GLORY kickboxing heads to Paris, France for its second fight card of the year on Sat. (March 12, 2016) with GLORY 28 at Accor Hotels Arena.
The main event is a heavyweight title fight between current champion, Rico Verhoeven (47-10) and No. …
GLORY kickboxing heads to Paris, France for its second fight card of the year on Sat. (March 12, 2016) with GLORY 28 at Accor Hotels Arena.
The main event is a heavyweight title fight between current champion, Rico Verhoeven (47-10) and No. 2-ranked contender Mladen Brestovac (49-10-1).
Verhoeven has been pretty much unstoppable lately and has defended his title four straight times, winning nine straight with the promotion to improve his GLORY record to 10-1. His last loss was against Andrey Gerasmichuk at Kunlun Fight 15 in China back in January of 2015, a fight he dropped by decision.
Brestovac had won 12 straight until a technical knockout loss to Benjamin Adegbuyi in the GLORY 24 heavyweight “Contender” tournament last October. “The Scorpion Sting” is 1-1 in GLORY competition and owns a knockout win over Jahfarr Wilnis.
The co-main event is a welterweight bout between Murthel “The Predator” Groenhart (58-19-3) and Cedric Doumbe (55-4-1). Groenhart dropped a split decision against current champion, Nieky Holzken at GLORY 26 this past December and prior to that won the GLORY 25 welterweight “Contender” tournament by defeating Karim Ghajji and Nicola Gallo.
Doumbe dropped a decision to Yoann Kongolo his last time out at GLORY 22.
In addition to those two contests, there will be a four-man lightweight “Contender” tournament. In the semifinals, Sittichai Sitsongpeenong will face former lightweight champion, Davit Kiria, and Marat Grigorian will take on Anatoly Moiseev.
Let’s take a closer look at the matchups:
Rico Verhoeven (47-10) vs. Mladen Brestovac (49-10-1) heavyweight title fight
Brestovac has had a great deal of success in his career, but it must be noted that he has only a handful of fights against the best in the world. “The Scorpion Sting” was handled fairly easy by Benjamin Adegbuyi his last time out in the semi-finals of the GLORY 24 “Contender” tournament. Adegbuyi hacked away at his left leg until the Croatian southpaw could no longer continue. Brestovac has decent hands and deceptively fast kicks at times, but he can sometimes be slow to react to kicks to the body and legs. That is not a good sign going up against the champion. Verhoeven is the most technical heavyweight on the planet right now. He will keep Brestovac on the retreat with multi-strike combinations and a bevy of inside and outside low kicks. The champion should batter Brestovac and take him out in fairly short order.
Prediction: Verhoeven by RD 1 TKO
Murthel Groenhart (58-19-3) vs. Cedric Doumbe (55-4-1)
Both fighters come into this bout off decision losses. Groenhart dropped a split-decision heartbreaker to GLORY champion Nieky Holzken at GLORY 26 and Doumbe lost to Yoann Kongolo at GLORY 22. Doumbe certainly has some solid weapons at his disposal with a good kicking game that he varies and mixes up very well with low and high attacks and the occasional cut kick. Groenhart is just on another level. “The Predator” has excellent power and a very accurate Dutch style. He also possesses unorthodox flying knee attacks that have caught many an opponent by surprise. The issue with Groenhart is his stamina the later the fight goes. That is something to pay attention to whenever he fights, but he should win this bout against the Frenchman rather convincingly.
Prediction: Groenhart by unanimous decision
Sittichai Sitsongpeenong (106-29-5) vs. Davit Kiria (23-11)
The last time these two fought, Sittichai finished the former GLORY lightweight champion in the second round with a devastating knee to the body in the semi-finals of the GLORY 22 “Contender” tournament, before cruising to a unanimous decision win over Josh Jauncey to win the tournament. Sittichai lost a controversial decision to Robin van Roosmalen that many felt he clearly won. The former Lumpinee Stadium champion from Thailand is as nasty a fighter as they come. His leg kicks are vicious and and his punches are always well-timed and accurate. You would be hard pressed to find a better striker in this division than Sittichai. Kiria is a former champion and both durable and tough. You can never count him out with his unpredictable kicking attack that stems from his Ashihara karate background. Rematches at times can be completely different from the first encounter, but I don’t think that will be the case. Sittichai will prove once again he is the better fighter, although I think Kiria survives and goes the distance.
Prediction: Sitsongpeenong by unanimous decision
Marat Grigorian (41-7-2) vs. Anatoly Moiseev (16-0)
Grigorian likes to hands near the fire most of the time. He will stay in the pocket and look to counter. The Armenian-Belgian fighter has a good left hook, but tends to move in a linear fashion and keep his head on the center line. For that reason he takes a lot of punches in his fights. He is game and tough and has been in some great battles as of late. He lost a decision to Serhiy Adamchuk at GLORY 22 in his last fight with the promotion. Outside of it he won a K-1 tournament in Japan, and most recently lost a majority decision to Sittichai Sitsongpeenong in a closely contested battle. Grigorian is only 24 years old as well, so he will continue to show improvements in each bout. Moiseev steps in for the injured Couliblay Djime and the undefeated Russian is a super talented prospect. He has very fast hand and leg speed and can instantly attack with a round house kick, which he used to finish Max Baumert in his GLORY debut. He makes his opponent pay when they miss, has solid power and accuracy and can often surprise with a spinning hook kick or other similar attacks. Grigorian has the experience here, but I’m going to take the newcomer and his hand speed for the upset.
Prediction: Moiseev by unanimous decision
Tournament Final: Sittichai Sitsongpeenong vs. Anatoly Moiseev
The Russian’s luck will run out in the final against the Thai legend, but it will be an entertaining bout nonetheless. Moiseev will answer the call and land his share over three rounds, but In the end, Sittichai’s accuracy and leg kicks will be the difference and he will hand the Russian his first career loss.
Conor McGregor was landing punch after punch in the opening round of UFC 196’s pay-per-view (PPV) main event this past weekend (Sat., March 5, 2016) at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. And his opponent, Nate Diaz, was getting bloodied and busted up in the process.
We all know what happened in the second round: Diaz kept coming — virtually unaffected by the damage he was absorbing — and began to land on McGregor, who was beginning to tire out. In fact, a rocked “Notorious” shot in on the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and was soon submitted via a rear-naked choke (Highlights here).
Chael Sonnen, the retired UFC Middleweight / Light Heavyweight and current MMA analyst for ESPN, called McGregor a “bully” when he broke down the Irishman’s performance. The former UFC title contender offered his analysis on McGregor’s first UFC defeat in two parts: Mental and physical.
“From a historical standpoint — €”mentally — Conor McGregor fell apart,” Sonnen said on the ESPN post-fight coverage. “He cracked. It was just like watching Mike Tyson fold against Evander Holyfield and all the guys that have come before and after. Listen, when you stand up to a bully he will fade every time. Conor McGregor is a bully. Now, that’s the mental side.”
“The American Gangster,” who is often mentioned in conversation with McGregor when comparing both their abilities in trash talk and fight promotion, then broke down the action that took place inside the Octagon and what led to McGregor’s submission loss to Diaz.
“Physically, Conor fought a great fight,” he said. “He landed some fantastic combinations. The problem was Nate Diaz was too big. When Conor landed those shots, Nate didn’t go away. Eventually Conor began to fatigue and he began to take punches himself. Forget the rear-naked choke, forget the takedown. This was about fatigue, exhaustion and Conor McGregor, mentally, needed out.”
