Author: Joe Chacon

Gilbert Melendez: Bendo Has to Beat Me to Be No. 1 Lightweight

One of the names we keep hearing from just about everyone when talking about the UFC Lightweight division is Gilbert Melendez.Melendez, who still does not have an official deal with the UFC, does not appear to be impressed in the least bit with the wor…

One of the names we keep hearing from just about everyone when talking about the UFC Lightweight division is Gilbert Melendez.

Melendez, who still does not have an official deal with the UFC, does not appear to be impressed in the least bit with the work of current UFC Champion Benson Henderson over the last year.

“El Nino” spoke to MMA Weekly about his desire to face Henderson upon entering the UFC promotion:

Your eyes are always on the guy with the UFC strap. Your eyes were on Frankie Edgar for a long time, and B.J. (Penn) for a long time, and everyone needs to adapt for the champ, to figure out how to beat them. I think about it all the time with Benson (Henderson). If he wants to be undoubtedly No. 1, I think that would be a good victory for him to prove it or for me to prove otherwise. Another fight if I was in the UFC would be fine with me as well, but I’m ready now. The fire was lit a couple of weeks ago. Since the buzz has been out, the fire has been lit. I definitely feel that. I hope everyone would get as excited as I would be about that. In a perfect world. I’d love that fight with Benson, I really would. 

While Melendez does state his request to fight for the belt immediately, he also appears ready to accept a “title eliminator” fight to start off his UFC career.

Melendez and Henderson have very similar records. Melendez is 21-2 and Henderson is 18-2. The most fundamental difference comes from their offensive strategies. Melendez is more of a stand up striker, whereas Henderson loves to get the fight on the ground.

For now, it appears the next person to fight Henderson for the title will be the winner of Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis, although nothing has been confirmed.

Cerrone has won eight of his last nine fights but has lost to Henderson twice within the last 15 months. Pettis has won six of his last seven and is also the last person to beat Henderson.

Either way, the fans can’t go wrong with either Cerrone, Pettis or Melendez fighting Henderson for the belt.

 

Joe Chacon is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Nick Diaz: 3 Reasons He Will Be the Next UFC Welterweight Champion

Nick Diaz will be making his return to the Octagon in March against Georges St-Pierre for the main event of UFC 158. Diaz is coming off a one-year suspension (which expires in February 2013) after testing positive for marijuana metabolites following hi…

Nick Diaz will be making his return to the Octagon in March against Georges St-Pierre for the main event of UFC 158.

Diaz is coming off a one-year suspension (which expires in February 2013) after testing positive for marijuana metabolites following his last fight against Carlos Condit.

While some fans are wondering why GSP is going to fight Diaz instead of somebody who is riding a winning streak, such as Johny Hendricks, this matchup appears to be more compelling.

Many experts believe GSP is going to be able to pull out another decision victory (10 of his 18 wins in the UFC have come by decision) over Diaz. Considering the welterweight champion hasn’t lost a fight since 2007 and only two in his entire 11-year career, it’s hard to argue against them.

That’s exactly what we’re doing here. I firmly believe Nick Diaz is going to beat GSP and become the next welterweight champion.

Here are three reasons why.

Begin Slideshow

Benson Henderson: Can He Become a Mainstream Star?

If I were to describe to somebody a current professional athlete who had a catchy nickname, an outstanding record, and was the winner of a championship, that person would probably say I was describing a mainstream star in …

If I were to describe to somebody a current professional athlete who had a catchy nickname, an outstanding record, and was the winner of a championship, that person would probably say I was describing a mainstream star in whatever sport the said athlete was in.

When I tell that person I am describing UFC Lightweight Champion Benson Henderson, the response will most likely be, “Who?”.

Sadly enough, if I were to do the same to a casual MMA fan, I would probably get the same response more often than not. For whatever reason, Henderson is not garnering the same star power as fellow UFC champions Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, or even Jose Aldo and Dominick Cruz.

“Smooth” has amassed an 18-2 professional record including a perfect 6-0 clip within the UFC. During a very successful 2012 campaign, he beat Frankie Edgar for the lightweight belt in February, beat Edgar again in August, and most recently dominated Nate Diaz.

