the 13th Ultimate Fighter Finale tonight we will be treated to what could possibly be the most exciting finale fight since Forrest Griffin battled Stephan Bonnar on The Ultimate Fighter Finale 1. Clay Guida vs. Anthony Pettis has the chance to become the top fight ever to take place on one of the finale cards.
Over the previous 12 seasons there have been some very exciting fights that have left an impression on the minds of fight fans everywhere. Season two brought us the welterweight final between Joe Stevenson and Luke Cummo as well as the birth of Rashad Evans as he chopped Brad Imes down to size.
If those two fights weren’t enough the main event took two men who really didn’t like each other as Diego Sanchez fought Nick Diaz in a three round war that showed the talents and hearts of both men, The next year Kendall Grove and Ed Herman met in the middleweight finals and put on such a battle the UFC awarded Herman a contract despite the fact that he lost.
Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rampage Jackson and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir were high men on the totem pole as far as UFC 130 salaries are concerned.Both men banked a total of $250k according to MMA Junkie. Jackson was paid…
Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rampage Jackson and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir were high men on the totem pole as far as UFC 130 salaries are concerned.
Both men banked a total of $250k according to MMA Junkie. Jackson was paid a straight salary, while Mir was given $125k each to show and to win.
The total payroll for the lackluster card was $931,000. The event was help at MGM Grand Garden Arena this past Saturday night and had a total of 10 mixed martial arts bouts.
Coming in after Jackson and Mir was Gleison Tibau, who is $50k richer after his win over Rafaello Oliveira. Tibau received $25,000 to show and an additional $25,000 for his victory.
Brian Stann was next as he was paid a total of $46k for his second round TKO of Jorge Santiago. Stann’s money was also split in the form of show and win money.
Here is the complete list of salaries. Some fighters are paid a bonus dependent on pay-per-view buys and locker room bonuses.
These salaries also do not show any extra money they make from sponsors.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson: $250,000 (no win bonus) def. Matt Hamill: $32,000
Frank Mir: $250,000 (includes $125,000 win bonus) def. Roy Nelson: $15,000
Travis Browne: $16,000 ($8,000 win bonus) def. Stefan Struve: $21,000
It was just a few short weeks ago that I listed some of the more exciting bouts MMA has in store over the next few months. There is nothing better than going through a period where we are able to watch some great fights week in and week out. As I looke…
It was just a few short weeks ago that I listed some of the more exciting boutsMMA has in store over the next few months. There is nothing better than going through a period where we are able to watch some great fights week in and week out.
As I looked more closely at we have to look forward to I realized that the month of June is going to be insane. The UFC has three cards in June alone with a fourth (UFC 132) just two days into July.
Just as UFC 130 is ending, Dream will be hosting their first event in some time as they present Dream 17: Fight for Japan that will air on tape delay via HDNET on June 3. MMA needs to be successful in Japan even if it means that their best fighters will be snatched up the UFC eventually.
June 4 brings us what promises to be one of the more action-packed, balls-to-the-wall fights as Clay Guida will look to make life a living hell for the last reigning WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis. The two will meet in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale.
Just one week later, the UFC invades Vancouver for the second time in two years with UFC 131: Dos Santos vs. Carwin. Brock Lesnar was originally slated to face off against Dos Santos for the right to face UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, but was sidelined due to a recurrence of the diverticulitis that cost him a year away from action.
Strikeforce will continue with its Heavyweight Grand Prix on June 18 when they present Overeem vs. Werdum. The first round continues as Overeem will look to extract some revenge against Werdum who submitted him during their Pride days, many years and many pounds ago.
The Strikeforce Challenger Series continues on June 24 from Kent, Wash. This card is actually pretty loaded and includes UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture‘s son Ryan as he continues to learn the ropes and follow in his father’s footsteps.
Bellator will offer up a solid card featuring four featherweight tournament quarterfinal bouts. The event will take place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla. Bellator 46 will mark host the debut of former Sengoku featherweight champion Marlon Sandro.
Last, but certainly not least, the UFC returns to the Versus Network with UFC on Versus 4: Marquardt vs. Johnson. The main event will feature the debut of Nate Marquardt’s run in the welterweight division. He will face another fighter who is gigantic for the 170-pound division in Anthony Johnson.
For the better part of the day I was thinking about who were possible MVPs going into last night’s UFC 130 pay-per-view. The card did not lack enough big name fighters, but it did lack any interesting bouts that carried all that much consequence. The m…
For the better part of the day I was thinking about who were possible MVPs going into last night’s UFC 130 pay-per-view. The card did not lack enough big name fighters, but it did lack any interesting bouts that carried all that much consequence.
The main event was a light heavyweight tilt pitting former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson against Matt Hamill. An upset by Hamill could vault him towards the top of the list as far as MVP’s are concerned or Rampage could gain some momentum with a highlight reel knockout.
The co-main event had occasional training partners Frank Mir and Roy Nelson going toe-to-toe in a matchup of two heavyweight fighters with exceptional grappling skills. Could a slick submission by either man gain them the vaunted Most Valuable Player award for UFC 130?
