Tag: Commentary

Six Scientific Reasons Why MMA Events Are a Great Place to Pick Up Women


(“Oh my God, did that guy with the neckbeard just yell ‘Kick his ass, Sea Bass?’ TAKE US NOW, STUD.” / Photo via InsideFitness)

By Dr. SexyTime

Attending a live Mixed Martial Arts event can be a total sausage-fest, both inside and outside the cage. Demographic analysis of the UFC’s fan base is overwhelmingly male, so attending a live MMA event will probably have a worse gender ratio than the engineering department at a tech college. But trends over the last decade indicate female viewership of combat sports is increasing, and with the new addition of women’s divisions in the UFC, there is still plenty of room and reason for growth in the female audience. Still, finding a group of single women on fight night can be hard, as these aren’t exactly the types of events that attract bachelorette parties. But let’s say you do…what then? Here are a few reasons why you might actually have a chance, and what you should do about it.

1. Unnatural Selection

First, if you do happen to meet some single ladies, or at least a group that includes them, you’ve already won a small victory. It takes a pretty cool girl to decide to brave an MMA event, knowing full well she’ll see drunken, out of shape idiots wearing shirts that are way too tight (or worse, no shirt at all and body paint) who act they should be cornering the fighters. But when you hit the hotel bar the weekend of the event, you’ve already got something in common with everyone else there. “Wait, you’re attending the UFC fights tomorrow? So are we! Where are you seated?” By the time you arrive at your seats, if you’re lucky enough to be neighbors with women, you already have a ton in common. And these women are a cut above the rest if they are choosing to spend a valuable Saturday watching cage fights. Their risk-aversion isn’t quite as strong as all the women out there who didn’t consider coming for one second. The UFC has filtered a select group from the larger population, and these few, these gutsy few, are exactly the kind of women you can talk to out of the blue and maybe actually hit it off with.

2. The Biologically Confusing Thrill of Victory


(“Oh my God, did that guy with the neckbeard just yell ‘Kick his ass, Sea Bass?’ TAKE US NOW, STUD.” / Photo via InsideFitness)

By Dr. SexyTime

Attending a live Mixed Martial Arts event can be a total sausage-fest, both inside and outside the cage. Demographic analysis of the UFC’s fan base is overwhelmingly male, so attending a live MMA event will probably have a worse gender ratio than the engineering department at a tech college. But trends over the last decade indicate female viewership of combat sports is increasing, and with the new addition of women’s divisions in the UFC, there is still plenty of room and reason for growth in the female audience. Still, finding a group of single women on fight night can be hard, as these aren’t exactly the types of events that attract bachelorette parties. But let’s say you do…what then? Here are a few reasons why you might actually have a chance, and what you should do about it.

1. Unnatural Selection

First, if you do happen to meet some single ladies, or at least a group that includes them, you’ve already won a small victory. It takes a pretty cool girl to decide to brave an MMA event, knowing full well she’ll see drunken, out of shape idiots wearing shirts that are way too tight (or worse, no shirt at all and body paint) who act they should be cornering the fighters. But when you hit the hotel bar the weekend of the event, you’ve already got something in common with everyone else there. “Wait, you’re attending the UFC fights tomorrow? So are we! Where are you seated?” By the time you arrive at your seats, if you’re lucky enough to be neighbors with women, you already have a ton in common. And these women are a cut above the rest if they are choosing to spend a valuable Saturday watching cage fights. Their risk-aversion isn’t quite as strong as all the women out there who didn’t consider coming for one second. The UFC has filtered a select group from the larger population, and these few, these gutsy few, are exactly the kind of women you can talk to out of the blue and maybe actually hit it off with.

2. The Biologically Confusing Thrill of Victory

The excitation and arousal that is inherent to a celebratory event confuses the brain and the body. Men and women who experience exciting or thrilling things enter a state of psychological arousal that actually has ramifications in decision-making. You just went bungee jumping or took a helicopter ride? Well, guess what — the women you meet are going to seem a little hotter for a few hours. Take advantage of the buzz that accompanies the thrill of fight night. If the women you’re interested in are really into the fights, and especially if their desired fighters win, they’ll be in a much more approachable state. If the ladies you’re with don’t know who to root for, make sure to suggest the favorite in each match so you’re correct at least two-thirds of the time. Picking winners and being on the winning team will definitely boost the mood and give you reason to celebrate together. And women like winning just as much as you do.

3. In-Group Bias

Humans are biased and irrational creatures, but the good thing is that we are predictably biased and irrational. Most people inherently like others that are part of their “in group.” This can be a bad thing in the macro-sense, but you can use it to your advantage on an individual basis. If you show up at a bar in New York wearing a Red Sox jersey, most people will treat you terribly. But those few brave souls also sporting Sox gear are your new best friends. You can be complete strangers from different walks of life, but when you’re cheering for the same team it’s all good. If you break the ice with women by asking if they’re here to see someone in particular, there is good reason to suddenly profess that you’re there to see the same fighters as well! You all will obviously get along, given that you have the same good taste in combatants. If the ladies are specifically interested in a few fighters, now might be a good time to mention that you’ve got some money on those guys – and hey, if they win, let me buy a round for all of us since you’re now part of our crew!

4. Saturday Night Fever

Fight nights are almost always on a weekend. Throw in a dark arena with colorful light shows, the kickass live DJ, drinks, and a crowd, and everyone there feels like they’re at a party. This is not a spectator experience like a Sunday afternoon baseball game or standing around at a PGA event. Fight nights are a party waiting to happen, and if you weren’t ready for it on the way there, you will be soon. Attendees of a live event will surely get caught up in the atmosphere and get into the Saturday night party mode quickly. And when you’re in the mood to party and socialize, it’s a hell of lot easier and less threatening to meet strangers. When you approach someone or meet your row neighbors, just remember they’re there for fun too — and part of that is having fun people around you. Make sure your own vibe isn’t aggressive or confrontational. Do NOT be yelling threatening things at fighters, or worse, the ring card girls. Being a creepy, misogynistic asshole is not attractive, especially when you’re a stranger. But joining in with the fun part of the night and embracing the excitement is critical. If you’re having a great time (and not embarrassing yourself), women will be far more interested in letting you talk to them. Even the dim lights of the arena will help your cause, because your pupils will dilate making you more attractive to the opposite sex!

