For a second-tier promotion owned by Zuffa, it’s surprising how little a canceled Strikeforce card can affect the mixed martial arts world.Sure, it’s sad that 19 other fighters have been dumped by one injury.However, with the state that Strikeforce has…
For a second-tier promotion owned by Zuffa, it’s surprising how little a canceled Strikeforce card can affect the mixed martial arts world.
Sure, it’s sad that 19 other fighters have been dumped by one injury.
However, with the state that Strikeforce has been in since the “merger” with UFC, the dissolution of the heavyweight division and the various defeats of Fedor Emelianenko, the sad truth is the promotion has barely rated higher than any other regional show.
That’s ultimately been the problem since the great purge of talent in 2011 that sent Nick Diaz, Alistair Overeem and Dan Henderson to the Octagon.
Strikeforce once had enough talent to fill out a main card from top to bottom, but now has to make do with two-fight cards at best. Moreover, the one time there’s a single-fight card like Melendez vs. Healy, the worst happens and everything implodes.
Basically, Showtime had no choice.
Hardly anyone was going to watch this event in the first place. With Melendez gone, there was no point in even broadcasting it.
If that’s not prophetic, I don’t know what is.
At the very least, there is a silver lining for those that wanted action this weekend, with an awesome UFC lineup that same night.
As the polar opposite of the canceled Strikeforce event, UFC on Fuel: Struve vs. Miocic has everything that makes an MMA night matter, with deep weight classes, division relevance and legitimate star power.
With the exception of a Ronda Rousey fight, it seems that Strikeforce can no longer deliver even one of those three criteria on a regular basis anymore.
[McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist and FightFans Radio writer. His work has appeared in GamePro, Macworld, & PC World. Talk with him on Twitter.]
“There’s no way I’m paying 45 bucks to watch that idiot.”If that sounds like a statement you made after hearing Jon Jones had been moved to the UFC 152 fight card, you’re not alone.After all, “Bones” ruined a weekend in Las Vegas for lots of people, tu…
“There’s no way I’m paying 45 bucks to watch that idiot.”
If that sounds like a statement you made after hearing Jon Jones had been moved to the UFC 152 fight card, you’re not alone.
After all, “Bones” ruined a weekend in Las Vegas for lots of people, turning down a fight with Chael Sonnen after Dan Henderson got injured. As a result, those fans were left with non-refundable plane tickets and hotel rooms for an event that wasn’t happening.
If you’re like me and happen to work on the weekends, you probably made plans and shifted commitments in advance, only to find yourself without a UFC event to watch on September 1st.
It makes one wonder—when UFC 152 is in the books, will we find that Jones’ star is still on the rise, or have hardcore fans been pushed to the point where they won’t pay to watch him fight?
That’s been an interesting question since the fallout of UFC 151, where Jones drew the ire of everyone in the “MMA bubble” of the Internet. However, that bubble doesn’t represent the entire audience of the sport, as seen by public reaction to Jones during open workouts and open Q&A sessions.
As most MMA media has reported, all seems forgiven—to a point.
Yes, some fans are booing Jones in Canada, but the majority are still cheering, perhaps glad that their main event doesn’t rest of the backs of two tiny flyweights.
So far, it seems like MMA fans who hate Jon Jones for any multitude of reasons (hypocritical public statements, general cockiness, that horrible “homeless man’s” beard) will still put down money for his fights. Just a glance at the reported estimates leaves no doubt.
Ever since winning the UFC light heavyweight title, the young champion has been a bright spot in the promotion’s disappointing pay-per-view numbers with an average of 548,750 buys per event. Considering that he’s had four title fights since March 2011, Jones’ impressive work rate alone makes him incredibly valuable.
But if hardcore fans want to “stick it” to the champion by boycotting UFC 152, catching it somewhere for free, or watching it through illegal Internet streams, “Bones” won’t look so good when the estimates come in, win or lose.