Sonnen calls it fatigue, while others diagnose a case of “chicken heart.“
Conor McGregor was landing punch after punch in the opening round of UFC 196’s pay-per-view (PPV) main event this past weekend (Sat., March 5, 2016) at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. And his opponent, Nate Diaz, was getting bloodied and busted up in the process.
We all know what happened in the second round: Diaz kept coming — virtually unaffected by the damage he was absorbing — and began to land on McGregor, who was beginning to tire out. In fact, a rocked “Notorious” shot in on the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and was soon submitted via a rear-naked choke (Highlights here).
Chael Sonnen, the retired UFC Middleweight / Light Heavyweight and current MMA analyst for ESPN, called McGregor a “bully” when he broke down the Irishman’s performance. The former UFC title contender offered his analysis on McGregor’s first UFC defeat in two parts: Mental and physical.
“From a historical standpoint — €”mentally — Conor McGregor fell apart,” Sonnen said on the ESPN post-fight coverage. “He cracked. It was just like watching Mike Tyson fold against Evander Holyfield and all the guys that have come before and after. Listen, when you stand up to a bully he will fade every time. Conor McGregor is a bully. Now, that’s the mental side.”
“The American Gangster,” who is often mentioned in conversation with McGregor when comparing both their abilities in trash talk and fight promotion, then broke down the action that took place inside the Octagon and what led to McGregor’s submission loss to Diaz.
“Physically, Conor fought a great fight,” he said. “He landed some fantastic combinations. The problem was Nate Diaz was too big. When Conor landed those shots, Nate didn’t go away. Eventually Conor began to fatigue and he began to take punches himself. Forget the rear-naked choke, forget the takedown. This was about fatigue, exhaustion and Conor McGregor, mentally, needed out.”
Sonnen calls it fatigue, while others diagnose a case of “chicken heart.“
WWE Hall of Fame inductee JIm Ross makes his commentating debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV on Friday (March 5, 2016) with Josh Barnett. The veteran broadcaster will also sit down for a tell-all interview with Michael Schiavello on “The Voice Versus” prior to the wrestling card.
When it comes to pro wrestling announcers and broadcasters, few are lauded more greatly or held in higher esteem than WWE Hall of Fame inductee, Jim Ross.
“Good Ol’ JR” has beyond the mic for some of the most memorable calls in WWE and pro wrestling history and, of course, worked in talent relations among other duties as a company executive with the promotion. But when Ross moved on from WWE in 2013, another commentating gig for calling the action inside the squared circle was not yet on the horizon.
Ross, 64, called some boxing with Golden Boy Promotions on FOX Sports 1–where he is also a columnist–and the veteran commentator also called the Battlegrounds MMA eight-man tournament alongside retired UFC middleweight/light heavyweight Chael Sonnen. In addition to that, he hosts a highly-successful weekly podcast on Podcastone.com called “The Ross Report,” and writes a weekly wrestling blog on his website JRsbarbq.com, where you can also purchase items from his signature line of barbecue sauces and products.
On Friday night, Ross will be back in the world of professional wrestling, when he calls the action with UFC heavyweight contender, Josh Barnett for New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV.
It’s safe to say that Ross feels like he is at home again.
“Oh yeah, it’s still like riding a bike,” Ross told MMAmania.com. “With Josh, we didn’t even do a rehearsal show. They asked us if we wanted to. I said, ‘well look, we are going to do a voice over right?’ ‘Yep.’ ‘So if we don’t like what we got we can do it over. So let’s record it like it’s live ammunition here, and see what we get.’ So, that is what we did and we liked it and we just try to get better on each show. It’s an adjustment period. I gotta learn who the guys are, the wrestlers are by sight and then I have to make sure I pronounce their names correctly. It sounds like small potatoes, but they are both big deals because it’s all about recognizing things. It’s easier when you got a singles match. But when you got tag matches and six-man tags and eight-man tags, then it can get a little dicey.
“Been working with Josh, he knows all these guys by sight. He’s called on the matches on AXS. He’s wrestled over there. He’s fought over there. He’s the perfect partner for me. He’s really great at explaining holds and strategies. So what we are trying to do Michael, is bring back more of a sports presentation feel for the broadcast. That is our goal and it will be a work in progress, but that is what we are shooting for. We are not looking to corner the market on hoity announcer repartee. There will be some funny stuff, but it will be organic; it will be real and not planned. We are really focused on what is on the screen and that way it lets the viewer suspend their disbelief to a degree. If they are relaxed and do that you can get lost in the story. The stories are very physical and very compelling for most guys.”
Barnett–who was working with Mauro Ranallo until WWE hired him for Smack Down–has the utmost respect for Ross, and in a recent interview with SiriusXM Fight Club said his new broadcasting partner is an “incredible professional.”
Ross shares a similar level of adulation for Barnett, and says there is no one better suited to call the action with him for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
“I don’t believe I can find a more perfect partner for this product,” Ross said. “His product knowledge, knowledge of the culture, his experience in the voice over room–he’s got it down–€”he doesn’t have any issues recreating excitement. I’ve done that for years on voiceovers. Hundreds and hundreds of hours on wrestling on thousands of matches in voice over sessions. I’ve grown accustomed to it and don’t have a problem with it. Josh is great. It’s great to have a guy… He can prepare less and do a great job, but that is not his style. I think he has this desire also… I think he has this desire that he wants to be, Michael, the best in the game and I can promise you that my desire is for our team is to be considered the best broadcasting team in the genre of pro wrestling. Whether we achieve that or not remains to be seen, but we have goals. We are competitive and maybe will think it’s egocentric. Well it may be a little of that too. You got to have to have a little bit of swagger. You’ve got to have a little bit of swag to survive in show business and at the end of the day we are still in show business.”
The New Japan shows are already pre taped and Ross and Barnett lay down all the commentary in voice over sessions, which has a unique and different set of challenges as opposed to being live at ring side. The New Japan show that airs on Friday (March 5, 2016) features an Intercontinental title match between Hirooki Goto and Shinsuke Nakamura, which, of course, has already taken place.
Ross explained how he prepares for a typical recording session.
“The show that airs this Friday night, I want to say that show was taped in May of 2015, but for me it’s all new,” Ross began to explain. “I don’t go online. I don’t go read the internet about these matches and get preconditioned based on what they were or this is a disappointment based on their last match or this match is five-star classic or whatever. I just do my research on the talent on why the matches are going on in a normal and traditional research and preparation. Like I did in WWE, I’d rather the match come to me and not be preconditioned by knowing the finish and all that stuff. I don’t need to know all that. I do a better job and I keep myself connected emotionally better if I don’t know. Little tricks of the trade. I don’t need to know every minute detail of a wrestling match. I didn’t know every minute detail of the XFL or the Atlanta Falcons or the MMA I’ve done, the boxing I’ve done or am gonna do. I always tell people this and this sounds egocentric as hell, turn on the monitor and I’ll call it. That’s all I’ll tell you. Now I will go out there and call it well, or great or not so good. But put the picture on the monitor, I’ll be prepared and I’ll give you the best call I can. I feel if I’m prepared and you give me the right pictures we are going to be fine.”
For Ross, it’s “absolutely” imperative that he gives the audience his honest first reactions and impressions. In other words, yes, he may know the outcome of a match because they are pre recorded, but when he calls said match, he’s seeing it for the first time along with the viewer to make sure there is an organic quality to it.
