Bad idea: Booking it as the main event of a UFC Fight Night card on FOX Sports 2…because Machida main-eventing on that channel worked so well the first time.
Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi is a fight that’ll make hardcore fans happy. It’s one of those matches where you can’t help but go “Hmm, I really wonder how that’s gonna play out,” when you hear that it’s been booked. That’s what we did at CagePotato HQ. We stroked our burgeoning beards and pondered who would win.
Machida is coming off a dominant head-kick knockout of Mark Munoz, in the Dragon’s debut at 185 pounds. Mousasi, while on a four-fight winning streak, hasn’t competed since April 2013. By the time he steps into the cage against Machida in February, the Armenian will have nearly a year’s worth of ring rust.
No other matchups have yet been announced for the 2/8 Fight Night card, which will take place at the Arena Jaragua, the same venue that previously hosted Belfort vs. Rockhold. So will February’s lack of baseball produce a considerable uptick in ratings? Or is this one of those international events that us North Americans aren’t supposed to care about in the first place? Either way, we’ll keep you posted on any more updates for this card, or if either combatant pulls a Lil’ Nog.
(Come February, we’ll find out if “Middleweight Machida” is on par with “Motivated Penn” and “Broke Fitch.” / Image via Getty)
Bad idea: Booking it as the main event of a UFC Fight Night card on FOX Sports 2…because Machida main-eventing on that channel worked so well the first time.
Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi is a fight that’ll make hardcore fans happy. It’s one of those matches where you can’t help but go “Hmm, I really wonder how that’s gonna play out,” when you hear that it’s been booked. That’s what we did at CagePotato HQ. We stroked our burgeoning beards and pondered who would win.
Machida is coming off a dominant head-kick knockout of Mark Munoz, in the Dragon’s debut at 185 pounds. Mousasi, while on a four-fight winning streak, hasn’t competed since April 2013. By the time he steps into the cage against Machida in February, the Armenian will have nearly a year’s worth of ring rust.
No other matchups have yet been announced for the 2/8 Fight Night card, which will take place at the Arena Jaragua, the same venue that previously hosted Belfort vs. Rockhold. So will February’s lack of baseball produce a considerable uptick in ratings? Or is this one of those international events that us North Americans aren’t supposed to care about in the first place? Either way, we’ll keep you posted on any more updates for this card, or if either combatant pulls a Lil’ Nog.
Bellator is where the bad UFC castoffs go and, from what we’ve seen so far, World Series of Fighting is where the good UFC castoffs go—the ones who shouldn’t have been fired because they were legitimately talented or were in the UFC’s own top-10 rankings when they were let go.
But at WSOF 6, the tried and true formula of putting ex-UFC fighters with name value against fighters without Wikipedia pages failed. Nearly all the fighters that you’re reading this recap for lost.
Miguel Torres lost too, sadly. The unheralded Pablo Alfonso dispatched the former WEC champ in the first round. He rocked Torres with punches which ultimately set up a guillotine choke finish at 3:05. Torres was once 37-1. Now he’s 40-7 and just lost decisively to a no-name (who’s record was 7-5 heading into the fight) on the prelims of a minor league show. Can it get much worse? Torres doesn’t have a comeback in him. And at age 32, the problem is both the years and the mileage. If Torres doesn’t retire, he might be in for a rough, Jens Pulver-like future.
Remember Joe Lauzon‘s younger brother Dan who was in the UFC back in 2006 at the young age of 18, losing to Spencer Fisher? Remember when he returned in 2010 and lost to both Cole Miller and Efrain Escudero. After the two failed stints in the UFC, Lauzon won five fights in a row on the regional scene. His luck didn’t continue at WSOF 6. The man with the hardest to pronounce last name in MMA, Justin Gaethje, cut Lauzon’s legs out from under him throughout the first round. In the second round, Lauzon was slow and immobile enough for Gaethje to capitalize on it with a right hook and an uppercut which put Lauzon’s lights out.
Find out what happened to Jon Fitch and Josh Burkman, as well as the complete results of the card after the jump.