After each Henderson victory, I don’t get a sense of the same buzz from fans as I do from a win by the other champs. Instead of talking about how well-rounded his fighting is, it appears fans are not enthused or impressed with his performances.

Perhaps the lasting image of Anthony Pettis launching himself off the cage and landing flush on Henderson’s face is what people still take away from Henderson’s career. Or maybe, just maybe, fans are convinced that he lost one if not both fights to Edgar earlier this year and don’t consider him the true champion.

“Bendo” appears to have all of the makings of being a mainstream star for the UFC. He’s an exciting fighter who has a great attitude, doesn’t get into trouble, and has shown he can be charismatic on camera whether in post-fight interviews or when he’s in the broadcast booth.

It could just be the division he’s in. The closing thing to a champion considered a mainstream star in the lightweight division was B.J. Penn. He held the belt for a little over two years, and before that the champions were Sean Sherk and Jens Pulver dating back to 2001.

Time will tell if Henderson can develop into a true star. The storm appears to be brewing for him to match up with Gilbert Melendez sometime in 2013. Many consider Melendez to be the top lightweight in the world.

The fight is nowhere near close to being put together as of this writing, but I can imagine Henderson walking through Melendez and fans still shrugging their shoulders while saying, “not impressed, who’s next?”

Then again, are there really any true mainstream MMA stars that the average person would recognize by name or face?

 

Joe Chacon is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC on Fox: Is the Deal Really Just About Ratings for the UFC Events?

When a deal was struck between the UFC and Fox for the UFC to be broadcast regularly on network television, most MMA fans became ecstatic at the prospect of what could happen. Subsequently, pundits of the sport cringed at the thought of the sport becom…

When a deal was struck between the UFC and Fox for the UFC to be broadcast regularly on network television, most MMA fans became ecstatic at the prospect of what could happen.

Subsequently, pundits of the sport cringed at the thought of the sport becoming mainstream After all, to many of them and others who don’t quite understand the sport, it’s just a couple of guys performing barbaric cage fighting.

It seems as though the network television deal has coincided perfectly with the momentum the UFC has managed to gather over the last few years. The popularity of the UFC and the sport of MMA have continued to surge in 2012, thanks in part to the exposure on the Fox networks.

But what is in it for Fox?

Dana White dismisses much of the ratings talk, especially when it comes to The Ultimate Fighter series. However, isn’t that always the bottom line with the networks? With the correlation between ratings and advertising dollars being obvious to most, one has to wonder if the UFC has been as beneficial to Fox as Fox has been to the UFC.

The most significant positive for Fox in the deal has been the increased subscriber base of Fuel TV. According to a report done by adcombat.com based on facts from Nielsen Media Research, Fuel TV is the fastest growing ad-supported cable network:

Thanks in large part to the popularity of UFC® programs on the network, FUEL TV continues to be the fastest growing ad-supported cable network in percentage year-over-year growth in 2012 among households, total viewers, and men 18-49 during total day and prime time, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The two most common complaints I hear about Fuel TV are, “I’m not paying extra to get it added to my service” and “I wish it was in HD.”

Personally, I think the production value of the UFC content on Fuel TV has been great. It is included in my television package, but the HD feed of the network is not available with my carrier (Verizon FiOS).

Fuel TV has benefited from the UFC in the same way Spike TV did. Spike saw their viewers drop after the UFC ended their agreement with them, and now they are trying to bounce back with the acquisition of Bellator.

Fox’s other main channel is FX. FX has been providing good content for many years now and had already established a solid reputation with its viewers. The UFC recognized that and is capitalizing by broadcasting TUF there.

The first couple of seasons haven’t been great from a ratings standpoint, and there has definitely been some “trial and error” in how they have gone about their programming (i.e., the disaster that was showing TUF live on Fridays, which prevented them from building up strong storylines).

Most of us would expect TUF to receive record ratings for the upcoming season with Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen coaching against each other.

The Fox executives would not have pulled the trigger on the UFC deal if they didn’t envision this kind of growth within their network. Ratings for the UFC events are what most will point too when gauging the success of the partnership, but there are quite a few more variables to the equation.

The UFC is going to win either way by the exposure it gets from national television and the opportunities it has opened up for other major sponsorships for the company and the individual fighters.