5. Positive Contagion

If you’re going to play the “yeah, I train MMA” angle, do so casually, and pick your connections wisely. By associating yourself with attributes and individuals with positive characteristics and affections, some of that goodness rubs off on you. Find out who the favorite fighters are among the women in the group, and focus on positive connections you have with them. Maybe you’ve trained at similar gyms, or just seen them fight live before. If your new friends have any hated fighters, obviously the opposite applies. If you’re really diligent you have a bead on all available after-parties (always be on top of that), and you can quickly invite your new friends to the one that corresponds to their favorite team/fighter.

On the flipside, make sure you’re not giving off an impression that you fight outside of training or competition. Being a thug prone to violent aggression is a huge red flag for a woman, especially someone she just met and doesn’t know. If you train, make it clear that it’s because you’re interested in fitness, have discipline for hard work, and are capable of defending yourself — not that you’ve ever needed to use it — and those characteristics will reflect positively on you. Too many men want cut to a personal “fight” story to demonstrate their manliness, and it’s a mistake every single time.

6. Ice Breakers, Friendly Competition and Closing Strategy

Obviously, advice on meeting and attracting the opposite sex must come with certain major caveats. Never, ever pester strangers. If a girl is not into you, leave her alone. Most females at MMA events are there with their boyfriends, and that’s a mess waiting to happen. You may be on the lookout for a hookup, but that doesn’t mean everyone else is. Respect boundaries, and only engage when it’s clear they’re open to meeting someone new.

Once you found some singles that you want to mingle with, use an easy ice-breaker to open the lines of communication early. MMA events are long, so you have time to on your side. Find out their level of interest in MMA from the start so you don’t embarrass yourself assuming they don’t know anything. If they actually want help in explaining what’s going on, provide it politely. If they already know what’s up, profess ignorance on a few match ups and get them explaining things to you. The more you have them talking, the more likely the conversation will progress and the easier they’ll feel in your company.

You can also begin with an upfront offering. Do they have a copy of the fight card? Do they know where the after parties are tonight? Do they need help pinpointing Dana White cageside? Who is the guy in the DJ booth? Knowledge is sexy, and offering it up early can get the conversation started.

If you’re really Machiavellian, wager a friendly round of drinks on an early prelim fight and intentionally pick the big underdog to get you buying them a round. Once you’ve done them a big favor, they’ll intrinsically like you more. Experts might keep this game going throughout the night, because having a vested interest in the fight outcome ratchets up the viewing intensity. Women respond similarly to men when it comes to competition, and winning is arousing. Intentionally lose a few prediction wagers to get them celebrating and in the best mood. “Oh, wow, you win again! You all are undercover sharps! Looks like we’re buying another round.”

Lastly, factor logistics into your closing strategy. Location and timing is critical. If you’re at a Las Vegas card, it’s your best chance to stay close and keep the party going. People going to Las Vegas are clearly there for a good time, and the combination of the Pacific time zone and late hours of the city means the night is still young. Hopefully you paced yourself, because Vegas cards are the best for inviting new friends to clubs. If you’re at a home-town event, especially on the east coast, you may need to set your goals a little lower. By the time the event finishes, it may already be last call, and your lady friends could be headed home. The goal here is to establish a follow up. Take a group photo and ask if any of them are on Twitter to tag them in it. Now at least you have a benign line of communication to follow up with. If they want a copy of fun photos, then you have a reason to get ask their number.

Some of the information contained in this guide can be found in the “Dr. SexyTime” app for iPhone and Android, a science-based sex guide and sex position choreographer for adults only! Visit MadeMan.com for more useful advice for the discerning gentleman.

The UFC Needs to Massively Scale Down The Amount of PPVs Each Year


(“PPV buys are higher than ever, dummies. These goofy Internet fucks know NOTHING. Everything is fine.”—Dana White doing his best impersonation of this guy. / Photo via Getty)

By Mike Fagan

Cain Velasquez became another victim (again) of the UFC’s so-called “injury bug,” pulling out of UFC 180 with a knee injury. This is great news for people who want to see a weirdo holding a UFC heavyweight title as Mark Hunt stepped in to fight original challenger Fabricio Werdum. This is bad news for fans who want to watch the greatest heavyweight talent in the sport since Fedor Emelianenko. It’s horrible news for the UFC, who set up this event in Mexico City to both help cultivate the Mexican market and provide a similar atmosphere for Velasquez that Conor McGregor received in Ireland earlier this year.

It’s another blow to the UFC’s pay-per-view business. UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told Sports Business Daily that “about 80 percent” of fights they wanted to put on have been cancelled. That’s probably an exaggeration (at least if we’re looking at the entirety of the UFC’s matchmaking), but the reality isn’t much better. Of the 14 events including and between UFC 168 and UFC 181 (including the cancelled UFC 176), only five have escaped an injury to a fighter in either the main or co-main event. That is, 64% of UFC PPVs within that timeframe have had alterations or cancellations to one of the featured bouts at the top of the card.

Combined with the loss of Georges St-Pierre (quasi-retirement) and Anderson Silva (wishboned leg), the injuries at the top of marquee events have led the UFC to its worst year on pay-per-view since 2005. In 2005, the UFC ran six pay-per-view events for a total of 950,000 buys and an average of 158,000 per event. This year hasn’t been that bad (2.22M total buys/277,500 per event), but that’s far below the “down years” of 2011-13. (It should be noted that those “down years” are in line with the total PPV business the UFC did prior to the 2009-10 Lesnar Era.)