Every numbered UFC event has those die-hard fans that’ll buy every card they can afford. Those are the fans talking about Jones on forum boards, the ones betting on fantasy MMA games, the one who drive up website traffic, and the ones who form the baseline for many pay-per-view buys.
But will those people—the “real” fans, according to Dana White—support Jon Jones?
Maybe we’ll get that piece of the puzzle after the fact.
Jones’ lowest draw as a headliner is 485,000 buys from UFC 140, where he fought Lyoto Machida on top of a decent fight card. If he draws even less on his second tour in Canada, the UFC could be facing a whole new problem that almost no amount of marketing can fix.
Isn’t it enough that Georges St. Pierre is the most dominant welterweight in MMA history not named Matt Hughes?Obviously not, because some UFC fans think he’s boring.For those people, it’s pretty easy to put “GSP” and “boring” in the same sentence. Oft…
Isn’t it enough that Georges St. Pierre is the most dominant welterweight in MMA history not named Matt Hughes?
Obviously not, because some UFC fans think he’s boring.
For those people, it’s pretty easy to put “GSP” and “boring” in the same sentence. Often pointing out St. Pierre’s five lopsided decision wins in his last six fights, some fans assume that the champion isn’t always working for the finish, content to safely and efficiently control overmatched challengers.
But have all those fights really been as lackluster as fans say?
Before the Jon Fitch bout, I didn’t think the human body could survive a 25-minute bludgeoning. GSP‘s super fight with B.J. Penn was equally impressive, showcasing how a solid game plan can fantastically dismantle an equally elite opponent.
Even in the Dan Hardy fight, where the mouthy Brit was dramatically oversold by the UFC as a dangerous knockout artist, the challenger showed an exciting amount of grit, gutting out multiple kimura locks and incredibly deep armbar attempts to last through all five rounds.
But even with such stellar performances, GSP is telling his unimpressed fans that he’s taking their complaints to heart, promising to “take more risks” in future fights:
“There is a saying in English that you don’t repair something that is not broken. Sometimes I believe you have to break it yourself to repair it, to make it better. Because the sport of mixed martial arts will evolve. If I stay at the same level, they will catch up to me. I need to evolve, to stay ahead of game. The critics are always there. I listen to the critics. I’m very critical on myself. I want to make more finishes myself. I want to be more exciting, take more risks, be more opportunistic. I’ve been working on that a lot.”
It’s admirable for St. Pierre to recognize and admit that his stellar MMA game could probably use another slight tune-up if he’s going to stay the champion. After all, the longer an opponent is in the fight, the more chance you have of losing in an upset.
But is taking more risks in the Octagon the right path for GSP?
Now that more heavy hitters and brawlers have clawed their way up the welterweight chain—Carlos Condit, Martin Kampmann and Johnny Hendricks, to be precise—I can’t imagine a more dangerous thing for the champ than standing and slugging it out with those monstrous athletes.
If GSP possessed an iron chin or one-punch knockout power, this would be a very different story.
Unfortunately, out of all the skills you can develop in MMA, tough chins and heavy hands are two things that you just “have” or don’t have. It’s what separates a tactician like St. Pierre from knockout artists like Jose Aldo or Anderson Silva.
Hopefully, the peer pressure hasn’t gotten to GSP too much. If he can find a way to rack up more finishes at 31 years old, more power to him.
But at the same time, I hope that when the champion does eventually lose his belt, he’s defeated by a legitimately better welterweight, and not someone who got lucky and “caught” him with a haymaker.
[McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in EGM, GamePro, 1UP, Macworld, & PC World. Follow him on Twitter for more fight talk.]
Jon Jones is exposed. Not in the way you might think, though.Feuding with Chael Sonnen is like a war of attrition. Not only are you in for the long haul, but you risk looking terrible coming out of it.Sonnen is undoubtedly the best trash-talker in the …
Jon Jones is exposed. Not in the way you might think, though.
Feuding with Chael Sonnen is like a war of attrition. Not only are you in for the long haul, but you risk looking terrible coming out of it.
