Three fighters on the UFC 214 card are facing six-month medical suspensions. This past Saturday night (July 29), UFC 214 took place inside the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. In the main event, Jon Jones earned a third-round knockout over Daniel Cormier to recapture the light heavyweight title. Cormier is looking at a 60-day suspension. As for the three fighters […]
Three fighters on the UFC 214 card are facing six-month medical suspensions. This past Saturday night (July 29), UFC 214 took place inside the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. In the main event, Jon Jones earned a third-round knockout over Daniel Cormier to recapture the light heavyweight title. Cormier is looking at a 60-day suspension. As for the three fighters […]
Alexandra Albu wants to prove she’s a step ahead of Kailin Curran. Tonight (July 29), Albu and Curran will go toe-to-toe inside the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The bout will be on the UFC Fight Pass portion of the UFC 214 prelims. “Stitch” is looking to improve her professional mixed martial arts record to […]
Alexandra Albu wants to prove she’s a step ahead of Kailin Curran. Tonight (July 29), Albu and Curran will go toe-to-toe inside the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The bout will be on the UFC Fight Pass portion of the UFC 214 prelims. “Stitch” is looking to improve her professional mixed martial arts record to […]
(And in that moment, a million “Because PRIDE!!” chants were heard. Via Getty)
By Cody Severtson
UFC Fight Night: Cro Cop vs. Gonzaga II. — one look at the headliner of last Saturday’s mid-afternoon card could only think of one thing…or maybe one other thing. It was an event that featured many debuts, a few upsets, a tonne of terribly boring decisions, a completely uninterested crowd, and surprisingly, a pretty sweet finale. So let’s break it down, shall we?
“It wasn’t a COMPLETELY terrible card” is probably the highest praise you could give Fight Night 64. There were some spots of brilliance; Cro Cop’s vengeance, Maryna Moroz’s massive upset, and Aleksandra Albu successfully debuting, which will give CagePotato at least 6 more Hot Potato articles to “write” in the next year. There was, however, a good hour and a half stretch in the middle of the main card (and pretty much the entirety of the undercard) where absolutely nothing worthwhile happened. Fight Night 64 was a card that had us asking ourselves a question that we’ve been asking more and more these days:
Is this really what qualifies as the highest level of MMA?
(And in that moment, a million “Because PRIDE!!” chants were heard. Via Getty)
By Cody Severtson
UFC Fight Night: Cro Cop vs. Gonzaga II. — one look at the headliner of last Saturday’s mid-afternoon card could only think of one thing…or maybe one other thing. It was an event that featured many debuts, a few upsets, a tonne of terribly boring decisions, a completely uninterested crowd, and surprisingly, a pretty sweet finale. So let’s break it down, shall we?
“It wasn’t a COMPLETELY terrible card” is probably the highest praise you could give Fight Night 64. There were some spots of brilliance; Cro Cop’s vengeance, Maryna Moroz’s massive upset, and Aleksandra Albu successfully debuting, which will give CagePotato at least 6 more Hot Potato articles to “write” in the next year. There was, however, a good hour and a half stretch in the middle of the main card (and pretty much the entirety of the undercard) where absolutely nothing worthwhile happened. Fight Night 64 was a card that had us asking ourselves a question that we’ve been asking more and more these days:
Is this really what qualifies as the highest level of MMA?
Constantly, we’ve been told that “THE UFC IS NOT WATERED DOWN!”, but can anyone from Zuffa honestly look me dead in the eye after this event and say the card that Fight Night 64 was reflective of the highest level of MMA in the world? Can the UFC really survive off cards where there are, at most, 3 ranked fighters? Or only two fights with relevance to their division? Or where 50% of competitors are making their debut? Or where the other 50% are on losing streaks?
Just look at some of the stats about the fighters featured on this card and tell me that we’re wrong.
-Tonight featured 10 fighters making their debut, 4 of whom surprisingly went 2-2 against UFC “vets.”
-Of the 14 UFC “vets” on the card (no other way to describe them), only 3 were on win streaks! That’s 11 fighters total on losing streaks of 1 loss or more, with the main eventers combined for a UFC streak of 5 losses.
-Of those win streaks, Sergio Moraes‘ stood tallest at 2 wins in a row. You read that right…THE BEST ACTIVE STREAK AT THIS EVENT WAS 2 WINS.
-The remaining 11 UFC “vets” were ALL on losing streaks.
-Of the 24 fighters on the card, only 2 fighters were ranked in the top 10: Jimi Manuwa, who was somehow still ranked #7 despite a year of inactivity (smh), and Joanne Calderwood, ranked #6 in a division of 26 people.
