Author: McKinley Noble

UFC on Fox Sports 1-1: Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne Confirmed for Aug. 17

Update: Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne is apparently a done deal, with the UFC reposting MMA Junkie’s report on its official Twitter feed:RT: @mmajunkie: Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne set as UFC on FOX Sports 1 1 non-headliner dlvr.it/3PrtgN v…

Update: Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne is apparently a done deal, with the UFC reposting MMA Junkie’s report on its official Twitter feed:

Travis Browne is taking a huge step up in competition at UFC on Fox Sports 1-1, where he’s expected to face Alistair Overeem in Boston’s TD Garden.

MMA Junkie reports that “The Demolition Man” will be returning to the Octagon on August 17, where he’ll look to rebound from a shocking TKO defeat suffered during UFC 156 at the hands of current UFC title contender Antonio Silva.

According to MMA Junkie, UFC president Dana White has also stated that Overeem vs. Browne won’t be the main event bout.

That leaves the rest of the main card (and the preliminary bouts) yet to be filled, although UFC president Dana White has promised MMA fans that the event will be “the best television card” the UFC has ever done (via MMA Weekly).

MMA Junkie had previously reported that Overeem would likely be returning to action at UFC 164 on August 31, although that plan has obviously changed in order to continue filling the very first event for the newly established Fox Sports 1 channel.

As it stands, here’s how the UFC on Fox Sports 1-1 lineup looks so far:

• Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne
• Matt Brown vs. Thiago Alves
• Joe Lauzon vs. Michael Johnson

Browne is coming off a win in his last UFC outing, where he scored a “Knockout of the Night” victory against Gabriel Gonzaga at The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale.

However, the Greg Jackson’s MMA fighter isn’t too far removed from his own loss against “Bigfoot” Silva earlier in October 2012, where Browne was dealt his first MMA career loss via first-round TKO during UFC on FX 5.

It’s not known if this bout has any title implications, although Browne stands to make a significant leap up the official UFC rankings should he win.

Currently, former Strikeforce and DREAM champion Overeem still hovers in title talks, where he’s ranked as the No. 5 heavyweight in the UFC via a collective panel of media votes—while Browne is the No. 10 fighter in the division.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC Contender Chris Weidman Almost Signed With Bellator Before Contract Betrayal

Bellator MMA is currently fighting to keep Eddie Alvarez on their roster, but he’s not the only top talent that’s had contract issues with the company.According to The New York Post, Chris Weidman very nearly found himself trapped in a Bellator contrac…

Bellator MMA is currently fighting to keep Eddie Alvarez on their roster, but he’s not the only top talent that’s had contract issues with the company.

According to The New York Post, Chris Weidman very nearly found himself trapped in a Bellator contract of his own.

Back in 2011, just after an undefeated two-year four-fight stint in Ring of Combat, Weidman nearly signed up with the minor league MMA promotion, which was just about to run three back-to-back-to-back seasons on MTV2.

Fortunately for Weidman, he said that a last-minute glance at the paperwork revealed a clause in the contract that could’ve extended it “to three or four years”—despite the fact that Bellator allegedly told the All-American wrestling star it would be a maximum of two years:

I felt like I was betrayed by them. They never told me that. It was a little sneaky.

I was so upset. I was so let down. I was excited to go to Bellator… Everything happens for a reason. Thank God I took my time and didn’t just rush into it.

And as they say, the rest is history.

Weidman’s refusal to sign with Bellator paved the way for his UFC debut against Alessio Sakara in March 2011, which was quickly followed by a four-fight winning steak over Mark Munoz, Demian Maia, Tom Lawlor and Jesse Bongfeldt.

Now, Weidman is scheduled to challenge Anderson Silva for the UFC Middleweight Championship, despite having fewer professional MMA bouts than “The Spider” has title defenses.

That match goes down during the main event of UFC 162 on July 6 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena, where Weidman will attempt to become the very first fighter to ever hand Silva a defeat inside the UFC Octagon.

If Weidman does pull out a victory, it’ll be on the short list for the greatest upset in MMA history.

However, the betting books are giving the champion surprisingly low odds at retaining his title (via BestFightOdds), where Silva opened as a relatively small 4-to-1 favorite.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

‘EA Sports UFC’ on Xbox One: Can It Do for UFC What ‘Madden’ Did for NFL?

