33% of the voters had even less confidence in Penn. What could be worse than getting your ass kicked again, you ask? Not even being able to make 145 pounds in the first place. That’s right. A third of our readership is skeptical about Penn’s commitment to fitness and thinks that Penn at featherweight is a pipe dream.
It also appears that 7% of our readers are delusional (or just decided to be trolls and skew our results by voting for the most insane selection). They believe that Penn will become the UFC featherweight champion by the end of 2014. No joke.
And the ultimate minority, the remaining 5%? They think that Penn will get his revenge on Edgar and then retire afterwards.
Thankfully, it appears that most of our readers have a grip on reality. Penn lost decisively to Edgar two times, largely because he was slower than Edgar and had worse conditioning. These problems will only be exacerbated when Penn, who’s notorious for his poor conditioning and inability to fight to the death, attempts to drop down to featherweight — a weight class Edgar has fought in twice now without any sign that he’s been depleted by the weight cut. Penn, once he realizes that he’s not a young man anymore and that he wasted his prime thinking that he was too good to train hard, will very likely retire again.
(Herb Dean convincing BJ Penn not to drop to featherweight. / Photo via Getty Images)
33% of the voters had even less confidence in Penn. What could be worse than getting your ass kicked again, you ask? Not even being able to make 145 pounds in the first place. That’s right. A third of our readership is skeptical about Penn’s commitment to fitness and thinks that Penn at featherweight is a pipe dream.
It also appears that 7% of our readers are delusional (or just decided to be trolls and skew our results by voting for the most insane selection). They believe that Penn will become the UFC featherweight champion by the end of 2014. No joke.
And the ultimate minority, the remaining 5%? They think that Penn will get his revenge on Edgar and then retire afterwards.
Thankfully, it appears that most of our readers have a grip on reality. Penn lost decisively to Edgar two times, largely because he was slower than Edgar and had worse conditioning. These problems will only be exacerbated when Penn, who’s notorious for his poor conditioning and inability to fight to the death, attempts to drop down to featherweight — a weight class Edgar has fought in twice now without any sign that he’s been depleted by the weight cut. Penn, once he realizes that he’s not a young man anymore and that he wasted his prime thinking that he was too good to train hard, will very likely retire again.
Regarding those who think Penn can’t even make the cut to 145, well, let’s just say that we at CagePotato don’t think that little of Penn. We just think that Edgar is the better fighter. The reasons he beat Penn will still be present (and more apparent) when they face off after their TUF 19 coaching stint.
And Penn winning the title? The 70-odd people who believe that are the last few stragglers that after all this time still believe that the mythical “motivated BJ Penn” is the pound-for-pound GOAT.
Oh, and the 5% of people who think Penn will win and retire? The only part they’re probably right about is the retiring.
Want your voice heard? Be sure to vote in our current sidebar poll “Was Alexander Gustafsson Robbed at UFC 165?” and stay tuned for the next installment of The Potato Nation Speaks!
MMA history is awash with hundreds of “prospects” and “next big things” who never panned out, who fell flat on their faces and were either mocked constantly or worse, forgotten. Names like Denis Kang, Ulysses Gomez, Rameau Sokoudjou, Hector Lombard and Uriah Hall evoke thoughts like “failure.” But are these men at fault for being considered wastes of talent, or is it the fault of the fans and the media who took flesh and bone and sculpted it into something divine? Who took men and, through words, made them into gods?
That’s the dark side of hype, a topic I’ve written aboutin the past. Fans and the media ascribe almost superhuman abilities to certain fighters, abilities that they can’t consistently live up to, if they can live up to them at all. Denis Kang, for example, was this mythical creature from outside the UFC and one of many Guys to Beat Anderson Silva™, yet he went 1-2 in the UFC, only beating Xavier Foupa-Pokam. Silva, himself, was another fighter who had an ungodly amount of hype. Silva’s was, in part, deserved because he was able to make some of the most dangerous men in the world look like nerdy high school kids. But the hype got too far. When he fought Chris Weidman, people thought Anderson Silva was a real-life Neo who would dispose of Weidman with no effort. Then Weidman humiliated Silva. Suddenly, Silva was “done,” “too old” and “needed to retire” because he lost to a guy that everyone had just said was no threat to him at all.
The lesson? Hype cometh before the fall. Too much hype can ruin a fighter. If a hyped fighter loses, the derailment of their hype-train looks like something out of Back to the Future III. They go from a stellar talent to a bum who got lucky a few times.
But there’s also a positive side, and we saw it at UFC 165.
(Gustafsson was indeed taller, but that’s not what made UFC 165′s main event so memorable. Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images.)