(“PPV buys are higher than ever, dummies. These goofy Internet fucks know NOTHING. Everything is fine.”—Dana White doing his best impersonation of this guy. / Photo via Getty)

By Mike Fagan

Cain Velasquez became another victim (again) of the UFC’s so-called “injury bug,” pulling out of UFC 180 with a knee injury. This is great news for people who want to see a weirdo holding a UFC heavyweight title as Mark Hunt stepped in to fight original challenger Fabricio Werdum. This is bad news for fans who want to watch the greatest heavyweight talent in the sport since Fedor Emelianenko. It’s horrible news for the UFC, who set up this event in Mexico City to both help cultivate the Mexican market and provide a similar atmosphere for Velasquez that Conor McGregor received in Ireland earlier this year.

It’s another blow to the UFC’s pay-per-view business. UFC Chairman and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta told Sports Business Daily that “about 80 percent” of fights they wanted to put on have been cancelled. That’s probably an exaggeration (at least if we’re looking at the entirety of the UFC’s matchmaking), but the reality isn’t much better. Of the 14 events including and between UFC 168 and UFC 181 (including the cancelled UFC 176), only five have escaped an injury to a fighter in either the main or co-main event. That is, 64% of UFC PPVs within that timeframe have had alterations or cancellations to one of the featured bouts at the top of the card.

Combined with the loss of Georges St-Pierre (quasi-retirement) and Anderson Silva (wishboned leg), the injuries at the top of marquee events have led the UFC to its worst year on pay-per-view since 2005. In 2005, the UFC ran six pay-per-view events for a total of 950,000 buys and an average of 158,000 per event. This year hasn’t been that bad (2.22M total buys/277,500 per event), but that’s far below the “down years” of 2011-13. (It should be noted that those “down years” are in line with the total PPV business the UFC did prior to the 2009-10 Lesnar Era.)

The blame is often cast at “UFC oversaturation,” the idea that the UFC is flooding the market with too much content for their consumers. You can trace the oversaturation argument all the way back to 2010, when television ratings started to fall, and it’s only picked up steam as the UFC has expanded their product from 24 events in 2010 to 45 in 2014.

That comparison is a bit misleading, however. When you add in Strikeforce (15 events) and the WEC (8 events), you wind up with 47 shows between the three promotions in 2010. It seems only natural that the UFC would fill the void after assimilating the WEC and Strikeforce and inflating their roster. It was easier for Joe Casual to follow the UFC in 2010 because the promotional landscape helped delineate the sport. You had an A-show in the UFC and two solid B-products (with different niches) in Strikeforce and the WEC.

The problem isn’t that there is too many UFC events. The problem is that the UFC has done a bad job differentiating their products. There is, at times, little separating a pay-per-view event like UFC 177 (even before the Renan Barao fiasco) from one of the better Fox Sports 1 cards. This naturally leads people to ask questions like, “Why am I paying $54.95 to watch Beneil Dariush and Carlos Diego Ferreira?”

Fortunately, it’s a problem the UFC is aware of. As Lorenzo Fertitta told Sports Business Daily:

It’s about segmentation of the product, and quite honestly, I don’t think we did a good job of it when we went into the deal with Fox. We didn’t take a deep breath and say, ‘OK, how are we going to do this?’ It wasn’t until two or three months later when we said, ‘We gotta think about this differently.’ We had to segment the product and package it differently.

Progress has been made on this front. The first few UFC on Fox cards felt like promotion and network were closing their eyes and throwing darts at the wall. Those cards are starting to gain an identity: meaningful fight on top, action fights on the undercard. They seemed to have figured out their Fight Pass strategy as well: feature a regionally relevant fighter and pack the card with other locals. The Fox Sports 1 (formerly FX) shows have largely continued where they left off at Spike.

It’s on the success of their television deals, both domestic and international, that the UFC has buoyed itself. As Dave Meltzer notes at MMA Fighting, pay-per-view and ticket sale revenue now accounts for only 30 percent of the UFC’s revenues, down from 75 percent “[n]ot all that many years ago.” And revenues “have grown 50 percent in the past five years.”

While oversaturation seems nebulous and overall business seems healthy, the UFC’s pay-per-view strategy is in need of fine tuning. Despite their awful year, Meltzer notes that the UFC will continue on a “one per month” schedule in 2015, per Dana White. On one hand, you have to admire White and co. for their commitment to process over results. On the other, you have to wonder what the hell they’re thinking.

Simply put, the current roster cannot support 13 pay-per-views. They have few consistent draws. Jon Jones is the guy they can most rely on over the next few years, but has yet to transcend like Georges St-Pierre or Anderson Silva. Silva will headline UFC 183 in 2015, but is on Retirement Watch. Ronda Rousey, Dana White-proclaimed biggest star in MMA history, was just scheduled for her third supporting-role duty at UFC 182. Chris Weidman and Johny Hendricks are unproven. Sub-170 has sold tepidly at best post-B.J. Penn.

In addition, the pace of the UFC’s schedule makes it difficult for the company to fill pay-per-view undercards with appropriate talent. Fighters like Michael Bisping and Urijah Faber, long mainstays of PPV undercards, are now being relegated to Fight Pass main events and free TV PPV lead-ins. This isn’t all bad – being able to watch “name” talent for free or on the cheap is great, but it detracts from the value of a pay-per-view. Dana White once admonished boxing promoters for stuffing club fighters and also-rans underneath Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. But the UFC quietly started to do the same thing with their biggest draws (Lesnar and St-Pierre), and it’s now become their norm.

