Author: Matthew Hemphill

The Ultimate Fighter 14: Is John Dodson Destined for UFC Stardom?

Many readers might be rolling their eyes after viewing the title and with good measure.  A lot of the recent winners of The Ultimate Fighter have been less than spectacular, and some have even started exiting the UFC.John Dodson seems to have what…

Many readers might be rolling their eyes after viewing the title and with good measure.  A lot of the recent winners of The Ultimate Fighter have been less than spectacular, and some have even started exiting the UFC.

John Dodson seems to have what it takes.  He wins fights against bigger men and sometimes with spectacular finishes.  He also knows how to talk.  One listen to his postfight interview with Ariel Helwani confirms it.

A look at the comments below the video also shows that he has the ability to polarize fans one way or the other.  

But it’s one thing to look impressive in a fight against another housemate of a reality show.  How he handles fighters whose careers were made in the Octagon because of their records and performance will be something quite different.

There is another factor at play as well.

When fans question whether a fighter will do well in the UFC after being on The Ultimate Fighter, it usually boils down to if fans think they can do well in the division or grow into a fighter who can beat the champ.

In Dodson’s unique case, it involves actually creating a division.

Dodson is a small fighter.  In fact he stands just 5’3″.  He should be fighting at flyweight, which has a limit of 125 pounds in boxing, but since the UFC doesn’t contain that weight class yet, he fights at bantamweight with the other 135-pounders.

Sooner or later, unless he can achieve what Frankie Edgar has at lightweight, he will meet a bigger fighter who can bully him around the cage and push him around.

Even if he does end up like Edgar, he will constantly deal with exciting wars that abuse his body in a way that will shorten his career.  It’s something that Dodson will hopefully avoid having to do, but that comes down to Dana White, the president of the UFC, and how soon he decides to make an eight-weight class.

After all, Dodson was willing to go on reality TV show to gain entrance to the premier MMA organization in the world.  It’s not likely that he will step away just to fight in a natural weight class.

Flyweight is where Dodson shines though and given a chance he could again.  He just needs a chance to get there.

So will Dodson be a star?

It depends on when his next fight is and if the UFC has changed its structure by then.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Will Jason Mayhem Miller Ever Be a Contender?

Last night, Jason Miller came up short. He trained for his fight, walked into the cage and into the fists of Michael Bisping.It is something no fighter ever wants to have happen to them, but it did happen regardless of what he wanted. Now the question …

Last night, Jason Miller came up short. He trained for his fight, walked into the cage and into the fists of Michael Bisping.

It is something no fighter ever wants to have happen to them, but it did happen regardless of what he wanted. Now the question is what will he do afterwards?

Miller is still young at just 30. He has a decent record and just got his first loss in three fights and his only loss in the UFC. Most fighters might be in danger because of that, but Miller has enough of a name and enough good wins on his resume from outside the UFC that he should be fine.

But at 30, he was dominated by one of the top middleweights and though there is no shame in that, it does create a great question.

Where does he go from here?

Miller still has a few good years before his prime peaks. He is also skilled black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, though he does seem to lose to elite practitioners. He even has decent standup.

But if he is failing to even compete in a match with Bisping, it might take some soul-searching to plot his next move. Bisping might be surging ahead right now, but he has proven to be a little above the middle of the pack. He hasn’t proven that he can hang with the best.

And if Bisping can’t prove himself on an elite level, then it darkens Miller’s chances that he can. He probably isn’t going to be cut by the UFC anytime soon considering that he has had a show on MTV and that he seems to be popular with a contingent of MMA fans. Plus, the boost from being a coach on The Ultimate Fighter won’t hurt either.

Those will only keep him afloat in the UFC’s deep waters for so long. If he can’t prove that he can beat top competition, the UFC just might cut him.

It’s easy to argue that Miller is a good fighter. 

He is.

He wouldn’t be with the UFC if he wasn’t.

But a contender?

His fight with Bisping seems to prove otherwise.

Maybe MMA’s clown prince will go back to the gym and find something that works. For his sake, he better as most have probably taken him off their radar.

And that could lead to him being taken off TV.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

The Ultimate Fighter 14: Love or Hate Him, Michael Bisping is For Real

Michael Bisping might not have a point at which he truly turned into a villain.He wasn’t exactly loved when he was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter. He has always had a big mouth. There is even his contentious win over Matt Hamill who was…

Michael Bisping might not have a point at which he truly turned into a villain.