2013 is looking bright for both the UFC and Fox.

 

Joe Chacon is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon. 

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC on FX 6 Results: Hector Lombard Proves He Belongs in the UFC with Win

Fire up the hype train once again.Hector Lombard destroyed Rousimar Palhares in the first round of their fight as part of the UFC on FX 6 card in Australia on Friday night (Saturday afternoon in Australia).Lombard entered the UFC with much fanfare…

Fire up the hype train once again.

Hector Lombard destroyed Rousimar Palhares in the first round of their fight as part of the UFC on FX 6 card in Australia on Friday night (Saturday afternoon in Australia).

Lombard entered the UFC with much fanfare against Tim Boetsch earlier this year at UFC 149 but struggled in a split decision loss to “The Barbarian.”

His second dance in the Octagon was exactly what the fans had thought they would see the first time Lombard fought. We saw a composed fighter with technical strikes and an overpowering presence inside the cage.

The knockout artist dropped Palhares in front of his hometown fans of Australia. With the win, Lombard improves to 1-1 with the UFC and 32-3-1 overall in his career. Eighteen of those 32 wins have come by knockout, and judging from what we saw in Australia, Lombard looks poised to surge through the middleweight ranks.

The man Lombard knocked out, Palhares, has been fighting in the UFC since 2008. With the loss, Palhares drops to 6-4 within the organization and has lost two straight. Palhares doesn’t have any signature wins, with the closest one being a victory over Jeremy Horn at UFC 93.

This win was crucial to the longevity of Lombard’s career within the Octagon. Another loss would have further diminished the reputation and star power he came to the UFC with. Fans now see what a physical specimen and good technical fighter he can be.

His knockout power will always be Lombard’s bread and butter as he works his way up the middleweight ladder. Lombard approaches age 35 in February, so the time is now and he can’t afford to have many more losses if he wants to be considered a true contender for the title.

It’s safe to say the lethargic performance he gave us in July is now way back in the rearview mirror.

 

Joe Chacon is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC on Fox 5 Results: What Went Wrong for BJ Penn?

Say it isn’t so, BJ. As the excitement of BJ Penn’s return continued during his walkout to the Octagon on Saturday night, it soon faded into another poor performance for the future Hall of Famer. Leading up to his fight against Rory MacDonald, Pen…

Say it isn’t so, BJ.

As the excitement of BJ Penn‘s return continued during his walkout to the Octagon on Saturday night, it soon faded into another poor performance for the future Hall of Famer.

Leading up to his fight against Rory MacDonald, Penn said all the right things. He said he was now at the right weight, he said he was fighting for his legacy and he promised he would be prepared for this fight. None of those things were backed up in his fight in Seattle.

Penn looked horrible. There’s no other way to sum up his fight. It looked as if he had no real plan at all for MacDonald. Sure, we saw him go for the takedown a couple of times, but Penn looked like he was told of his opponent within the last few days.

Give MacDonald credit—he said he wanted to come in and hurt BJ, and he did just that.

The common theme leading up to the Penn vs. MacDonald fight was that it was Penn against the new breed of fighters. That statement couldn’t have been more true. It’s why we saw people like Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz fade away. It’s why we are seeing Rampage Jackson barely hang on to his UFC career. These young fighters are starting their training with every discipline, making it tough for those who spent most of their lives learning one.

So where did it go wrong for Penn?

Quite honestly, Penn was completely overmatched. There were times during the fight that it looked like it was you or me in the Octagon against MacDonald. Penn would go for a takedown, fail at it and then settle back into a stand-up position while MacDonald teed off on him.

It appeared Penn had an “oh sh–” moment when he realized he wasn’t going to be able to get MacDonald on the ground. The best chance Penn had to land significant strikes was when MacDonald took him down, and Penn started to fight from his back.

There were a couple of shots that gave Penn fans a split second of hope, but those were few and far between.

Penn is now on a Tito Ortiz type of losing streak—well, not quite that bad. Penn has lost four of his last six fights. I’m never going to call for somebody to retire, because I don’t think anybody but those close to the fighter should make that kind of statement, especially for a guy like Penn. I will say, however, that he has never looked worse in his career.

 

Joe Chacon is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com