The remedy is obvious: scale back pay-per-views to what the roster can support. Be dynamic. That’s what boxing’s done over the last decade. In 2006, HBO and Showtime put on 10 pay-per-view events drawing 3.7M buys for $179.5M in revenue. That number dropped to 8 for 2012 and 2013 combined. Thanks to two events a piece from Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, plus the emergence of Canelo Alvarez, boxing will end 2014 with seven pay-per-view events, none doing worse than 300,000 buys. Low-balling the final boxing PPV – headlined by Manny Pacquiao and Chris Algieri – for 600,000 buys, boxing will end up drawing somewhere in the neighborhood of 4.1-4.3M buys this year, which, barring a miracle, will outperform the UFC.

It’s obvious the UFC has noticed the problem. They stacked the UFC 178 undercard (which saved them from another atrocious buyrate when Jones went down), and they appear to be doing the same thing for UFC 182. And while they should bounce back some in 2015 (regression to the mean, y’all), they’re still playing a dangerous game with a full calendar of pay-per-view events.

MMA’s Last Taboo: Sexual Abuse and the Sport’s Silent Victims


(“The reason I put it into the book is there are a lot of people that have a secret like this…and if that’s weighing you down, then get rid of it.” / Frank Shamrock on his own experience with sexual abuse)

By Brian J. D’Souza

The storylines emerging from the latest all-female season of The Ultimate Fighter are the usual potpourri of banal tripe: Angela Hill passes gas; Felice Herrig is disliked by her cast mates; Carla Esparaza has a crush on Urijah Faber, and so forth.

As much as the search for the UFC’s first flyweight champion should make headlines, there’s a darker undertone to the proceedings that Oprah Winfrey would much more suited to handle than FOX media personality Karyn Bryant—the issue of sexual abuse and how it relates to MMA.

Outside of mentions like former UFC champion Frank Shamrock revealing he’d been sexually abused in his groundbreaking autobiography Uncaged, overall, there has been little or no press on MMA athletes who have been sexually abused. The moratorium on coverage might be because MMA is a relatively new sport; it might be because journalists feel uncomfortable asking these kinds of personal questions or it may be an attempt to protect the victims. Either way, the decision to open up lies solely with the athletes.

Athletes in other combat sports, like boxing, have talked openly about their experiences with sexual abuse. Prior to the 2012 Olympics, USA Boxing president Hal Adonis caused a massive ripple effect when he was quoted in the New Yorker as saying “Half of our girls have been molested; half of our girls are gay,” of the US women’s boxing team.

While Adonis faced widespread condemnation and was suspended for two years in the wake of his insensitive and politically incorrect comments, several Team USA female boxers have told their stories of personal tragedy: lightweight Queen Underwood spoke about being molested by her father to the New York Times in February 2012; flyweight Tyrieshia Douglas told the New Yorker that she’d been beaten and raped in foster care; middleweight Claressa Shields—the only US boxer to win a gold medal at the 2012 games—revealed to Essence magazine that she’d been raped by a family acquaintance as a child.


(“The reason I put it into the book is there are a lot of people that have a secret like this…and if that’s weighing you down, then get rid of it.” / Frank Shamrock on his own experience with sexual abuse)

By Brian J. D’Souza

The storylines emerging from the latest all-female season of The Ultimate Fighter are the usual potpourri of banal tripe: Angela Hill passes gas; Felice Herrig is disliked by her cast mates; Carla Esparaza has a crush on Urijah Faber, and so forth.

As much as the search for the UFC’s first flyweight champion should make headlines, there’s a darker undertone to the proceedings that Oprah Winfrey would much more suited to handle than FOX media personality Karyn Bryant—the issue of sexual abuse and how it relates to MMA.

Outside of mentions like former UFC champion Frank Shamrock revealing he’d been sexually abused in his groundbreaking autobiography Uncaged, overall, there has been little or no press on MMA athletes who have been sexually abused. The moratorium on coverage might be because MMA is a relatively new sport; it might be because journalists feel uncomfortable asking these kinds of personal questions or it may be an attempt to protect the victims. Either way, the decision to open up lies solely with the athletes.

Athletes in other combat sports, like boxing, have talked openly about their experiences with sexual abuse. Prior to the 2012 Olympics, USA Boxing president Hal Adonis caused a massive ripple effect when he was quoted in the New Yorker as saying “Half of our girls have been molested; half of our girls are gay,” of the US women’s boxing team.

While Adonis faced widespread condemnation and was suspended for two years in the wake of his insensitive and politically incorrect comments, several Team USA female boxers have told their stories of personal tragedy: lightweight Queen Underwood spoke about being molested by her father to the New York Times in February 2012; flyweight Tyrieshia Douglas told the New Yorker that she’d been beaten and raped in foster care; middleweight Claressa Shields—the only US boxer to win a gold medal at the 2012 games—revealed to Essence magazine that she’d been raped by a family acquaintance as a child.

Male boxers who have opened up about their stories are also not short in number. Retired Australian professional boxer Paul Briggs, who challenged for the WBC light heavyweight title twice, revealed that he’d been raped as a child in his 2005 autobiography Heart, Soul, Fire. “Sugar” Ray Leonard, Micky Ward and Mike Tyson also recount incidents of sexual abuse or transgressions of their personal boundaries in their respective autobiographies. This is by no means a definitive list of victims—just the handful brave enough to come forward with their stories, most having done so long after they retired from the fight game.

MMA does have advocates willing to address the issue of sexual abuse. For example, In 2008, then-US judo Olympic hopeful Ronda Rousey was vocal about criticizing the lack of action by USA Judo over the molestation allegations surrounding USA Judo official Fletcher Thornton, which were were detailed in sworn affidavits. Feeling the heat, Thornton resigned two weeks before the 2008 Olympic games.