Bellator is where the bad UFC castoffs go and, from what we’ve seen so far, World Series of Fighting is where the good UFC castoffs go—the ones who shouldn’t have been fired because they were legitimately talented or were in the UFC’s own top-10 rankings when they were let go.
But at WSOF 6, the tried and true formula of putting ex-UFC fighters with name value against fighters without Wikipedia pages failed. Nearly all the fighters that you’re reading this recap for lost.
Miguel Torres lost too, sadly. The unheralded Pablo Alfonso dispatched the former WEC champ in the first round. He rocked Torres with punches which ultimately set up a guillotine choke finish at 3:05. Torres was once 37-1. Now he’s 40-7 and just lost decisively to a no-name (who’s record was 7-5 heading into the fight) on the prelims of a minor league show. Can it get much worse? Torres doesn’t have a comeback in him. And at age 32, the problem is both the years and the mileage. If Torres doesn’t retire, he might be in for a rough, Jens Pulver-like future.
Remember Joe Lauzon‘s younger brother Dan who was in the UFC back in 2006 at the young age of 18, losing to Spencer Fisher? Remember when he returned in 2010 and lost to both Cole Miller and Efrain Escudero. After the two failed stints in the UFC, Lauzon won five fights in a row on the regional scene. His luck didn’t continue at WSOF 6. The man with the hardest to pronounce last name in MMA, Justin Gaethje, cut Lauzon’s legs out from under him throughout the first round. In the second round, Lauzon was slow and immobile enough for Gaethje to capitalize on it with a right hook and an uppercut which put Lauzon’s lights out.
Jon Fitch was the only “mainstream” fighter on the card to win his fight, but his split decision victory was somewhat questionable (the fans booed it, for whatever that’s worth). Marcelo Alfaya—whose claim to MMA fame is getting knocked out by a young Jake Ellenberger at Bellator 11 in 2009—took Fitch down several times and even had Fitch’s back at one point. Fitch eventually landed some takedowns of his own and demonstrated some marginally improved striking, but he didn’t look great. In fact, he looked embarrassingly mediocre against a guy he should’ve destroyed. Fitch wrestle-f*cked Erick Silva yet had serious difficulties with a C-level fighter in Alfaya. Based on this performance, you’d have never thought Fitch once fought for a world title.
In the main event, Josh Burkman fought Steve Carl for the WSOF welterweight championship. Burkman fought well enough in the first round, but faded in the second and third rounds, and was ultimately choked unconscious in the fourth.
It wasn’t a good night for the “established” fighters—the fighters that the WSOF brought in to get you to watch the show in the first place.
Here are the complete results, for the guys you were interested in reading about and the guys you’re just hearing about for the first time:
Main Card
Steve Carl def. Josh Burkman via Technical Submission (Triangle) Round 4, 1:02
Marlon Moraes def. Carson Beebe via KO (Punches) Round 1, 0:32
Jon Fitch def. Marcelo Alfaya via Split Decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Justin Gaethje def. Dan Lauzon via KO (Punches) Round 2, 1:40
Preliminary Card
Pablo Alfonso def. Miguel Torres via Submission (Guillotine) Round 1, 3:05
Luiz Firmino def. Jacob Volkmann via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Chad Robichaux def. Andrew Yates via Technical Submission (North-South Choke) Round 2, 4:09
Josh Rettinghouse def. Alexis Vila via Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Nick LoBosco def. Fabio Mello via KO (Head Kick and Punches) Round 1, 1 2:02
Alexandre Pimentel def. Jade Porter via Submission (Triangle Choke) Round 3, 3:05
Officially, Bellator canceled the PPV because Tito Ortiz withdrew from the main event bout versus Rampage Jackson, and not because of the PPV’s dubious chances of success. But the result is the same as if they had just canceled it outright: Bellator saves face.
Ortiz’s injury and the resulting cancellation of the PPV were a godsend for Bellator. Why? Let’s look at the most likely scenario for what could’ve happened if Bellator went on with their PPV — both if Ortiz had gotten injured and if he hadn’t.