“I knew Nakamura lost the intercontinental title,” he revealed. “I don’t know how. I don’t know how long the match was. I don’t know the general outcome and then I forgot about it and moved on. I’m not an actor. I don’t know how to play a role of a broadcaster. That’s not what I do and so maybe I don’t have the skills like some announcers to be actors, but that’s not what I do. I’m a story teller and I tell the best stories when I’m on the same journey as the people who are listening.”
Ross has called thousands of matches in his illustrious career and he has a unique brand of delivery. He is responsible for many catch phrases like “tougher than a two-dollar steak,” “slobberknocker,” and “business is about to pick up here.” And probably none more iconic than the line from the famous 1998 “Hell in a Cell” match between The Undertaker and Mankind where he said, “as God as my witness he is broken in half,” after The Undertaker tossed Mankind off the top of the steel cage onto the announcer’s table.
The WWE Hall of Famer was asked to describe what separates him from the others in his field and what fans can expect to hear during New Japan Pro Wrestling that will truly stand out.
“Well, they are going to see the matches and they are going to hear the accompanying words,” said Ross, who is currently penning an auto-biography. “In other words you are going to hear one piece of music. We are all going to hear the same music. Josh and I are going to do our best to put the appropriate lyric to that sound and that music. So in other words, when the match is ongoing we are not going to be digressing to other topics of discussion. Look at it this way. The easiest way to explain it somebody: If you are a football broadcaster and you are in a live ball situation. So in other words, the quarterback is taking the snap and the ball is in play, you always here the broadcasters talking about what the audience is seeing while the ball is alive. I’d like to have the same philosophy in this New Japan product. Bell to bell we are going to bring you what we are seeing, what we are feeling while the match is ongoing. What it means to the winner. What it means to the loser, all these things. But the match is going to be the focal point. Not what’s trending, not other things that announcers are compelled and instructed to provide, the information to provide.
“You will hear that early and they will hear us talk about holds,” he continued. “Not just cute little names guys come up with for holds. But, why the holds work, how you counter them and what body part they are afflicting without being boring or slow. I got to think it won’t take long. The product we are calling is very announcer friendly for us and the other thing, for example, this Friday night we have two matches on our whole show, so there is plenty of time for these guys to tell a story and plenty of time for us to embellish that story and make it a little bit better. So I think it is a real good mix. I felt really good about that situation. It was a product I was comfortable with. I believed in it. I had confidence in it. I didn’t think I would be trying to make something out of something that isn’t there. So far we have six shows in the can. So far we have six shows in the can and they are great. We had a blast.”
New Japan Pro Wrestling airs on Friday night at 9 p.m. ET on AXS TV, but that isn’t the only program to feature Ross that evening. He will sit down with Michael Schiavello for a hour-long tell-all interview on “The Voice Versus.” at 8 p.m. ET.
With over 40 years in the pro wresting business, Ross has a treasure trove of stories, secrets and behind the scenes moments that would have any fan hanging on his every word. Will fans hear some revealing stories they haven’t heard before during his interview with Schiavello?
“I think so; I think you will,” Ross admitted. “We are talking about some ups and downs affiliated with my bells palsy, the facial paralysis issue I had, how I come to leave WWE in my retirement. I told Michael, it’s in the promo that I wasn’t going to retire, I got fired. It’s not the end of the world. It’s not a big deal. I’m not angry about it. It just happened. I was driving the train at that SummerSlam symposium and the train derailed and so I got to be responsible for it. Whether or not I was the cause of the derailment or not is highly questionable, quite frankly, but I can’t deny who was the driver of the train.”
Ross seems at peace with his past and departure from the WWE. He is grateful for the endeavors and opportunities that have come his way because of it.
“Look, it’s lead to some really cool things. I started podcasting. That’s been a blessing and I love podcasting. My show is doing great. We average over a half million downloads a week, off one show a week. I really appreciate folks checking us out every Tuesday night at nine o’clock a new show drops on Podcast One and Itunes. It’s free. Then I’m working on the FITE app. It’s an amazing tool. It’s a free app. If you have a smart device, smart phone or tablet or smart TV and Wi-Fi you’re in. We have great MMA cards that are off the beaten path, they’re small, but from those small cards come big stars somewhere down the road. So I’m having a blast with that and then, of course, CBS Sports Net starts on March 12th, a monthly series. I think in July and August. We were going to fight under the stars in downtown Vegas on the corner from the D Hotel and Casino, but I don’t think the athletic commission will sanction them in the summer with the heat.”
WWE Hall of Fame inductee JIm Ross makes his commentating debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV on Friday (March 5, 2016) with Josh Barnett. The veteran broadcaster will also sit down for a tell-all interview with Michael Schiavello on “The Voice Versus” prior to the wrestling card.
When it comes to pro wrestling announcers and broadcasters, few are lauded more greatly or held in higher esteem than WWE Hall of Fame inductee, Jim Ross.
“Good Ol’ JR” has beyond the mic for some of the most memorable calls in WWE and pro wrestling history and, of course, worked in talent relations among other duties as a company executive with the promotion. But when Ross moved on from WWE in 2013, another commentating gig for calling the action inside the squared circle was not yet on the horizon.
Ross, 64, called some boxing with Golden Boy Promotions on FOX Sports 1–where he is also a columnist–and the veteran commentator also called the Battlegrounds MMA eight-man tournament alongside retired UFC middleweight/light heavyweight Chael Sonnen. In addition to that, he hosts a highly-successful weekly podcast on Podcastone.com called “The Ross Report,” and writes a weekly wrestling blog on his website JRsbarbq.com, where you can also purchase items from his signature line of barbecue sauces and products.
On Friday night, Ross will be back in the world of professional wrestling, when he calls the action with UFC heavyweight contender, Josh Barnett for New Japan Pro Wrestling on AXS TV.
It’s safe to say that Ross feels like he is at home again.
“Oh yeah, it’s still like riding a bike,” Ross told MMAmania.com. “With Josh, we didn’t even do a rehearsal show. They asked us if we wanted to. I said, ‘well look, we are going to do a voice over right?’ ‘Yep.’ ‘So if we don’t like what we got we can do it over. So let’s record it like it’s live ammunition here, and see what we get.’ So, that is what we did and we liked it and we just try to get better on each show. It’s an adjustment period. I gotta learn who the guys are, the wrestlers are by sight and then I have to make sure I pronounce their names correctly. It sounds like small potatoes, but they are both big deals because it’s all about recognizing things. It’s easier when you got a singles match. But when you got tag matches and six-man tags and eight-man tags, then it can get a little dicey.
“Been working with Josh, he knows all these guys by sight. He’s called on the matches on AXS. He’s wrestled over there. He’s fought over there. He’s the perfect partner for me. He’s really great at explaining holds and strategies. So what we are trying to do Michael, is bring back more of a sports presentation feel for the broadcast. That is our goal and it will be a work in progress, but that is what we are shooting for. We are not looking to corner the market on hoity announcer repartee. There will be some funny stuff, but it will be organic; it will be real and not planned. We are really focused on what is on the screen and that way it lets the viewer suspend their disbelief to a degree. If they are relaxed and do that you can get lost in the story. The stories are very physical and very compelling for most guys.”
Barnett–who was working with Mauro Ranallo until WWE hired him for Smack Down–has the utmost respect for Ross, and in a recent interview with SiriusXM Fight Club said his new broadcasting partner is an “incredible professional.”