For her part, Rousey knew that there could have been blowback to her judo career had she chosen an earlier time to speak out. “I felt it was the right thing to do, and I had already made the Olympic team, so there was nothing anyone could do to me,” Rousey told Maggie Hendricks from Yahoo!.

Depression is a common symptom associated wtih sexual abuse, with some victims attempting or committing suicide. It does need to be said that symptoms of depression can also be the result of mental illness with no link or connection to any abuse; this is evident in Ernest Hemingway’s family tree, with at least seven of his relatives including the literary great himself having committed suicide.

Other consequences for victims of sexual abuse can include feelings of shame and stigma. This is a potent sanction against speaking out that is often counterproductive. Silence over crime inhibits personal healing, the justice system and aiding the next generation of victims.

The glaring reality of MMA is that the sport continues to get a bad rap for purportedly being a barbaric spectacle, designed merely for audience pleasure and profits with little regard for the health and safety of the combatants involved. Promotions have a mandate to spearhead campaigns to garner positive press and avoid controversial topics that could lead to further negative coverage—like the sexual assault scandals surrounding BJJ black belt Lloyd Irvin or MMA fighters Hermes Franca and Mike Whitehead.

The last time the UFC was involved in a hard-hitting segment on a mainstream American talk show was when UFC president Dana White and fighters Kenny Florian and Forrest Griffin appeared on Oprah spin-off Dr. Phil to talk about youths involved in street fighting.

“In the 20 year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship…there has never been a death or serious injury,” White proudly pontificates.

Fatalities in MMA are extremely rare, but what’s hidden beneath the surface is the scar tissue within each fighter’s psyche. Training and competing in combat sports may have therapeutic value, but it is not a long-term solution. Often, we see fighters self-destruct in the public eye as the limelight is fading away—but more often than not, athletes suffer in silence without ever getting any kind of treatment.

The issue needs to surface in the near future. Not as a marketing tool to sell pay-per-views or to generate viewer interest in MMA’s athletes—but as a personal truth revealed in order to erase social stigma associated with abuse, help others deal with their predicament and avert future tragedies from occurring.

After all, there will always be opportunities for sports glory. There will not always be a chance to change lives.

***

Brian J. D’Souza is the author of the critically acclaimed book Pound for Pound: The Modern Gladiators of Mixed Martial Arts. You can check out an excerpt right here.

Why Nick Diaz Has Everything to Lose Against Anderson Silva at UFC 183


(Silva vs. Diaz fan-made poster, via Shawn James)

By legendary CagePotato commenter/lurker “Old, Bald and Irish”

Of all of the upcoming matchups on the horizon for the UFC, one of them stands above the rest: Nick Diaz versus Anderson Silva at UFC 183.

Now, if this match happened two years ago, the hype would be off the charts. But today, the MMA community is looking at this event with curiosity rather than fevered passion. Sure. Eyeballs will be on this fight — mostly to see what Anderson Silva will look like in the ring following his horrific injury. But Nick Diaz as his opponent? Eh…maybe not so much.

What the hell happened?

It was just a short year-and-a-half ago when the MMA world was going wild for UFC 158: St-Pierre vs. Diaz (aka UFC 158: CANADA!…America’s Hat). This was MMA alchemy at its finest. Georges had defended his belt seven times and was clearly the king of his weight class. Nick was the trash talkin’, dope smokin’, Nashville brawlin’ fanboy favorite.

UFC 158 pulled in 950,000 pay-per-view buys. Not too shabby, especially compared to the buyrates the UFC has been pulling in lately. Both guys had hardcore MMA fan heat going in, but after St-Pierre dismantled Diaz, it proved what we pretty much knew going into the fight: Georges is a better wrestler, striker and tactician than Diaz. Period.

After beating up a past-his-prime BJ Penn, the “super fight” with St. Pierre did nothing to help Nick’s reputation. Quite the contrary, it damaged it even more and showed why Diaz isn’t on anyone’s Top 10 P4P list anymore. Now, after retiring “for realz” and spending nearly two years out of the cage (*COUGH* “ring rust” *COUGH*) Diaz is coming back to take on one of, if not the, greatest fighter in MMA history. What?

I’m looking for Nick’s silver lining, but short of a pot-fueled-double-middle-fingered-gogoplata or a pants-shitting-KO, I don’t see an upside for the scrappy pugilist from Stockton. Let’s take a few moments to be negative bastards and look at the probable and unfortunate near-future for the elder Diaz…


(Silva vs. Diaz fan-made poster, via Shawn James)

By legendary CagePotato commenter/lurker “Old, Bald and Irish”

Of all of the upcoming matchups on the horizon for the UFC, one of them stands above the rest: Nick Diaz versus Anderson Silva at UFC 183.

Now, if this match happened two years ago, the hype would be off the charts. But today, the MMA community is looking at this event with curiosity rather than fevered passion. Sure. Eyeballs will be on this fight — mostly to see what Anderson Silva will look like in the ring following his horrific injury. But Nick Diaz as his opponent? Eh…maybe not so much.

What the hell happened?

It was just a short year-and-a-half ago when the MMA world was going wild for UFC 158: St-Pierre vs. Diaz (aka UFC 158: CANADA!…America’s Hat). This was MMA alchemy at its finest. Georges had defended his belt seven times and was clearly the king of his weight class. Nick was the trash talkin’, dope smokin’, Nashville brawlin’ fanboy favorite.

UFC 158 pulled in 950,000 pay-per-view buys. Not too shabby, especially compared to the buyrates the UFC has been pulling in lately. Both guys had hardcore MMA fan heat going in, but after St-Pierre dismantled Diaz, it proved what we pretty much knew going into the fight: Georges is a better wrestler, striker and tactician than Diaz. Period.