MMA history is awash with hundreds of “prospects” and “next big things” who never panned out, who fell flat on their faces and were either mocked constantly or worse, forgotten. Names like Denis Kang, Ulysses Gomez, Rameau Sokoudjou, Hector Lombard and Uriah Hall evoke thoughts like “failure.” But are these men at fault for being considered wastes of talent, or is it the fault of the fans and the media who took flesh and bone and sculpted it into something divine? Who took men and, through words, made them into gods?
That’s the dark side of hype, a topic I’ve written aboutin the past. Fans and the media ascribe almost superhuman abilities to certain fighters, abilities that they can’t consistently live up to, if they can live up to them at all. Denis Kang, for example, was this mythical creature from outside the UFC and one of many Guys to Beat Anderson Silva™, yet he went 1-2 in the UFC, only beating Xavier Foupa-Pokam. Silva, himself, was another fighter who had an ungodly amount of hype. Silva’s was, in part, deserved because he was able to make some of the most dangerous men in the world look like nerdy high school kids. But the hype got too far. When he fought Chris Weidman, people thought Anderson Silva was a real-life Neo who would dispose of Weidman with no effort. Then Weidman humiliated Silva. Suddenly, Silva was “done,” “too old” and “needed to retire” because he lost to a guy that everyone had just said was no threat to him at all.
The lesson? Hype cometh before the fall. Too much hype can ruin a fighter. If a hyped fighter loses, the derailment of their hype-train looks like something out of Back to the Future III. They go from a stellar talent to a bum who got lucky a few times.
But there’s also a positive side, and we saw it at UFC 165.
There has been hype around Jon Jones for years. He’s the GOAT and he’s not even 27 yet. He’s got NFL-caliber genetics. He’s got insane reach and more talent than any other fighter in the entire light heavyweight or heavyweight divisions. He could fight and beat the entire UFC flyweight division with one hand behind his back, and so on. UFC 165 was supposed to be just another violent notch on Jones’ belt. Despite what the “It’s So Big” trailer said, the only head that was going to be exploding that night was Alexander Gustafsson’s when Jones began to elbow him into unconsciousness.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, Alexander Gustafsson and Jon Jones treated the MMA world to one of the greatest title fights of all time at the cost of their physical longevity. Jon Jones looked human, and Gustafsson looked like a legitimate threat. The event, horrific “OMG LOOK HOW TALL HE IS” ad campaign aside, was a success…and the reason was hype.
We expected UFC 165 to be nothing but it became a classic. It was going to be a pro wrestling-like squash match. Jones would go out there and crush jobber-to-the-stars Gustafsson in a round or two. Then the light-heavyweight division’s last contender Glover Teixeira would walk into the cage and challenge Jones to a fight, setting up a money main event for the Superbowl card or some other PPV. Instead, Gustafsson arguably beat Jones and is now deemed a worthy contender and one of the best in the UFC.
Jones’s hype made it this way. If we knew both fighters were evenly matched, last night would’ve been just a fight that we expected to be closely contended. It still would’ve been fun, just not the legendary near-upset it became.
UFC 165 is one of the rare instances where hype made the situation better rather than making it worse. Jones’s hype made Gustafsson a star in the MMA world, and has now given the light heavyweight division a feud to look forward to. Hype elevated both fighters and re-ignited interest in a division, rather than discarding another contender into the ash heap of MMA history.
(The Potato Empire continues its virus-like expansion. None shall be spared.)
Hey Potato Nation!
We have an announcement to make: CagePotato has its own Tumblr page now! On our new Tumblr, we’ll be sharing the MMA news and opinions you know and love, kick-ass MMA videos from the very depths of the Internet, our frequently snarky but never unjustified commentary, and maybe we’ll even be re-blogging a few things while we’re at it.
Fun fact: Tumblr and CagePotato were founded in the same year. Who knows, maybe yahoo CEO Marisa Mayer is eyeing CagePotato right now, ready to swoop in with a billion-dollar acquisition. We can dream, right?
Anyway, our Tumblr page is going to be a place where we share the content that’s a little too much for Twitter but not pressing enough to warrant its posting it on the site. We hope you’ll enjoy it.
(The Potato Empire continues its virus-like expansion. None shall be spared.)
Hey Potato Nation!
We have an announcement to make: CagePotato has its own Tumblr page now! On our new Tumblr, we’ll be sharing the MMA news and opinions you know and love, kick-ass MMA videos from the very depths of the Internet, our frequently snarky but never unjustified commentary, and maybe we’ll even be re-blogging a few things while we’re at it.
Fun fact: Tumblr and CagePotato were founded in the same year. Who knows, maybe yahoo CEO Marisa Mayer is eyeing CagePotato right now, ready to swoop in with a billion-dollar acquisition. We can dream, right?
Anyway, our Tumblr page is going to be a place where we share the content that’s a little too much for Twitter but not pressing enough to warrant its posting it on the site. We hope you’ll enjoy it.