Ross shares a similar level of adulation for Barnett, and says there is no one better suited to call the action with him for New Japan Pro Wrestling.
“I don’t believe I can find a more perfect partner for this product,” Ross said. “His product knowledge, knowledge of the culture, his experience in the voice over room–he’s got it down–€”he doesn’t have any issues recreating excitement. I’ve done that for years on voiceovers. Hundreds and hundreds of hours on wrestling on thousands of matches in voice over sessions. I’ve grown accustomed to it and don’t have a problem with it. Josh is great. It’s great to have a guy… He can prepare less and do a great job, but that is not his style. I think he has this desire also… I think he has this desire that he wants to be, Michael, the best in the game and I can promise you that my desire is for our team is to be considered the best broadcasting team in the genre of pro wrestling. Whether we achieve that or not remains to be seen, but we have goals. We are competitive and maybe will think it’s egocentric. Well it may be a little of that too. You got to have to have a little bit of swagger. You’ve got to have a little bit of swag to survive in show business and at the end of the day we are still in show business.”
The New Japan shows are already pre taped and Ross and Barnett lay down all the commentary in voice over sessions, which has a unique and different set of challenges as opposed to being live at ring side. The New Japan show that airs on Friday (March 5, 2016) features an Intercontinental title match between Hirooki Goto and Shinsuke Nakamura, which, of course, has already taken place.
Ross explained how he prepares for a typical recording session.
“The show that airs this Friday night, I want to say that show was taped in May of 2015, but for me it’s all new,” Ross began to explain. “I don’t go online. I don’t go read the internet about these matches and get preconditioned based on what they were or this is a disappointment based on their last match or this match is five-star classic or whatever. I just do my research on the talent on why the matches are going on in a normal and traditional research and preparation. Like I did in WWE, I’d rather the match come to me and not be preconditioned by knowing the finish and all that stuff. I don’t need to know all that. I do a better job and I keep myself connected emotionally better if I don’t know. Little tricks of the trade. I don’t need to know every minute detail of a wrestling match. I didn’t know every minute detail of the XFL or the Atlanta Falcons or the MMA I’ve done, the boxing I’ve done or am gonna do. I always tell people this and this sounds egocentric as hell, turn on the monitor and I’ll call it. That’s all I’ll tell you. Now I will go out there and call it well, or great or not so good. But put the picture on the monitor, I’ll be prepared and I’ll give you the best call I can. I feel if I’m prepared and you give me the right pictures we are going to be fine.”
For Ross, it’s “absolutely” imperative that he gives the audience his honest first reactions and impressions. In other words, yes, he may know the outcome of a match because they are pre recorded, but when he calls said match, he’s seeing it for the first time along with the viewer to make sure there is an organic quality to it.
“I knew Nakamura lost the intercontinental title,” he revealed. “I don’t know how. I don’t know how long the match was. I don’t know the general outcome and then I forgot about it and moved on. I’m not an actor. I don’t know how to play a role of a broadcaster. That’s not what I do and so maybe I don’t have the skills like some announcers to be actors, but that’s not what I do. I’m a story teller and I tell the best stories when I’m on the same journey as the people who are listening.”
Ross has called thousands of matches in his illustrious career and he has a unique brand of delivery. He is responsible for many catch phrases like “tougher than a two-dollar steak,” “slobberknocker,” and “business is about to pick up here.” And probably none more iconic than the line from the famous 1998 “Hell in a Cell” match between The Undertaker and Mankind where he said, “as God as my witness he is broken in half,” after The Undertaker tossed Mankind off the top of the steel cage onto the announcer’s table.
The WWE Hall of Famer was asked to describe what separates him from the others in his field and what fans can expect to hear during New Japan Pro Wrestling that will truly stand out.
“Well, they are going to see the matches and they are going to hear the accompanying words,” said Ross, who is currently penning an auto-biography. “In other words you are going to hear one piece of music. We are all going to hear the same music. Josh and I are going to do our best to put the appropriate lyric to that sound and that music. So in other words, when the match is ongoing we are not going to be digressing to other topics of discussion. Look at it this way. The easiest way to explain it somebody: If you are a football broadcaster and you are in a live ball situation. So in other words, the quarterback is taking the snap and the ball is in play, you always here the broadcasters talking about what the audience is seeing while the ball is alive. I’d like to have the same philosophy in this New Japan product. Bell to bell we are going to bring you what we are seeing, what we are feeling while the match is ongoing. What it means to the winner. What it means to the loser, all these things. But the match is going to be the focal point. Not what’s trending, not other things that announcers are compelled and instructed to provide, the information to provide.
“You will hear that early and they will hear us talk about holds,” he continued. “Not just cute little names guys come up with for holds. But, why the holds work, how you counter them and what body part they are afflicting without being boring or slow. I got to think it won’t take long. The product we are calling is very announcer friendly for us and the other thing, for example, this Friday night we have two matches on our whole show, so there is plenty of time for these guys to tell a story and plenty of time for us to embellish that story and make it a little bit better. So I think it is a real good mix. I felt really good about that situation. It was a product I was comfortable with. I believed in it. I had confidence in it. I didn’t think I would be trying to make something out of something that isn’t there. So far we have six shows in the can. So far we have six shows in the can and they are great. We had a blast.”
New Japan Pro Wrestling airs on Friday night at 9 p.m. ET on AXS TV, but that isn’t the only program to feature Ross that evening. He will sit down with Michael Schiavello for a hour-long tell-all interview on “The Voice Versus.” at 8 p.m. ET.
With over 40 years in the pro wresting business, Ross has a treasure trove of stories, secrets and behind the scenes moments that would have any fan hanging on his every word. Will fans hear some revealing stories they haven’t heard before during his interview with Schiavello?
“I think so; I think you will,” Ross admitted. “We are talking about some ups and downs affiliated with my bells palsy, the facial paralysis issue I had, how I come to leave WWE in my retirement. I told Michael, it’s in the promo that I wasn’t going to retire, I got fired. It’s not the end of the world. It’s not a big deal. I’m not angry about it. It just happened. I was driving the train at that SummerSlam symposium and the train derailed and so I got to be responsible for it. Whether or not I was the cause of the derailment or not is highly questionable, quite frankly, but I can’t deny who was the driver of the train.”
Ross seems at peace with his past and departure from the WWE. He is grateful for the endeavors and opportunities that have come his way because of it.
“Look, it’s lead to some really cool things. I started podcasting. That’s been a blessing and I love podcasting. My show is doing great. We average over a half million downloads a week, off one show a week. I really appreciate folks checking us out every Tuesday night at nine o’clock a new show drops on Podcast One and Itunes. It’s free. Then I’m working on the FITE app. It’s an amazing tool. It’s a free app. If you have a smart device, smart phone or tablet or smart TV and Wi-Fi you’re in. We have great MMA cards that are off the beaten path, they’re small, but from those small cards come big stars somewhere down the road. So I’m having a blast with that and then, of course, CBS Sports Net starts on March 12th, a monthly series. I think in July and August. We were going to fight under the stars in downtown Vegas on the corner from the D Hotel and Casino, but I don’t think the athletic commission will sanction them in the summer with the heat.”
Jim Ross loves what he sees from Conor McGregor and compared him to two of the biggest icons and heels in pro wrestling history, as well as former UFC title contender Chael Sonnen.
