Author: Nick Caron

MMA: The Academy’s Nick Compton Steps in for Zach Juusola vs. Billy Christianson

Being a good teammate sometimes means more than just being there to help train with your fellow training partners. Sometimes it even means stepping in for one of them and fighting a battle that he or she is currently unable to engage in. In the case …

Being a good teammate sometimes means more than just being there to help train with your fellow training partners. Sometimes it even means stepping in for one of them and fighting a battle that he or she is currently unable to engage in.

In the case of Minnesota mixed martial artist Nick Compton, it’s both of those things—but when there’s a huge opportunity for himself involved, it just makes things that much sweeter.

Compton will be replacing his The Academy teammate, Zach Juusola, in the main event of Friday night’s Driller Promotions event in downtown Minneapolis at the Hyatt hotel.

Juusola suffered a broken orbital bone while preparing for his bout with Billy Christianson. With “Juice” out, matchmaker Jeremy Bjornberg turned to Compton to step in and take his place.

“I actually had a feeling that I was going to be approached about taking his spot. When I received a call from Jeremy and he offered me the main event, it didn’t take me long to decide to take that fight,” Compton told Bleacher Report MMA. “Once the main event became available, I saw it as a major opportunity for me and I couldn’t pass up on that.”

Compton’s opponent, Billy Christianson, is the No. 8-ranked lightweight fighter in the state of Minnesota according to MNMMANEWS.com. The opportunity to fight a ranked fighter in the main event was something that Compton believes he is ready for.

“I’ve been fighting almost once a month. Jeremy Bjornberg has kept me really busy and that’s exactly what I’ve wanted,” he said. “I took April off from fighting to focus on getting better at The Academy, looking to become a better all-around fighter, with an emphasis on my wrestling.”

The 30-year-old was training for a fight of his own on the same card against Caleb Wolff, and trained daily with Juusola in preparation for the event.

Christianson himself told Bleacher Report earlier this week that he believes Compton and Juusola are very similar fighters, at least stylistically, but Compton himself wasn’t so quick to agree.

“There are some similarities between our styles, especially in the standup. We’re both longer 155-pounders, we both definitely use our feet and our hands well,” he explained. “I believe that Juice is more of a wrestling-based grappler and I’m more of a jiu-jitsu-based grappler. That’s evident by just looking at our wins and how [the fights] have been finished.”

At 4-2 as a professional, each of Compton’s three most recent wins have come by way of submission. Two were even in the first round.

“We implemented [Juusola’s gameplan] into what I was doing and catered it to my strengths,” he said. “But I think I pose a different kind of threat when it comes to the submission game, and I don’t think that’s going to be similar to Juice.”

The submission game has been good to Compton in his six professional fights, and while it would appear on the surface that it would be a wise decision for him to try to take Christianson to the mat, Compton doesn’t seem to be intent on such a straightforward strategy.

“I’m really comfortable wherever the fight takes place,” he said. “I don’t really like to say that I’m going to key in on taking the fight to the ground. I feel like I’ve been improving my standup and my footwork. If it’s a standup fight, it’s a standup fight. I’m perfectly comfortable going three rounds on my feet. I don’t feel like I need to bring it to the ground.”

As confident as he is, Compton is not overlooking a fighter whom he called an extremely dangerous and aggressive striker.  

“Billy [Christianson] is my main focus right now,” Compton said. “I don’t think past anyone. He’s very dangerous, he’s 6-1. He brings a lot of explosiveness. For me to overlook him at all would be a big mistake.”

These two fight finishers will do battle on May 18 as they meet in the main event at Driller Promotions’ Downtown Showdown V from the Hyatt in Minneapolis. Fans can purchase tickets online or at the door the day of the event.

Photography thanks to Sandy Hackenmueller of Fight to Finish Photography.

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: .

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Billy Christianson: Nick Compton Has to Stay Awake to Win, Still Wants Juusola

Minnesota mixed martial arts is heating up in 2012 following a successful event co-promoted by some of the top promotions in the Twin Cities just a few weeks ago. Next on the schedule is Driller Promotions’ return to the Hyatt in Minneapolis on M…

Minnesota mixed martial arts is heating up in 2012 following a successful event co-promoted by some of the top promotions in the Twin Cities just a few weeks ago. Next on the schedule is Driller Promotions’ return to the Hyatt in Minneapolis on May 18 for Downtown Showdown V.

The event will feature two of the best 155-pound fighters in the state as Billy Christianson battles Nick Compton in what is sure to be a highly entertaining bout.

As good as this fight should be, however, it wasn’t actually the originally scheduled main event. Instead, Christianson, MNMMANEWS’s No. 8 ranked lightweight from the state, was previously set to fight No. 4 ranked lightweight Zach “Juice” Juusola. Unfortunately, a broken orbital bone on Juusola put a stop to that highly anticipated bout before it could get started.

