Things changed after Bjorn Rebney‘s departure from Bellator. Scott Coker became president, prompting Rampage to eventually tweet “sometimes u [sic] should just stay with the devil you know,” in reference to the UFC.
Clearly, Rampage wasn’t happy.
But there’s one problem: He’s still under contract to Bellator. The Sherdog report confirmed this. MMA journalist Josh Gross reached out to Coker, who said Rampage was still under contract.
If Rousimar Palhares cranks a kneebar after his opponent taps out and nobody’s there to see it, does it still produce outrage?
Well, the jury is still out. You see, Rousimar Palhares fought Jon Fitch at WSOF 16 for the promotion’s welterweight championship. Just one problem: UFC on Fox 13 happened last night during pretty much the same time slot. The event, featuring the likes of Junior Dos Santos, Alistair Overeem and Nate Diaz, had enough star power to completely eclipse poor WSOF.
Get the complete results after the jump.
If Rousimar Palhares cranks a kneebar after his opponent taps out and nobody’s there to see it, does it still produce outrage?
Well, the jury is still out. You see, Rousimar Palhares fought Jon Fitch at WSOF 16 for the promotion’s welterweight championship. Just one problem: UFC on Fox 13 happened last night during pretty much the same time slot. The event, featuring the likes of Junior Dos Santos, Alistair Overeem and Nate Diaz, had enough star power to completely eclipse poor WSOF.
So nobody watched WSOF 16 (which, as Anderson Silva would say, is normal), meaning nobody was around to see Palhares grab a wicked kneebar and crank it until Fitch screamed. In typical Palhares fashion, he didn’t let go once Fitch started tapping. From what we can tell, nobody’s that mad because A. A lot of people probably forgot the two fought last night and B. It’s Palhares. What else do you expect?
The submission occurred less than two minutes into the fight, proving Palhares is that dangerous or Fitch overestimated his leg lock defense that badly.
Here are WSOF 16′s full results:
Main Card
Rousimar Palhares def.. Jon Fitch via submission (kneebar) (R1, 1:30)
Lance Palmer def. Rick Glenn via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, 3:09)
Sheymon Moraes def. Gabriel Solorio via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
Josh Berkovic def. Brenson Hansen via unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Lewis Gonzalez def. Justin Buchholz via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Preliminary Card
Dave Huckaba def. C.J. Leveque via TKO (punches) (R2, 1:47)
David Mitchell def. Justin Baesman via submission (rear-naked choke) (R1, 1:44)
Dominic Waters def. Martin Sano via unanimous decision (29-28 x2, 30-27)
David Douglas vs. Sinjen Smith
Erick Sanchez def. Drey Mitchell via unanimous decision (29-28 x2, 30-27)
Jason Powell def. Chris Avila via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
Joseph Morales def. Christian Espinosa via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27 x2)
Junior Dos Santos earned a questionable decision over Stipe Miocic at UFC on Fox 13. The fight main-evented one of the more “stacked” (please forgive the cliche) Fox cards in recent memory.
How did these matches play out? Check out the video highlight packages below and see for yourself after the jump.
Junior Dos Santos earned a questionable decision over Stipe Miocic at UFC on Fox 13. The fight main-evented one of the more “stacked” (please forgive the cliche) Fox cards in recent memory.
How did these matches play out? Check out the video highlight packages below and see for yourself.
In the opening bout, Matt Mitrione out-hustled a plodding Gabe Gonzaga, scoring an early TKO. Mitrione even did a bit of meta-gaming by backing off when Herb Dean moved closer to Gonzaga would think the fight was stopped. Once Gonzaga rose to his feet, defenseless, Mitrione pounced in and unloaded with even more punches. A shrewd move.
Alistair Overeem took on Stefan Struve in the next fight. The contest was as one-sided as people thought it would be, though it did feature more takedowns than anyone expected. Overeem dragged Struve to the mat, and proceeded to bash his head in Gregor Clegane style until “Big” John McCarthy stopped the fight.
Nate Diaz and Rafael Dos Anjos fought in the night’s co-main event. Diaz looked flat and uninterested. Meanwhile, Dos Anjos looked more fierce than the raptors in that Gatorade Fierce commercial from 1999. This proved to be a recipe for an extremely one-sided affair. Dos Anjos battered a hobbling Diaz with leg kicks. Dos Anjos likely could’ve finished Diaz with leg kicks but instead he opted for the tired MMA trope of taking your opponent down and smothering them when they’re in danger of being TKOd. Dos Anjos won a unanimous decision victory. Diaz blamed his loss (and failure to make weight for the fight) on an injury.
