The business of making fights cannot be as easy as one thinks. It’s more than just a simple matter of that which is most basic: logistics and timing.It’s also about imagining a fight so totally that the matchmaker can see real drama in the …
The business of making fights cannot be as easy as one thinks. It’s more than just a simple matter of that which is most basic: logistics and timing.
It’s also about imagining a fight so totally that the matchmaker can see real drama in the destruction, and then make a fight that delivers on the promise of his imagination.
In other words, it’s about the business of predicting those fights that will yield the greatest fireworks show, time and time again.
But as anyone who has followed the sport for even a short amount of time knows, many is the fight that was not made, no matter how great it promised to be.
So here is a list of the fights that could have been. Let your imagination wander…
Media saturation.
It’s a term that speaks to the notion that someone or something is so important that it must be first and foremost in the minds of the public, and there it must remain.
In the fight game, it has come to mean the best way to prom…
Media saturation.
It’s a term that speaks to the notion that someone or something is so important that it must be first and foremost in the minds of the public, and there it must remain.
In the fight game, it has come to mean the best way to promote a fighter, not to mention the interests of the company that employs him.
Be it via self-promotion, thanks to Twitter and other media tools, or video downloads like those of Dana White, media saturation has never been greater than it is today.
But the line between what is important and what is simply entertaining has been crossed to the point that the virtue is often lost: information versus adoration.
Here is a list of people for which we have all the information we need.
Once again, the UFC has brought their cage to a foreign country, delivering a stacked card and the drama that comes with it. UFC 144 marked the return of the Octagon to the land of the rising sun, and all signs seem to indicate they will be welcomed ba…
Once again, the UFC has brought their cage to a foreign country, delivering a stacked card and the drama that comes with it.
UFC 144 marked the return of the Octagon to the land of the rising sun, and all signs seem to indicate they will be welcomed back with open arms.
As the plan for global expansion continues, more and more countries come to mind: Russia, Mexico, China and many others.
And then there is Rome, Italy.
So, why Italy, you may ask?
Is it because of the history of Rome, or is it the wine, or the Vatican? How about the Via Flaminia or the legendary Colosseum? Well, all of these things are not only well and good, but incredible, to say the least.
But, there is another reason why the UFC should look long and hard at staging shows in what was at one time the beating heart of the Roman Empire: Pankration.
Dave Herbert of BuddhaSport.com recently interviewed one of the few fighters in the UFC stable that comes from Rome: Alessio Sakara.
Sakara talked about many things in the interview and made it clear that he thought Dana White and Zuffa should bring the UFC to Rome.
“It would be a dream came true to fight in Rome! I don’t know when it will come here but it would be an honor fighting in my beautiful city! It’s a place where so many men fought and died in combat. I would also still love to fight Bisping in Rome. It could be like a European Champions League – Italy vs. England. It’s a soccer thing. Italy has always had a rivalry with England and that fight would be huge here.”
Of course, his is no doubt a biased point of view, but let us not forget that Rome has a history tied with what is today’s MMA.
Believe it or not, but Rome is the true fatherland of mixed martial arts, not Brazil or Japan. Granted, both countries have had a huge hand in the sport, and can rightfully claim a kind of stewardship in its early stages, but when you strip away all romantic notions and look at the hard facts of history, mixed martial arts as a sporting event was indeed born in Rome as Pankration.
Pankration competitors were allowed to grapple opponents, strike them as in boxing or strike their lower extremities, such as leg kicks. While it has been noted that sometimes victory occurred as a result of a knockout, most times it was secured by submission, via chokes or joint locks.
Case in point is the story of Arrhichion (Ἀρριχίων) of Phigalia.
Arrhichion of Phigalia was one of the few who won the Pankration event in the Olympics at the cost of his life. It seems he was caught in some kind of rear naked choke, and decided to counter the move with a toe/ankle lock. In the end, the damage he caused to the foot of the fighter choking him was so great that said fighter nearly passed out from pain and submitted, which they did by raising their index finger.
As Arrhichion was being declared the winner, it was discovered that he had died as a result of the choke hold. They placed the wreath on his head, as befitting the winner, and his body was sent back to Phigalia as a hero.
Of course, staging a UFC event in Rome can’t be done just for the sake of nostalgia; it simply doesn’t work that way.
While it’s hard to say with any certainty how the people of Italy and Rome would react, it is sure that the angle of history is strong enough to at least chance a maiden voyage into the country of grappa and gladiators.
And then, of course, there is the Olympic angle. The powers that be would love to see MMA become an Olympic sport, and Rome is the home of Greco-Roman wrestling, one of the cornerstones of mixed martial arts.
To say that the UFC traveling to Rome would be a homecoming is more accurate than many would care to admit, and everyone loves a homecoming―especially when the family in question has a history so rich and deep that the sands on which they were born have passed into antiquity and wonder.