Sonnen is undoubtedly the best trash-talker in the game, and more than anything else, the Oregon-native knows how to sell a fight with little more than pointed words. Of course, it also helps that he’s one of the most dominant mixed martial artists in the game today.
Jon Jones is no slouch when it comes to the Octagon either, but outside of a fight?
He’s hopeless.
That much was made apparent today, as both fighters got into a Twitter feud, exchanging insults and witty banter. In the end, Sonnen got the better of Jones, highlighting the champion’s past troubles with drinking and driving:
Boardingplane toOregon now, home of your corporate wage masters. Next time you are in town, knock on my door. Don’t drive. @johnnybones
Despite the fact that Jones started the exchange, Sonnen finished it in his usual bombastic fashion, showing once again that you don’t get into a verbal fight with a talker of his caliber.
But most importantly, the entire exchange was extremely entertaining. Not only did it give both fighters a chance to embrace their inner heel, but it lays the groundwork for a grudge match.
Even though Sonnen’s lost twice to Anderson Silva, the fact still remains that he’s one of the most interesting fighters in the UFC. Outside of Rashad Evans, practically no one else can spin words around an opponent as scathingly as Sonnen can.
Should Sonnen get past Griffin in impressive fashion, the fast track to a title shot is wide open. Considering that he’s arguably a bigger PPV star that Jones, Sonnen would bring a lot of buyers to a well-promoted fight card.
Unfortunately, Jones showed a poor hand with his last tweet, grasping at straws with a weakly-worded comment to protect his image:
For everyone who thinks I’m “falling into chaels game” I know exactly what I’m doing.. #AreYouNotEntertained
Just like that, a great deal of the heat is taken out of the fire. Jon Jones “knows” what he’s doing, and that’s nothing more than entertaining MMA fans through social media.
But that’s not what we want to hear.
No, we want to hear Jones talk about how foolish Chael is for disrespecting him, why an overconfident middleweight refugee has no right to challenge the 205-pound champion after two losses to Anderson Silva, and how much he can’t wait to punch Sonnen’s teeth in.
Instead, Jones has hinted that he’s just mugging for the camera, with no real bad intent behind his words. No professional wrestler would break kayfabe as badly as “Bones” just did.
Even worse, Jones deleted his tweets and briefly blocked his Twitter page to non-followers, showing that his newest enemy may just have rattled him a bit more than he’s letting on. Sonnen takes the first round of this feud, 1-0.
[McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in EGM, GamePro, 1UP, Macworld, & PC World. Follow him on Twitter for more fight talk.]
Former UFC middleweight title contender Chael Sonnen is facing off against Forrest Griffin on Dec. 29, and I couldn’t be happier. Not because I have a grudge against Griffin, but because Sonnen is the shot in the arm that the light heavyweight div…
Former UFC middleweight title contender Chael Sonnen is facing off against Forrest Griffin on Dec. 29, and I couldn’t be happier. Not because I have a grudge against Griffin, but because Sonnen is the shot in the arm that the light heavyweight division’s title picture needs.
Sonnen made this announcement on Tuesday’s edition of UFC Tonight on Fuel TV.
Since champion Jon Jones has effectively cleared out the 205-pound division, the aging Dan Henderson is all that stands between “Bones” and a barren weight class full of defeated former champions and still-too-green contenders.
But Chael Sonnen can save us from all that with a couple of solid wins at light heavyweight.
True, Griffin won in their only previous bout in 2003 with a triangle choke submission in the first round, but he’s honestly little more than a stepping stone at this point.
Instead of the never-say-die marvel that upset Shogun Rua at UFC 76, or the careful tactician that grounded Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 86 with leg kicks, Sonnen will have a rematch with a faded opponent who’s just barely hanging on to a spot in the division’s top 10 rankings.