And, as we stated above, JDS and Stipe Miocic faced off in the main event. JDS didn’t look like himself. About 1,000 people on Twitter claimed Cain Velasquez had taken his soul, and while it’s a cliched expression, it looked pretty accurate last night. JDS ate lots of punches, wasn’t as accurate as he has been in the past, and was slower. The JDS of 2-3 years ago would’ve knocked out Stipe Miocic in a round. Today’s JDS couldn’t even finish him.
The entire fight card’s results are below:
Main Card
Junior Dos Santos def. Stipe Miocic via unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46).
Rafael dos Anjos def. Nate Diaz via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27).
Alistair Overeem def. Stefan Struve via knockout (punches) (R1, 4:13).
Matt Mitrione def. Gabriel Gonzaga via TKO (punches) (R1, 1:59).
Preliminary Card
Joanna Jerdzejczyk def. Claudia Gadelha via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
John Moraga def. Willie Gates via submission (rear-naked choke) (R3, 4:06).
Ben Saunders def. Joe Riggs via submission (injury tapout) (1, 0:57).
Drew Dober def. Jamie Varner via submission (rear-naked choke) (R1, 1:52).
Bryan Barberena def. Joe Ellenberger via TKO (strikes) (R3, 3:24).
David Michaud def. Garret Whiteley via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27).
Henry Cejudo def. Dustin Kimura via unanimous decision (30-27 x3).
Ian Entwistle def. Anthony Birchak via submission (heel hook) (R1, 1:04).
Ready for a bombshell? According to Bloody Elbow, current and former UFC fighters are about to file a class action lawsuit against the UFC.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
The story was confirmed by Bloody Elbow’s John Nash and Brent Brookhouse.
Here are the details, courtesy of Bloody Elbow…
(Photo via Getty)
Ready for a bombshell? According to Bloody Elbow, current and former UFC fighters are about to file a class action lawsuit against the UFC.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
The story was confirmed by Bloody Elbow’s John Nash and Brent Brookhouse.
Here are the details, courtesy of Bloody Elbow:
We have been able to confirm that the suit will be based on accusations that the UFC has violated antitrust laws by abusing their “market power” to intentionally and systematically cripple the free market. Several of the individuals we spoke to compared it to the recent San Jose hi-tech employee and NCAA antitrust cases. The manager of one high profile fighter who wished to remain anonymous has informed Bloody Elbow that the plaintiffs will be seeking damages for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars due to reduced fight purses, video game rights fees, and other sources of income. The final amount could even be greater, with statutes awarding “treble damages” in antitrust cases.
Another manager referred to the pending suit as “a game changer.”
According to our sources the fighters are represented by three or four large firms renowned for antitrust litigation. The firms named to us have won major class action antitrust cases against bigger targets than the UFC, including against those in the banking, credit, technology and pharmaceutical industries.
Bloody Elbow didn’t release who was involved in the lawsuit, but did say they were “notable fighters and personalities in the sport.” Furthermore, they also stated the UFC’s Reebok deal was tied into the suit in some way.
For legal reasons, we won’t even begin to speculate which fighters and personalities could possibly be involved.
This is the biggest news to hit MMA since the Fox deal. Perhaps it’s even bigger than that. “Game changer” is a cliche. It’s also an understatement. This is more than a game changer. This could be everything.
The UFC crowned its first women’s strawweight champion last night. Carla Esparza and Rose Namajunas tore through the cast of The Ultimate Fighter season 20 and met one another in the finals.
Namajunas had a great showing in the first round, but in the second and third, Esparza’s wrestling and power became too much for Namajunas to handle. She took Namajunas down at will and controlled her easily, eventually taking her back in the third round and securing a rear naked choke.
Get the fight card’s complete results — including KJ Noons vs. Daron Cruickshank and Charles Oliveira vs. Jeremy Stephens — after the jump.
Namajunas had a great showing in the first round, but in the second and third, Esparza’s wrestling and power became too much for Namajunas to handle. She took Namajunas down at will and controlled her easily, eventually taking her back in the third round and securing a rear naked choke.
The card’s co-main event featured Jeremy Stephens and Charles Oliveira. The contest was one-sided, with Oliveira taking Stephens down repeatedly and nearly locking in arm-bar after arm-bar. To Stephens’ credit, he managed to escape every one — even the harrowing arm-bar attempts where his arm was completely extended. However, he barely landed any significant offense throughout the fight. Oliveira just smothered him too much with constant pressure in the wrestling department as well as unending submission attempts. The judges awarded Oliveira with a unanimous decision win.
