Not everyone is a serious sports fan. Some people watch them for relaxing entertainment and some to have something to talk about with their friends.Such fans can enjoy watching thing like the Super Bowl,but they aren’t about to make a fantasy foo…
Not everyone is a serious sports fan. Some people watch them for relaxing entertainment and some to have something to talk about with their friends.
Such fans can enjoy watching thing like the Super Bowl,but they aren’t about to make a fantasy football team or look for breaking news on their favorite players. They just enjoy watching physically gifted people do things that most regular people can’t.
MMA is starting to peek through to the casual sports fans, in part because of social media and also because of a network deal and it is probably only a matter of time until it is accepted by most of them.
Here are 15 reasons casual sports fans should give MMA a chance.
It seems that DREAM is going to continue to not only put on fights, but keep its tradition of putting on a fight card on December 31.Luckily, UFC 141, which will headline with former DREAM star Alistair Overeem, will take place one day before its fight…
It seems that DREAM is going to continue to not only put on fights, but keep its tradition of putting on a fight card on December 31.
Luckily, UFC 141, which will headline with former DREAM star Alistair Overeem, will take place one day before its fight card.
Unofortunately, DREAM has decided to do what it always does, which is to turn the sport into a circus with mismatches based on how well they might draw.
DREAM will put on some competitive fights throughout the night, but there will be some exceptions. Like every year, it will somehow manage to take a great sporting event and give it a more theatrical feel.
Chances are, if you are reading this article, you know who Emelianenko is. It’s hard to be an MMA fan and not know about the heavyweight who, until recently, seemed to dominate the MMA pound-for-pound rankings by not having lost in nine years.
He may have only just beaten a faded Jeff Monson after being on a three-fight losing streak, but he is still a tough customer for anyone who might underestimate him.
He is being paired against Satoshi Ishii, who won a gold medal in judo at the 2008 Olympics. Ishii is 24 and has six pro MMA fights. Four of them are wins.
Ishii is impressive in some ways, as he is a brilliant judoka and holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. His last fight, which was a draw with Paulo Filho, was considered by many to be a robbery which Ishii should have won.Other than that draw, Ishii only has one other blemish on his record. It was in DREAM’s 2009 New Year’s fight card against Hidehiko Yoshida.
There was no controversy in the loss.
Yoshida, who also won a gold medal in judo at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and had mixed success in his MMA career, still had enough experience to beat Ishii, who was making his MMA debut, by unanimous decision.
Ishii was thrown into a fight he wasn’t ready for because it might draw in TV ratings and would get press. It hurt Ishii’s career and it might still be something that affects him.
It isn’t the first time DREAM has damaged its credibility by making a fight that had more to do with being sensational than being technically sound.
Last year at its 2010 New Year’s show, it matched Alistair Overeem with Todd Duffee, who had lost his last fight by knockout and before that had the distinction of having the fastest knockout in the UFC.
His record was just 6-1 at the time with him being 1-1 in the UFC. The fight itself wasn’t even close to an intriguing matchup, but both men were massive heavyweights. Duffee was easily dispatched in the first round by Overeem.
This is the same company that, back in 2008, had Bobb Sapp on yet another New Year’s card fight in a match with an opponent dressed as Kinnikuman. Kinnikuman is a character from a Japanese comic book about a pro wrestler who wears a mask. Sapp’s opponent came into the ring, mask and all, and proceeded to lose by KO in the second round.
Spectacles like these have kept Japanese MMA from being anything more than a comical event mixed with serious fights. Future stars have been sacrificed, joke matches made and mismatches put together just so DREAM could turn a profit.
It has cost Ishii some of his star power and DREAM’s ability to really profit with him. It has cost DREAM the chance to be seen as a top MMA promotion.
And it’s cost Japan a chance to see high-level MMA.
When UFC 144 does come to Japan, DREAM is in trouble.
At UFC 139 Stephan Bonnar issued two apologies. One was to Josh Koscheck about a shirt he had made that had offended the welterweight fighter.This was warranted as no matter how much it might have been silly for Koscheck to be offended by the shi…
At UFC 139 Stephan Bonnar issued two apologies. One was to Josh Koscheck about a shirt he had made that had offended the welterweight fighter.