Despite the fact that Sonnen’s been in the MMA circuit longer than Griffin, the accumulated years of wear and tear have done far more damage to the former light heavyweight champion. It’s Sonnen’s fight to lose, and there aren’t many scenarios that will favor the original Ultimate Fighter winner.
Chael Sonnen can beat Forrest Griffin. After that, he should notch one more fight against the likes of Shogun Rua—or the winner of Quinton Jackson vs. Glover Teixeira.
That’s all the setup that the UFC needs to pit Sonnen against Jon Jones. It’s the path that makes the most sense and the next-biggest fight that Dana White can make for the 205-pound phenom.
If Ronda Rousey is the fastest rising star in mixed martial arts, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos must be the complete opposite.Just last year, Cyborg was riding an 11-fight win streak, having successfully defended the Strikeforce Women’s Featherweight Champ…
If Ronda Rousey is the fastest rising star in mixed martial arts, Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos must be the complete opposite.
Just last year, Cyborg was riding an 11-fight win streak, having successfully defended the Strikeforce Women’s Featherweight Championship in brutal fashion for a third time.
Now, the former pound-for-pound top female fighter in the world has largely been cast out of the spotlight, stripped of her title and waiting out a one-year suspension due to a positive steroids test.
In fact, Cyborg’s steroid scandal likely rates as one of the most damaging amongst most fighters, as it calls into question almost every MMA and grappling victory that the former champion has earned in her career.
Although many people joked about her impressive physique, there’s always been the undertone that Cyborg’s speed and power was a little unnatural for a female fighter, suggesting it might be more challenging for her to fight someone like UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo.
Fast-forward one positive test for stanzolol, and it’s suddenly not quite so funny—we’ve spent almost an entire year looking at a devastated women’s featherweight division that’s been missing a dominant champion since last January.
Now, Cyborg has come out of the woodwork, stating that since she can’t make the 135-pound limit for the bantamweight division, she wants to fight Ronda Rousey at a 140- or 145-pound catch-weight.
Although the fight would likely attract quite a few viewers, Strikeforce shouldn’t even entertain that idea. Not for a single second.
As much as Cyborg wants to claim that Rousey “ran” to the bantamweight division to avoid fighting her, the reality is that 135 pounds is where the most interesting match-ups can happen right now, especially with Strikeforce superstar Gina Carano permanently retired (again, no thanks to Miss Santos).
Not many big-name women’s fights can be made at 145 pounds anyway, a key reason why a new champion hasn’t been crowned at that weight.
Moreover, Ronda Rousey shouldn’t have to tip the scales to fight Cyborg. For one thing, she just got to the bantamweight division and can potentially make a long run as champion there, provided she defeats Sarah Kaufman this weekend.
Just what would happen if Cyborg got her way, was allowed to pack on some critical mass, and brutalized the bantamweight champion in a one-sided match? Not only would it destroy a good chunk of the long road for female fighters’ paths to the UFC, but Rousey’s stock would sharply nosedive.
Given Cyborg’s history, would it be sensical or sportsmanlike to give her any possible advantage over the relatively green Rousey, and put Strikeforce’s biggest star at a potentially unfair risk?
Aside from Rousey being a clean fighter and athlete, the burden should be on Cyborg to make up the difference in weight, especially given her questionable history of dominance.
Could a title match at 145 pounds be a possibility? Probably, although Rousey frankly looks fantastic at bantamweight, a division that’s still filled with solid challenges and interesting match-ups.
If Miss Santos wants a dance date with Rousey, she needs to drop some of her advantageous muscle, spend more time on the treadmill, and make the 135-pound limit. If she can’t do that much without the aid of a performance-enhancing drug, then she has no right to challenge the champion.
[McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist who has worked for EGM, GamePro, 1UP, Macworld, & PC World. Follow his Twitter account for crazy talk, 1990s movie references, and general weirdness. Or, you could just stalk him on Google.]
For a second-tier promotion owned by Zuffa, it’s surprising how little a canceled Strikeforce card can affect the mixed martial arts world.