After several months of rumors, reports and hype, the Xbox One console has finally been revealed to the public, along with a list of games for its debut.For MMA fans, of course, the most interesting title is none other than EA Sports UFC.It’s now …

After several months of rumors, reports and hype, the Xbox One console has finally been revealed to the public, along with a list of games for its debut.

For MMA fans, of course, the most interesting title is none other than EA Sports UFC.

It’s now been officially confirmed for the Xbox One and will most likely be announced later for the PlayStation 4 at E3 2013.

To put it mildly, this is huge for the world’s largest MMA promotion.

 

EA Sports Ignite

As EA Sports’ Andrew Wilson detailed on Tuesday during Microsoft’s Xbox event at its Seattle headquarters, EA Sports UFC is part of the developer/publisher’s new “EA Sports Ignite” game engine, which will also power the tech behind FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25 and NBA Live 14.

That’s already a good look for the UFC, since EA has put it on the same pedestal as its top-selling franchises.

Back in the era of the UFC Undisputed series from publisher THQ, a move of UFC’s video game franchise to Electronic Arts would’ve been unthinkable due to a previous dust-up between the two companies, but cooler heads prevailed in the end.

Now, with EA Sports UFC confirmed for Microsoft’s next-generation console, the real question is how (and if) it can expand the UFC brand further than it’s already reached.

Make no mistake, the move to EA was the best-case scenario for the UFC.

Not only is EA still one of the biggest video game publishers in the market, but its pedigree with EA Sports makes it the best possible candidate to improve upon the UFC Undisputed formula.

 

It’s All in the Marketing

But that’s just scratching the surface.

What may be most important is the marketing that EA can provide for EA Sports UFC—especially with the combined crossover it’ll likely see from Fox, FX, Fuel TV and Fox Sports.

In the lead-up to the release of EA Sports UFC, you can count on seeing an exhaustive amount of TV ads, billboards and other promotional materials hyping up the game, in addition to a great deal of branding on pay-per-view events.

To sum it up, you’ll see the game everywhere.

That kind of public push is an area where EA shines best, something that’s been more than proven with the ad campaigns behind games like Mass Effect 3, Dead Space 3 and, of course, the blockbuster Battlefield series.

 

Millions and Millions

But after all the marketing and hype is over, the real success of EA Sports UFC will boil down to two things: review scores and sales.

Although UFC Undisputed 2009 surprised many outlets with its runaway success, EA Sports UFC will have be more than a sleeper hit to justify itself as the “Madden” of MMA games.

But no matter how highly the game is rated by the gaming press, it has to outdo the UFC Undisputed franchise by a comfortable margin.

For reference, here’s how the UFC Undisputed series sold on PS3 and Xbox 360 (via VG Chartz):

  • UFC 2009 Undisputed (X360) — 2.01 Million
  • UFC 2009 Undisputed (PS3) — 1.71M
  • UFC Undisputed 2010 (X360) — 1.26M
  • UFC Undisputed 2010 (PS3) — 1.33M
  • UFC Undisputed 3 (X360) — 0.71M
  • UFC Undisputed 3 (PS3) — 0.77M

Despite running for a good three installments with evolving gameplay, UFC Undisputed still peaked with the first title at 3.72 million units sold between the Xbox 360 and PS3.

So with the wider spread and influence of EA Sports (combined with the UFC on Fox push), one would expect EA Sports UFC to sell at least 4 million copies between the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One—although EA brass will assuredly be expecting a minimum yield of 5 million copies sold for a respectable return on its investment.

 

Final Thoughts

It’s arguable that the UFC’s growth in 2009 and 2010 was partially aided by the mass appeal of UFC 2009 Undisputed, and if EA Sports plays its cards right, the same push can happen with EA Sports UFC.

Despite the demise of THQ and the rise of new MMA games from other developers, there’s no competitor poised to challenge EA Sports’ new UFC title. There couldn’t be a more favorable situation for the UFC to make a whole new wave of fans. Now we just have to see if lightning strikes twice.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

‘EA Sports UFC’ Game Reportedly Getting First News Update During Xbox Event Day

Several months have passed since the last UFC game, and despite a promising announcement last year, EA Sports UFC has been nowhere in sight.That’s going to change, with EA confirming on the video game’s official Facebook page that the “first news”…

Several months have passed since the last UFC game, and despite a promising announcement last year, EA Sports UFC has been nowhere in sight.