This was warranted as no matter how much it might have been silly for Koscheck to be offended by the shirt, it still is up to Bonnar to mediate such disagreements instead of possibly being sued over them, as Koscheck had threatened.
The other apology was to the fans for not making an exciting fight.
This one was not necessary at all and should never have been made because honestly, the fans shouldn’t expect such fights from Bonnar every time.
Fans have a belief about the “American Psycho” and that is that he will just brawl with technique and thoughts of winning coming second.
And that is ridiculous.
Bonnar’s job is to win fights. Being exciting and winning bonuses for fight of the night might keep him in the cage a little longer, but it comes down to being the best in the cage. To do that, sometimes you can’t put on a thrilling performance. Just a dominant one.
Bonnar is at a stage where this might be his last run in the cage. If he doesn’t prove himself to be dominant force, he won’t get a shot at being champion.
With his commentating for the company and his post-Ultimate Fighter shows that appear on the website, it’s safe to say he will always have a place in the UFC, but it will not always be in the cage.
Instead of an apology Bonnar should stop doing what he did in his pre-fight promo. He came off as a fighter who just wanted to swing for the fences, but at the same time came off as fake macho persona.
Instead of trying to appease the fans and give them what they want Bonnar should just tell them that he is going to dominate while trying to look for the knockout or submission if he can get away with it. That he wants to be a champion before he retires because that is why he got into fighting to begin with.
It sends a false message to the fans and it continues to give fans a fake reason to watch Bonnar. They should be willing to watch him because he is a talented fighter who can not only win fights, but do it emphatically.
And as for the fight he had at UFC 139?
It actually was thrilling from a technical standpoint with him using a bit of technical boxing and quite a bit of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to win.
That may help him to lose some casual fans, but only the ones that are never happy unless it ends up being a toe-to-toe war, even when it doesn’t need to be.
And if Bonnar wants to win, he doesn’t need that—and he shouldn’t be sorry about it.
It hasn’t even been a month and already details are starting to leak out about the UFC’s second fight on FOX.It was revealed just recently that the next program will be two hours long and have four fights on the card.Fans who complained about the …
It hasn’t even been a month and already details are starting to leak out about the UFC’s second fight on FOX.
Fans who complained about the fact that there was only one fight on the first UFC event on FOX should be overjoyed. There were rumbles of discontent from fans who wanted to see more fights, but it has to be remembered that this wasn’t technically part of the FOX deal. It was a way for the UFC to introduce itself to new casual fans.
And that is exactly what it did. The build-up to the fight presented Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez as both decent people and quality human beings instead of two vicious fighters who were about to beat on each other.
It helped ease first-time viewers into the sport without getting much negative attention. Now that the first event is over and the UFC has made a good first impression, fans can start seeing a somewhat typical fight card.
Though the event might have been hurt by the quickness with which the fight finished, 64 seconds, it remains to be seen if it actually will hurt the UFC’s return to network TV.
It most likely won’t and the UFC putting on more fights will probably help it. As the fights progress more people will turn in and realize that the event has already started with viewership peaking at the main event.
The other thing helping the UFC is the fact that FOX has stood behind them firmly after how the last event went. Having such incredible support from such a well-known and established brand like FOX will help the UFC to dispel a lot of the myths and rumors that have long-plagued the sport.
It will also help to remove some of the stigma that has been a part of the sport for so long. Not only will people be able to see more fights, but they will see that a major franchise like FOX is okay with it being put on their station.
Perception is a lot of what plagues MMA and most people might be stuck with the perception that it is still like it was in the ’90s. The working relationship between FOX and the UFC can help dispel that.
As the two brands get closer together more people will continue to tune in.
The best bet that UFC on FOX 2 will pull better numbers is the fact that the UFC is brilliant when it comes to marketing itself and knows how to do it well.
