Author: Levi Nile

The Ultimate Fighter: Do Five International Versions Make Sense?

As Dana White and the UFC continue to push forward toward their goal of making MMA the biggest of sports world wide, so goes The Ultimate Fighter, built on the strength of sixteen successful seasons.  One of their biggest talent acquisition and ma…

As Dana White and the UFC continue to push forward toward their goal of making MMA the biggest of sports world wide, so goes The Ultimate Fighter, built on the strength of sixteen successful seasons. 

One of their biggest talent acquisition and marketing tools, the show is set to expand into new countries toward the end of cultivating new audiences invested in seeing their countrymen elevated to stardom.

With the success of the show in Brazil and the U.K., Australia is now on deck, set to share the stage as a familiar rivalry is played upon: Australia vs. the U.K.

Some people, wary of not only the number of pay-per-view events being staged but the expansion of the show, are wondering if the current forecast of five international versions of The Ultimate Fighter makes any kind of sense at all.

When considering the question, expansion seems to be the only thing that does makes sense. The Ultimate Fighter is the ultimate tool for building bridges, and if the show is not expanding into other countries, then it loses its chief virtue: acquiring new talent across the globe.

Of course, it could continue to run in America and a few select countries, but the sport of MMA and the UFC has already been established in those areas and now needs only the power of momentum.

The show needs to expand to as many countries that will have it, because that is growth. The plan of the UFC was never limited to raising the sport above all other sports in America: the plan was to achieve a growth on a global scale that is higher than other sports that are a relative passion in select countries.

American football is big in America, not Spain or Canada. Hockey is huge in Canada, not Italy. MMA and the UFC do not seek to contend with these sports where they enjoy the largest audience, but globally; pulling together the largest overall audience, comprising fans from all over the world.

And to that end, The Ultimate Fighter, starting slowly in some cases, could see success in Mexico, Canada, Japan, China, the Philippines, and perhaps even countries like Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

A sport like MMA is simply too diverse to belong to a few select countries; it was built to appeal to a vast cross section of nationalities.

One only need look at some of the successful disciplines employed in MMA to see this proven true: the art of sambo from Russia, Brazilian jiu-jitsu from Brazil, freestyle wrestling from England, Greco-Roman wrestling from Greece, traditional boxing from America and England, judo from Japan, Thai boxing from Thailand, and so on.

If Dana White and the UFC are honestly committed to the growth of the sport of MMA, then nothing could be more profound than seeing The Ultimate Fighter in all of the countries mentioned, and more.

It has the potential to truly be a global show for a sport that may have been assembled in America, but with parts gathered from all over the world.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

The 15 Most Electrifying Fighters in MMA History

After watching Clay Guida and Gray Maynard in their last fight, it became painfully clear that you don’t always find fire where you find smoke. Guida vs. Maynard looked like it had all the makings of a Fight of the Year candidate, but ended up b…

After watching Clay Guida and Gray Maynard in their last fight, it became painfully clear that you don’t always find fire where you find smoke.

Guida vs. Maynard looked like it had all the makings of a Fight of the Year candidate, but ended up being a dud, which was shocking considering both men.

Yet, the main fault seems to belong to Guida and the strategy employed by Team Jackson, which is all the more alarming, considering how many incredible fights we’ve seen from Guida.

Contrast that to Wanderlei Silva, who at UFC 147 once again put his money where his mouth was, thrilling the fans with another one of his take-no-prisoners performances.

Men like Silva are a rare species of fighter: they place a higher value on action than they do their own record and personal health. For them, it is better to lose in glory than win in mediocrity.

Then, there is another kind of equally electrifying fighter: a man who’s dominance is based around the ability to crush opponents in a style all his own. He has an aura of danger, brilliance and destruction (or a combination of the three) that makes fans want to see him fight, win or lose.

The sport needs such men and the excitement they bring, because as it grows, a winning record becomes more and more important. If a fighter hopes to rise in the sport, the question ceases to be “How did you fight?” and becomes more of a statement: “Win today, excite tomorrow.”

Here is a list of men who have never lost sight of the question for very long, and how they fight (or fought) became the statement by which they are known.

Honorable mentions: Jon Jones, Nate Diaz, Mirko Cro-Cop, Donald Cerrone and Martin Kampmann.

Begin Slideshow

Silva vs. Sonnen II: Would a Violently Aggressive Victory Hurt Silva’s Image?

In the world of professional sports, the image an athlete has is usually a carefully crafted thing. It’s not just geared to cater to the fans, it’s built to attract sponsors and their monies while ensuring the kind of longevity said athlete…

In the world of professional sports, the image an athlete has is usually a carefully crafted thing.