Scenario 1, Ortiz doesn’t get injured and the PPV goes on:
Officially, Bellator canceled the PPV because Tito Ortiz withdrew from the main event bout versus Rampage Jackson, and not because of the PPV’s dubious chances of success. But the result is the same as if they had just canceled it outright: Bellator saves face.
Ortiz’s injury and the resulting cancellation of the PPV were a godsend for Bellator. Why? Let’s look at the most likely scenario for what could’ve happened if Bellator went on with their PPV — both if Ortiz had gotten injured and if he hadn’t.
Scenario 1, Ortiz doesn’t get injured and the PPV goes on: What happens here? The show probably bombs with 10k buys or fewer. Viacom realizes that, like Dana White said, there’s no value in Bellator.
Viacom either pulls the plug outright or scales down Bellator from hopeful claimant to the UFC’s throne into something akin to the toughman contests on FX. If this happened, Viacom would keep it around because it’d get decent enough ratings for the pittance it’d cost to produce the scaled down version of the show.
Scenario 2, Ortiz does get injured and the PPV still goes on: Attila Vegh replaces Ortiz against Rampage (even though Attila Vegh was “injured” and had to pull out of a fight on this PPV previously). The PPV bombs even worse.
Those two scenarios are both terrible for Bellator. The PPV, Ortiz or no, was destined for Affliction-level failure. Making the card free on Spike was the best option (and was from the onset of Viacom’s acquisition of former UFC “stars”).
The casuals don’t know Michael Chandler (despite the fact that he’s the face of Dave & Busters). The casuals don’t know Eddie Alvarez. The casuals don’t know most of the other fighters on the card either. Putting the entirety of the Bellator PPV card on Spike will help build their profiles a little more, or at the very least stop people from forgetting about them.
Furthermore, Bellator can use Rampage like he should’ve been used: To help get more ratings on Spike to draw more eyeballs to Bellator’s stable of talented, non-UFC-washout fighters.
Bjorn Rebney said that they were going to book a fight for Rampage “literally as quickly as possible.” Hopefully for Bellator’s sake, that means it’ll be on free television (unless they’re planning on producing an ad-hoc PPV solely to showcase an old, slow, whining, lazy Rampage versus some random can). Rampage, being Bellator’s fighter with the greatest name value — yeah, I know, that’s not saying much — can draw more viewers to the younger, more talented fighters on Bellator’s roster.
Allow me to make a comparison to pro wrestling history: #2 promotion WCW hired Hulk Hogan after he had left the WWE (then WWF) because he was a star. That star brought viewers to WCW, viewers who where then wowed by some the undercard matches between young, exciting wrestlers like Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio Jr, and Chris Jericho — wrestlers who many casual fans might not have ever seen if the older, established Hogan hadn’t brought attention to WCW.
Of course, Bellator Rampage Jackson is no WCW Hulk Hogan — who was still the biggest star in wrestling at the time. Nevertheless, Bellator will build greater name value for their fighters by showcasing their big UFC acquisitions Tito and Rampage on free TV alongside the young, hungry, talented fighters. Canceling the PPV has allowed them to do that.
The cloud of Bellator’s PPV cancellation doesn’t have a silver lining because the entire cloud practically is a silver lining.
(Cain Velasquez may not kick like Anderson Silva, but his dominance over heavyweight will parallel Silva’s period of dominance over middleweight. / Photo via Getty)
After the events of UFC 166, the heavyweight division is now the UFC’s least thrilling.
Heavyweight is the new middleweight. That is to say that the heavyweight division under Cain Velasquez‘s brutal, face-rearranging reign will resemble the middleweight division under Anderson Silva during his peak — a boring division where no fighter is a threat to the champ. A division where everybody says, “Meh, who cares about who’s challenging for the heavyweight title? Cain is going to destroy him anyway.”
The only fighter to ever humble Cain Velasquez was Junior Dos Santos. But Dos Santos couldn’t repeat his success. Velasquez wrought terrible vengeance on the Brazilian in the rematch at UFC 155, and then again in the rubber match at UFC 166.
