Dana F. White has been the face of the UFC ever since he and the Fertitta brothers bought the company. He’s been instrumental in bringing the UFC and the sport of MMA from the dark ages to where it is now.With the UFC-Fox Sports deal, MMA will be intro…
Dana F. White has been the face of the UFC ever since he and the Fertitta brothers bought the company. He’s been instrumental in bringing the UFC and the sport of MMA from the dark ages to where it is now.
With the UFC-Fox Sports deal, MMA will be introduced to millions of new fans across the nation.
As with any introduction into a new sport, the process of becoming mainstream won’t happen overnight, and there are a number of steps to go through.
White is captain of the ship and thus has several choices to make in order to ensure the UFC continues to rise in popularity.
Even though it’s considered to be a cardinal sin amongst MMA fans, the UFC and WWE share a lot of similarities.Both look to establish their combatants as credible characters and people in order to drive up PPV sales.Although a “push” in the UFC general…
Even though it’s considered to be a cardinal sin amongst MMA fans, the UFC and WWE share a lot of similarities.
Both look to establish their combatants as credible characters and people in order to drive up PPV sales.
Although a “push” in the UFC generally results after putting together a string of good performances, in the WWE, turning “heel” is one of the most time tested ways of breaking free from the pack.
For those who are unaware, a “heel” is basically wrestling jargon for a bad guy. There’s always been a likeable quality about the anti-hero in wrestling and that seems to have translated to the UFC as the heels always make us tune in.
I’m sure some of the fighters on this list have looked at professional wrestling and taken a couple of things away on how to promote themselves. You can actually make a pretty close connection with some of the top heels in WWE and stars in the UFC.
If you’re like most Americans, the day after Thanksgiving provides some of the most ruthless shopping one can endure in a lifetime.Most people grab friends or force their children to wake up and help grab all the deals they can. Shopping alone on Black…
If you’re like most Americans, the day after Thanksgiving provides some of the most ruthless shopping one can endure in a lifetime.
Most people grab friends or force their children to wake up and help grab all the deals they can. Shopping alone on Black Friday is pretty much consumer suicide.
With the recent reports (via Politico.com) coming out about people getting more and more violent this year (pepper spray? Really?!), it’s time we as fans request our favorite fighters to take off training for next year’s Black Friday in order to protect ourselves.
Who would you bring? Would you go for someone intimidating, the smartest fighter you could find, or maybe recruit one of the bantamweights and utilize their quick in-and-out movement?
If you’ve ever been privileged to see regional MMA action, you know it has some of the best fights you will ever see. Most of the guys are either trying to break into the UFC or attempting to work their way back. Ask any fighter that competes on a regi…
If you’ve ever been privileged to see regional MMA action, you know it has some of the best fights you will ever see. Most of the guys are either trying to break into the UFC or attempting to work their way back.
Ask any fighter that competes on a regional level (or outside the UFC for that matter) and they’re all likely to tell you their ultimate goal is to be fighting in the Octagon.
For how long a fighter must compete to break into “the big leagues,” it can just as quickly be taken away from them. Put on boring fights or lose a couple in a row and you can pretty much be guaranteed to be handed your walking papers.
The big-name guys who are “UFC rejects” will still be able to find money on the regional scene. Their name and stature will allow them to make far more money than they should.
But what about the guys who don’t have a big name and simply aren’t ready for the bright lights of the UFC?
Fighting on the regional circuit is a rigorous journey. The pay is little and the chances to show off to Zuffa brass are few and far between. Unless you’re coming from a super camp like Jackson’s MMA or AKA, any connections you make to get yourself in will likely be done on your own time.
To make matters worse, besides putting in the hours in the gym to prepare for a bout, a fighter often times has to work a 9-5er type job. The balancing act can be very difficult, especially for the guys (and gals) who have families along with work and training.
Speaking from personal experience gathered from who I’ve talked to around the area I live in, guys fighting in the bigger promotions in the area make a couple hundred to show plus a win bonus and ticket money.
Given most of these guys fight once every couple months, it’s obvious that unless they have a trust fund from mommy and daddy, a professional fighter on the regional level will need a day job.
But what if the UFC reached out to help the guys who are top prospects and could use some “tune-up” fights before stepping into the Octagon?
If you’re a fan of American baseball, you know how a farm system works.
For those who don’t know, teams like the New York Yankees have multiple teams at different talent levels where they can send prospects and older plays to perfect their skills and prepare them for the big leagues.
Even most of the big league prospects spend some time in the minors before being called up. The UFC could and should implement a system like that in order to prepare guys for the culture shock of competing in the Octagon.
They wouldn’t even need to create a new “league” or brand, Strikeforce could turn into a proper farm system from the UFC without changing much of anything. Strikeforce is already resembling a farm system, as the UFC has been taking guys they want from the organization since they bought it.
Having a Zuffa contract and still allowing guys the proper time to develop would benefit both parties. The fighter could concentrate on training and the UFC would get guys who have proven they deserve their shot.
Another point I would like to make in connection with a farm system is the idea of “September call-ups.”
In baseball, the major league teams expand their rosters to allow up to 40 men on a team for the final month of the season (September). This mainly allows for younger guys to get a few looks and for young pitchers to give bullpens some extra days in between pitching.
But in the cases of guys like Jacoby Ellsbury and David Price, these call-ups can bring a lot of energy to their teams.
The same could work for the UFC. If the UFC is seriously considering adding more and more shows every year, eventually the product is going to get stale as we see the same fighters more and more.
A “Strikeforce call-up” could bring a fresh face and a new look to some UFC shows and give guys a chance to prove themselves while still having job protection.