That’s going to change, with EA confirming on the video game’s official Facebook page that the “first news” would appear on Tuesday.

Coincidentally—or not—Tuesday is also the same day that Microsoft is expected to reveal the successor to their Xbox 360 console, commonly dubbed the “Xbox 720” by both gaming industry journalists and fans.

Given the timing, it’s fair to assume that EA Sports UFC will be announced for the next Xbox console, either as part of Microsoft’s event, or during a separate reveal from EA.

UFC Undisputed 3 released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 back in February 2012 to wide critical acclaim, but various things have changed since then—most notably, the bankruptcy and dissolution of the game’s original publisher, THQ.

Ironically, EA had a previously contentious relationship with UFC president Dana White prior to the release of THQ’s first UFC installment, when White detailed his first meeting with the company to seek them as a potential publishing partner (via MMA Junkie):

It’s easy to sit on the other side of the table and judge me on how I react to stuff like this. But let me tell you what – I’ve been in the trenches for almost 10 years, and I’ve been dealing with all these businesses, and EA was one of them.

EA Sports told us, ‘You’re not a real sport. ‘We wouldn’t touch this thing. We want nothing to do with this.’

We put our asses on the line, THQ and the UFC, to make a video-game deal in the worst economy in the world. We go out there and do this thing, and it’s successful, and now [expletive] EA Sports wants to do a video game. Really? That’s not what you told us a year-and-a-half ago. 

You told us you’d never be in business with us. They wouldn’t even take a meeting because mixed martial arts disgusted them. This wasn’t a real sport. Boy, they got over that real quick, didn’t they?

After the success of UFC Undisputed 2009, EA further drew the ire of White by releasing EA Sports MMA, which mainly featured Strikeforce fighters like Nick Diaz and Fedor Emelianenko, with an added controversy over the inclusion of then-UFC fighter Randy Couture.

However, the two companies saw fit to patch things up immediately after EA bought out THQ’s license to the video game series.

In a surprise move, White even traveled out to Los Angeles on late notice in order to take the stage at E3 2012, helping announce EA Sports UFC during EA’s conference keynote at E3 2012.

Microsoft’s Xbox event starts at 10:00 a.m. PST on Tuesday (May 21) and will be viewable both on the official Xbox.com website and the “Live Events” hub on Xbox Live—more updates will likely be found on the Xbox Twitter account.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Daniel Cormier Wants Next Fight at UFC on Fox Sports 1 Alongside Chael Sonnen

Former Strikeforce heavyweight and Olympic talent Daniel Cormier is still eyeing a cut to 205 pounds, but he wants a fight at UFC on Fox Sports 1 this August.During a UFC on FX 8 post-fight coverage segment on Fuel TV (via MMA Weekly), the top-ranked c…

Former Strikeforce heavyweight and Olympic talent Daniel Cormier is still eyeing a cut to 205 pounds, but he wants a fight at UFC on Fox Sports 1 this August.

During a UFC on FX 8 post-fight coverage segment on Fuel TV (via MMA Weekly), the top-ranked contender asked for a fight at heavyweight to follow up on his one-sided decision victory over former UFC champion Frank Mir:

I want to fight on the first card on FOX Sports 1 in Boston on Aug. 17. And I hope my man Chael Sonnen is fighting Wanderlei Silva next to me. Put us on the card, boss!

At the end of the day I can’t cut massive amounts of weight.  That’s well documented from my problems in the Olympic games.  But I can diet, and when I’m dieting I can still fight.  Can I fight at 205? No.  Because it’s too much weight to cut in a short period of time.  But could I fight a heavyweight fight and just be a little lighter? I think so.

UFC on Fox Sports 1 takes place on August 17, and given the timing, that would only free up two names on the promotion’s roster.

Currently, the only winning heavyweights yet to face Cormier without a fight scheduled are Roy Nelson and Todd Duffee.

Since Duffee is nowhere near the title hunt and well outside of the official UFC rankings, that would make Nelson the most likely candidate for Cormier at UFC on Fox Sports 1, assuredly for a title eliminator on the main card.

Moreover, Cormier has already declared that he refuses to fight for the UFC Heavyweight Championship (via MMA Weekly) as long as Cain Velasquez holds the title. Both men are friends and training partners at the American Kickboxing Academy.

