UFC 145: Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans a Must-See Fight

Remember what you were doing on Feb. 26? Been awhile since then, huh?In this non-stop, 100 tweets per minute cycle we live in now, thinking back to Monday takes enough mental strain, let alone almost two months. Maybe you were cold, shoveling snow?Mayb…

Remember what you were doing on Feb. 26? Been awhile since then, huh?

In this non-stop, 100 tweets per minute cycle we live in now, thinking back to Monday takes enough mental strain, let alone almost two months. Maybe you were cold, shoveling snow?

Maybe you were just getting out of the doghouse for messing up Valentines Day?

Or maybe, as the case for some sports fans, you were watching the last UFC pay-per-view. 

It really has been that long since Dana White‘s traveling show of strikes, submissions and Joe Rogan streams has hunkered itself down in an arena, thrown two big-name fighters in an eight-sided cage and charged you $49.99 (give or take) for the pleasure.

Almost hard to believe.

We’re used to at least one of these a month, even more after the torrid pace at which they were cranked out at the end of 2011 and early part of 2012. 

Alas, we haven’t seen one since that date mentioned above, when Benson Henderson beat Frankie Edgar in Japan. This weekend changes that in a big way—with big names, big fight, big anticipation. UFC 145 gives us Jon Jones versus Rashad Evans. 

Fight fans know this is a must-watch, but for the casual fans, here’s why you should grab a few buddies and pitch in, or head out and find a bar that’s playing this one. You’ve got arguably the hottest name in MMA right now (Jones, who’s on the precipice of becoming a mainstream superstar) taking on a rival where there’s no love lost.

No “play to the cameras” beef here. These dudes straight up don’t like each other. 

And that’s why this is the biggest fight of the year

Months in the making, this drama between friends turned enemies has turned into MMA’s version of a real life soap opera. 

No one could have scripted better the rapid rift between Evans and the Greg Jackson camp or the deterioration of his friendship with Jones. However, like all historic fights, the stars somehow seem to align to create the perfect mix of real drama and an amazing matchup of styles.

No argument here. 

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UFC on FOX 1: The Organization Is Selling Out, and Why You Should Embace It

Change is coming to the UFC—big, sweeping change. The signs are everywhere, open your eyes and absorb: This is what selling out looks like.  Look at the accompanying trailer for UFC on FOX 1; see how it’s completely different from all the o…

Change is coming to the UFC—big, sweeping change. The signs are everywhere, open your eyes and absorb: This is what selling out looks like. 

Look at the accompanying trailer for UFC on FOX 1; see how it’s completely different from all the others throughout the years. What worked in the promos for all those PPVs and Spike TV specials is out, tossed aside like a box of irregular Tapout shirts. 

No exaggerated camera-preening. No overly masculine, used-car-salesman-like voice-over. No generic metal music. Instead, it’s the Rolling Stones and rosary beads, mixed with cuts of blue-tinted B-roll. 

Look at the carefully calculated PR blitz, one reeling in mainstreamers as the hours become minutes before the beginning of the UFC’s first fight on network television. There’s Dana White kicking it with Cowherd and Beadle on SportsNation. There’s a seven-page article occupying the main real estate on the New York Times‘ website. No coup coverage or Capitol Hill dispatches leading the way for the country’s paper of record—it’s cage fighting’s time. 

The bell for Cain vs. Dos Santos Saturday won’t just signal the beginning of the heavyweight title bout; it’s the sound that the promotion’s seismic shift is taking shape. 

“Pleased to meet you,” new-look UFC. This is exactly what this sport needs, to start looking more like a sport. And the build-up to this watershed moment shows that all the right moves are being taken. 

While there’s so much to love about MMA, there’s so much that’s off-putting, too. Before you start bombarding the comments, please note that none of it has to do with the product the athletes put forth. The fights are invigorating, the fighters themselves marvels of sinew and skill. 

No, it’s the surrounding scenes and production that can turn off the casual fan. Casual Fan doesn’t resonate with the rah-rah, monster-truck-rally-type commercials. Casual Fan finds Affliction clothing gross. Casual Fan wants to feel comfortable, and the accompanying UFC sideshow can be a turnoff.

Hence the inevitable changes. Saturday, you won’t have to open your eyes and absorb the changes; they’ll be playing out in 1080p in your living room. They’ll be a more toned-down Joe Rogan, with less emphasis on the ring girls’ assets, too. Bet on it. 