The Indiana Gaming Commission handed seven UFC Fight Night 27 fighters medical suspensions. Two of these fighters, Court McGee and Dylan Andrews, fared worse than the others. They both received indefinite medical suspensions, meaning they’ll need to be cleared by a physician before they can do anything meaningful.
Court McGee won a grueling split decision over TUF: Smashes winner Robert Whittaker. And Dylan Andrews, after getting thrown around for two rounds, knocked out Papy Abedi in the third round but claimed in the post-fight interview to have damaged his shoulder. Attentive viewers might have noticed that Andrews couldn’t put his arm through the sleeve of his shirt after the fight— never a good sign. But, officially, the Commission has yet to disclose any specific injuries he may have suffered.
There were other medical suspensions, though they were not as severe:
(Remember winning matches in Mortal Kombat when your guy has one sliver of health left? That’s what happened here. Photo via Getty Images.)
The Indiana Gaming Commission handed seven UFC Fight Night 27 fighters medical suspensions. Two of these fighters, Court McGee and Dylan Andrews, fared worse than the others. They both received indefinite medical suspensions, meaning they’ll need to be cleared by a physician before they can do anything meaningful.
Court McGee won a grueling split decision over TUF: Smashes winner Robert Whittaker. And Dylan Andrews, after getting thrown around for two rounds, knocked out Papy Abedi in the third round but claimed in the post-fight interview to have damaged his shoulder. Attentive viewers might have noticed that Andrews couldn’t put his arm through the sleeve of his shirt after the fight— never a good sign. But, officially, the Commission has yet to disclose any specific injuries he may have suffered.
There were other medical suspensions, though they were not as severe:
Getting his face run through the deli slicer that is Carlos Condit earned Martin Kampmann a 30-day suspension with no contact during training for 14 days.
Papy Abedi will have a 60-day suspension (with no contact during 30 of those days) to contemplate his knockout loss to Dylan Andrews. Ironically, Abedi lost the fight but received a shorter suspension than Andrews.
Justin Edwards got a 30-day suspension with no contact for the entire duration of the suspension, which is remarkably short for the ass-kicking Brandon Thatch inflicted on him.
Hatsu Hioki received a two week suspension with no contact for two weeks. Fortunately, the myth of Hioki ever being a top-echelon fighter has received an indefinite suspension with his loss to Darren Elkins.
Finishing out the medical suspensions, Roger Bowling was suspended for 60 days on account of those totally legal knees he ate. Something tells me that he won’t be receiving a win bonus like his opponent Abel Trujillo did.
MMA fans bitch about it on Twitter more than anything else — more than Mike Goldberg’s weird syntax, more than Joe Rogan constantly favoring one fighter over another, and even more than the dreaded Eminem Curse.
As soon as the first drunk bellows a “U” the MMA hivemind gets to work, and theircomplaintsflood the web as soon as the “S” and “A” are vocalized.
MMA fans bitch about it on Twitter more than anything else — more than Mike Goldberg’s weird syntax, more than Joe Rogan constantly favoring one fighter over another, and even more than the dreaded Eminem Curse.
As soon as the first drunk bellows a “U” the MMA hivemind gets to work, and theircomplaintsflood the web as soon as the “S” and “A” are vocalized.
Please just think about how ridiculous of a thing this is to get upset about. To put it into perspective, more fans and pundits get upset about the U-S-A chants than got upset about a leaked memo confirming that the travelling media were Zuffa’s PR team rather than actual journalists. But no, shilling for Zuffa is OK, so long as they don’t chant “U-S-A” while doing it.
What’s even worse about the U-S-A chant backlash is that the same people who bash the chant are silent when hordes of angry Brazilians start chanting “You’re gonna die” at foreign fighters.
It’s OK — or “cultural” — when thousands of people chant for a fighter’s death, but it’s somehow a heinous crime against multiculturalism when fans utter the three simple letters, U, S, and A.
This is unacceptable. American fans, like the Brazilian fans who are supposedly doing nothing wrong, use the chant to support a countryman. It’s a gesture of unity, and it can be a very powerful one. There’s no need to be mad when you hear it, especially when there are thousands more problems in the sport to be mad about. The chant is fine, so back off.
And one more thing: Put down those foreign flags, you goddamned traitors.
A few days ago, our friends at MiddleEasy were kind enough to let the MMA world know some earth-shattering news: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was going to be starring in his own comic book, Rampage Jackson: Street Soldier.
The comic’s premise? Rampage gets superpowers from a meteorite and then goes around fighting crime. Seriously, that’s it. The cage-fighter best known for dry-humping female reporters and tigers is now a superhero. However, one area where Lion Forge, the comic’s publisher, might run into trouble is coming up with storylines. Rampage’s comic will need story arcs and bad guys and other things. Fortunately for them, we at CagePotato have given this some thought.
What have we come up with? Check it out!
