Author: Kyle Symes

UFC 143: Why Josh Koscheck Deserves Better Than Mike Pierce

Josh Koscheck is widely considered to be a top-five welterweight. So you would expect him to face top-tier competition at UFC 143, but that won’t be the case. The musical-chairs matchmaking for the event forced Koscheck’s original opponent, Carlos…

Josh Koscheck is widely considered to be a top-five welterweight. So you would expect him to face top-tier competition at UFC 143, but that won’t be the case.

The musical-chairs matchmaking for the event forced Koscheck’s original opponent, Carlos Condit, into a bout against Nick Diaz for an interim title.

That left Kos at a crossroads, as he had no opponent, but still wanted to make money.

Instead of a replacement commensurate with Condit, Koscheck will now face Mike Pierce.

If you’re asking yourself who Pierce is, don’t feel lonely.

A quick Wikipedia search will let you look over his stacked resume. Pierce has gone 13-4 over his MMA career, which sounds respectable until you look at who he’s faced.

Pierce came out on the losing side in bouts against higher-level talent like Mark Munoz and Jon Fitch as well as against a decent (but not top-tier) fighter in Johnny Hendricks.

His record looks even worse in light of his most recent fight—a rematch against Paul Bradley.

Pierce won their first matchup on the regional circuit by unanimous decision. His win in their rematch came via split decision.

Not that it is the all-mighty source of knowledge, but Wikipedia does not even have a page for Mr. Bradley.

Does a guy who won a split decision over someone without a Wikipedia page sound like a guy who deserves to fight one of the best welterweights in the world?

Kos has been fighting high-level fighters for quite a while. He deserves better than an up-and-comer who has disappointed against tough competition.

Koscheck may be on his way out the door but it’s not like he’s on a losing streak or been relegated to a gatekeeper role. Besides Fitch and Georges St-Pierre, you’d be hard pressed to find a welterweight who’s better than Koscheck.

If you don’t believe me, just ask Pierce after the fight—when he’s hearing Bruce Buffer call out Kos’ name.

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15 Must-Buy Holiday Gifts for the MMA Fan in Your Life

The holiday season is quickly coming to a close, and if you still haven’t done your Christmas shopping, time and supplies are running out!Shopping for an MMA fan can be particularly time consuming, as for most people, brands mean everything. Even worse…

The holiday season is quickly coming to a close, and if you still haven’t done your Christmas shopping, time and supplies are running out!

Shopping for an MMA fan can be particularly time consuming, as for most people, brands mean everything. Even worse, you have to make sure to avoid the gear with all their hated fighters on it.

Lucky for you, B/R has you covered for buying any last-minute gifts. Whether they’re training to step in the cage, just trying to get fit or want to look good in foil, there’s a gift out there for the MMA fan in your life.

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12 Fighters Who Would Be Great TUF Coaches

As fans gear up for another exciting season of The Ultimate Fighter next year, the focus once again turns on to who the coaches are.The next season will feature featherweight rivals Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber in what will surely be a good season of…

As fans gear up for another exciting season of The Ultimate Fighter next year, the focus once again turns on to who the coaches are.

The next season will feature featherweight rivals Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber in what will surely be a good season of back and forth banter between the two men.

For years now, the focus of fans has been on the coaches. Although the show is supposed to be about the fighters, the spotlight always ends up being on the coaches.

The men on this list haven’t coached on The Ultimate Fighter but would be very interesting to watch.

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Georges St-Pierre: Why His Injuries Are Damaging His Legacy

For the first time since 2007, a different welterweight will be wearing UFC gold. Georges St-Pierre will be on the shelf for a considerable amount of time due to ACL surgery and the UFC has decided to make a match between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit fo…

For the first time since 2007, a different welterweight will be wearing UFC gold.

Georges St-Pierre will be on the shelf for a considerable amount of time due to ACL surgery and the UFC has decided to make a match between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit for the interim title.

GSP is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in history, there’s no denying that. But considering GSP was scheduled to face his most credible challenger in a long time in Diaz, the lack of the fight materializing twice will always be a knock on him.

No matter how true or untrue the idea is, GSP isn’t fighting his toughest challenge in years.