A veteran of the professional wrestling business for over 40 years, WWE Hall of Fame inductee Jim Ross can spot its influence on mixed martial arts (MMA) and identify it quicker than most.
“Good Ol’ JR” knows a thing or two about a killer promo, the crowd’s approval of a hero and a villain’s ability to draw the heat and hatred from that very same crowd. MMA has borrowed quite a bit from pro wrestling since its inception back in the early 90s, but only a few have truly taken it to another level. Chael Sonnen caught lightning in a bottle back in 2010 in his lead up to a title fight with Anderson Silva and became one of the biggest stars in the sport’s short history.
Following the path Sonnen laid out before him, UFC featherweight Conor McGregor burst onto the scene in 2013 and currently stands alone among his peers in promotion, ticket and pay-per-view (PPV) sales and popularity. Ross, who is a huge UFC fan, has been paying close attention to the Irish champion’s meteoric rise to the top in and out of the Octagon, and sees the obvious similarities to pro wrestling with McGregor’s wardrobe to his antics on the mic.
“Well, we all know that the basics of modern-day MMA are the foundation and old-school basic principles of pro wrestling,” said Ross, who makes his New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) commentary debut Friday night (March 5, 2016) on AXS TV.
“By and large a lot of the same elements are in place. You have organically imposed heroes and villains. Sometimes a nationality makes a guy a fan favorite or a villain. Conor McGregor is a money making sound bite machine. Not withstanding the fact that he is a bad ass. I still don’t know if the MMA world truly knows without a shadow of a doubt just how good he is or isn’t in the Octagon. Now, he’s damn good, don’t get me wrong. I’m not questioning his skill level. But I think we can say, ‘have we seen the best of him or not? Does he have any weaknesses someone hasn’t exploited?’ All these questions need to be answered, and when you have four-ounce gloves coming at you the answers are very compact. That four-ounce gloved fist is a difference maker. So I think he is a gold mine. He seemingly came out of nowhere. If I had watched some of his smaller MMA events maybe I would’ve seen him. But he was a brand new guy to me and I was just amazed with him.”
Ross has called thousands of matches throughout his career and during his time as executive vice president of talent relations had a true eye for future talent signing future stars like “The Rock,” John Cena, Batista, Edge, and Brock Lesnar among others. He witnessed the best personalities in the business year after year, and there are two that come to mind when he sees McGregor operate.
“He reminds me when he is all dressed up of Ric Flair in his ability to provide a compelling sound bite,” Ross said. “And then I seen a tee shit with his accent very pronounced and for whatever reason, some strange reason, he reminds me kind of a heel, sinister ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper, who was about as good as there ever was in that role. So he’s got some really good traits and I’m not telling you he’s impersonating these guys. He might not even know who those guys are. I don’t know. Their traits remind me of Conor McGregor at times. So I look at this as nothing but a compliment to him. He has broken the mold.”
Ross, of course, was a big fan of Sonnen and his ability to cut a promo, insult and opponent and stay in character and on point, but says McGregor is even better.
“I thought Chael Sonnen was by far the best talker I’d ever heard in MMA until Conor McGregor came along. Of course Chael didn’t have a cause to fight for, at least not on TV, unfortunately, which is a bit of a travesty. But Conor McGregor is in elite company and hopefully his peers in other weight classes will take his lead and will follow it and perfect their own interview skills and ability to communicate in a natural fashion so that we don’t think Conor McGregor is working this. I truly believe what he says he believes. Maybe I’m naive, but I like what I hear and what I hear sounds real to me.”
McGregor takes on Nate Diaz at UFC 196 on Saturday night (March 5, 2016) in his welterweight debut. In addition to Ross commentary debut with Josh Barnett on NJPW on Friday night (March 4) the renowned broadcaster will sit down with Michael Schiavello on a new episode of “The Voice Versus” prior to NJPW at 8 p.m. ET as well.
For more on this weekend’s UFC 196 event click here.
Jim Ross loves what he sees from Conor McGregor and compared him to two of the biggest icons and heels in pro wrestling history, as well as former UFC title contender Chael Sonnen.
A veteran of the professional wrestling business for over 40 years, WWE Hall of Fame inductee Jim Ross can spot its influence on mixed martial arts (MMA) and identify it quicker than most.
“Good Ol’ JR” knows a thing or two about a killer promo, the crowd’s approval of a hero and a villain’s ability to draw the heat and hatred from that very same crowd. MMA has borrowed quite a bit from pro wrestling since its inception back in the early 90s, but only a few have truly taken it to another level. Chael Sonnen caught lightning in a bottle back in 2010 in his lead up to a title fight with Anderson Silva and became one of the biggest stars in the sport’s short history.
Following the path Sonnen laid out before him, UFC featherweight Conor McGregor burst onto the scene in 2013 and currently stands alone among his peers in promotion, ticket and pay-per-view (PPV) sales and popularity. Ross, who is a huge UFC fan, has been paying close attention to the Irish champion’s meteoric rise to the top in and out of the Octagon, and sees the obvious similarities to pro wrestling with McGregor’s wardrobe to his antics on the mic.
“Well, we all know that the basics of modern-day MMA are the foundation and old-school basic principles of pro wrestling,” said Ross, who makes his New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) commentary debut Friday night (March 5, 2016) on AXS TV.
“By and large a lot of the same elements are in place. You have organically imposed heroes and villains. Sometimes a nationality makes a guy a fan favorite or a villain. Conor McGregor is a money making sound bite machine. Not withstanding the fact that he is a bad ass. I still don’t know if the MMA world truly knows without a shadow of a doubt just how good he is or isn’t in the Octagon. Now, he’s damn good, don’t get me wrong. I’m not questioning his skill level. But I think we can say, ‘have we seen the best of him or not? Does he have any weaknesses someone hasn’t exploited?’ All these questions need to be answered, and when you have four-ounce gloves coming at you the answers are very compact. That four-ounce gloved fist is a difference maker. So I think he is a gold mine. He seemingly came out of nowhere. If I had watched some of his smaller MMA events maybe I would’ve seen him. But he was a brand new guy to me and I was just amazed with him.”
Ross has called thousands of matches throughout his career and during his time as executive vice president of talent relations had a true eye for future talent signing future stars like “The Rock,” John Cena, Batista, Edge, and Brock Lesnar among others. He witnessed the best personalities in the business year after year, and there are two that come to mind when he sees McGregor operate.
“He reminds me when he is all dressed up of Ric Flair in his ability to provide a compelling sound bite,” Ross said. “And then I seen a tee shit with his accent very pronounced and for whatever reason, some strange reason, he reminds me kind of a heel, sinister ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper, who was about as good as there ever was in that role. So he’s got some really good traits and I’m not telling you he’s impersonating these guys. He might not even know who those guys are. I don’t know. Their traits remind me of Conor McGregor at times. So I look at this as nothing but a compliment to him. He has broken the mold.”
Ross, of course, was a big fan of Sonnen and his ability to cut a promo, insult and opponent and stay in character and on point, but says McGregor is even better.
“I thought Chael Sonnen was by far the best talker I’d ever heard in MMA until Conor McGregor came along. Of course Chael didn’t have a cause to fight for, at least not on TV, unfortunately, which is a bit of a travesty. But Conor McGregor is in elite company and hopefully his peers in other weight classes will take his lead and will follow it and perfect their own interview skills and ability to communicate in a natural fashion so that we don’t think Conor McGregor is working this. I truly believe what he says he believes. Maybe I’m naive, but I like what I hear and what I hear sounds real to me.”
