We’re just hours away from tonight’s mid-week UFC action. So while we twiddle our thumbs waiting for the festivities to kick off in Indianapolis, feel free to peruse these last-second betting lines courtesy of our friends at BestFightOdds.com, then follow me into today’s headlines.
5 MUST-READ STORIES
Henderson: I’m going to break Silva’s record. Benson Henderson spoke early and often of one day becoming Anderson Silva’s equal, then surpassing his hallowed record for consecutive UFC title defenses. And now the number is set in stone.
Curran-Straus. Bellator’s inaugural pay-per-view has its third title fight. Featherweight champ Pat Curran will look to defend his belt against Daniel Straus on the main card of the November 2, 2013 event, which takes place at The Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, CA.
UFN 27 weigh-in results. All 24 fighters met their required weight at Tuesday’s official UFC Fight Night 27 weigh ins, including welterweight headliners Carlos Condit and Martin Kampmann.
Kampmann ready for war. Martin Kampmann spent almost nine months on the sidelines with the image of Johny Hendricks’ left hand flickering through his thoughts. But the long layoff wasn’t by choice.
Well, it worked out. This is more bizarre irony than actual news, but on April 25, 2008, Spike TV published an article called “The Top Ten UFC Fights We Want To See.” And you’ll never guess who’s No. 1. (Props to MiddleEasy for the find.)
MEDIA STEW
Carlos Condit fought Andy Souwer in a kickboxing match when he was 19 years old. That’s ridiculous. If anybody has video of that, please, please send it my way. In the meantime, this blast to the past is pretty freakin’ violent in its own right.
Just a color commentator giving pointers to a Coach of the Year candidate. Gotta love this sport.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the world’s least graceful one-punch knockout.
(HT: MiddeEasy)
Tommy comes early this week. It’s like Christmas, but way more disappointing.
The top YouTube comment on this Pat Barry video: “Seems like Pat’s been high as giraffe balls for? a few days now.” Yep, that about sums it up.
“It’s going to be very interesting. It might be the first time somebody gets pregnant in the house.” Indeed, Joe. Indeed.
TONIGHT’S DOCKET
TAVARES vs MCDANIEL!!! pic.twitter.com/WBY9adgVp3
— Dana White (@danawhite) August 28, 2013
MIZUGAKI vs PEREZ!!! pic.twitter.com/5RsYYFprjw
— Dana White (@danawhite) August 28, 2013
MCGEE vs WHITTAKER!!! pic.twitter.com/S2FMY9NNeB
— Dana White (@danawhite) August 28, 2013
GASTELUM vs MELANCON!!! pic.twitter.com/2GFD6yYqU3
— Dana White (@danawhite) August 28, 2013
CERRONE vs DOS ANJOS!!! pic.twitter.com/3WwkOPpm4B
— Dana White (@danawhite) August 28, 2013
CONDIT vs KAMPMANN!!! pic.twitter.com/FvuuIR0fYf
— Dana White (@danawhite) August 28, 2013
DOUBT IT, BUT I’D DIG IT
Just bumped into @sonnench at the try outs. I wonder if that means he’s coaching?? Him and Wanderlei would be cool! pic.twitter.com/4OP1KYDTv7
— Cathal Pendred (@PendredMMA) August 27, 2013
A TIMETABLE
Going ahead with surgery. Boxing again in 3 months, Kicking in 4, Grappling in 5, Wrestling-6, Sparring-7, Fighting-9. See you in May 2014!!
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) August 27, 2013
ANOTHER LANDMARK
It’s official! First women’s UFC fight in UK – me vs @JessicaMMApro; & first time in my career fighting in my home town! #UFCManchester2013
— Rosi Sexton (@RosiSexton) August 27, 2013
STAY CLASSY, BELLATOR
BJJ done! Feel great! Trained 3 times today, taught kid’s class AND filmed a POV BJ for @ChristyMack ‘s site…busy boy!
— War Machine (@WarMachine170) August 27, 2013
Let’s have some fun and fulfill a few fantasies while we’re at it, email us for details. http://t.co/sQIvifVAG8
— War Machine (@WarMachine170) August 26, 2013
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Tuesday, August 27, 2013):
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Daycomes to us from Steve Borchardt, who believes: Wanderlei Silva video displays unexpected business sense
This past weekend Wanderlei Silva finally responded to months of prodding from master antagonist Chael Sonnen in the form of a decidedly memorable YouTube video. The five minute rant revealed a couple things about the Axe Murderer that weren’t exactly public knowledge previously.
First, if you compare the former Pride Middleweight Champion to a six foot, 205 pound bowel movement in a public forum it’s not going to sit well with him. In fact he’s probably going to want to beat you up over it. Throw in a history of making disparaging comments about Brazil and he might just reach for the A-bomb of insults and call you a “butt face” while blasting some epic guitar shredding in the background.