After beating up a past-his-prime BJ Penn, the “super fight” with St. Pierre did nothing to help Nick’s reputation. Quite the contrary, it damaged it even more and showed why Diaz isn’t on anyone’s Top 10 P4P list anymore. Now, after retiring “for realz” and spending nearly two years out of the cage (*COUGH* “ring rust” *COUGH*) Diaz is coming back to take on one of, if not the, greatest fighter in MMA history. What?

I’m looking for Nick’s silver lining, but short of a pot-fueled-double-middle-fingered-gogoplata or a pants-shitting-KO, I don’t see an upside for the scrappy pugilist from Stockton. Let’s take a few moments to be negative bastards and look at the probable and unfortunate near-future for the elder Diaz…

Three is the Magic Number

If Diaz drops his fight with Silva, that will make him 1-3 in the UFC since 2011…with those three losses being consecutive. Three losses in a row. Historically speaking, that never sits too well with the UFC brass.

Now, if you’re an “entertaining fighter that always comes to bang” (see Dan Hardy) and you’re on Dana’s good side (assuming he has one?), you may get a pass. While Diaz is most certainly an entertaining fighter, Nick is closer to winning an elocution award than getting on Dana’s good side.

If the mood hit Dana White, cutting Diaz a la Shields/Okami/Fitch, would not be too much of a stretch.

Sayonara Superfights

Nick has stated that after 16 years of pro fighting, he’s “retired from ‘climbing ropes.’” Nick stated “I’m not doing anybody any favors and I’m not doing myself a favor by taking a fight I’m not happy with.” And true happiness, as Diaz sees it, is any fight where he’s getting paid $500,000 or more.

That’s all fine and dandy, but if Diaz gets his ass handed to him by Anderson Silva, he could find himself as the new past-his-prime BJ Penn.

Potentially, after three consecutive defeats to top UFC talent, how much heat will be left around for Diaz? At best, he’ll take on a gatekeeper status. At worst, he will appear as a joke calling out talent that is way above his perceived skill set.

I mean, do you think Dana White is gonna do anything to help boost Diaz’s status? Hell…the UFC can’t even push their champions properly. Do you think they’re gonna lift a finger for Nick unless there are biiiig dollar signs attached?

And who is going to want to fight Diaz? A fight with Nick won’t “move the needle”* like it used to. Your top 10 won’t be interested.

Nick’s literal pipe-dream of half-million dollar super fights? Kiss that shit good bye…

Anderson Silva

Nick Diaz getting his ass kicked by a fighter coming off of a two-fight losing streak and a year-long layoff from the cage thanks to one of the most devastating leg injuries in UFC history is a bad look, no matter who that fighter is. And what does Diaz prove if he actually does beat Silva? Everyone will scream that it was a fluke, that there is no way Anderson could have been 100% going into that fight, that Chris Weidman had already taken the Spider’s soul.

For Diaz, it’s truly a lose/lose situation.

It’s pretty clear: Nick took the fight for the paycheck. At the moment, that may have seemed like a good idea. But the impact on his legacy and further career advancement may eventually outweigh that decision.

PRIDE NEVAH DIE!

– O.B.I.

*I’m proposing a CagePotato ban on the term “moving the needle”.

Serious Question: Will the UFC Exist in 50 Years?


(No party can last forever. / Photo via Getty)

By Mike Fagan

A few weeks ago, I posed a question to Twitter: “What are the odds the UFC doesn’t exist in 50 years?” I figured most people would call me crazy for even asking the question, since human beings underestimate the likelihood of unlikely events. Yet, the responses I got — responses from people whose opinions I respect — swung hard the other way:

“Really really high.”

“Absolutely gone within 50 years.”

“50 years? 99 percent.”

“[W]ould guess better than 50% chance it doesn’t exist in 50 years.”

“I’d say zero chance in 50 years.”

Of the ten or so people to respond, none gave the UFC better than a 50/50 shot of existing in 50 years. Now, that seems low to me, but it speaks to the nonzero probability that the UFC may cease to exist between now and 2064.

The UFC seems to be in total control. They’ve bested all their serious competitors. Their TV deal with Fox/Fox Sports has cemented them in the mainstream, albeit a NASCAR-esque niche of that mainstream. They have a virtual monopoly on the top fighters in the sport. So what could bring them down? Let’s speculate!

THE IMPENDING APOCALYPSE! This one’s cheating, but let’s just use it as a catch-all for natural disasters, acts of God(s), and mutually assured destruction. We also shouldn’t discount the possibility of aliens returning for Georges St-Pierre. In short, there may not be a place for MMA because there may not be a place for human beings on this planet.

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER! Ted Turner bought Jim Crockett Promotions in November 1988 and renamed it World Championship Wrestling. Within six years, Monday Nitro, WCW’s flagship TV show, began drawing better ratings than the then-named World Wrestling Federation’s Monday Night Raw. WCW ultimately failed in its attempt to usurp the WWF, and Turner was forced to sell the promotion in 2001.

It’s not a perfect analogy — the WWF of 1990 did not have the same sort of stranglehold on talent as current-day UFC (or WWE for that matter). The perfect time to enter the market would have been in the vacuum of Pride’s absence, and the UFC has already weathered storms that Affliction and Strikeforce posed.


(No party can last forever. / Photo via Getty)

By Mike Fagan

A few weeks ago, I posed a question to Twitter: “What are the odds the UFC doesn’t exist in 50 years?” I figured most people would call me crazy for even asking the question, since human beings underestimate the likelihood of unlikely events. Yet, the responses I got — responses from people whose opinions I respect — swung hard the other way:

“Really really high.”

“Absolutely gone within 50 years.”

“50 years? 99 percent.”

“[W]ould guess better than 50% chance it doesn’t exist in 50 years.”

“I’d say zero chance in 50 years.”