Earlier this year, I predicted that the UFC heavyweight division would become stagnant and dull:
Both men are insanely talented. But that’s the problem — they’re both so talented that the rest of the fighters in the division aren’t a match for them. The only challenge to Velasquez is Dos Santos. The only challenge to Dos Santos is Velasquez.
I was right and wrong.
(Cain Velasquez may not kick like Anderson Silva, but his dominance over heavyweight will parallel Silva’s period of dominance over middleweight. / Photo via Getty)
After the events of UFC 166, the heavyweight division is now the UFC’s least thrilling.
Heavyweight is the new middleweight. That is to say that the heavyweight division under Cain Velasquez‘s brutal, face-rearranging reign will resemble the middleweight division under Anderson Silva during his peak — a boring division where no fighter is a threat to the champ. A division where everybody says, “Meh, who cares about who’s challenging for the heavyweight title? Cain is going to destroy them anyway.”
The only fighter to ever humble Cain Velasquez was Junior Dos Santos. But Dos Santos couldn’t repeat his success. Velasquez wrought terrible vengeance on the Brazilian in the rematch at UFC 155, and then again in the rubber match at UFC 166.
Earlier this year, I predicted that the UFC heavyweight division would become stagnant and dull:
Both men are insanely talented. But that’s the problem — they’re both so talented that the rest of the fighters in the division aren’t a match for them. The only challenge to Velasquez is Dos Santos. The only challenge to Dos Santos is Velasquez.
I was right and wrong. Both men are talented. The rest of the division is no match for Dos Santos, but Dos Santos is clearly no match for Velasquez, their first fight notwithstanding. Thus, the future of the UFC heavyweight division is grim. Here’s how it’ll look:
Cain Velasquez destroys all comers — even Fabricio Werdum who, for some reason, people think is now a legitimate title contender. Velasquez will reduce Werdum to awkward, frustrated butt-scooting. The champ likely won’t have much of a problem with the other heavyweight hopefuls; none of them have answers for Velasquez’s wrestling, striking, and conditioning. Unfortunately, those same men probably don’t have an answer for Junior Dos Santos’ boxing acumen and power either.
The UFC heavyweight division in 2013 is analogous to the UFC middleweight division in 2006-7. Anderson Silva was the best guy. Rich Franklin was the next best guy and was better than everyone else besides Silva. The only problem? Silva brutalized Franklin so badly that discussing a rematch was asinine.
Now, just swap out Silva with Velasquez and Franklin with Dos Santos and you’ve got the post-UFC 166 heavyweight division. The excitement is gone. Everyone not named Junior Dos Santos will be fighting for the honor of being third-best, while Dos Santos himself will be fighting for the privilege of being Cain Velasquez’s eternal understudy.
Bellator 104 was one of the promotion’s most stacked cards this season. When Bellator mainstay Karl Amoussou and three UFC vets (Paul Sass, Rob Emerson, and Paul Bradley) are relegated to the prelims, there’s some good or at least decent fights on the main card.
The prelims were exciting and had a few notable happenings.
Cliff Wright vs. Derek Loffer was a thrilling back-and-forth match that saw Wright win via armbar late in the second round.
After that, Brandon Girtz pulled a Chris Leben. No, he didn’t urinate in a bed or fail a drug test. He fought twice in two weeks and won both matches like Leben did back in 2010. Girtz submitted Poppies Martinez and Mike Estus at Bellator 102 and Bellator 104, respectively. And these weren’t Hail Mary submissions; Girtz controlled both guys before torquing their arms.
Then, Rob Emerson—wife stealer and one of a select few men to defeat the next Anderson Silva—heel hooked Jared Downing in under two minutes.
Paul Sass, too, won in short order, this time with a toe hold. His opponent Rod Montoya was seemingly ignorant of the fact that Sass has an amazing guard since he kept taking Sass down. Surprise, surprise, Montoya was submitted.
Unfortunately, Karl Amoussou vs. Paul Bradley couldn’t live up to the exciting standard set by the night’s previous bouts. Bradley won a unanimous decision that saw him lay in a gassed Amoussou’s guard for two out of three rounds.