McGregor takes on Nate Diaz at UFC 196 on Saturday night (March 5, 2016) in his welterweight debut. In addition to Ross commentary debut with Josh Barnett on NJPW on Friday night (March 4) the renowned broadcaster will sit down with Michael Schiavello on a new episode of “The Voice Versus” prior to NJPW at 8 p.m. ET as well.
For more on this weekend’s UFC 196 event click here.
GLORY CEO Jon. J. Franklin gives his reaction to the launch of Bellator Kickboxing, and opens up about GLORY’s deal with UFC Fight Pass, and future plans with ESPN.
The more kickboxing airing on U.S. television, the merrier.
“More kickboxing on TV is great for the sport,” Franklin told MMAmania. It’s good for all of us and great that promoters see the value of kickboxing. It will help us sell more tickets wherever we go. The future of kickboxing is bright.”
GLORY is now far removed from its two-year tenure on Spike TV, which came to an end in October of 2015. Since then, the world’s leading kickboxing promotion has struck a deal with ESPN to broadcast their fight cards live on ESPN3 and on delay on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.
Most recently, GLORY reached a deal to broadcast their preliminary fight cards — the Superfight Series — exclusively on UFC Fight Pass.
Franklin had a great feeling about 2016 and the promotion’s first event of the year, GLORY 27, which takes place on Friday February 26, 2016) and was headlined by a Middleweight title bout between champion Artem Levin and No.3-ranked contender, Simon Marcus.
Spike TV senior vice president of sports, Jon Slusser told MMAmania after last Thursday’s (February 18, 2016) Bellator Kickboxing press conference that they was no issue with GLORY per se, they just felt confident that launching their own kickboxing promotion with Scott Coker at the helm and under the existing Viacom/Spike/Bellator umbrella was the best way to go.
“We still talk to the GLORY guys,” Slusser said. “It’s all good. We see an opportunity with the infrastructure and the platform we are already on. Here we are sitting on assets and great people and infrastructure that is really first class and why not take advantage of it to squeeze more efficiency out of it in a sport that we know has potential and we know has a future for the U.S. audience that it just doesn’t have today.”
“I don’t have any problem with them either,” Franklin said, when asked about Slusser’s comments. “I’m happy to say we had a great run at Spike. They were a great place for us to get going in the United States. I’m a combat sports fan and I watch fights on every network and I still watch fights on Spike,” he said.
“We talk to some of their fighters and we talk to some of their executives and I think the relationship is very cordial and certainly positive at things. Anyone that wants to make it out into some rivalry is just wrong. We are all measured and positive executives and we all want the best for the industry,” he added.
“Truly, I think getting more kickboxing on TV is just going to be better for everyone in the kickboxing industry. Like I said, we aren’t going to be in the same city at the same time trying to sell tickets against one another and people who watch kickboxing on TV are going to want to come to live fights and they are going to want to watch more kickboxing because they are going to be excited when kickboxing is on television. So, the more people that are exposed to our sport, the better it is going to be for everyone in the sport.”
It is accurate to say that GLORY was not heavily promoted on Spike and ratings often suffered due to that very fact and due to being placed on late time slots, or inconsistent ones like GLORY 22, which aired live from France at 4 p.m ET.
Franklin understands Viacom will most likely push their own product much harder than they did with GLORY. He touched on some of the hardships GLORY dealt with over the last year.
“Nobody wants to invest money building someone else’s brand,” he said. “You can see that they would want to, perhaps, take it a little further than they were with us. We were getting pushed around to odd time slots and they owned Bellator and PBC was paying them a lot to be on the air so they were times they were asking us to move and go later on night and do other things and it made it really tough to establish a consistent ratings driver for them. And with Scott (Coker) there they were interesting in having him help with our match making and changing some things around.”
“Frankly, we talked to them about doing some special events with guys like Kimbo Slice and they encouraged us to bring Mike Tyson to events, which we did, we had him in Virginia. All these things are great ratings drivers, but they’re not really the direction that we felt was proper. We were trying to put the best fighters in the world to fight for the belt. You don’t always get the most charismatic winners in those cases.”
Now that GLORY is with ESPN, Franklin feels the the mindsets of both parties are harmonious with one another as they head into their third fight card working with the worldwide leader in sports.
“With ESPN it’s totally different,” Franklin stated. “Their philosophy is 100 percent aligned with ours. They want to see the best fighters in the world go for the belt. The best competition. They don’t care if Roger Federer is winning the U.S. Open. I’m sure there is someone over there that would love to see an American win it, but if Roger Federer wins it, he’s the best guy. He deserves the trophy. Likewise, they haven’t ever said to us, ‘You need more Americans. Why don’t you match these guys up?’ They don’t tell the NCAA how to run their tournaments and they don’t tell us how to run ours. We feel like we are given a free hand to do what we do best.”
Does that mean that weren’t quite totally free while at Spike?
“They definitely were very involved in the process,” Franklin explained. “If you look at the ‘Dynamite’ event, they were pushing us in one direction. We were trying to come up with the best plan in conjunction with Spike to make the evening work properly and it wasn’t always easy.”
Moving forward, though, Franklin has no regrets with the promotion’s tenure at Spike and is ultimately looking forward to the future as the promotion heads into its twenty seventh event.
“We were happy over there for a time and I think they were happy to have us,” he said. “At the appropriate time we moved on to the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN, and we are getting run on three platforms of ESPN for each show. Now we are on UFC Fight Pass. We are partnering with the number one MMA promotion in the world. So, I mean, you can analyze that yourself, where we came from and where we’ve gotten to,” he added.
“Right now the relationship with UFC has started out all roses. We are happy to be with them. We are exclusive kickboxing on Fight Pass for a long time. We are looking forward to a great run with those guys.”
What could be difficult is the fact that GLORY stands a good chance to lose some of its roster to Bellator Kickboxing. No.1-ranked GLORY Middleweight, Joe Schilling and former GLORY Welterweight title contender Raymond Daniels have both signed on with Bellator Kickboxing. Schilling had two fights left on his contract, one of which he completed at the Superfight Series last Friday against Mike Lemaire, which he won via unanimous decision.
After his next bout is fulfilled, he said he intends to “fight for Bellator Kickboxing.”
One could get the impression that Coker will continue to raid the cupboard, so to speak, and poach some of the roster. Franklin said he is “never concerned,” about that, before adding, “We do what we do and they do what they do. Anything good for the athletes is ultimately good for the sport.”
As far as Schilling is concerned, Franklin said he “wishes Joe the best.” And stated he would like to see him “fight for a GLORY belt,” and would make that fight if “Stitch ’em Up” would accept it. “It’s up to him,” he said.
And with losing Daniels, Franklin didn’t seem too upset the high-flying fighter won’t be playing his trade in the GLORY ring any longer.
“He is certainly an extremely exciting fighter and he had a couple of knockouts in GLORY that have gone viral, but is he the up and coming guy for the next title?” Franklin asked. “I don’t know? GLORY is all about the best fighters in the world fighting for a belt. Does Raymond still fit in there? Maybe he does.”
“We’ve got a great roster of fighters,” he continued. “We are on one of the best networks in the world. We are partnering with the UFC on things. We have to worry about doing our business. For us, the future is bright. We’ve got a lot of great stuff going on. We are signing more and more international broadcasts around the world. We are looking good. We are very well positioned for 2016 from an athletic standpoint, from an exposure standpoint, from a television standpoint, from planning a calendar out in advance. We are really building from strength to strength going into 2016.”