“I was just kind of bummed out. I really wanted to fight Juice,” Christianson told Bleacher Report MMA. “I felt like he was a really good opponent for me. He was the guy that I wanted to take me to the next level. He has a great record, he’s higher than me on the rankings.”

After quitting his job at the railroad to go full-time in the sport, “The Kidd” has set his eyes on moving up the rankings in 2012. A win over Juusola would have helped catapult him closer to where he wants to be. While Compton doesn’t have the ranking that Juusola does, Christianson is not taking him lightly and continues to prepare for this new fight, almost as if he were still going against Juusola.

“We really only got two weeks to prepare for Compton, and that’s about the time that I really start cutting weight, taking it easy and just staying in shape,” he said. “I’ve watched some film, but we really didn’t change anything up from Juice because, surprisingly enough, [Compton] has kind of got a similar style as Juice.

“We trained for Juice and he’s a tough opponent. We trained hard for him, I really bumped up my camp. I’m confident that the same gameplan will work out against Nick.”

The gameplan, at this point, should be fairly obvious to those who have seen “The Kidd” fight.

In his six professional MMA victories, only one of Christianson’s opponents even made out of the first round without being knocked out or tapping out due to punches. That opponent was then quickly disposed of with a violent knockout just 25 seconds into Round 2.

His opponent, Compton, might be a different story, however. Though he has two professional losses, neither were by knockout. In fact, both came in decisions and one was a razor-thin split decision loss to another top-10 Minnesota lightweight, Damion Hill, back in January of this year.

“I’m definitely ready to go three, five-minute rounds if it comes to that,” Christianson said. “I train for well over three, five’s, so that should be easy. I’m confident that I could take him in a decision, but he’s got to stay awake that long to get that far.”

Though taking the fight with Compton was a step down as far as rankings are concerned, Christianson never considered dropping off the card and not fighting after Juusola got hurt.

“I’ve been itching to get in the cage. I haven’t been as excited for a fight as I was for Zach [Juusola]. I was really amped up for that one and when he got hurt, I really just wanted an opponent,” Christianson said.

“I didn’t want to fight a can, a nobody. It’s tough to find a good opponent on short notice and I definitely respect Nick for stepping up and taking this. In my eyes, Compton is a good opponent, especially on short-notice.”

While he is not overlooking his opponent for Friday night’s fight, Christianson is still very much looking to settle some unfinished business with his original opponent, Zach Juusola.

“I’m coming for Juice,” he said. “He was talking a little bit of trash about me on Facebook, saying how he’s going to knock me out… Saying how it was going to be an easy fight for him. So we’re going to give him that opportunity.”

According to Juusola’s Facebook, he expects to be back to training in approximately six weeks. That should give him plenty of time to prepare for the fight if the two lightweights meet in September, when Christianson is hoping to fight next.

For now, though, Christianson will be focused on staying in the win column against a tough opponent in Compton. If he can do that, then we just might see the developing grudge match between “The Kidd” and “Juice” later in 2012.

For tickets to Friday’s fight card, please visit the online ticket booth at SterlingMN.com or call 612-281-6300. Doors open at 7:00pm and fights will begin at 7:30pm.

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: .

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Urijah Faber at UFC 148: A Case for the Elimination of Interim Titles

When bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz was forced out of his scheduled title defense against Urijah Faber at UFC 148, the UFC was put in a very tough position. Injuries happen from time-to-time in the sport of mixed martial arts, and recently, C…

When bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz was forced out of his scheduled title defense against Urijah Faber at UFC 148, the UFC was put in a very tough position. 

Injuries happen from time-to-time in the sport of mixed martial arts, and recently, Cruz’s fellow champion Jon Jones had his own title defense against Rashad Evans delayed due to a minor injury.

Cruz’s injury was much more severe, however. In fact, for a high-level athlete, the injury was one of the worst possible—a torn ACL.

To their credit, the UFC sprung into action. After all, this isn’t their first setback of a major title fight. 

Without much hesitation, UFC President Dana White announced that while Cruz was out of the main event, Faber would still be competing at the event against an opponent yet to be named. Not only that, but that fight would now be for the interim bantamweight championship.

While most are happy that “The California Kid” will still be fighting at UFC 148, there’s a growing group that is asking the question, “Why?”

Not about Faber still fighting—we get that—we’re questioning whether there’s a real need for an interim championship. Personally, I don’t believe there’s any real need for it. Allow me to explain why.