He wasn’t exactly loved when he was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter. He has always had a big mouth. There is even his contentious win over Matt Hamill who was a fan favorite.

Fans can even go back to this last year when he disrespected Jorge Rivera and his team after knocking Rivera out.

His reason? Rivera had put out videos that made fun of Bisping.

Bisping has had no trouble slandering other fighters and yet it seems like it became a classic case of “willing to dish it out, but not wanting to take it.”

Every single one of these qualities has made fans in America, and some globally, rejoice every time the Brit loses.

The problem for them is that he doesn’t seem to do it that often and he didn’t do it last night.

In fact, he has won his last four fights and against tough competitors like Dan Miller, Jorge Rivera, Yoshihiro Akiyama and now Jason Miller.

Don’t let Miller’s goofy antics fool you. He is someone who has easily earned fights with the UFC’s top middleweights. His only recent losses were to Jake Shields and Rounaldo Souza, both of who are Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu experts.

Aside from them, he has beaten decent contenders such as Tim Kennedy and Robbie Lawler. He needed a win against Bisping to take a serious step up in competition and he failed, but he wasn’t a scrub who the UFC used to get ratings for TUF.At this point, Bisping has lost against only three men. Rashad Evans, Dan Henderson and Wanderlei Silva. All of them were champions and two of the three have had Hall of Fame careers. Evans might still one day.

And Bisping is still in his prime, continuing to improve.

He was able to knock out Miller which is tough to do. The fact that Bisping, who usually goes the distance, was able to stop his opponent shows that he is transitioning from a perennial contender in the middleweight division into something better.

And fans who despise him might just have to get used to it because it seems Bisping might have a lengthy stay in the main-event scene.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

How the Landscape of the UFC Would Look Without All the Injury-Plagued Events

Injuries have plagued combat sports for decades and MMA—and especially the roster of the UFC—is no different.But what if it was?What if Injuries that stopped fights from happening didn’t occur. That isn’t to say that fighters wouldn…

Injuries have plagued combat sports for decades and MMA—and especially the roster of the UFC—is no different.

But what if it was?

What if Injuries that stopped fights from happening didn’t occur. That isn’t to say that fighters wouldn’t get medical suspensions after fights, but that there wouldn’t be medical issues that stopped them from competing in the lead-up to already planned matches.

Let’s say we lived in a hypothetical world where this was possible.

The entire look of where the UFC is now would have changed. Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar would probably be in entirely different situations.

Georges St-Pierre has suffered from several injuries lately in his career and though none of them have been serious, they have put him on the shelf a few times. This has actually helped him as there were a few times that no one in the welterweight division had distinguished themselves enough to earn a title shot.

It’s very possible that if GSP had never been injured, he might have moved up in weight to the middleweight division.

It isn’t a move that GSP has wanted to make, but without injuries he would have long ago removed any challenges from the welterweight division and with it all of his big-money fights. No matter how much a fighter may love the sport and enjoy competing on a level, the reason they step in the cage is to get a paycheck.

If fans stopped buying pay-per-views that fighters are in, then the fighter will do what it takes to increase that income. It’s definitely something St-Pierre would have done.

And then there is Lesnar. Without diverticulitis, he easily would have been given either multiple shots at the title or worked his way into a second title reign. Perhaps he would have even kept the title to begin with.

And the UFC certainly would have made more money.

But more important than any individual fighter is the impact that it would have on the UFC marketing department.

A lot of the PPVs this year have underperformed considering the UFC’s numbers in the past. They simply haven’t set the world on fire, even with the FOX debut. That is because marketing had to switch up fights quickly after having made videos and put out different promotional items.

Fans expect certain fights and when they don’t come to fruition, it gives people less time to get excited about a different fight. It also can have the added effect of fans not buying the event solely from disappointment of a fighter dropping out.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

TUF 14 Finale & Flyweights: Why a Win by Dodson Might Help Make the 125 Division

It’s no secret that Dana White, the head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has planned on bringing the flyweight division to MMA’s biggest company.  He even stated that he wanted the 125-pound division established before the end of 2011….

It’s no secret that Dana White, the head of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, has planned on bringing the flyweight division to MMA‘s biggest company.  He even stated that he wanted the 125-pound division established before the end of 2011.