Of the ten or so people to respond, none gave the UFC better than a 50/50 shot of existing in 50 years.  Now, that seems low to me, but it speaks to the nonzero probability that the UFC may cease to exist between now and 2064.

The UFC seems to be in total control. They’ve bested all their serious competitors. Their TV deal with Fox/Fox Sports has cemented them in the mainstream, albeit a NASCAR-esque niche of that mainstream. They have a virtual monopoly on the top fighters in the sport. So what could bring them down? Let’s speculate!

THE IMPENDING APOCALYPSE! This one’s cheating, but let’s just use it as a catch-all for natural disasters, acts of God(s), and mutually assured destruction. We also shouldn’t discount the possibility of aliens returning for Georges St-Pierre. In short, there may not be a place for MMA because there may not be a place for human beings on this planet.

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER! Ted Turner bought Jim Crockett Promotions in November 1988 and renamed it World Championship Wrestling. Within six years, Monday Nitro, WCW’s flagship TV show, began drawing better ratings than the then-named World Wrestling Federation’s Monday Night Raw. WCW ultimately failed in its attempt to usurp the WWF, and Turner was forced to sell the promotion in 2001.

It’s not a perfect analogy — the WWF of 1990 did not have the same sort of stranglehold on talent as current-day UFC (or WWE for that matter). The perfect time to enter the market would have been in the vacuum of Pride’s absence, and the UFC has already weathered storms that Affliction and Strikeforce posed.

That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, though. It took Turner and WCW six years before they were competing neck-and-neck with the WWF. Scott Coker could build momentum with a compelling and entertaining product made out of scrap parts over the next couple of years before Viacom opens the pocketbook to poach UFC/UFC-level talent.

SCANDAL! Pride fell apart when Japanese magazine Shukan Gendai exposed the promotion’s ties to the Yakuza. The promotion lost its television deal with FujiTV, and when another partner couldn’t be found, parent-company Dream Stage Entertainment sold the promotion and assets to the UFC. If you think the UFC can’t fall within 50 years, remember that no one thought Pride would be dead within a couple years during the summer of 2005.

The Fertitta family’s own mob ties aside, what if someone discovers something like promotion-sanctioned fight fixing, or widespread cover-ups of failed drug tests for marquee fighters? Unlike the NBA and NFL, it only takes one scandal to bring down a fight promotion.

DEATH IN THE OCTAGON! The UFC’s been incredibly fortunate in terms of the health and safety of their fighters inside the Octagon. That is, of course, excluding the company’s best fighter snapping his shin in half on one of the biggest shows in the company’s history.

The sport’s had its fair share of deaths resulting from competition. When Douglas Dedge died in 1998, the focus shifted to a lack of fatalities in sanctioned events. Then Sam Vasquez died following a fight in Houston in 2007. Now we celebrate the fact that no one has died inside the Octagon.

With the UFC putting on close to 50 events a year and filling those events with lesser and lesser talent, it’s reasonable to assume that someone enters the Octagon a living, breathing person and leaves the Octagon a stiff, lifeless corpse in the next half century.

Boxing survived Benny Paret’s death in 1962 — but that was long before the issue of concussions in sports became a sensitive subject. Combine a death inside the Octagon with a politician looking to make waves, and the negative publicity could drown the UFC.

MMA’S CURT FLOOD! In 1969, the St. Louis Cardinals traded Curt Flood to the Philadelphia Phillies. Flood, citing a variety of reasons, refused to report to his new club. Flood’s action set off a series of events that eventually led baseball to free agency in 1975.

The idea of a fighter’s union or a fighter’s association is almost always predicated on a fighter (and more likely a group of fighters) acting as Curt Flood did in 1969. Given the lack of leverage for all but a few fighters, MMA’s Curt Flood will likely have to be a champion — a drawing champion. Randy Couture almost played that role in 2007, and Georges St-Pierre could have played that role had he taken a more political stand over the last year.

What should concern the UFC more than a fighter’s union, however, is some number of elite fighters forsaking the UFC and attempting to run their own event. Floyd Mayweather’s name is never far from a fighter’s lips, and it’s hard to imagine the UFC’s top stars looking at Mayweather’s eight-figure paydays without scratching their heads.

If you approached me with a wager of the highest Duke stakes and gave me 50/50 odds, I’d bet on the UFC still being around in the next 50 years. That said, I imagine it looks quite different than the current product, and Dana White and the Fertittas will have surely moved on from their leadership roles by then; maybe the business is passed on to an heir who steers it off a cliff. It would not shock me if the promotion dissipated between now and then, and you wonder how much preparation the UFC has made for unknown unknowns.

Why Georges St-Pierre Should Stay Retired — For Everyone’s Sake


(Photo via Getty)

By Trent Reinsmith

Earlier this week, a report surfaced out of Montreal that former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was spotted in a restaurant with UFC president Dana White and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta. At this point, no one is saying what the meeting was about. Maybe it was just one rich dude and two wealthy dudes sitting down for a lunch of Venison Haunch and Saucisson or Suckling Pig Rack and Flank (offered on the restaurant’s lunch menu at $36 and $42 respectively), or maybe it was a meeting to gauge St-Pierre’s interest in a return to the Octagon.

My sincere hope, for both the UFC and St-Pierre is that it was the former, not the latter. However, if the conversation was about a St-Pierre return to the UFC, I would advise both sides to stop right now because it will not help either in the long run.

Let’s start with why St-Pierre — in the immortal words of Burgess Meredith as Mickey in Rocky — should, “Down, down, stay down.”

When St-Pierre decided to step away from the UFC after defeating Johny Hendricks in November 2013 he was one of the most popular fighters in the UFC. Well, at least until the moment that he told Joe Rogan he was stepping away from the sport for a bit. Once UFC president Dana White heard those words, White went into full meltdown mode.