When it was all said and done I had two fighters in mind. I looked at Rick Story and the fact that he gained the biggest victory of his career against Thiago Alves and backed up all of the pre-fight talk he had unleashed. He kept his promise and proved that calling out and requesting a fight with Alves was a great move on his part.
Then there was Brian Stann, the man who has been making a lot of noise since dropping down to the middleweight division. He was taking on the returning and versatile Jorge Santiago in a bout that could put the winner very close to a shot at the middleweight title.
Both men had impressive showings, but the deciding factor in choosing Stann was he finished his opponent while Story won by unanimous decision. I can’t lie and say that this being Memorial Day weekend and Stann being a decorated Marine and an American hero didn’t add some drama to this story.
The poise Stann showed inside the Octagon no doubt comes from the experiences he has gone through while serving in Iraq. His composure will only help him when the tough gets going and he finds himself in trouble during a fight. There is nothing that can happen to him inside the cage that he hasn’t already seen on the battlefield.
He took on a returning Santiago, a fighter who had gone 11-1 in his last 12 fights. During that time he won the Strikeforce Middleweight Grand Prix by defeating both Sean Salmon and Trevor Prangley in the same night. He then traveled east and went to Japan where he won the Sengoku Middleweight Grand Prix and Middleweight Championship.
Santiago has defeated some very good fighters including Kazuo Misaki twice, the last fight between the two was named the 2010 Fight of the Year. This all goes to show you that Santiago is for real and a legitimate threat in the middleweight division.
That is why Stann deserves the credit he gets and why he deserves to be the UFC 130 Most Valuable Player. He not only defeated Santiago, he had him in danger throughout much of the fight and completely stifled any offense that Santiago tried to muster.
So enjoy your Memorial Day weekend Mr. Stann, enjoy your win over a very good fighter and thank you for putting on a performance worthy of being the UFC 130 MVP.
It really doesn’t seem like we have a UFC pay-per-view coming up in less than a week. The lack of a true main event has taken a lot of fans’ interest away from this card. No disrespect to Rampage Jackson, but anyone would have a difficult time trying t…
It really doesn’t seem like we have a UFC pay-per-view coming up in less than a week. The lack of a true main event has taken a lot of fans’ interest away from this card.
No disrespect to Rampage Jackson, but anyone would have a difficult time trying to sell a main event when their opponent is Matt Hamill. The injuries suffered by UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar and his opponent Gray Maynard really sucked the life out of this event.
Frank Mir and to some extent Roy Nelson are two fighters that can help draw interest, but because they are fighting one another and there is nothing but mutual respect between the two men, the UFC doesn’t have too much to hype this fight with.
So now that we have established the fact this card will sell very few pay-per-views, we can go over what fighters could possibly lose their job with a loss this Saturday night.
Below is part II of my interview with UFC Heavyweight Frank Mir. To read part I click here. The subject of Zuffa’s recent purchase of Strikeforce came up and what that meant for the current crop of UFC heavyweights and Strikeforce’s big men…
Below is part II of my interview with UFC Heavyweight Frank Mir. To read part I click here.
The subject of Zuffa’s recent purchase of Strikeforce came up and what that meant for the current crop of UFC heavyweights and Strikeforce’s big men. There has been a lot of talk of super-fights since the acquisition was announced, but what is the reality of any of those potential matchups coming to fruition?
“It now means that pretty much every single top 10 heavyweight is under one promotion. I have been with the UFC since 2001 and there was the argument about which organization had the better group of heavyweights, the UFC or Pride,” said Mir.
“Then those guys came over and I beat Nogueira and Mirko and got to lay those arguments to rest in my mind. Strikeforce has a pretty solid group of fighters and the argument started between our guys and theirs. I said if their guys are better why are we getting paid more, now that the UFC bought Strikeforce maybe we can find out which organization has the better group of fighters. I look at Overeem as their top guy and I feel as though I would be his best matchup in the UFC. Guys like Brock, Cain and Carwin would expose his weakness which is his wrestling.”
“He has good submissions and is obviously a solid striker so if we fought there would be a lot more action than if he fought one of the wrestlers,” Mir said. “The three guys I mention would look to keep him down and control him to avoid his striking. There’s not a lot of room to move around so if Brock wants to take him down he is going to have a good shot at doing so. Overeem is a K-1 champion and has a really good guillotine, but I think I’d be a really good matchup for him.”
According to Mir, the purchase of Strikeforce will be a lot like when the UFC bought the WEC. With the different television contracts, there wasn’t really any guys jumping back and forth between promotions, Showtime will want to keep their contracted fighters on their cards.
“I think it’ll be a really long time before we see any guys crossing paths simply due to the contracts their guys may have with Showtime. Versus wanted to keep the WEC guys on their network so it was either you were going to fight for the WEC or for the UFC, not both,” Mir said candidly.
“Unless a guy gets cut from one organization, I doubt you will see guys’ crossing over.”
With the departure of Randy Couture to retirement following his loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 129, I wrote about who could possibly step up and take on the role of ambassador for the organization and the sport.