Here are the complete results from the TUF 20 Finale:
Main Card
Carla Esparza def. Rose Namajunas via submission (rear naked choke) 1:26 of round 3
Charles Oliveira def. Jeremy Stephens via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28).
KJ Noons and Darron Cruickshank ends in a no contest via accidental eye poke, 0:25 of round 2.
Yancy Medeiros def. Joe Proctor via submission (guillotine), 4:37 of round 1.
Jessica Penne def. Randa Markos via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
Preliminary Card
Felice Herrig def. Lisa Ellis via submission (arm-bar), 1:53 of round 2.
Heather Jo Clark def. Bec Rawlings via split decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).
Joanne Calderwood def. Seo Hee Ham via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26).
Tecia Torres def. Angela Magana via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Aisling Daly def. Alex Chambers via submission (arm bar), 4:53 of round 1.
Angela Hill def. Emily Kagan via unanimous decisio (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)
When CM Punk signed with the UFC last night MMA fans, pundits and every pseudo-journalist in between lost their minds either with glee, bemusement, or disgust.
There’s not necessarily one “right” way to look at the issue of the UFC signing CM Punk (whose real name is Phil Brooks). Is he killing MMA’s credibility? Yes. Is he going to be a big draw and help the UFC out of a rut? Yes.
There’s a lot going on here. Let’s look at CM Punk’s UFC signing in depth…
CM Punk is killing the UFC’s credibility
Oh, undeniably. The argument here is signing CM Punk turns the UFC from legitimate athletic endeavor [Ed’s note: LMAO]into celebrity boxing.
Proponents of this theory are, well, kind of accurate. During the Reebok sponsorship press conference last week, the UFC boasted about the Reebok deal bringing them in line with the NFL and other major sports organizations. While the realities of that statement are dubious, it’s clear the UFC wanted viewers to leave with that “fact” as a key takeaway.
But would an NFL team sign CM Punk as a QB just because he might draw ratings and sell tickets? Hell, NFL teams wouldn’t even sign perennial attention-getter Tim Tebow who’s an actual football player. And as Bleacher Report‘s Jonathan Snowden pointed out, even Michael Jordan had to start in the minor leagues when he wanted to play baseball.
The NFL, NBA, or any other big league would never sign a 36-year-old with zero sports background just for attention and a bit of quick cash. These organizations care about legitimacy or at least the illusion of legitimacy. They want to convey class and prestige. They’re athletic contests, not Dancing with the Stars.
By signing CM Punk, the UFC admitted they are an entertainment company first and a sport second. While this has arguably been true since day one, they’ve never gone out of their way to make it so apparent before.
More takes after the jump.
(Future UFC middleweight champion CM Punk. / Photo via Getty)
There’s not necessarily one “right” way to look at the issue of the UFC signing CM Punk (whose real name is Phil Brooks). Is he killing MMA’s credibility? Yes. Is he going to be a big draw and help the UFC out of a rut? Yes.
There’s a lot going on here. Let’s look at CM Punk’s UFC signing in depth…
CM Punk is killing the UFC’s credibility
Oh, undeniably. The argument here is signing CM Punk turns the UFC from legitimate athletic endeavor [Ed’s note: LMAO]into celebrity boxing.
Proponents of this theory are, well, kind of accurate. During the Reebok sponsorship press conference last week, the UFC boasted about the Reebok deal bringing them in line with the NFL and other major sports organizations. While the realities of that statement are dubious, it’s clear the UFC wanted viewers to leave with that “fact” as a key takeaway.
But would an NFL team sign CM Punk as a QB just because he might draw ratings and sell tickets? Hell, NFL teams wouldn’t even sign perennial attention-getter Tim Tebow who’s an actual football player. And as Bleacher Report‘s Jonathan Snowden pointed out, even Michael Jordan had to start in the minor leagues when he wanted to play baseball.
The NFL, NBA, or any other big league would never sign a 36-year-old with zero sports background just for attention and a bit of quick cash. These organizations care about legitimacy or at least the illusion of legitimacy. They want to convey class and prestige. They’re athletic contests, not Dancing with the Stars.
By signing CM Punk, the UFC admitted they are an entertainment company first and a sport second. While this has arguably been true since day one, they’ve never gone out of their way to make it so apparent before.