It’s not just geared to cater to the fans, it’s built to attract sponsors and their monies while ensuring the kind of longevity said athlete hopes he can maintain throughout his career with little effort.

For a fighter like Anderson Silva—who enjoys the accolades and attention normally only afforded to the best in the world—the image of a humble, reserved and honorable martial artist wearing a white hat has been his image, come hell or high water.

And some high water has been seen, to be sure.

He’s found himself receiving no small amount of criticism due to lackluster fights against men such as Patrick Cote, Thales Leites and Demian Maia, and against the latter, Dana White loudly proclaimed that should Silva ever put on clown shoes and dance like that again, he would be cut from the promotion (via MMAFighting.com).

But he’s still here, sitting atop the world, because fight fans remember your last fight above all else, and since the Maia debacle, Silva has delivered the goods, his white hat firmly in place throughout.

That is, until the conference call to promote UFC 148, where Silva will rematch the only man to make him look utterly human: Chael Sonnen.

Perhaps it was because there were no cameras in his face, or maybe he’s simply had enough, but on that call Silva either forgot where he keeps his hat or simply decided to throw it in the ring.

In uncharacteristic form, Silva made his intentions clear: Playtime is over.

On the call, Silva said he was going to break every bone in Sonnen’s face and all his teeth (h/t Gareth Davies, The Telegraph). He said he was going to beat Sonnen’s ass out of the sport.

He also said what he’s going to do to Sonnen will change the image of the sport.

And with that comes a simple question: Will a violent, aggressive victory for Silva hurt his image?

This is not the first time two men have entered into a fight with the very worst intentions, and at worse, death has been the result: on March 24, 1962, Emile Griffith beat Benny Paret so badly that he died from the injuries.

Why did he do this? Because Paret had said he was gay.

Of course, that was a long time ago, in a totally different sport, but the underlying danger is clear.

Anderson Silva is a man with all the tools to make good on his threat, but odds are that should he find himself having his way with Sonnen, the result will be a 10th successful title defense for Silva and a swollen and bloody face for Sonnen.

And that’s fine, because MMA is a combat sport; bruises and blood and stitches come with the territory.

But what if Silva is every bit as angry as it seems?

It’s hard to imagine a knockout as brutal as when Dan Henderson dropped Michael Bisping and then launched himself in the air to administer the coup de grace, now known the world over as “Air Hendo.” But given Anderson Silva’s abilities, it is quite possible we could see something worse.

In this case, worse could mean a violent, sustained beating that sees Sonnen bleeding like a stuck pig from Round 1 to Round 5, taking shocking amounts of unnecessary punishment while being unable to prevent it. Yes, the sport as seen that before, but never in a fight of this magnitude and never by a man with the skills of Silva.

Should Silva be in top form, there is a very real chance that he could carve Sonnen up with punches, elbows, knees and kicks, and given that Sonnen is a gamer who doesn’t mind loosing about half of his body’s blood supply in a fight, it could go on and on and on.

We’ve all seen Silva play with his food before, but most of the time we’ve just seen him kill it and leave it on the Octagon floor.

But we’ve never seen him eat it.

Given all the things Sonnen has said about him and the country of Brazil, Silva seems more than happy to take off his white hat and take a seat at the table for a feast.

If the meat is rare and bleeding all over the plate, it could indeed hurt Silva’s image as the man who denies the urge to gorge, happy with the virtues of moderation and charity.

Or it could make his appeal on the world stage skyrocket, proving that he’s just as human as the next guy, and when pushed past that line, he will turn savage.

There is a saying in politics: “There’s only two things people don’t want to see being made: laws and sausages.”

Come UFC 148, we might finally see how sausage gets made, Brazilian style. If so, what will remain to be seen is if Silva comes across as a humble farmer simply plying his trade or a butcher.  

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 147: Rich Franklin vs. Michael Bisping Is the Fight to Make

Now that we know that Rich Franklin is hoping for one last run at the middleweight title, it seems likely that Dana White and Zuffa will decide to grant him his wish, given how many times he has stepped up for the company. And what better way to give h…

Now that we know that Rich Franklin is hoping for one last run at the middleweight title, it seems likely that Dana White and Zuffa will decide to grant him his wish, given how many times he has stepped up for the company.

And what better way to give him his heart’s desire than by putting him in the cage against a top-five fighter who is looking for another high-profile win to cement his claim as the No. 1 challenger?

When you consider this, it’s clear that Rich Franklin vs. Michael Bisping is the fight to make.

