Brock Lesnar is only days away from returning inside the Octagon, but don’t expect the former champ to sell a lot of pay-per-view buys like he has in the past.With UFC 141 this Friday and Lesnar being the headliner, the buzz surrounding this even…
Brock Lesnar is only days away from returning inside the Octagon, but don’t expect the former champ to sell a lot of pay-per-view buys like he has in the past.
With UFC 141 this Friday and Lesnar being the headliner, the buzz surrounding this event is awfully quiet. Are MMA fans sick of Lesnar? No pun intended, but I believe they are.
I wasn’t expecting it to be hyped up like UFC 100 or anything, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think it would get a tremendous amount of coverage like UFC 116 did.
Both PPVs were headlined by the former PPV king, but I’m not sure if Lesnar still possesses the star power he once had.
In Lesnar’s fight against Frank Mir at UFC 100, the buy rates were estimated around 1.6 million. Then when Lesnar fought Shane Carwin at UFC 116, the buy rates were a little over one million buys, and Lesnar’s last fight against Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 did over a million buys as well.
But I’m being completely honest when I say that I don’t think this PPV will get over a million buys or maybe even 500,000 buys.
That’s the brutal truth, and these are the five reasons why Lesnar is no longer the UFC’s PPV king.
Donald “The Cowboy” Cerrone is undefeated in the UFC and with 2011 being the biggest year in his MMA career, it’s only fitting to take a look back at the five best performances of his WEC and UFC careers.To sum up Cerrone’s care…
Donald “The Cowboy” Cerrone is undefeated in the UFC and with 2011 being the biggest year in his MMA career, it’s only fitting to take a look back at the five best performances of his WEC and UFC careers.
To sum up Cerrone’s career under the Zuffa brands, I’d have to use the word entertaining and that’s just what you can expect from Cerrone when he throws down with Nate Diaz at UFC 141 in the co main event.
Cerrone made his debut in the UFC in February and won all four of his UFC fights this year. His popularity has grown with brilliant UFC performances, but the hardcore fans already knew how much potential he had from his performances in WEC.
Whether he was throwing down with Rob McCullough, Jamie Varner or Ben Henderson, it was clear that Cerrone had the skills to become a future contender, and he’s proving just that in the UFC today.
These are the top five performances of Cerrone’s career in Zuffa.
Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem might be getting more publicity, but Nate Diaz vs. Donald Cerrone will steal the show.When Diaz and Cerrone take the center of the cage on Dec. 30, fight fans can expect a war of attrition. Both guys always come into …
Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem might be getting more publicity, but Nate Diaz vs. Donald Cerrone will steal the show.
When Diaz and Cerrone take the center of the cage on Dec. 30, fight fans can expect a war of attrition. Both guys always come into a fight in great shape and always bring it. After all of the great fights that have taken place this year, this fight has the makings to top them all.
Both fighters possess flashy fighting styles and are coming off impressive performances inside the Octagon. Diaz destroyed Takanori Gomi with his boxing in his last fight, and Cerrone blasted Dennis Siver with some brilliant kickboxing.
In both performances, Cerrone and Diaz dominated the stand-up, and used their Jiu-Jitsu once it hit the ground to finish the fights in the first round.
Add in the fact that these two are motivated and fired up to fight one another, and you’ve got yourself a barn-burner in the making.
These are the reasons why Diaz and Cerrone will be a fight that fans’ won’t soon forget.
Light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones is incredibly similar to WWE superstar John Cena.Both of these athletes are arguably the most successful in their respected sport/entertainment, but once the music sounds, they usually walk out to a chorus o…
Light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones is incredibly similar to WWE superstar John Cena.
Both of these athletes are arguably the most successful in their respected sport/entertainment, but once the music sounds, they usually walk out to a chorus of boos. So why is that?
Like many good, old-fashioned Americans, my childhood was consumed with wrestling. My passion for wrestling followed me through the years until Cena got the push of a lifetime. I didn’t mind it at first, but then I started noticing the cheers turn to boos.
Once I realized the WWE was trying to reenact the second coming of Hulk Hogan through Cena, my passion for wrestling would never be the same, and I found a new addiction in MMA.
Fast forward five or six years later, and I can’t help but notice the chorus of boos surrounding the UFC’s most marketable superstar. When Cena first came to RAW, he wowed fans with his charisma, hard work and his “raw” abilities to put on a solid match. No pun intended.
The same could be said about Jones when he came to the UFC. His dynamic striking, unorthodox style and ability to toss the likes of Stephan Bonnar and Matt Hammill anywhere he pleased was something MMA fans had never seen before.
Some could make the argument that Jones is the best talent to ever take on MMA, and you wouldn’t get an argument out of me. This guy was all the MMA community was talking about, and his popularity grew immensely with every flashy victory. But then something happened.
The cheers turned to boos, and to this day, I still haven’t figured out the sole purpose for all of these boos. In fact, I somewhat feel sorry for Jones in the same way I feel bad for Cena when he gets booed out of the building. That’s still going on nowadays by the way.
When you think about it—what did Cena do to get booed? All he’s ever done is pour his heart and soul into wrestling, and it’s the fault of the WWE that fans have grown to hate him. They’re the ones who made him this invincible character, not Cena.
Now when it comes to the Jones hate, I can’t quite put my finger on it. My theory is that fans don’t like Jones because they believe he’s putting on an act. What he calls confidence, fans call cockiness, and they believe everything about him is fake.