That hasn’t happened yet.

Considering that we’re in December, fans might have to wait until at least 2012 before they see some of the best at 125 fighting in the Octagon.  Two fighters might change that, though, depending on how they perform in the cage this Saturday.

Much like before the UFC had a featherweight and bantamweight division, The Ultimate Fighter attracted martial artists from lower divisions to compete on the show against bigger men.  

Except that this time instead of 145 and 135 pound fighters fighting at 155 pounds, the lightweight limit, it had flyweight fighters competing at bantamweight.

Two fighters made it all the way to spots on the card.

One was Louis Gaudinot, who fought on this season of The Ultimate Fighter but came up short.  If he wins, he will help make the case that smaller fighters deserve a shot at the biggest MMA promotion in the world in a weight class they can make.

But he is on the undercard and even if the fights do run short, which because it is a UFC event usually do, he will still be an afterthought.

In truth, there is one fighter who can make even some of the casual fans of the sport rethink their views on the smaller fighters.

It boils down to John Dodson.

Dodson has done well on The Ultimate Fighter by not just making it to the finale to determine who will be crowned the winner of this season, but doing so in an impressive way.  Two of his three victories on his way to the top of tonight’s card were by way of knockout.  The third was by unanimous decision.

If he wins, he might be able to parlay that into an immediate shot at the UFC flyweight title if it is created.

And if he wins tonight, he just may help make the division a reality a little bit faster.

Some fans might believe that The Ultimate Fighter seasons have petered out and lost their edge. However, even without the change that will occur once it moves to FX, it is still an interesting show that draws decent ratings and gets new fans.

If Dodson can win tonight, he can transfer that success into moderate fame.

And if there is enough of a clamor after his win, it might give White some ideas on making the division.

And it also gives fans both serious and casual another reason to watch the two finalists square off.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

How Bellator’s Reality Show Can One-Up "The Ultimate Fighter"

It seems that Spike TV will be getting a new MMA reality show soon thanks to Bellator and honestly, it’s not that surprising.Viacom recently purchased the newest American rival to the UFC in Bellator and is already doing their best to hype the product….

It seems that Spike TV will be getting a new MMA reality show soon thanks to Bellator and honestly, it’s not that surprising.

Viacom recently purchased the newest American rival to the UFC in Bellator and is already doing their best to hype the product.  This is probably partly to do with keeping their momentum going as Spike TV will broadcast their final UFC card on December 3 with The Ultimate Fighter Season 14 Finale.

The other part might have to do with keeping MMA fans interested in their programming as they won’t be able to air anything new until 2013.  They still hold the UFC library for all of 2012 and with it they can’t air any other type of MMA programming until the deal is up.

Whether they will be able to keep the audience they have grown accustomed to or if those fans will disappear remains to be seen.

In the end, it will come down to how Spike and Viacom decide to handle the show.  They have mentioned that they don’t plan on making it a copy of The Ultimate Fighter, but they may try to stick to what they know.

Spike is able to see that the format that was used by the UFC works.  They may stick to it, but if they want to beat the MMA Goliath at it’s own game, they won’t.

Spike TV president Kevin Kay mentioned in the SI article posted above that the tournament format was like The Ultimate Fighter in a way and had “reality baked into the idea already.”

Weighing those words, it’s possible the fans might see a reality-based show having to do with Bellator’s tournament fighters and their quest for the championship shot given to the winner.  If that is the case then it could make for compelling television.

The Ultimate Fighter has gotten stale in recent years and if Spike was able to introduce fans to top-level talent instead of middling fighters and very young prospects then they might have something.

Though The Ultimate Fighter at one point at had some of the top prospects and fighters in the world on the show, MMA has gotten to the point where most top-tier combatants only need to keep winning for the UFC to offer them a slot.  

In the old days, being on TUF might have been their only chance.  Now fighters with mixed records or a few fights seem to be the only ones that apply.

If Spike focused on Bellator’s top fighters and the potential chance at a championship title it would be wildly different.

It would not only create reality stars, but potentially make the next Bellator champion one as well.  

Mixing characters, reality TV and high-level MMA is something that The Ultimate Fighter no longer does and if Bellator and Spike can pull it off, they might just have a winner on their hands.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com