Signing CM Punk does not diminish the UFC’s credibility because they never had any
The response to the above take is that the UFC was never credible, so signing CM Punk is fine. There’s a bit of truth here.
Tell me, when was the UFC a credible sports league that never dabbled (or outright prioritized) entertainment over athleticism? Was it when we had Art Jimmerson fighting with one boxing glove on? Was it when Kimo walked out to the cage bearing a crucifix? Was it when Cabbage fought Tank Abbott? Was it when Kimbo Slice starred in a season of The Ultimate Fighter? Was it when the UFC signed James Toney?
The UFC was never a paragon of athletic virtue. And while the company might be married to sports now, entertainment is a frequent mistress.
This isn’t a modern development. It’s just that now people like complaining about it. Nobody whined when their favorite Pride stars murdered Japanese pro wrestlers. So why get angry about CM Punk?
CM Punk is the savior of the UFC
This is a super-controversial opinion despite loads of data supporting it, but the UFC isn’t doing so well these days. In fact, you could go as far as saying the UFC is doing badly.
Now, I’m sure after reading that a portion of you have jumped down to the comments to write “Y U HATE MMA, CAGEPOTATO!!!11????” If you’re still here though, you’re a reasonable human being who will reach reasonable conclusions upon hearing about the UFC’s business woes. The UFC’s profit dropped 40% this year, and Standard & Poor’s might downgrade Zuffa’s debt for a second time come 2015. PPV numbers are in sharp decline and TV ratings aren’tdoingmuch better.
Signing CM Punk represents a glimmer of hope (or desperation, depending on your viewpoint). Punk will draw PPV buys. Maybe not as many as Brock Lesnar or Georges St-Pierre, but certainly more than the current stock of “big” names on the UFC’s roster.
That can only be a good thing, right? Yes and no. It’s good if the people this publicity stunt attracts ultimately become fans and go on to buy PPVs featuring people other than CM Punk. It’s bad if CM Punk does one or two PPVs, leaves, and brings all the hype and eyeballs along with him. If that happens, the UFC will have humiliated themselves for a little bit of easy money.
Bellator is the new UFC
A white hot take, but perhaps one with an atom of quasi-truth to it (or maybe like a quark of quasi-truth).
Last month, Bellator signed Aaron Pico — an 18-year-old wrestling wunderkind with an amateur boxing background as well. Of course, when you point out anything positive about Bellator people will scream “ORTIZ VS. BONNAR! ORTIZ VS. BONNAR!! ORTIZ VS. BONNAR!!!”
And that’s fair. Bellator is engaged in its share of ridiculous pro wrestling chicanery. Yeah, Bellator is adding disgraced UFC has-beens like Stephan Bonnar to its stable of fighters. However, the Pico signing indicates they’re bringing in guys like Bonnar just to add some (fading) name value to a card filled with serious prospects like Pico.
Meanwhile, the UFC signed CM Punk. CM Punk is a “fighter” who is all name and no substance — in other words, the complete opposite of Pico.
Of course, Bellator has their own pro wrestler in Bobby Lashley, but he at least had an athletic background and was more than an MMA fan with time and money to kill, looking to cross something off his bucket list.
CM Punk is the new Brock Lesnar
This comparison fails once you go beyond the fact that they’re both pro wrestlers.
Yeah, they both were WWE champions at one time. That’s it. They don’t have anything else in common, at least athletically speaking. Brock Lesnar was an accomplished amateur wrestler and a tremendous athlete. CM Punk is a 36-year-old BJJ hobbyist with an injury-addled body and zero competitive athletic background. His career arc in the UFC will not mirror Lesnar’s in any way, save for maybe ending with an ass-kicking and jumping ship back to WWE.
This might sound unnecessarily harsh but comparing the two men insults one and falsely inflates another.
Can Punk be the new Lesnar in terms of PPV buys though?
Maybe. Part of Lesnar’s allure is that in addition to being a genetic freak (and a pro wrestler), he actually had skill enough to win a title. Punk does not have that and never will.
So what do we make of CM Punk, UFC Fighter?
CM Punk is a professional wrestler and BJJ weekend warrior who has the spare time and spare change to take an MMA fight. The UFC is happy to broadcast that fight for PPV dollars. This hurts the UFC’s image, but there wasn’t really much of an image to hurt. MMA has always been a circus act masquerading as a real sport, and now we have a real-life pro wrestling carnie to add to MMA’s menagerie of characters. What’s so bad about that?