The anti-GSP crowd just acquired more ammo in their crusade against the former champion. His knee injury coupled with the ACL tear has put the fighter on the shelf for the foreseeable future.

A fighter is judged not only on wins and losses, the name for those wins and losses matters as well.

With GSP “avoiding” a fight with Diaz, GSP’s detractors will claim the French Canadian is avoiding his toughest challenge in years.

GSP already has been criticized for fighting safe in his title defenses, the backlash from not fighting Diaz will lower his ranking on P4P lists of many fans.

The UFC also isn’t happy that GSP isn’t fighting given the fact he’s their top draw and a match against Diaz would’ve made a lot of money for the company.

When GSP does recover from his injury, he will likely be rushed back to appearing on a card before he’s ready. We’ve seen in other sports how athletes take over a full calendar year to recover from ACL surgery and the UFC won’t want to wait that long to get their top moneymaker back.

Besides not fighting Diaz now, when St-Pierre is rushed back from his injury, there’s a possibility he may not be the same fighter that we’ve seen.

That would definitely hamper his legacy if he were to lose due to the injury.

It’s not like he has a lot of fan support now given the way he fights. If he were a more popular fighter, he’d likely be given a pass for the injuries and not fighting Diaz.

Injuries aren’t predictable and it’s not his fault at all for getting injured so we shouldn’t blame him but fans will forever be on his case.

Whether it’s fair or not, GSP has nobody to blame but himself for the lack of popularity fans and their unwillingness to give him a pass.

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The 13 Most Obnoxious Fanbases in MMA

Just like a New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox fan, MMA is full of fanbases that always find a way to get under your skin.Fans of certain fighters can definitely get under a person’s skin due to a number of factors.Some fighters never made it big in th…

Just like a New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox fan, MMA is full of fanbases that always find a way to get under your skin.

Fans of certain fighters can definitely get under a person’s skin due to a number of factors.

Some fighters never made it big in the UFC yet are considered to be some of the best of all time. Others have found huge success in MMA and the UFC but still annoy other fans.

Whether any of these fighters wins or loses, their fans will make enough noise for readers to stay away from the Internet when they have a fight coming up.

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Strikeforce: Why They Should Become the WEC 2.0

When World Extreme Cagefighting was on TV, it provided fans with not only free shows/fights, but also some excellent matches. Although due largely to the exciting nature of the lighter weight classes, what made the fights better was the fact they were …

When World Extreme Cagefighting was on TV, it provided fans with not only free shows/fights, but also some excellent matches.

Although due largely to the exciting nature of the lighter weight classes, what made the fights better was the fact they were on free TV and were often times more exciting than some UFC pay-per-views.

Strikeforce should follow that business model and get their product on a national TV station.

I know Strikeforce and Showtime are all warm and cozy with one another now, but what does a deal with Showtime do for Strikeforce and Zuffa?

They aren’t going to get as many viewers as they would if they were on a cable channel, and Strikeforce will never make big money because it won’t sell any PPVs it attempts to put on.

If Strikeforce chose instead to focus on what the WEC tended to focus on, putting together exciting fights, they would see an increase in interest in their product.

But of course it’s inevitable that the good fighters will eventually make their way to the UFC, but that doesn’t mean Strikeforce can’t create it’s own niche in the MMA market.

Strikeforce has some of the most impressive women fighters in MMA. Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos, Gina Carano (whenever she returns), Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey and Sarah Kaufman are just a few of the names that litter the women’s MMA landscape.

When you look at how the WEC provided a proving ground for the 145- and 135-pound divisions for the UFC, Strikeforce could do the same with women’s MMA.

If Strikeforce could get a wider audience and prove that MMA fans like to see women bouts just as much as the men, they could not only put on exciting, free events, but they could also be the experiment the UFC needs to test the waters with mainstream audience and women’s MMA.

Speaking of mainstream audiences, even if they don’t take the women’s MMA route, having Strikeforce on free TV allows for more exposure to the sport and would help accelerate the integration of non-fans into the fold.

Whatever Zuffa chooses to do with Strikeforce, they should realize it’s not going to make them millions like the UFC.

Instead they should focus on making Strikeforce the fun promotion which would balance out the serious UFC promotion.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com