Franklin mentioned that GLORY has been “looking at beefing up the Superfight Series for a very long time,” and now that it will be featured on Fight Pass, they will do so by making big matchups as well as title fights from now on.
“Looking at 2016, we want to make the Superfight Series into the premier property that it should be and it is now, with two title fights in Paris,” said Franklin, in reference to the next Superfight Series, which takes place on March 12, 2016, ahead of GLORY 28. “It’s all seeming to come together. We can put some title fights on the Superfight Series. We’ve got a lot of fighters that need to fight. We have 120 fighters under contract. We’ve got to keep them busy. That is one of the reasons we made the Superfight Series. It just seemed opportune and appropriate to put that series on Fight Pass.”
GLORY’s leading man also had some promising news about future events, saying “the plan going forward,” is for the U.S. events to be shown live on ESPN2 and ESPN3 simultaneously, and then the European events would be live on ESPN3 and replayed on delay on ESPN2, which would give GLORY much larger exposure. “We are really happy they chose us to put kickboxing on the network,” he said.
The rest of the 2016 GLORY schedule will being to roll out soon, Franklin said. The promotion is still finalizing details of future events with arenas, athletic commissions and international governing bodies. But once the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed, the upcoming events will be announced.
“The plan is a full schedule for 2016 and carry on great fights and build it and continue to expand our presence overseas. We signed a couple more international television contracts to fill in where we had holes in our distribution. We are going to announce shortly. It’s all good. The momentum is good. Great fights. Great TV networks. Everything is positive going into 2016.”
GLORY CEO Jon. J. Franklin gives his reaction to the launch of Bellator Kickboxing, and opens up about GLORY’s deal with UFC Fight Pass, and future plans with ESPN.
The more kickboxing airing on U.S. television, the merrier.
“More kickboxing on TV is great for the sport,” Franklin told MMAmania. It’s good for all of us and great that promoters see the value of kickboxing. It will help us sell more tickets wherever we go. The future of kickboxing is bright.”
GLORY is now far removed from its two-year tenure on Spike TV, which came to an end in October of 2015. Since then, the world’s leading kickboxing promotion has struck a deal with ESPN to broadcast their fight cards live on ESPN3 and on delay on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.
Most recently, GLORY reached a deal to broadcast their preliminary fight cards — the Superfight Series — exclusively on UFC Fight Pass.
Franklin had a great feeling about 2016 and the promotion’s first event of the year, GLORY 27, which takes place on Friday February 26, 2016) and was headlined by a Middleweight title bout between champion Artem Levin and No.3-ranked contender, Simon Marcus.
Spike TV senior vice president of sports, Jon Slusser told MMAmania after last Thursday’s (February 18, 2016) Bellator Kickboxing press conference that they was no issue with GLORY per se, they just felt confident that launching their own kickboxing promotion with Scott Coker at the helm and under the existing Viacom/Spike/Bellator umbrella was the best way to go.
“We still talk to the GLORY guys,” Slusser said. “It’s all good. We see an opportunity with the infrastructure and the platform we are already on. Here we are sitting on assets and great people and infrastructure that is really first class and why not take advantage of it to squeeze more efficiency out of it in a sport that we know has potential and we know has a future for the U.S. audience that it just doesn’t have today.”
“I don’t have any problem with them either,” Franklin said, when asked about Slusser’s comments. “I’m happy to say we had a great run at Spike. They were a great place for us to get going in the United States. I’m a combat sports fan and I watch fights on every network and I still watch fights on Spike,” he said.
“We talk to some of their fighters and we talk to some of their executives and I think the relationship is very cordial and certainly positive at things. Anyone that wants to make it out into some rivalry is just wrong. We are all measured and positive executives and we all want the best for the industry,” he added.
“Truly, I think getting more kickboxing on TV is just going to be better for everyone in the kickboxing industry. Like I said, we aren’t going to be in the same city at the same time trying to sell tickets against one another and people who watch kickboxing on TV are going to want to come to live fights and they are going to want to watch more kickboxing because they are going to be excited when kickboxing is on television. So, the more people that are exposed to our sport, the better it is going to be for everyone in the sport.”
It is accurate to say that GLORY was not heavily promoted on Spike and ratings often suffered due to that very fact and due to being placed on late time slots, or inconsistent ones like GLORY 22, which aired live from France at 4 p.m ET.
Franklin understands Viacom will most likely push their own product much harder than they did with GLORY. He touched on some of the hardships GLORY dealt with over the last year.
“Nobody wants to invest money building someone else’s brand,” he said. “You can see that they would want to, perhaps, take it a little further than they were with us. We were getting pushed around to odd time slots and they owned Bellator and PBC was paying them a lot to be on the air so they were times they were asking us to move and go later on night and do other things and it made it really tough to establish a consistent ratings driver for them. And with Scott (Coker) there they were interesting in having him help with our match making and changing some things around.”
“Frankly, we talked to them about doing some special events with guys like Kimbo Slice and they encouraged us to bring Mike Tyson to events, which we did, we had him in Virginia. All these things are great ratings drivers, but they’re not really the direction that we felt was proper. We were trying to put the best fighters in the world to fight for the belt. You don’t always get the most charismatic winners in those cases.”
Now that GLORY is with ESPN, Franklin feels the the mindsets of both parties are harmonious with one another as they head into their third fight card working with the worldwide leader in sports.
“With ESPN it’s totally different,” Franklin stated. “Their philosophy is 100 percent aligned with ours. They want to see the best fighters in the world go for the belt. The best competition. They don’t care if Roger Federer is winning the U.S. Open. I’m sure there is someone over there that would love to see an American win it, but if Roger Federer wins it, he’s the best guy. He deserves the trophy. Likewise, they haven’t ever said to us, ‘You need more Americans. Why don’t you match these guys up?’ They don’t tell the NCAA how to run their tournaments and they don’t tell us how to run ours. We feel like we are given a free hand to do what we do best.”
Does that mean that weren’t quite totally free while at Spike?
“They definitely were very involved in the process,” Franklin explained. “If you look at the ‘Dynamite’ event, they were pushing us in one direction. We were trying to come up with the best plan in conjunction with Spike to make the evening work properly and it wasn’t always easy.”
Moving forward, though, Franklin has no regrets with the promotion’s tenure at Spike and is ultimately looking forward to the future as the promotion heads into its twenty seventh event.
“We were happy over there for a time and I think they were happy to have us,” he said. “At the appropriate time we moved on to the worldwide leader in sports, ESPN, and we are getting run on three platforms of ESPN for each show. Now we are on UFC Fight Pass. We are partnering with the number one MMA promotion in the world. So, I mean, you can analyze that yourself, where we came from and where we’ve gotten to,” he added.
“Right now the relationship with UFC has started out all roses. We are happy to be with them. We are exclusive kickboxing on Fight Pass for a long time. We are looking forward to a great run with those guys.”
What could be difficult is the fact that GLORY stands a good chance to lose some of its roster to Bellator Kickboxing. No.1-ranked GLORY Middleweight, Joe Schilling and former GLORY Welterweight title contender Raymond Daniels have both signed on with Bellator Kickboxing. Schilling had two fights left on his contract, one of which he completed at the Superfight Series last Friday against Mike Lemaire, which he won via unanimous decision.
