Clay Guida couldn’t have asked for more from his featherweight debut.
Following a bizarre and unpopular loss to Gray Maynard, the Illinois native and longtime lightweight contender is slated to meet top-ranked 145-pounder Hatsu Hioki under the hometown lights of Chicago’s United Center at UFC on FOX 6.
In addition, a potential No. 1 contenders bout between Ricardo Lamas and Erik Koch originally planned for UFC 155 has been shifted to the network event. UFC officials announced the match-ups late Wednesday night.
Guida-Johnson and Lamas-Koch join an event already boasting a title fight, Demetrious Johnson vs. John Dodson, and two likely slugfests, Donald Cerrone vs. Anthony Pettis and Rampage Jackson vs. Glover Teixeira. Without tossing around too much hyperbole, it seems safe to say this card is already stacked in its present form.
Obviously the two upcoming FOX cards are a stark departure from the previous two network incarnations, which featured quality fights but lacked in eye-popping bookings. Blockbuster events like these are what many initially expected when the ink dried on the FOX deal. And while it’s been a slow, at times seemingly painful crawl, if this is the norm from here on out, I don’t think many fight fans will be complaining. Now let’s just pray no one gets injured.
6 MUST-READ STORIES
Guida lands 145-pound debut on FOX. Following an up-and-down 10-year run at lightweight, Clay Guida is slated to make his featherweight debut against Hatsu Hioki at UFC on FOX 6. In addition, top 145-pound contenders Ricardo Lamas and Eric Koch will collide on the card, as will heavyweights Mike Russow and Shawn Jordan.
Barnett expects January return. While he doesn’t yet have an opponent, Strikeforce heavyweight Josh Barnett told Inside MMA he expects to be fighting in January on Strikeforce’s self-described “stacked” event.
The MMA hour. Ariel Helwani and The MMA Hour return with another star-studded episode featuring Michael Bisping, Frankie Edgar, War Machine, Matt Wiman, Bruce Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee and our own Dave Doyle.
White confirms Silva challenging St-Pierre. UFC President Dana White confirmed Anderson Silva is planning to enter the cage and challenge Georges St-Pierre at UFC 154 if St-Pierre successfully fends off Carlos Condit.
Edgar: Aldo learned his lesson. Former UFC champ Frankie Edgar doesn’t begrudge Jose Aldo for the motorcycle injury that delayed the pair’s heavily anticipated superfight. Said Edgar, “You could hurt yourself walking down the stairs. I’m sure he’s going to learn his lesson.”
McFedries stabbed. Former UFC middleweight Drew McFedries was stabbed in the back while bouncing at The Chorus Line nightclub in Davenport, Iowa last Saturday. McFedries is expected to make a full recovery.
MEDIA STEW
Now this is pretty cool. In advance of UFC 154, the UFC uploaded eight classic Carlos Condit and Georges St-Pierre fights, and you can access all of them through this nifty interactive menu. Don’t worry, your morning workload can wait.
Chael Sonnen has a burger named after him? Of course he does.
(HT: MiddleEasy)
95% of the time, Bob Arum is a crusty old fool. But it’s hard to argue with him here.
Speaking of which…
(HT: MiddleEasy)
I’ll let you bang, bro.
BOOM
HaahahRT @stevebres: “@mmaroasted: If Donald Cerrone fights at Cowboys Stadium he will be the only Cowboy to win there. #UFC” @cowboycerrone
— Cowboy Cerrone (@Cowboycerrone) November 7, 2012
SOMEONE DOESN’T LISTEN TO FREDDIE ROACH
RT @wahsmash Do you stop sex b4 fights, if so how long? @joejitsuYa. I usually stop about 24 hours before 🙂
— Joseph Benavidez (@JoeJitsu) November 7, 2012
TRUTH
It doesn’t matter what the final results were, I made my vote and I’m sticking to it.? Obama ? Romney ? Yoga Pants
— phil baroni (@philbaroni) November 7, 2012
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Wednesday, November 7, 2012):
- UFC on FOX 6: Clay Guida (29-13) vs. Hatsu Hioki (26-5-2)
- UFC on FOX 6: Mike Russow (15-2) vs. Shawn Jordan (13-4)
- UFC on FOX 6: Erik Koch (13-1) vs. Ricardo Lamas (12-2) shifted from UFC 155
- UFC on FOX 6: T.J. Grant (19-5) vs. Matt Wiman (15-6)
- UFC on FUEL 6: Takeya Mizugaki (15-7-2) vs. Jeff Hougland (10-5) promoted to main card
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes from HaterSlayer, who firmly believes: Zuffa Needs to Protect the UFC Brand
In 2012 the UFC produced the most shows it ever had one year. Despite falling ratings and complaints from fans/media they will continue with that expansion and will turn it up to 31 shows in 2013. In the past Dana has explained this expansion by saying it is what they need to do to grow the sport. However this is a situation where what is good for MMA is not good for the UFC. The high volume of the shows is eroding the prestige of the UFC.
In the US, the NFL is the most popular sport by a significant margin. For people not familiar with the NFL the lowest average weekly attendance at an NFL game is still north of 50,000 people and only 5 teams average less than 90% of their stadium filled for every home game. The largest stadiums average almost 90,000 fans per week. They also set television ratings records almost yearly. This success is without having a team in the second largest media market in the United States(Los Angeles). Could the NFL expand into 5-6 more cities and make more money? Of course. They wont because it would hurt the quality of their product and the prestige of their brand. It is part of how they “Protect the Shield”
That is something the UFC does not seem to get. As they have expanded and they have added more fighters to fill up these cards which as resulted in prelim cards populated with guys who belong on the regional circuit and Pay-Per-View main cards have been loaded with people who belong on the prelims. This has lead directly to the fluctuating ticket sales, ratings, and buy rates for many of their cards. Many people used to buy UFC cards just because they were UFC cards because they’d see the best fighters in the world go at it. Similarly to how more people are NFL fans than College Football fans because they want to see “the best.” This expansion and huge roster has damaged their brand because people aren’t sure what they’re getting anymore. Now people are gravitating only towards stars and moving away from the UFC brand itself and that is very dangerous for the UFC.
What they should do is bring the UFC back to where it was exclusive. It is supposed to be hard to make it to the UFC and that should be evident by the fighters we’re watching. The way they do this is limit the amount of “UFC” shows they do and nation build with the myriad of other brands they have. For example, they could bring back the Pride FC brand and use it for Asian expansion. Use those brands as an unofficial developmental leagues for the UFC. Fallen UFC Fighters and fighters from China, India, Austrailia, Japan, and Korea can populate the roster and develop the sport there. If someone gets a call up then they can make it a big deal locally so they will follow that home grown star to the UFC. That way they get to lead the expansion without having it at the cost of their valuable brand.
Many years ago the Dana White recognized the value of that brand. That is why he talked the Fertitta brothers into buying it instead of just making up a new fight league. The UFC brand still has lots of power. There are many people who know the sport as “UFC” but the more you use it the less impact it has. The success of other fight leagues like One FC shows that they don’t need the UFC brand to get attention in markets that are undeveloped in MMA. In reference to the NFL many people have mentioned how NFL Comissioner Roger Goodell is ruthless in “protecting the shield.” Dana does a great job of protecting it from any outside sources, but the damage is coming from the inside currently and Zuffa needs to stop it.
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.