-Speaking of layoffs, 5 fighters who competed last weekend had not seen cage time in a year or more.
-Damian Stasiak should have some leniency when the brass is evaluating pink slips, as he had the quickest turnaround of any fighter on the card, fighting only 14 days ago..
-Fight Night 64 was the first event since Ben Henderson vs. Brandon Thatch to award a “Fight of the Night” bonus
On top of these stats, we were treated with the announcement of Jacare Souza’s new opponent; stepping up on 6 days’ notice is none other than…Chris Camozzi. This is obviously great news for Chris, who once again finds himself back in the UFC after a pretty horrible losing streak in his last run.
Chris Camozzi vs. Ronaldo Souza 2 is the co-main event for UFC on Fox. This is the state of the UFC in 2015. Clearly, you should be thrilled for this barnburner to come, as many of us were.
“At least the found someone…”
“Acceptable on short notice…”
No. Not “at least.” Not “acceptable.” If you are a fan who spent $1500 on floor tickets or $250 for the nosebleeds, you are not thinking, “Oh cool, the event I spent my hard earned money on to go see is falling to pieces. I guess that’s acceptable, at least they found someone!
Granted, I don’t think anyone in Newark, New Jersey is buying tickets to go see Jacare Souza fight. but it’s the principle. You have a top 10 opponent whose opponent was injured at the last-minute — nothing you can do about that. But since the best you can apparently do on 6 days notice is get a guy with an abysmal record in his last 5 fights, you just roll with it because of the “Any Given Sunday” mentality or whatever. This is the UFC absolutely 100% skirting around the issue that they are seriously lacking contenders, quality opponents, and/or the desire to pay these higher-ranked athletes what they deserve to accept a fight on such short notice.
And then this is how you defend it.
As a fan base, should we really just take whatever we can get? Should we be expected to applaud the fact that at the very least “somebody stepped up?” Did anyone ask “Hey, if nobody relevant to the division steps up than maybe… nobody will mind if we just delay this fight?” I mean it’s not like Chris Weidman’s rocking 3 fights a year at his pace!
From a numbers perspective, why did anyone think that a rematch between these two was really the solution? Chris Camozzi left the UFC after going 4 losses straight against decreasing quality of competitors. Jacare Souza (who I guess I should mention, absolutely smoked Camozzi LESS THAN TWO YEARS AGO) has knocked Okami out of the UFC, beat Francis Carmont AND finished Gegard Mousasi (something Lyoto fucking Machida could not do). But because Camozzi begged to take the fight well I guess then it makes sense and we should all shut up and accept it because we’re dummies and we’re not true fight fans and this card is stacked and he’s a beast and it’s a great rematch and such and such, well ok that’s the end of that discussion I guess…
Look, the MMA community is a tough group to please; it’s never going to happen where collectively everyone says “you know what, we all like this!” However, THINGS LIKE THIS are not going to change the MMA collective’s opinion on the declining quality of cards in the UFC! And no amount of dummy-calling is going to convince me otherwise!
But hey, not everything sucked about Fight Night 64. We got to watch a 40-year old Mirko Cro Cop — whose last two victories in MMA came over the same guy — score redemption by hammering out a rival who happened to be on a two-fight losing streak. And it was glorious. And that’s where the glory ends.
Greetings, Nation. If you haven’t noticed by the all but complete lack of posts this week, I’ve been away from the office (and in fact out of the state) to deal with some legal issues pertaining to a…gambling snafu. Yeah, let’s go with that.
My recent absence aside, the cutbacks across the board here at Castle CP have forced us to severely limit the amount of posts we can put up per day. So I, in my infinite wisdom, figured a John Oliver-esque recap of the week’s events in a single post would be the best way to keep you in the know moving forward, should CP happen to be your lone source of MMA news. Which if it is…
But let us begin with perhaps the biggest story of the week…
Greetings, Nation. If you haven’t noticed by the all but complete lack of posts this week, I’ve been away from the office (and in fact out of the state) to deal with some legal issues pertaining to a…gambling snafu. Yeah, let’s go with that.
My recent absence aside, the cutbacks across the board here at Castle CP have forced us to severely limit the amount of posts we can put up per day. So I, in my infinite wisdom, figured a John Oliver-esque recap of the week’s events in a single post would be the best way to keep you in the know moving forward, should CP happen to be your lone source of MMA news. Which if it is…
But let us begin with perhaps the biggest story of the week…
-In news no one — I repeat, no one — could have seen coming (except us, like, a month ago), Rampage Jackson has been forced out of his UFC 186 co-main event matchup with Fabio Maldonado. OH THE SHOCK AND TERROR AND ALSO AWE. If you recall, Bellator filed a lawsuit against Jackson back in March following the news that he had re-signed with the UFC while still under one of those “crazy contracts” that the Rebney Era became infamous for.