After his next bout is fulfilled, he said he intends to “fight for Bellator Kickboxing.”
One could get the impression that Coker will continue to raid the cupboard, so to speak, and poach some of the roster. Franklin said he is “never concerned,” about that, before adding, “We do what we do and they do what they do. Anything good for the athletes is ultimately good for the sport.”
As far as Schilling is concerned, Franklin said he “wishes Joe the best.” And stated he would like to see him “fight for a GLORY belt,” and would make that fight if “Stitch ’em Up” would accept it. “It’s up to him,” he said.
And with losing Daniels, Franklin didn’t seem too upset the high-flying fighter won’t be playing his trade in the GLORY ring any longer.
“He is certainly an extremely exciting fighter and he had a couple of knockouts in GLORY that have gone viral, but is he the up and coming guy for the next title?” Franklin asked. “I don’t know? GLORY is all about the best fighters in the world fighting for a belt. Does Raymond still fit in there? Maybe he does.”
“We’ve got a great roster of fighters,” he continued. “We are on one of the best networks in the world. We are partnering with the UFC on things. We have to worry about doing our business. For us, the future is bright. We’ve got a lot of great stuff going on. We are signing more and more international broadcasts around the world. We are looking good. We are very well positioned for 2016 from an athletic standpoint, from an exposure standpoint, from a television standpoint, from planning a calendar out in advance. We are really building from strength to strength going into 2016.”
Franklin mentioned that GLORY has been “looking at beefing up the Superfight Series for a very long time,” and now that it will be featured on Fight Pass, they will do so by making big matchups as well as title fights from now on.
“Looking at 2016, we want to make the Superfight Series into the premier property that it should be and it is now, with two title fights in Paris,” said Franklin, in reference to the next Superfight Series, which takes place on March 12, 2016, ahead of GLORY 28. “It’s all seeming to come together. We can put some title fights on the Superfight Series. We’ve got a lot of fighters that need to fight. We have 120 fighters under contract. We’ve got to keep them busy. That is one of the reasons we made the Superfight Series. It just seemed opportune and appropriate to put that series on Fight Pass.”
GLORY’s leading man also had some promising news about future events, saying “the plan going forward,” is for the U.S. events to be shown live on ESPN2 and ESPN3 simultaneously, and then the European events would be live on ESPN3 and replayed on delay on ESPN2, which would give GLORY much larger exposure. “We are really happy they chose us to put kickboxing on the network,” he said.
The rest of the 2016 GLORY schedule will being to roll out soon, Franklin said. The promotion is still finalizing details of future events with arenas, athletic commissions and international governing bodies. But once the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed, the upcoming events will be announced.
“The plan is a full schedule for 2016 and carry on great fights and build it and continue to expand our presence overseas. We signed a couple more international television contracts to fill in where we had holes in our distribution. We are going to announce shortly. It’s all good. The momentum is good. Great fights. Great TV networks. Everything is positive going into 2016.”
“The Count” remains undefeated in his home country by picking up his eighteenth career victory in London, England, at UFC Fight Night 84 earlier tonight (Sat., Feb. 27, 2016) inside The O2 Arena.
Michael Bisping (28-7) defeated Anderson Silv…
“The Count” remains undefeated in his home country by picking up his eighteenth career victory in London, England, at UFC Fight Night 84 earlier tonight (Sat., Feb. 27, 2016) inside The O2 Arena.
Michael Bisping (28-7) defeated Anderson Silva (33-7-1NC) by unanimous decision in a five-round bloody war, where he left everything he had inside the Octagon in front of his hometown fans. All three judges scored the bout 48-47 for Bisping.
Bisping dropped “The Spider” in the second round, got dropped himself by a flying knee in a crazy exchange in the third round and fought on the last two rounds with his face bloody and badly busted up.
“I wanted this fight my entire life,” Bisping told Dan Hardy after the fight. “Because of you guys you gave me the power. I’m just a guy from a very normal background and you’ve been in my corner the entire time.
Bisping threw a high kick to start the bout, but Silva easily avoided it. The two circled for the majority of the opening minutes, feeling out each their range. Silva landed a low kick and continued to move around on the outside. Bisping landed a pair of punches. Silva waved Bisping forward and threw a big punch that missed the mark. “The Count” backed Silva up against the fence but couldn’t capitalize. Bisping connected with a solid right/left combination that wobbled Silva, and the former UFC middleweight champion returned fire.
In the second, Bisping backed up the 40-year-old Silva against the fence once again. From there Silva began his taunting tactics by standing with his hands down inviting Bisping to attack. Bisping reset and moved to center of the Octagon. Silva didn’t land a lot, but he landed a few solid punches while carrying on his hand-waving histrionics. Toward the end of the round, Silva badly missed a right hand, and Bisping made him pay by hitting a clean left hook that wobbled Silva, and then landed a left hook, right hand combination to put Silva on his rear end. Bisping swarmed in to finish, but Silva regained composure and survived the 36-year-old Brit’s onslaught.
Bisping came forward to start the third, but didn’t land. Silva missed badly on the same right hand that got him in trouble in the second round. Silva went upstairs with a big head kick, but Silva blocked it. With two minutes left Siva began to move toward Bisping and continued his hand waving. Bisping landed a nice jab, but Silva continued to move forward and pick up the pace. Silva began to land big shots and Bisping lost his mouth piece. As he was in trouble, Silva kept coming forward. Silva missed a knee from the clinch. Bisping said something to referee Herb Dean about his mouth piece and Silva landed a jumping knee on the button, which floored Bisping as the horn sounded to end the round.
Silva began celebrating like he won the fight, and it was a bit of a confusing scene before the fourth round started.
In the fourth round Bisping — now with a bloody face — came forward with some big punches and took a hit in the groin from Silva. Dean halted the action for Bisping to recover. Bisping came forward again, forcing Silva against the fence and landed several big punches. Silva landed a right hand, but Bisping kept coming forward and landing on the No.5-ranked UFC Middleweight. Herb Dean stopped the fight again after Bisping poked Silva in the eye. When the action resumed, Bisping came forward again and landed more punches, while Silva remained content with his back up against the fence. Silva landed a right hook and a left straight and he moved forward on Bisping. Silva then landed a big left hand that hurt Bisping right before the end of the round.
Bisping’s face was badly busted up to start the final round. Silva went up top with another head kick, but Bisping was able to block it. Silva went up high again and that one was blocked by Bisping. Dean halted the bout to have the doctor check Bisping’s cut. Silva landed a big front kick to Bisping’s face, which hurt him and came forward aggressively. Silva landed a knee, but could not put Bisping away. Bisping entire face was now crimson with blood, but he kept coming. Bisping went in on a takedown, but Silva easily defended it. Bisping continued to come forward, but Silva would get the better of the exchanges for the remainder of the round.
Many will question the decision going in favor of Bisping, but it’s undeniably the biggest win of his career. He was ranked No.7 in the middleweight division heading into this bout and will assuredly jump up in the rankings with the victory. With the win, Bisping improves to 17-7 in UFC.
Tough loss for Silva, who returned to the Octagon for the first time since UFC 183 and after a suspension for performance enhancing drugs. The loss is only the third of Silva’s UFC career. He is now 16-3-1NC in UFC competition.
For complete UFC Fight Night 84 “Silva vs. Bisping” results, including play-by-play updates, click here.