FOX will play up the human-interest angles of these fighters, and leave the jargon behind. Casual Fan doesn’t want a 10-minute dissertation comparing the virtues of jiu-jitsu vs. wrestling. They’ll latch onto tales of overcoming hardship and character, all tied together with precise editing and heart-string-pulling music. 

Oh, and look for de-emphasis and spin if it becomes a blood-gusher. 

If you just skim the surface, these are all tenets of selling out, of ditching what made the UFC what it is today. For years, the haughty members of mainstream media turned up their noses at the UFC. So the UFC circumvented them: They credentialed bloggers when nobody else would. They created a community around a fanbase that wanted something different, and packaged it around their likes. 

Now, they’re working for the same people who once wrote them off as a barbaric fringe sport. Selling Out 101. But you can’t hate. Every organization that rises up eventually does this. It’s not a sign of being weak or ditching your ideals; it’s a signifier of wanting continuing success. Every thriving enterprise has to change and adapt as it gets bigger, and this is no exception. 

Besides, what won’t change is what makes the UFC great in the first place: the fighting product. Regardless of how it’s assembled and sent out to viewers, Saturday night will still be two of the best heavyweight fighters in the world battling in an eight-sided ring. 

No MMA fan can argue with that. 

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Nick Diaz Is a Punk and Why That Is Great for the UFC

Moments after Nick Diaz’s hand was raised, he dropped an F-bomb. He called out Georges St-Pierre and insinuated one of the greatest fighters in the world was a sissy. He scowled, talked some more trash, mean-mugged the UFC 137 audience and scowled some…

Moments after Nick Diaz’s hand was raised, he dropped an F-bomb. He called out Georges St-Pierre and insinuated one of the greatest fighters in the world was a sissy. He scowled, talked some more trash, mean-mugged the UFC 137 audience and scowled some more.

“I don’t think Georges is hurt,” Diaz said in the octagon Saturday night. “I think he’s scared.”

Diaz is a punk. A press conference-skipping, drug-test failing, mouth-running punk. He’ll act like he doesn’t care. He’s indifferent to what the fans think about his antics. We judge, he just keeps on scowling. We decry every facet of his persona, he just runs another triathlon.

And it’s great. All stories need villains, and all sports need characters. The NFL is better with Ochocincos and Jeremy Shockeys. Hockey’s bolstered by enforcers. Most importantly, the UFC needs an anti-hero like Diaz. In the face of the ever-expanding, corporate-sponsor attracting, soon-to-be-on-Fox brand that is the Ultimate Fighting Championship, is a 28-year-old repping America’s Most Miserable City who doesn’t come running when Dana White rings.

Rules? Pshaw. Diaz has never found any need for those. He’s that guy at your work who always shows up late and takes two-hour lunches. He’s a recluse who views MMA as a job.

Many of us obsess over the sport, devour every article and watch reruns of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike. For him it’s a 9-to-5, a chore.

So he skips a press conference and gets bounced from the opportunity of a lifetime against GSP. Unforgivable, many said. We hailed that he was done. We opined that he’ll never truly get it, wrote him off as a lost cause and a waste of God-given talent.

Nope. Instead, he got BJ Penn, and everything went his way. After Saturday’s retirement-inducing destruction of “The Prodigy,”  Diaz is in the best position of his life. He’ll fight St- Pierre on Super Bowl weekend — a far bigger deal than it would have been before. Who said you have to follow all the rules to get what you want? The punk prevailed and spoke his mind when the microphone found his face.

Not that anyone should be surprised. Diaz has never played the other side of the fight game: marketing yourself for money. Flip on a flat-screen and there’s Urijah Faber selling everything from energy drinks to K-Swiss shoes to the Marine Corps. Turn on HBO this month and there’s Rampage Jackson in the A-Team. Chuck Liddell danced with the stars.

Could you imagine Diaz doing the tango or chortling with Kenny Powers? No, because he’s never been that guy. He’s always been his own person, played by his own set of standards. Now, he’s in the driver’s seat. And that’s perfect, because Diaz’s presence makes the UFC better.

Diaz is at the pinnacle of his career, and he reached it by being a rule-breaking antagonist. So people boo and hate. The fans on Saturday immediately started chanting Penn’s name the second the bell rang. It all makes for great theater, especially when Diaz can shake it off and jab with such effectiveness.

So yes, you may hate Diaz. But it’s hard to deny his ability to polarize.

Boo on, but appreciate the bad guy.

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