But you probably could have figured that out beforehand, minus Silva’s penchant for playground taunts and rocking out to metallic runs up and down the Phrygian Dominant Scale. What you probably didn’t know about the Axe Murderer, and what this video reveals, is that underneath all the tattoos and blood curdling stares there lurks a shrewd businessman. What’s more, he’s a businessman who, in the immortal words of Eric B. and Rakim, is ready to get paid in full.
In case you were wondering why it took Silva a week to issue a response to the challenge Sonnen issued after defeating Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on the UFC’s debut on FOX Sports 1 on August 17th, here’s a hint: it wasn’t because it took him seven days to come up with such gems as, “I go in to punch the face, I go in to draw blood, to break noses” and “Sonnen, your trash talk activated my inner warrior.”
For a clue to the Axe Murderer’s motivation, just look at the timing of when he unleashed this vitriolic masterwork upon the world. It came just one day after UFC President Dana White revealed to MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani that a potential fight between Silva and Sonnen was on ice unless the Brazilian caved on his demand for pay per view points.
Now it could just be a coincidence that Silva put this video out the day after his boss publicly told him to slow his roll on the idea of getting a cut of the PPV profits of a show likely headlined by either GSP or the Chris Weidman/Anderson SIlva rematch, but I doubt it. Given the time frame at work here, logic would dictate Silva is trying to drum up enough public demand for a match with Sonnen that White will eventually have no choice but to book the fight. Whether or not Silva actually believes he can get a cut of the PPV pie, he looks to be attempting to leverage himself into a sweeter deal by putting steam on his rivalry with Sonnen.
Sound far fetched? Just listen to Wanderlei himself explain it:
“If Dana White receives one million messages tomorrow, do you think this fight won’t happen?” Silva mused via translation. “Who puts on the fights are the fans [sic]. And the fans are with me.”
It’s a smart strategy. White has a long history of making matches to appease his Twitter followers (well as long as they aren’t demanding a Mark Hunt title shot that is). What’s more, many of the biggest money fights in history have been grudge matches. In a sport where conflict is the stock in trade nothing causes the market to soar as well as a good ‘ol fashioned blood feud.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Rashad Evans provided perhaps the best example of this in modern MMA history when they drew a million buys for their main event bout at UFC 114. That’s the highest buyrate of all time for a UFC PPV headlined by a non-title match, and it’s tied for the fifth most-purchased show in company history. The secret to that show’s success was mounting tension between the two during a top rated season of The Ultimate Fighter which eventually culminated in a series of off the charts heated exchanges during a trio of UFC: Primetime specials that aired in the weeks leading up to the fight. The story was simple: both men hated one other and fans couldn’t wait to find out what would happen when they finally got in the cage.
For further proof of how conflict equals cash, look no further than the rematch between Sonnen and Anderson Silva at UFC 148. Thanks to years of scalding comments back and forth between the two men and the unexpected complexion of their first encounter UFC 148 drew 925,000 buys, which over the past three years is second behind yet another grudge match: Georges St-Pierre vs. Nick Diaz at UFC 158. That show netted 950,000 buys due in large part to some next level trash talk on Diaz’s part during the week before the fight.
Considering where they both are in their respective careers, Wanderlei Silva vs. Sonnen might not be the the kind of fight that would do a million buys, but if both men can keep delivering heated interviews like the one Silva released this past weekend, it has the chance to be a legitimate money match. At the very least it could help push the GSP/Johny Hendricks headlined UFC 167 over the edge towards the million buy mark.
Perhaps an even more potentially lucrative scenario would be slotting it in the Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping at UFC 100 role behind the Chris Weidman/Anderson Silva and Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate co-main events at this December’s UFC 168. For those who need a reminder, UFC 100 is still far and away the highest grossing pay per view in company history at 1,600,000 buys. While the bulk of that can be attributed to the hot feud between then-heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir plus a co-main event featuring GSP, the Henderson/Bisping match was still a legit piece of the puzzle.
There’s certainly an argument to be made Silva doesn’t deserve PPV points based on the basement level 140,000 buys he and Rich Franklin drew in the main event of UFC 147, but I’m guessing a compromise can be reached that’s satisfactory to both parties if there’s enough public demand for this fight.
At 37 years old, and after countless wars, Silva isn’t getting any younger. It’s hard to blame him for trying to squeeze as much financial juice out of his remaining fights as possible. What’s truly admirable here though is the way he has taken matters into his own hands and is trying to actively promote the biggest money fight available to him. It’s a lesson many fighters who aren’t happy with what they’re earning would be wise to take note of.
Found something you’d like to see in the Morning Report? Just hit me on Twitter @shaunalshatti and we’ll include it in tomorrow’s column.