Both men are well-known on the international stage, and both prefer to keep the fight standing, which could make for some serious fireworks if both men show up ready to take the victory by force.

While youth, speed and mobility go to Bisping, experience, power and chin favor Franklin, and that style matchup could result in a very entertaining clash.

It would also provide some answers to the questions surrounding both men.

For Bisping, it would show whether or not he has learned how to protect his chin from heavy punchers who have good footwork and know how to cut off the cage. A win over Franklin would prove he’s fixed some of the fundamental holes in his game that Dan Henderson found so easy to exploit.

For Franklin, it would show that he’s still got the step and timing needed to contend with younger fighters who use their speed to dart in-and-out, scoring and then circling away. A win over Bisping would prove that Franklin can still keep up with the music and deliver the necessary force to punch Bisping’s time card and send him home early.

And those tasks won’t be easy for either man.

When you look at Bisping’s career, many a fighter had proudly proclaimed that they were just going to punch him in the jaw and knock him flat. Fighters like Jorge Rivera, Dan Miller, Chris Leben, Wanderlei Silva and others have learned that’s a lot easier said than done.

Bisping’s developed a good striking game that allows him to circle as he pleases and move in-and-out, scoring with crisp combinations and then drifting away while his opponent’s fists miss him by several inches. It’s a style that’s used by many a great defensive boxer, and Bisping is quickly becoming so good at it that he looks like he was born to it.

When considering Franklin, it’s impressive to see just how effective his footwork has been in the past. He’s been able to use those fundamental tools to place himself in prime position to land brutal knockout punches, even when his back is against the cage.

This would be an exciting fight that would provide answers to many of the questions surrounding both men, and as they would have fought as opposing coaches for The Ultimate Fighter season nine, it seems like it’s long overdue.  

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

MMA: 10 of the Dirtiest Strikes in History

Whenever strikes are flying with bad intentions, the chance of a foul is always there. Sometimes like a confused animal that stumbles into the scene by accident, other times like a snarling dog let loose by the offender. For the former, it’s a re…

Whenever strikes are flying with bad intentions, the chance of a foul is always there. Sometimes like a confused animal that stumbles into the scene by accident, other times like a snarling dog let loose by the offender.

For the former, it’s a regrettable moment in their career that is usually never repeated again.  

For the latter, it’s the dark humor of the situation itself they cannot resist. Their opponent is putting their trust in him to obey the rules, and like Lucy yanking the ball away from Charley Brown as he runs to kick, they too choose to indulge their whims, simply because they can.

That’s not to say a fighter found guilty of landing a dirty strike is a dirty fighter. It is simply an acknowledgement of those things within the rules and those things deemed illegal.

The sport has seen its fair share of both unintentional fouls and those done with clear malice, but whatever the motivation, the result is the same: a dirty strike.

Here is a list of 10 of the dirtiest strikes in MMA history, where the strike itself is more often than not the main point of contention.

Begin Slideshow

10 MMA First Rounds That Compare to Hagler vs. Hearns

Perhaps one of the most intense struggles between two men in the professional world of combative sport occurred on April 15, 1985, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns fought for the undisputed world middleweight cham…

Perhaps one of the most intense struggles between two men in the professional world of combative sport occurred on April 15, 1985, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns fought for the undisputed world middleweight championship, but as soon as the first round finally came to a close, all who were watching knew that this wasn’t a contest anymore: It was a brutal struggle for something worth more than any title.

The first round of their fight is still (and rightly, in my opinion) considered one of the very best in the history of boxing, and in 1985 the bout was awarded “Fight of the year” honors by the bible of boxing, Ring Magazine, which dubbed the fight as “the most electrifying eight minutes ever.”

And they couldn’t have been more accurate.

Hagler vs. Hearns had it all—drama, aggression, courage, skill and blood—all mined under the shadow of a violent ending that loomed above all like a taskmaster that would accept nothing less than total war.

There was something about this fight that was bigger than both men, and they fought like everything in the world depended on it.

But the world of combative sport does not belong to boxing alone.

Mixed Martial Arts has been a presence in the fight game of America (and the world) for many years now. During that time, some excellent fights have been won and lost in the first round.

But is that good enough? Does MMA have any fights that produced a first round worthy of consideration alongside the first frame of “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler vs. Tommy “The Hitman” Hearns?

I say “yes,” and in doing so offer 10 candidates from the world of MMA (in no specific order) that had first rounds just as good as that seen on April 15, 1985.

And if they’re not “just as good,” they’re real damn close.

Begin Slideshow