Once upon a time, BJ Penn was so good that he was thinking about retiring from the sport out of simple boredom.Then, he lost the first fight of his career against Jens Pulver at UFC 35. That loss motivated him to become one of the best of his generatio…
Once upon a time, BJ Penn was so good that he was thinking about retiring from the sport out of simple boredom.
Then, he lost the first fight of his career against Jens Pulver at UFC 35. That loss motivated him to become one of the best of his generation.
Now, so many years later, Penn is once again sitting on the sidelines, but for different reasons.
Unaccustomed to being physically beat up, Penn was not ready for the aftermath of his bout with Nick Diaz at welterweight and announced his retirement from the sport.
But there are some simple truths that are available for all to see.
One is that Penn is a fighter, pure and simple. Very few have the tools and skills he possesses, and even fewer can implement them with such ease.
The second; Penn should not be fighting at welterweight.
If Penn were to accept his place in the sport—that of being one of the best lightweights on the planet—his return to the division could be just the thing his spirit needs.
And god knows it would certainly help the sport.
Right now, the lightweight division is the deepest division in the sport. With fighters like Nate Diaz, Gray Maynard, new champion Benson Henderson, Frankie Edgar, Donald Cerrone, Melvin Guillard, Joe Lauzon, Clay Guida, Jim Miller, Anthony Pettis and others, BJ Penn would be one of many great fighters.Also, Penn would no longer be trying to “get up” for fighting, one opponent at a time; the division is just too stacked for that kind of thinking. He would be knee-deep in opposition, and fighters as gifted as Penn need more than just one enemy at a time; they need legions of them in order to take the next step in their evolution.
Make no mistake about it, BJ Penn is still one of the most gifted and capable fighters in the sport today. He could easily become the lightweight champion again, should he decide to rededicate himself and add a few small elements to his game; elements which all mixed martial artists should have in their tool box.
He still has the best BJJ/submission game in the division, bar none. He still has among the heaviest hands in the weight class as well, save perhaps for Melvin Guillard.
And he is still one of the toughest men at 155 there is.
Imagine BJ Penn returning to the cage with just a few new tools to his already daunting arsenal: the endurance to throw over 100 punches a round, and the threat of greatly improved takedown skills.
Suddenly, it’s a whole new ballgame.
Near the end of his latest run, Penn seemed content to fight a certain way; stuff takedowns and bang away on the feet. Sure, he used some takedowns against Jon Fitch, but they seemed more a way to just score points; a defensive measure to keep Fitch from taking him down and racking up points from the top position.Penn needn’t be so one-dimensional.
Years ago, he decided to spend time with Randy Couture in order to improve his overall game. He trained hard, absorbed the knowledge and philosophy that Couture freely shares, and in turn he pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the time, defeating Matt Hughes and taking the title.
Another trip to Couture’s classroom would be a great step in the right direction to seeing Penn reclaim the title.
Penn belongs in the fray. The fight game needs him as much as he needs it.
The belt may just be an accessory, but the fights would be epic.
There is nothing quite like watching superstars come into their own. It’s thrilling to see them revel in their abilities, usually at the expense of their opponents. They push the envelope of their own preconceptions about their limitations, and t…
There is nothing quite like watching superstars come into their own.
It’s thrilling to see them revel in their abilities, usually at the expense of their opponents. They push the envelope of their own preconceptions about their limitations, and the really great ones surprise even themselves with their daring and execution.
They make hay while the sun shines, and in the case of fighters, that means they fight often, taking on whoever is in front of them, destroying them with an ease that almost seems scripted.
They leave the viewing public, and even their opponents, in awe of their skills and abilities.
Jon Jones has done all of this, and in the last year, he has been the candle that burns twice as bright as any other in the UFC stable.
But as he continues to impress in excess, the powers that be in the UFC would do well to remember that candles that burn so brightly can sometimes burn half as long.
In short, there is a difference between making a wish upon a shooting star and hitching your wagon to it.
The fight game is more like Algebra than simple math. Dana White is always talking about how something unexpected and bad happens every day in his line of work. This is because in a sport full of variables that explode like landmines between the gym and the cage, there is no such thing as a sure thing.
The rubber match has a prized place in the heart of most combat sport fans. Normally, it means a third serving of that wonderful meal that left us in love with the cooks in the first place, a sublime indulgence of the vicarious. Some incredible trilogi…
The rubber match has a prized place in the heart of most combat sport fans.
Normally, it means a third serving of that wonderful meal that left us in love with the cooks in the first place, a sublime indulgence of the vicarious.
Some incredible trilogies have taken place in combat sports, both boxing and MMA: Barrera vs. Morales, Couture vs. Liddell, Ali vs. Frazier, Silva vs. Jackson, Marquez vs. Pacquiao, Gatti vs. Ward and so on.
A great trilogy is like being in storm country, with a privileged eye to the exact spot and time that lightning might strike next.
So, you may ask, given all of this, why on earth is the rubber match between Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin necessary, especially with no divisional ramifications attached?
Once again, the UFC has brought their cage to a foreign country, delivering a stacked card and the drama that comes with it.