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Strikeforce: Josh Thomson Disputes Injury Rumors, Will Still Fight Melendez

The sport of mixed martial arts hasn’t yet earned its fair share of coverage from major media sources, and with that, there are often rumors that take a while to get substantiated one way or another. That was the case on Thursday night when freela…

The sport of mixed martial arts hasn’t yet earned its fair share of coverage from major media sources, and with that, there are often rumors that take a while to get substantiated one way or another. 

That was the case on Thursday night when freelance reporter @FrontRowBrian tweeted that former Strikeforce lightweight champion Josh Thomson had suffered a torn PCL and that his fight with current champion Gilbert Melendez was in jeopardy.

The rumor stood and was generally taken as fact by the MMA community, that is, until Thomson himself got around to reading it. 

“The Punk” didn’t take kindly to the rumor and began going after the reporter from his own Twitter account, @TheRealPunk.

Thomson did not dispute the rumor that he was injured, however, he did make sure to note that he will still be fighting on May 19. 

Ultimately the decision will come down to whether the California State Athletic Commission clears Thomson to fight, but as of right now, fans should assume the scheduled fight for the Strikeforce lightweight title will go on as planned.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC: Will We Ever See Another Million PPV Buy Event?

For the past few years, UFC President Dana White and his fellow executives have been hyping up the UFC and mixed martial arts as a whole as the fastest growing sport in the world. With a new network television deal on FOX, top-level sponsors and a…

For the past few years, UFC President Dana White and his fellow executives have been hyping up the UFC and mixed martial arts as a whole as the fastest growing sport in the world. 

With a new network television deal on FOX, top-level sponsors and a global marketing plan that has included events in seven different countries over the past six months, the sky seems to be the limit for this blooming sports organization.

However, lost in the success is a glass ceiling which the promotion hasn’t been able to break through as of late despite the popularity of the sport growing by leaps and bounds. I’m talking about pay-per-view buyrates. 

UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velasquez—this was the last time that a UFC pay-per-view event reached one million buys. Not coincidentally, it was also the last time that Brock Lesnar—the biggest pay-per-view name in the promotion’s history—held the UFC heavyweight championship. 

With Lesnar now back with the WWE, it’s not surprising that the promotion has struggled to reach even close to those numbers.

In 2011, two events tied for the most pay-per-view purchases with 800,000—UFC 129 (St-Pierre vs. Shields) and UFC 141 (Lesnar vs. Overeem). While 800,000 is nothing to scoff at, it is definitely a significant drop-off from the numerous million-buy events that the company had, the majority of which were headlined by Lesnar.

So now with the former heavyweight champ out of the picture, it’s beginning to look as if the UFC might never get back to that magic number. 

Perhaps the biggest test of this will come on July 7, 2012 when Anderson Silva battles Chael Sonnen at UFC 148. 

The first Silva-Sonnen fight drew in over 600,000 buys and that was before the feud developed into the worldwide story that it is today. Now that the rivalry has grown to where it is today, it will be interesting to see whether the event can reach that historical 1 million mark.

Intense rivalries have been very successful in generating large buyrates in the past, even ones which were never as intense and long-lasting as the Silva-Sonnen feud. Both Rashad Evans vs. Rampage Jackson at UFC 114 and Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz at UFC 66 narrowly reached the 1 million buy milestone. 

Then again, that was before the days when the UFC averaged more than one pay-per-view event per month.

UFC 148 was originally stacked with not only the Silva-Sonnen fight, but also the rubber match between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber. Unfortunately, with Cruz having been forced out of the event due to an injury, it is now unlikely that there will be that extra boost of buys from fans who are long-time fans of the former WEC stars.

Now SIlva and Sonnen are going to have to do it on their own.

Love them or hate them as a fan, pay-per-views are one of the biggest sources of revenue for the UFC and have been a staple of the organization for years. The buyrates are not something that the company takes lightly. 

While they’ll be able to survive without hitting a million televisions again, it’s hard to believe that the executives at Zuffa won’t be intently waiting to see if their most-hyped fight in years is able to achieve a seven-digit buyrate. 

If they can’t do it at UFC 148, it may never happen again.

For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: .

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Grading the First Three UFC on FOX Events

UFC on FOX 3 is now in the books and the UFC brand continues to grow with every appearance on the network television station.The most recent event featured an excellent fight card with a main event between lightweights Nate Diaz and Jim Miller. While i…

UFC on FOX 3 is now in the books and the UFC brand continues to grow with every appearance on the network television station.

The most recent event featured an excellent fight card with a main event between lightweights Nate Diaz and Jim Miller. While it did not contain the star power that the previous two events did, many are already saying that UFC on FOX 3 might have been the most exciting of the bunch so far.

But are exciting fights alone enough to make these cards a success?

Let’s delve deeper as we grade each of the first three UFC on FOX events.

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