That ended the prelims and brought us into the main card on Spike, which started with *gulps* a Bellator heavyweight fight between Eric Prindle and Peter Graham. It started out alright enough, with Graham nearly finishing Prindle, but then it quickly descended into the usual Bellator heavyweight routine: Heavy breathing, long periods of inactivity, and looping, exhausted punches. At the last second, Graham hit Prindle with a front kick to the face that floored him. Graham won via unanimous decision.
Read the recap for the Bellator 104 main card after the jump.
(Spoiler alert: The guys on the left beat the guys on the right.)
Bellator 104 was one of the promotion’s most stacked cards this season. When Bellator mainstay Karl Amoussou and three UFC vets (Paul Sass, Rob Emerson, and Paul Bradley) are relegated to the prelims, there’s some good or at least decent fights on the main card.
The prelims were exciting and had a few notable happenings.
Cliff Wright vs. Derek Loffer was a thrilling back-and-forth match that saw Wright win via armbar late in the second round.
After that, Brandon Girtz pulled a Chris Leben. No, he didn’t urinate in a bed or fail a drug test. He fought twice in two weeks and won both matches like Leben did back in 2010. Girtz submitted Poppies Martinez and Mike Estus at Bellator 102 and Bellator 104, respectively. And these weren’t Hail Mary submissions; Girtz controlled both guys before torquing their arms.
Then, Rob Emerson—wife stealer and one of a select few men to defeat the next Anderson Silva—heel hooked Jared Downing in under two minutes.
Paul Sass, too, won in short order, this time with a toe hold. His opponent Rod Montoya was seemingly ignorant of the fact that Sass has an amazing guard since he kept taking Sass down. Surprise, surprise, Montoya was submitted.
Unfortunately, Karl Amoussou vs. Paul Bradley couldn’t live up to the exciting standard set by the night’s previous bouts. Bradley won a unanimous decision that saw him lay in a gassed Amoussou’s guard for two out of three rounds.
That ended the prelims and brought us into the main card on Spike, which started with *gulps* a Bellator heavyweight fight between Eric Prindle and Peter Graham. It started out alright enough, with Graham nearly finishing Prindle, but then it quickly descended into the usual Bellator heavyweight routine: Heavy breathing, long periods of inactivity, and looping, exhausted punches. At the last second, Graham hit Prindle with a front kick to the face that floored him. Graham won via unanimous decision.
Kendall Grove made his return to mainstream American MMA (looking life Rufio from Hook) versus Joe Vedepo. Grove controlled the fight from bell to bell. Vedepo spent most of the fight about to be submitted or knocked out. It was one of those fights where the winner looked good but the loser did such a great job of getting his ass beat that everyone can’t shut up about his “heart.”
In the night’s first welterweight tournament semifinal, Ron Keslar upset War Machine in decisive fashion. He took War Machine down immediately, took his back, and choked him unconscious at 3:31. We’re still debating at the CagePotato offices as to whether Christy Mack will leave War Machine for Keslar now.
In the second welterweight tournament semifinal, which was Bellator 104′s main event, Brent Weedman and Rick Hawn faced off. It wasn’t the first time these two fighters met. They fought back in May 2012, with Hawn winning. Hawn won via unanimous decision this time too, but it was a ho-hum affair. This season’s welterweight final will therefore be Rick Hawn vs. Ron Keslar.
Here are the complete Bellator 104 results:
Main Card
Rick Hawn def. Brent Weedman via Unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Ron Keslar def. War Machine via technical submission (rear naked choke), 3:31 of Round 1
Kendall Grove def. Joe Vedepo via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Peter Graham def. Eric Prindle via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary Card
Paul Bradley def. Karl Amoussou via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Paul Sass def. Rod Montoya via submission (toe hold), 2:01 of Round 1
Robert Emerson def. Jared Downing via submission (heel hook), 1:44 of Round 1
Brandon Girtz def. Mike Estus via submission (armbar), 4:25 of Round 1
Cliff Wright def. Derek Loffer via submission (armbar), 4:28 of Round 2
Andre Tieva def. Chris Lane via TKO (punches), 2:14 of Round 1
On Friday, MMAJunkie’s John Morgan tweeted that the PPV had sold only approximately 1,700 tickets, with another 2,000 on consignment. Matt Roth of MMAMania noted just how dire the situation really is. He pointed out that the venue can hold over 13,000 people, meaning that Bellator would have to sell in the neighborhood of 10,000 tickets in less than 20 days to secure a sellout. That probably isn’t going to happen — not even if Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson became giants like in the awful trailer for the PPV.