Villains:
Dana Wight: An evil business mogul who harbors a terrible secret — he’s a soulless zombie that’s attempting to convert the entire MMA world into his own undead army. Dana Wight uses his billions of dollars to thwart Rampage Jackson’s efforts at improving the world. Wight consistently tries to pay Rampage off but he never realizes one important, in-no-way-false fact: Rampage Jackson is not for sale!
The Crimson Singlet: The Crimson Singlet will be one of Rampage’s worst foes. Rampage’s feud with the Crimson Singlet is fueled by the fact that he and Rampage used to be on the same wrestling team. Rampage abandoned the tenets of wrestling while the Crimson Singlet embraced them. Did Rampage betray the Crimson Singlet or did the Crimson Singlet betray Rampage? The comic book can tackle this complicated, psychological issue. What makes this story more exciting is that the Crimson Singlet is, obviously, a master of Rampage’s weakness — wrestling.
(This is an actual thing that’s happening. Image courtesy of Lion Forge Comics via TitoCouture.com)
A few days ago, our friends at MiddleEasy were kind enough to let the MMA world know some earth-shattering news: Quinton “Rampage” Jackson was going to be starring in his own comic book, Rampage Jackson: Street Soldier.
The comic’s premise? Rampage gets superpowers from a meteorite and then goes around fighting crime. Seriously, that’s it. The cage-fighter best known for dry-humping female reporters and tigers is now a superhero. However, one area where Lion Forge, the comic’s publisher, might run into trouble is coming up with storylines. Rampage’s comic will need story arcs and bad guys and other things. Fortunately for them, we at CagePotato have given this some thought.
What have we come up with? Check it out!
Villains:
Dana Wight: An evil business mogul who harbors a terrible secret — he’s a soulless zombie that’s attempting to convert the entire MMA world into his own undead army. Dana Wight uses his billions of dollars to thwart Rampage Jackson’s efforts at improving the world. Wight consistently tries to pay Rampage off but he never realizes one important, in-no-way-false fact: Rampage Jackson is not for sale!
The Crimson Singlet: The Crimson Singlet will be one of Rampage’s worst foes. Rampage’s feud with the Crimson Singlet is fueled by the fact that he and Rampage used to be on the same wrestling team. Rampage abandoned the tenets of wrestling while the Crimson Singlet embraced them. Did Rampage betray the Crimson Singlet or did the Crimson Singlet betray Rampage? The comic book can tackle this complicated, psychological issue. What makes this story more exciting is that the Crimson Singlet is, obviously, a master of Rampage’s weakness — wrestling.
The Swagger Jacker: The Swagger Jacker is more of a minor annoyance to Rampage rather than a real threat. He just goes around stealing people’s swag, acting like it was his swag the entire time.
The League of Keyboard Assassins: Not one enemy, but an army of them. The League of Keyboard Assassins is a constant threat to Rampage. They always criticize his actions and manipulate the media into portraying Rampage’s acts of heroism as villainous.
Sidekicks/Other Characters:
Ariel Hekwani: Rampage’s sidekick and comic foil.
King Bo: Another street soldier who, initially, used to be enemies with Rampage. Now, they both help each other out.
Njal Rebneb: The kind-hearted millionaire who bankrolls Rampage’s crime-fighting operations.
Storylines:
Issue 1: Rampage escapes the contractual clutches of Dana Wight. When Wight learns that Rampage is planning to tell the world about his evil plans for worldwide zombie domination, he enlists the help of the Crimson Singlet in order to silence Rampage for good. The Crimson Singlet beats Rampage in combat time after time. Rampage contemplates what it means to be a Street Soldier. As he considers giving up on one starry night after a battle with the Crimson Singlet, a meteor lands in his backyard, giving him superpowers and a better sprawl. He finally beats the Crimson Singlet and lets the world know about Dana Wight’s secret.
Issue 2: The Swagger Jacker steals Ariel Hekwani’s neon green shoes. Rampage defeats the Swagger Jacker but refuses to return the shoes to Hekwani because they’re ugly. Instead, he takes him on a shopping trip, teaches him what it means to be a true alpha, and offers him a breath-mint. Also in this issue, Njal Rebneb introduces himself to Rampage and finances the construction of a monster truck fit for a Street Soldier.
Issue 3: It turns out that Rampage’s efforts to expose Dana Wight’s zombie-ness and his plans to zombify the world were all for naught. The League of Keyboard Assassins discredited Rampage, making many people not believe his tale. Rampage attempts to fight off the out-of-shape writers and forum posters, but he’s overwhelmed. He seeks the help of King Bo, another anti-League of Keyboard Assassins fighter, to defeat the organization.
As silly as this stuff may sound, you can bet that the actual reality of a comic book about Quinton Jackson fighting crime after catching superpowers from a meteorite will be far more ridiculous. Do you have any better ideas for the comic? Go nuts in the comments section.