On Tuesday, New Jersey judge Karen L. Suter granted Bellator an injunction that successfully blocked Rampage from fighting at UFC 186 at the end of the month. When asked why she backed Bellator in this case, Suter claimed that “Equities plaintiff legal talk legal talk peas and carrots.” I’m paraphrasing, but you can read the bullet points here.
-In a more positive story, the UFC announced the hiring of “anti-doping crusader” Jeff Novitzky as vice president of athlete health and performance, a huge step forward in light of the promotion’s newly-instated drug testing policies. Novitzky is the perhaps best known for leading the investigation against both Barry Bonds and BALCO back in 2002 and Lance Armstrong in 2010 while working for the FDA. Why Chael Sonnen, who called out Armstrong years before any of us were ready to hear it, has not yet been brought onto the UFC’s new anti-steroid A-team remains a complete mystery.
-Speaking of steroids, Jorge de Oliveira became the most recent UFC fighter to get nailed for stanozolol, following his loss to Christos Giagos at Fight Night 62. Oliveira has been suspended for a year retroactive to the March 21st event, and his name will likely never be spoken on our tongues again.
-Alexis Dufresne (relationship status to Andy Dufresne: Uncertain) was also caught by a pre-fight medical…for pregnancy! You see how I turned that around on you like that? Bow down to the master, bitches!!! (But seriously, pregnancy is a beautiful thing and should not be trivialized.) Following her 0-2 run in the UFC, Dufresne was set to make her Bellator debut at Bellator 137 in May until a pre-fight medical exam revealed that she was with child.
-In fight-booking news, Mike Swick has been greenlit to return to the octagon for the first time since his 1-1 run in the promotion back in 2012, which itself followed a two year absence due to injuries. The inventor of The Swickatine, Swicks Cheese, and The Swick-ffer will face off against dangerous striker Alex Garcia at UFC 189.
-For its first trip to Poland, the UFC has booked an absolutely abysmal card in Fight Night 64, as is tradition. Barring the main event rematch between Mirko Cro Cop and Gabriel Gonzaga, the four fight main card features three fighters without a Wikipedia page, one of whom is named Sheldon. Sheldon, you guys. UFC Krakow does feature the long-awaited debut of Alexandra Albu, however, which makes this a good a time as any to remind you that she is smokin’ hot…er…incredibly marketable.
-And finally, this photo. My God, this photo. (via r/mma)
“I’m disappointed but wish her the best and hope to face her in the future,” said Kedzie. The SI report adds:
Kedzie already has a suggested replacement: Rin Nikai [sic], of Japan. Nikai beat Kedzie’s Jackson/Winklejohn teammate Tara La Rosa on a controversial decision in September. Nikai, however, is not currently under UFC contract.
“I’m disappointed but wish her the best and hope to face her in the future,” said Kedzie. The SI report adds:
Kedzie already has a suggested replacement: Rin Nikai [sic], of Japan. Nikai beat Kedzie’s Jackson/Winklejohn teammate Tara La Rosa on a controversial decision in September. Nikai, however, is not currently under UFC contract.
Normally, this would be the part where I’d lament the fact that the UFC is throwing a total rookie (and such a pretty girl!) up against a veteran with 28 professional fights, but you know what, I’m not going to do that this time. Kedzie has spent her career tangling with elite fighters like Tara LaRosa, Gina Carano, Shayna Baszler, and Miesha Tate…and she’s been beaten by all of them. The crazy cat lady is currently on a three-fight losing skid, and hasn’t won a fight in over two years. Maybe her “experience edge” just means she knows how to lose. I don’t know. I’m not going to count Alexandra out yet. There’s just something about this woman.
The current UFC Fight Night 33 lineup is after the jump…
Normally, this would be the part where I’d lament the fact that the UFC is throwing a total rookie (and such a pretty girl!) up against a veteran with 28 professional fights, but you know what, I’m not going to do that this time. Kedzie has spent her career tangling with elite fighters like Tara LaRosa, Gina Carano, Shayna Baszler, and Miesha Tate…and she’s been beaten by all of them. The crazy cat lady is currently on a three-fight losing skid, and hasn’t won a fight in over two years. Maybe her “experience edge” just means she knows how to lose. I don’t know. I’m not going to count Alexandra out yet. There’s just something about this woman.
The current UFC Fight Night 33 lineup is after the jump…