Bjorn Rebney better be prepared to get a job at his dad’s Winnebago dealership; winter is coming for Bellator. Nobody is going to attend their PPV, and it’s probable that, at an expected price between $35-45, nobody is going to purchase their PPV either. Nobody gives a fuck about their product and their titles are considered worthless. If the UFC stacked three title fights on a card, you’d expect success, even if it were the titles for the three lightest weight classes. But with Bellator, which is offering three title fights on its PPV (although one is a dubious interim title), nobody knows or cares. Hell, we’re a site whose fanbase is comprised pretty much of entirely hardcore fans, and judging by the front page poll, a third of you never even watch Bellator. If they can’t get the hardcores, what fucking chance do they have at getting the casual fans to drop money on this PPV?
Even more concerning is a recent report from MMAPayout about Bellator 102, which UFC “star” Cheick Kongo headlined. The show’s gate was only $73,410.43. A paltry 1,482 people attended the show but nearly half of those tickets (604 of them to be precise) were comped. Now, are you ready to be really amazed? Let’s look at the salaries…
On Friday, MMAJunkie’s John Morgan tweeted that the PPV had sold only approximately 1,700 tickets, with another 2,000 on consignment. Matt Roth of MMAMania noted just how dire the situation really is. He pointed out that the venue can hold over 13,000 people, meaning that Bellator would have to sell in the neighborhood of 10,000 tickets in less than 20 days to secure a sellout. That probably isn’t going to happen — not even if Tito Ortiz and Rampage Jackson became giants like in the awful trailer for the PPV.
Bjorn Rebney better be prepared to get a job at his dad’s Winnebago dealership; winter is coming for Bellator. Nobody is going to attend their PPV, and it’s probable that, at an expected price between $35-45, nobody is going to purchase their PPV either. Nobody gives a fuck about their product and their titles are considered worthless. If the UFC stacked three title fights on a card, you’d expect success, even if it were the titles for the three lightest weight classes. But with Bellator, which is offering three title fights on its PPV (although one is a dubious interim title), nobody knows or cares. Hell, we’re a site whose fanbase is comprised pretty much of entirely hardcore fans, and judging by the front page poll, a third of you never even watch Bellator. If they can’t get the hardcores, what fucking chance do they have at getting the casual fans to drop money on this PPV?
Even more concerning is a recent report from MMAPayout about Bellator 102, which UFC “star” Cheick Kongo headlined. The show’s gate was only $73,410.43. A paltry 1,482 people attended the show but nearly half of those tickets (604 of them to be precise) were comped. Now, are you ready to be really amazed? Let’s look at the salaries.
Kongo made $60,000 for his fight against Mark Godbeer, who made $15,000. So the main event alone accounted for more money than the entire show made in ticket sales. The total salary payout for the entire card, including Kongo and Godbeer, was $308,000.
Subtract the gate from the salaries and you get $234,589.57 — that’s what Bellator lost on the show, or at least that’s the amount of money that Bellator needs to make up through sponsorships and other deals. “Well Viacom is rich and can take a loss on Bellator,” you say? True enough, it seems at first that Viacom could pull off the whole Ted Turner-WCW thing, but Viacom already paid $50 million for an inferior product and a Dana White lookalike. And that product is proving that it’s not financially sustainable. How much longer will Viacom decide to keep the sick man of MMA on life support?
It’s rare, but we’re going to have to agree with Dana White here: There’s no value to Bellator. The promotion still features some insanely talented fighters, but financially, they’re worse in the shit than Enron or WaMu. Get ready for Dana to add another name to the tombstone.