Dana White, the president of the UFC, uses Twitter constantly. The UFC has a Facebook page. Many fighters even have Twitter accounts.
As the media world evolves people have better access to search out knowledge on anything in the world.
Those who watched the UFC and had never heard of it before or became interested after seeing it have the opportunity to go out and check out the promotion’s Web site, Facebook or a number of different sites.
All of these different parts lead to one thing: more viewers and better fights on free TV.
Dan Henderson didn’t look like a 41-year-old at UFC 139. On Saturday night, he was able to not only fight, but beat the much younger Shogun Rua.This is a man who was an Olympic wrestler in the 1990’s and is still considered one of the top fighters in t…
Dan Henderson didn’t look like a 41-year-old at UFC 139. On Saturday night, he was able to not only fight, but beat the much younger Shogun Rua.
This is a man who was an Olympic wrestler in the 1990’s and is still considered one of the top fighters in the world in the closing months of 2011.
That kind of longevity is impressive, and now that Randy Couture has retired, it could be argued that Henderson is the best “old” fighter in the UFC.
Of course, that isn’t to say he is alone in this. There are plenty of mixed martial artists out there who are still able to compete with the best.
Here are the top five fighters outside of Henderson who prove that age is just a number.
By the time the year is over, the UFC will have put on 27 events. Over 10 of them have been free, with one more in the works before the end of 2011.It’s quite a jump from the amount that the UFC was able to put on even five years ago.The hype and energ…
By the time the year is over, the UFC will have put on 27 events. Over 10 of them have been free, with one more in the works before the end of 2011.
It’s quite a jump from the amount that the UFC was able to put on even five years ago.
The hype and energy surrounding UFC 139 is at its peak right now, so it seems like the best event in a long time, but is it?
Looking back through the year, there have been some incredible fight cards.
UFC 125 had the incredible fight between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard that ended in a draw, with Brian Stann knocking Chris Leben out on the undercard.
UFC 126 saw Anderson Silva knock out Vitor Belfort with an incredible kick, and Forrest Griffin and Rich Franklin put on a great fight, with Jon Jones also submitting Ryan Bader.
UFC 132 saw Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz put on a great fight, with Leben knocking out Wanderlei Silva and Tito Ortiz crushing Ryan Bader and then submitting him.
There was even UFC 136, which saw Frankie Edgar come from behind to knock out Gray Maynard, Joe Lauzon submit Melvin Guillard after battering him around the cage, Chael Sonnen brilliantly locking on a triangle choke on Brian Stann, Leonard Garcia and Nam Phan put on a war and Jose Aldo pick apart Kenny Florian.
The list seems a bit short and it probably is. There could still be more events added to those that could be contender for event of the year.
However, UFC 139 had something that none of them did: It had the feeling of being a PRIDE, WEC and Strikeforce event. It was held in the same building that Strikeforce had long put its fights in, and it was topped with fighters from all three promotions.
It didn’t feel like the standard UFC event, and it showed. It felt like there were new faces to watch and new matchups to experience.
It felt like a truly global event.
It also had a little bit of everything: come-from-behind victories, exciting finishes, technical wars and slugfests. It felt like there was something for every type of MMA fan out there.
It could be argued that UFC 139 was the second biggest event all year round. The first was a lock before it even happened.
Even with all of the great, history-making fights that were on the card tonight, the card still had one thing going against it that will put it at No. 2 this year.
It was on pay-per-view.
The UFC on Fox event was the first UFC event on network television, and in doing so, it instantly became the biggest event of the year. Almost every group of media was on it, and even the most casual of fans knew the fight was happening.
That is something that UFC 139 failed to do, even with all it brought to the table.
The fights themselves were some of the best all year and certainly were more exciting than Junior Dos Santos’ 64 second demolition of Cain Velasquez.
But they didn’t appear on free TV and captivate all of America.
So, even though it was close, much like the Henderson-Rua fight, one event had to win. And UFC 139 came in second. At least for now. There are still two more pay-per-views this year.
It seems that DREAM is going to continue to not only put on fights, but keep its tradition of putting on a fight card on December 31.