Is Mir the type of guy who can see himself fighting into his 40’s and helping the UFC educate the average person about MMA and the athletes that fight for them? “I was able to meet, talk and train with Randy on several different occasions,” said Mir.
“I’m glad he made it out of the Octagon without any serious injuries, there comes a time when everyone has to hang it up. I’m impressed with how he went out, he chose a really difficult opponent to face in Machida. He took on one of the top guys in the world who is difficult match-up for anyone.”
“This is the type of guy who does a great job avoiding all of Randy’s strong suits. I thought Randy looked awesome during the first round; I whispered over to my wife and said if he keeps this up he might not retire! I feel bad when I complain my back hurts, yet here is this guy who is much older & is moving around the ring like he’s in the prime of his life,” offered Mir.
“Someone forgot to tell him he’s not in his prime anymore.”
Many people have alluded to Couture as a freak of nature, but Mir feels as though that statement takes away from what really separates Couture from the rest of the pack. His hard work, dedication and his desire to improve each and every time he fights.
“Labeling him as a freak of nature could discourage other people from following in his path. Randy is determined, if you look at his record, it’s not like he is 30-0, he has gone up against some guys and hit some bumps in the road,” Mir explained.
“When he loses he goes back in the shop, he is driven to improve on what went wrong. If he was a freak of nature he would have gotten it right the first time and never had to work at it. What makes him so dangerous is his will power, you can be stronger and faster than another man, but when you have a guy like Randy coming after you with a mindset of I’m not giving up until one of us is no longer here. That’s what Randy embodies, he has that attitude of you can knock me down, but I am never going to quit.”
Mir is still relatively young and besides being injured in a horrific motorcycle accident that cost him the UFC Heavyweight Championship, he has managed to stay relatively healthy. A lot of that has to do with hard work, luck and genetics, but for Mir, as long as his body is willing, he doesn’t see an end in sight.
“I would like to fight into my 40’s, I’ve heard a quote that says retirement after the game is the rest of your life,” jokingly said Mir. “I’ve been doing this professionally for over 10 years now. A lot of my development as a man has taken place inside the Octagon. I was doing this before I had kids, before I was married so everything I have done since then has been done as a UFC fighter.”
“Barring any bad injuries I will keep fighting, I want to maintain a certain quality of life,” Mir explained.
Couture was seen as an icon, a hero; that is why he had nicknames of Captain America and The Natural. While Mir probably won’t be confused with Couture in that regard, he does see himself filling the role of ambassador and being a spokesman for the organization.
“I think that I have a good understanding of people and I am quick with words. I get aggravated sometimes when people have a misconception of how dangerous our sport is,” Mir said confidently. “I ask people if they watch football and they’ll say yes, so I tell them that this will be an argument because they have already shown me that violence is not an issue for them.”
“A guy running down the field weighing 240lbs with 4.4 speed is in the top one percentile of athletes in the world. He hits into another player with his helmet and not only is that a lot more painful than what we are doing it’s a lot more dangerous. When a fight is over I get up and I may have a few knicks or bruises, but they heal. I hear stories about football players being so injured they have to pee inside water bottles because they can’t get up to go to the bathroom.”
“If we all put Gi’s on and bowed before we fought, people would say that’s awesome. Well we are still fighting the same style, with the same punches, kicks, knees and submissions. I am always trying to educate people on the truth and the facts about our sport,” Mir said. “
If I encounter a guy who is a complete pacifist then I can understand where he is coming from and I won’t try to win him over.”
When I told Mir that my six-year-old son was in his second year of BJJ and that some friends of mine had become critical of my decision to place him in a combat sport at that young of an age, he really got animated and defended my decision to allow my son the chance to compete at such a young age.
“The most important thing he is learning is that every day he claps hands with someone and rolls with them he may be a little bit nervous, but he is handling a situation that he probably would rather not be in,” Mir explained.
“He is already learning skills that will crossover into life when he goes on interviews and goes to college. He is learning how to face adversity head-on when he faces another six-year-old who is trying to hold him down he will learn the difference between what is real fear and what is not.”
“These are things that can only be taught in sports, they can’t be taught inside a classroom you can’t allow these kids to be too comfortable. When you do you are creating a generation of kids who just want to play video games and watch MTV all day long. Are these the type of kids we want leading our country or enrolling in the military? Hell no, I know I don’t.”
I asked Mir about what was the best way to find an instructor who was legitimate and who really cared about the kids he was training. “A guy can be really strict as an instructor, but if he really cares about his students and that they do well it’ll show right away. The only time an instructor is strict, but comes off as an asshole is when he really doesn’t want to be there. That’s when I have to question why he wants to be a teacher.”
“It doesn’t matter if your kid is in Tae-Kwon Do, Karate or BJJ; it is teaching him about discipline and how to face their fears head on. You are doing a great service by putting your child into any martial art. It is teaches them social skills and about themselves in ways that nothing else can. This will help him how to deal with anxiety. Martial arts has helped me out in all my endeavors, it helped me deal with my fears and I can walk in front of a camera and talk to people.”