I’m not sold on that theory because I feel like he is a genuine person. However, I’ll admit that when he doesn’t cuss in interviews, after seeing him cuss in one of Dana White’s video blogs, well, it seems forced.
In one of White’s video blogs leading up to Jones’ first championship fight, he called White to tell him about taking down the mugger. Jones was obviously excited, and he let out a couple of cuss words. Hours later, the UFC took the video down, and since then, things took a turn for the worse with Jones and MMA fans.
I understand that he’s trying to to be a positive role model for kids, but hot-headed fans don’t think about that. Another similarity between the two has been their short rise to the top. They quickly became the face of their entities, and fans generally want to see the blue collar guy rise to the top after going through one challenge after another. But these two were naturals when it came to entertaining the fans.
Whether you love them or hate them, you can’t deny that they fill seats and they are well-known for what they do. You may not love Jones or Cena, but don’t be surprised when you see them on SportsCenter and doing PR across the Unites States.
Ultimately, I believe Jones will win over the fans in the MMA community just like Anderson Silva did in his comeback victory over Chael Sonnen. Maybe that’s what Bones needs—a “Sonnen” to push him to the limits and challenge him both mentally and spiritually inside the Octagon.
As for Cena, well, he’s still getting his chorus of boos, but he has his hardcore fans behind him each and every week. He’s the biggest face in the WWE, and he’s well on his way to being considered the greatest WWE “superstar” of all-time. He’s got there because of his hard work and everything he’s put into the ring.
So don’t mind the haters, Jones, things ended up turning out just fine for Cena, and I have a feeling the same will happen to you. Win the audience over through your hard work and dedication. That’s the ingredients that can make a Cena hater write an article praising the guy. Here’s your proof.
Brock Lesnar’s anticipated return to the Octagon is only two weeks away, but Alistair Overeem will be the one getting his hand raised at UFC 140. As a hardcore MMA fan, I always had something against Brock Lesnar and thought he was overrated, but…
Brock Lesnar’s anticipated return to the Octagon is only two weeks away, but Alistair Overeem will be the one getting his hand raised at UFC 140.
As a hardcore MMA fan, I always had something against Brock Lesnar and thought he was overrated, but I’ll admit that this guy puts on exciting fights. Better yet, when he’s fighting someone, there’s an electricity in the air surrounding the event that doesn’t surround normal events.
The same can be said about this fight, and all of the hype surrounding Lesnar’s return from fighting Diverticulitis for a second time against a fighter UFC fans have been waiting for Bruce Buffer to announce inside the Octagon.
So this brings up the question on every MMA fans’ mind: Can Lesnar do it again?
Can he get a victory against another game opponent following a battle for his life with Diverticulitis just like he did against Shane Carwin at UFC 116?
I’m afraid I have to be that guy, but Lesnar’s storybook ending won’t come against Overeem.
Those unfamiliar with Overeem need to know two things about him—this guy is just as big as Lesnar and he’s a lethal striker. These are two recipes that don’t bode well for Lesnar come Dec. 30.
While Overeem didn’t have a great outing against Fabricio Werdum in his last MMA fight, he’s certainly had an impressive 2010 and 2011. He won a K-1 Grand Prix, Dream’s heavyweight championship and Strikeforce’s heavyweight championship.
I expect Overeem to feel anxiety going into the Octagon for the first time in his career, but Lesnar’s suspect chin will be the key to this fight. All it takes is one shot to land from Overeem for this fight to be over, and Lesnar has shown in fights against Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez that taking a punch isn’t what he’s best at.Even though he had a miraculous comeback victory over Carwin, Lesnar should have lost that fight. If Carwin wouldn’t have gassed out trying to finish Lesnar in the first round, there’s no doubt in my mind that Carwin would have defeated Lesnar, but woulda, coulda, shoulda.
When Lesnar and Overeem meet in two weeks, I expect Lesnar to try and pressure Overeem and use his wrestling skills to smother him against the cage and eventually get this fight to the ground.
That’s going to be a tough task on a big boy like Overeem, but if anybody could do it, it would be Lesnar. But once Lesnar gets it to the ground, he’s won’t be out of the clear just yet, because not only is Overeem a great striker, he’s a great grappler as well.
While that’s a possibility, I truly believe that Overeem will end this fight on the feet. I know it’s cliche, but the fight starts on the feet and I can’t see Lesnar taking a power shot from Overeem.
For Lesnar, everything is set in place for another storybook ending, but Overeem’s skill set will be far too much for the former champion to overcome.
With the UFC rapidly becoming more popular every day, what NFL players could make the crossover and become huge stars for the sport of MMA?Football and MMA are by far my favorite sports, so when it came to finding NFL players that could succeed in the …
With the UFC rapidly becoming more popular every day, what NFL players could make the crossover and become huge stars for the sport of MMA?
Football and MMA are by far my favorite sports, so when it came to finding NFL players that could succeed in the UFC, a lot of names came to mind. As you can tell, I’ve thought about this before.
You have your well-known tough guys in the NFL like Troy Polamalu, Brian Urlacher, James Harrison and Jared Allen who could possibly succeed, but you also have guys that have used MMA workouts like Marcedes Lewis that I believe could successfully make the crossover.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the UFC and the NFL possess the greatest athletes on the planet, and these are the NFL players that could make the switch to MMA successfully.
Light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones is incredibly similar to WWE superstar John Cena.