In the post-fight press conference, White said of St-Pierre, “You owe it to the fans, you owe it to that belt, you owe it to this company, and you owe it to Johny Hendricks to give him that opportunity to fight again, unless you’re gonna retire…There’s no ‘Hey listen I’m gonna go on a cruise and be gone for two years.’”

It was an impassioned speech; too bad none of it happened to be true. St-Pierre, a man that made the UFC millions of dollars didn’t (and doesn’t) owe anyone anything. White’s public reaction to his cash cow walking away was ugly, nasty and served as a reminder of how quickly he is willing to throw a fighter under the bus, even if that fighter is recognized as one of the greatest combatants ever to set foot in the Octagon.


(Photo via Getty)

By Trent Reinsmith

Earlier this week, a report surfaced out of Montreal that former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre was spotted in a restaurant with UFC president Dana White and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta. At this point, no one is saying what the meeting was about. Maybe it was just one rich dude and two wealthy dudes sitting down for a lunch of Venison Haunch and Saucisson or Suckling Pig Rack and Flank (offered on the restaurant’s lunch menu at $36 and $42 respectively), or maybe it was a meeting to gauge St-Pierre’s interest in a return to the Octagon.

My sincere hope, for both the UFC and St-Pierre is that it was the former, not the latter. However, if the conversation was about a St-Pierre return to the UFC, I would advise both sides to stop right now because it will not help either in the long run.

Let’s start with why St-Pierre — in the immortal words of Burgess Meredith as Mickey in Rocky — should, “Down, down, stay down.”

When St-Pierre decided to step away from the UFC after defeating Johny Hendricks in November 2013 he was one of the most popular fighters in the UFC. Well, at least until the moment that he told Joe Rogan he was stepping away from the sport for a bit. Once UFC president Dana White heard those words, White went into full meltdown mode.

In the post-fight press conference, White said of St-Pierre, “You owe it to the fans, you owe it to that belt, you owe it to this company, and you owe it to Johny Hendricks to give him that opportunity to fight again, unless you’re gonna retire…There’s no ‘Hey listen I’m gonna go on a cruise and be gone for two years.’”

It was an impassioned speech; too bad none of it happened to be true. St-Pierre, a man that made the UFC millions of dollars didn’t (and doesn’t) owe anyone anything. White’s public reaction to his cash cow walking away was ugly, nasty and served as a reminder of how quickly he is willing to throw a fighter under the bus, even if that fighter is recognized as one of the greatest combatants ever to set foot in the Octagon.

More recently, White further downplayed St-Pierre’s contributions to the UFC’s coffers. In a moment of hyperbole that no one was buying (except for maybe White and the man he was talking about), White made the audacious and wholly untrue claim that Conor McGregor was bigger than both Georges St-Pierre and Brock Lesnar.  That’s right, White is claiming that a man who has headlined exactly zero UFC PPV’s and fought on exactly two UFC main cards is bigger than the two biggest PPV draws in the history of the UFC.

When St-Pierre was sitting down with White and Fertitta and looking into their smiling faces, I hope he remembered both of these incidents because they serve to point out the fact that St-Pierre is nothing more than a commodity to the UFC, a commodity it needs to boost its sagging PPV buy rate.

Another related reason that St-Pierre should stay out of the game is his legacy. He left the sport as one of the top five (or better) fighters of all time. If he comes back and loses, not only will his legacy be tarnished, but it’s entirely feasible that the UFC would use that loss to further step on what St-Pierre has contributed to the promotion. The UFC machine would undoubtedly use a victory over St-Pierre as the launching point of a media campaign for whatever fighter defeated the mid-30’s version of St-Pierre.

Plus, St-Pierre doesn’t need to fight. He’s made his millions; he’s appearing in movies, he has sponsorship deals. He’s doing exactly what (almost) every professional fighter dreams of doing: making money without getting punched in the head by the likes of Johny Hendricks or Nick Diaz.

Barring any late onset Michael Jordanitis (defined as the need to always be in the spotlight no matter how much one’s skills have deteriorated), St-Pierre should quietly allow his time away to morph into full retirement.

Now onto the UFC.

It’s understandable that the promotion would want St-Pierre to return to the fold, after all, when he walked away the average number of PPV buys for a St-Pierre headlined card hovered in the 700,000 range.

You want to know how many UFC PPV’s have come close to that number since St-Pierre announced his break? That number is one, and that event (which eclipsed the one million PPV sales mark) was headlined by the rematch between former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman at UFC 168. In fact, in 2014, only one PPV event has broken the 500,000 buy barrier (UFC 175).

Yes, a St-Pierre return would boost the UFC’s bottom line, but it will only do so temporarily. The man is 33-years old now, and even if he does return, how long will he fight for the UFC? Not long, because if you know anything about St-Pierre, you know he’s not going to step into the Octagon as a “remember when he was great?” type of athlete. So, while the promotion would get a temporary reprieve from its PPV buys being in the doldrums, when St-Pierre steps away for good they will most likely be right back where they are today.

Instead of hoping for a St-Pierre return, the UFC should take this time to try and build on their current roster. They need to push Chris Weidman, Cain Velasquez, Jon Jones, Ronda Rousey, Jose Aldo, and the rest of the UFC title holders. They need to get those fighters the mainstream coverage that will help bring in PPV buys and Fight Pass subscriptions from the casually interested fans. They need to look to the future, not the past. And if that means going all in on someone like Conor McGregor, yes, do that too, but do it with some decorum if possible.

The UFC will surely see a boost to its PPV buys in January when Anderson Silva returns to the Octagon to face Nick Diaz at UFC 183, but again, that also qualifies as looking into the past, as both of those fighters are proven commodities with limited time left in the game.

Sports teams enter rebuilding phases all the time. Now is the time for the UFC to do the same, and Georges, next time you meet with the UFC, at least let them take you to a multi-course dinner.