As evident from some fights like Josh Koscheck-Paul Daley and Stephan Bonnar-Kyle Kingsbury, fighters are willing to “fight safe” if it means keeping their job and winning.
Yeah, being sent back down to the “minors” sucks, but at least a fighter would have the comfort of knowing their careers won’t be “make or break” because of one fight.
The UFC made a lot of progress towards helping their fighters with health insurance. Implementing a farm system would make a lot of sense to benefit both the UFC and fighters alike.
Most people who have brothers and sisters have gotten into a tussle at least once while they were growing up. It’s considered a natural part of the dynamic between siblings. But to some UFC fighters, a bout against their “brother” isn’t in the picture….
Most people who have brothers and sisters have gotten into a tussle at least once while they were growing up. It’s considered a natural part of the dynamic between siblings. But to some UFC fighters, a bout against their “brother” isn’t in the picture.
Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch are two guys who have made it adamantly clear they have no intention of fighting each other. “If there’s no one else for me to compete with at 170 other than Koscheck, I’m going to move up,” Fitch told MMA Weekly.
Given Fitch’s position at welterweight, there are very few fights for him outside of Koscheck. Fitch is widely considered the No. 2 welterweight in the world behind Georges St-Pierre, which presents a problem when matching him up against other fighters.
Previously, Fitch stated he only wanted to fight current or former champions (via ESPN.com). Besides attempting to pick and choose his fights, Fitch stated he was willing to wait for these main events and main event fighters.
However, in August of this year, Fitch changed his tune (via MMA Mania).
After being on the shelf for a long time due to injury, it seemed Fitch was unwilling to wait and would take on just about any fighter he could.
We’ve all seen how waiting can damage a fighter’s career, so it’s good Fitch realized the error of his ways, but he’s still back in the same limbo he was before.
Most of the fights that would serve Fitch’s career the best are already booked up. Anthony Johnson is set to square off against Vitor Belfort, Jake Shields and Yoshihiro Akiyama look ready to grace the Octagon and Nick Diaz is training for his title shot against GSP.
That leaves only Jake Ellenberger as a viable option due to the aforementioned fights and injuries to other fighters. And even Ellenberger has been strongly linked to a bout with Diego Sanchez once “The Dream” returns from hand surgery.
As you can see, the welterweight title picture is set to clear itself up in a few months, but the reluctance of guys to fight their training partners, like Fitch and Kos, only adds to the cloudy title picture.
Kos replied to criticism with the sarcastic humor that one would expect from him.
You guys really want to see us fight—Monday, Wednesday, Friday—come to AKA in San Jose (Calif.). You guys can stand up there, you can watch us fight and it will be for free. You don’t have to pay $54 for it (via MMA Weekly).
It’s not like we are asking the two men to go out on national television and run a slander campaign against one another.
If teammates are fine with “fighting” each other three times a week to train, why can’t they do it one time in front of a crowd?
I understand it messes with the dynamic of team chemistry, and the lack of coaches would make the situation difficult, but not doing something you already do three times a week to mess with your career is just plain stupid.
Teammates can go into the Octagon, fight hard for 15 to 25 minutes and then go have a beer or a shot of wheat grass after.
Fans aren’t trying to tear up family-like relations or blow up camps, we just want to see the best fights possible. We’ve seen teammate vs. teammate matchups work out just fine before; it won’t be the end of the world.
It’s just a matter of going out there, doing what you are paid to do and collecting a paycheck—something Koscheck has said is his main motivation for fighting still, via MMA Mania. Well Mr. Koscheck, I can bet that even if you and Fitch had Thanksgiving dinner together, people would still buy the fight.
If we continue to see the formation of MMA “Super Gyms” like Tri Star and Jackson’s MMA, where half a division trains under the same set of coaches, nobody will be moving up the ladder as they will all be sitting on the sidelines collecting debt.
It’s a shame that guys like Koscheck would be fine with not doing anything simply to avoid fighting a teammate (MMAweekly.com).
For someone who cares about money and big-name fights, that’s a lot of cash to walk away from.
A pair of sensational lightweights are set to square off in the land of the rising sun at UFC 144. Lightweight champion, Frankie Edgar looks to make his first title defense against someone not named Maynard or Penn, when he takes on dangerous challenge…
A pair of sensational lightweights are set to square off in the land of the rising sun at UFC 144. Lightweight champion, Frankie Edgar looks to make his first title defense against someone not named Maynard or Penn, when he takes on dangerous challenger, Ben Henderson.
While the bout is expected to produce quite a bit of action given the styles of both men, neither are likely to generate any amount of interest from the Japanese crowd.
When the UFC goes international, they tend to load up the card with fighters from a selected country. Georges St-Pierre routinely fills the top bill for every Canadian card and expect to see a lot of Anderson Silva and Junior dos Santos when the UFC starts heading to Brazil.
But, without a major Japanese star to take a main event slot, the UFC was left with no other choice right?
Wrong.
Fans know that UFC 144 is more of something the UFC felt it had to do, rather than wanted to do. The card was doomed from the start given that there were no major Japanese stars in the UFC.
Even without a star, the UFC still has plenty of fighters on the roster from the Pride days that would’ve garnered a lot more attention and ticket sales than Edgar and Henderson.
That fight alone probably could’ve sold half the arena, as Jackson was a very popular fighter during his Pride days.
Not to say the people in Japan don’t deserve a title fight for their first card since it’s the UFC’s first time being back since UFC 29, but they could’ve sold an event better had Edgar-Henderson taken place somewhere in the United States.
The Japanese card is an afterthought for the UFC given the lack of status for the Japanese fighters in the UFC and that it will be right after the Super Bowl card.
No need to waste a title fight when the undercard bouts will draw more fan attention.
If you’ve ever been privileged to see regional