In 2008, Cormier suffered kidney failure while competing at the Olympic Games, due to massive weight cutting of 20- to 30-pound increments, according to Sports Illustrated.

As a result, the common practice of weight cutting in MMA isn’t a safe or viable option for the relatively stout Cormier—standing at a mere 5’10” in height—despite stepping onto the scales before UFC on Fox 7 at 30 pounds under the 265 heavyweight limit.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Vitor Belfort Threatens MMA Reporter When Questioned About His Use of TRT

Although he refers to himself as a “tyrannosaurus” fighting amongst the young lions of the sport, MMA legend Vitor Belfort came off like a kitten this weekend.More than that, he looked like a coward in the aftermath of UFC on FX 8, all because of three…

Although he refers to himself as a “tyrannosaurus” fighting amongst the young lions of the sport, MMA legend Vitor Belfort came off like a kitten this weekend.

More than that, he looked like a coward in the aftermath of UFC on FX 8, all because of three simple little letters: TRT.

Put “The Phenom” inside the Octagon and he often looks like an unstoppable wrecking machine, but just ask Belfort about the testosterone replacement therapy that’s fueled his training during camp—or any of his past drug use—and he mentally runs away.

That was the scene at the UFC on FX 8 post-fight presser, where the former UFC champion went back to 1992 and told MMA Junkie’s John Morgan to “talk to the hand” before threatening to have him physically assaulted for asking about TRT.

It’s pretty sad to see that’s the attitude that Belfort is continuing to adopt this late in the game, especially since the more he wins, the more TRT will cloud his career.

Even UFC president Dana White and Nevada State Athletic Commission executive Keith Kizer have shined a spotlight on the headliner’s performance enhancement, with Kizer telling B/R MMA that Belfort would be unlikely to get approved for a bout in Las Vegas, America’s fight capital.

Fortunately for Belfort, that probably suits him just fine.

After counting his winnings and bonus money, he’ll simply continue to hide away between Brazil and his training camps with the Florida-based Blackzilians, alongside drug-use suspects like Alistair Overeem, safe from public scrutiny.

That’s the mark of someone who’s lost touch with reality: an ego inflated by steroids and testosterone shots as much as by dominance in the middleweight division.

Fight Opinion—an MMA outlet consistently ahead of the game on drugs in the sport—outlines “the Vitor Belfort problem” best of all by showing that when it comes to The Phenom, his TRT use has the UFC scrambling to make the best of a bad look:

For those who wanted MMA to be accepted as a mainstream sport, well… the one sport whose drug testing policy most resembles combat sports right now is horse racing. A baseball player gets busted for testosterone and all hell breaks loose. A testosterone user in UFC gets a promotional push.

So, the fighters using testosterone don’t want to defend themselves to the press. UFC management policy is supportive of T use but slams usage of marijuana. And the doctors involved in pushing or enabling the testosterone usage don’t want to talk and aren’t being pressured to talk either in the press or in the court system.

The commissions aren’t going to do anything. If anything, the tenuous financial & political nature of these regulatory bodies means they are more prone to allowing testosterone usage in order to get UFC cash.

And, on the Vitor front, Dana White said he would face the winner of Anderson Silva/Chris Weidman… which has prompted Vitor to say that he would like to take a long vacation. Well played. (emphasis added.)

Any way you look at it, the situation is a bad joke, and the idea of Belfort getting a title shot should be a slap in the face to every clean athlete who’s ever competed in the sport and every fan who has ever looked upon MMA with pride.

It’s a real shame, especially when the sport has more eyes on it than ever.

Hopefully, the UFC comes to its senses and retracts the plan to match Belfort up with the winner of the Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman bout at UFC 162.

Hopefully, athletic commissions make a real effort to ban TRT use with the UFC simultaneously funding blood tests and adopting secondary drug screening to catch those wealthy enough to work their way around the system. (Scaling back marijuana penalties would be great, too.)

And at the very least, Belfort himself might have to start showing at least the barest sense of self-awareness and stop threatening to have MMA reporters beaten up for asking him questions about his new fountain of youth scheme.

Testosterone may give Belfort all the confidence in the world during training and fight week, but that only makes it all the more embarrassing when he can’t handle a single mention of the performance enhancing substance outside of the Octagon.

 

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com