There is mounting evidence to suggest that the city of Vancouver – and indeed the entire province of British Columbia – views MMA and its fans as a roving band of savages who are going to storm the town with torches and two-by-fours, burning every building and raping every damsel before climbing on their snarling horses and moving on to pillage the next village. At least that’s the impression we get from a number of local news reports leading up to June’s UFC 131. First there were reports from the Vancouver Courier that the police chief in The Couv was asking the UFC to foot the bill for extra cops outside the Rogers Arena during the event. The UFC rightly said no to that request last week. Now older reports are beginning to surface that the local government squashed a planned MMA expo last year and even one (from our own M-Russ in his previous incarnation at The Fight Network) alleging that area nightclubs tried to ban Affliction clothing as far back as 2007.
So, what gives? Why so petrified, Vancouver? Did somebody forget to tell them Brock Lesnar’s probably not even going to show up now? We hate to break the news this way, but the UFC has actually been doing shows all over the world for kind of a lot of years now and all of them – as far as we know – are still standing and operational as, you know, cities. From where we’re sitting it seems way more dangerous to say, have your team win the NBA championship than host a UFC event. Oh, wait. Sorry. Forgot. Anyway, more on this story, the UFC’s reaction and the possible roots of Vancouver’s MMA phobia after the jump.
There is mounting evidence to suggest that the city of Vancouver – and indeed the entire province of British Columbia – views MMA and its fans as a roving band of savages who are going to storm the town with torches and two-by-fours, burning every building and raping every damsel before climbing on their snarling horses and moving on to pillage the next village. At least that’s the impression we get from a number of local news reports leading up to June’s UFC 131. First there were reports from the Vancouver Courier that the police chief in The Couv was asking the UFC to foot the bill for extra cops outside the Rogers Arena during the event. The UFC rightly said no to that request last week. Now older reports are beginning to surface that the local government squashed a planned MMA expo last year and even one (from our own M-Russ in his previous incarnation at The Fight Network) alleging that area nightclubs tried to ban Affliction clothing as far back as 2007.
So, what gives? Why so petrified, Vancouver? Did somebody forget to tell them Brock Lesnar’s probably not even going to show up now? We hate to break the news this way, but the UFC has actually been doing shows all over the world for kind of a lot of years now and all of them – as far as we know – are still standing and operational as, you know, cities. From where we’re sitting it seems way more dangerous to say, have your team win the NBA championship than host a UFC event. Oh, wait. Sorry. Forgot. Anyway, more on this story, the UFC’s reaction and the possible roots of Vancouver’s MMA phobia after the jump.
Much of the current hysteria appears to stem from a bump in calls to police in the wake of UFC 115 last summer, particularly one sort of nasty act of violence. In that incident, a gay couple was beaten by two men while returning to their home in the hours after UFC 115. For whatever reason – thought they’ve been a little coy about it – police believe the men responsible may have been all charged up after watching Rich Franklin KO Chuck Liddell that night. Here it is from the most recent Courier report:
“Police have not linked the beating to the UFC event, although (one of the victims) said in an interview a few days after the incident that he believed his attackers attended the fights at Rogers Arena.”
So that seems vague. According to the Courier, other incidents of concern following UFC 115 included “public drinking, rowdy drunks and public urination before and after the UFC event.” You know, sort of like what happens any time there is any sort of significant gathering of fans for a sporting event, concert or large scale happening. Fact is, you’re always going to have a few idiots sprinkled in with the rest of the crowd.
Inexplicably, BC seems to have decided that MMA fans are also prone to “gang activity,” though if there are any MMA-centric gangs out there, we’ve never heard of them. It’s not like the Hells Angels, Crips or Latin Kings are known to mobilize for UFC events. Apparently however, the powers that be believe these gangs exist, and that they fancy $60 fashion T-shirts as their colors. Dude, those aren’t gangs. They’re just douchebags.
Anyhow, “gang concerns” were the reasons given last year when authorities reportedly told a promoter his planned MMA expo could not include “two people competing in any manner.” As result of finding out that no MMA, jiu-jitsu or kickboxing could be expo’d at his expo, the promoter canceled the event.
That pretty much brings us up to date, when Vancouver asked the UFC to pay for extra cops around Rogers Arena next month. The company said no, with Director of Canadian Operations Tom Wright explaining in an email to MMA Fighting: “We remain supportive of law enforcement in every city we bring shows to, (but) we weren’t prepared to be ‘treated differently’ than other events/concerts/shows.”
As it stands, it doesn’t seem like this sticking point will threaten the viability of UFC 131. On the other hand, it does kind of feel like British Columbia needs to chill the fuck out.
It was rampant speculation time across the interwebs on Friday, after yesterday’s announcement that Brock Lesnar’s diverticulitis has returned with a vengeance. “Is Brock done?” we all wondered aloud. Is Carwin vs. dos Santos actually a better fight? Can the UFC rebound from a couple of weeks that saw the main events of UFC 130, 131 and 133 all go up in smoke? And, dear God, are Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz next to suffer some bizarre malady, causing a reshuffling of the only PPV still left in one piece? Nobody knows.
What we do know is this: Brock Lesnar turns 34 in July and twice now since 2009 he’s seen his career indefinitely sidetracked by being the world’s only millionaire athlete to get a near fatal disease from not eating enough vegetables. Age has never been particularly kind to jumbo-sized athletes and even for a professional wrestler, Lesnar’s job history has been pretty flighty over the years. So, while we can’t say with any kind of certainty that his MMA career might be over over, Lesnar’s second bout with a strange digestive infection nobody had ever heard of before two years ago can’t exactly be considered a good thing. Apparently, the first time he went through this the UFC forgot to tell us that diverticulitis is something that sticks around for the rest of your life. Whoops. But we digress. What it all means for Lesnar, dos Santos, Carwin and – most importantly – you, after the jump.
It was rampant speculation time across the interwebs on Friday, after yesterday’s announcement that Brock Lesnar’s diverticulitis has returned with a vengeance. “Is Brock done?” we all wondered aloud. Is Carwin vs. dos Santos actually a better fight? Can the UFC rebound from a couple of weeks that saw the main events of UFC 130, 131 and 133 all go up in smoke? And, dear God, are Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz next to suffer some bizarre malady, causing a reshuffling of the only PPV still left in one piece? Nobody knows.
What we do know is this: Brock Lesnar turns 34 in July and twice now since 2009 he’s seen his career indefinitely sidetracked by being the world’s only millionaire athlete to get a near fatal disease from not eating enough vegetables. Age has never been particularly kind to jumbo-sized athletes and even for a professional wrestler, Lesnar’s job history has been pretty flighty over the years. So, while we can’t say with any kind of certainty that his MMA career might be over over, Lesnar’s second bout with a strange digestive infection nobody had ever heard of before two years ago can’t exactly be considered a good thing. Apparently, the first time he went through this the UFC forgot to tell us that diverticulitis is something that sticks around for the rest of your life. Whoops. But we digress. What it all means for Lesnar, dos Santos, Carwin and – most importantly – you, after the jump.
Dos Santos has also been thrust into kind of a tight spot here. Here he is coming off an altogether affable – if not star-making – turn on TUF 13 and for the second time in recent memory he’s seen a big-money fight fall through due to an injury to the other guy. Now he inherits a slightly lesser known but arguably more dangerous opponent. At this point, the dude should just be happy if Carwin makes it to the cage, but (in case you’re interested) he’s taking a “same shit, different opponent” kind of approach to this last-minute switcheroo.
“I got a little upset about this change, but I’m happy that the UFC got another opponent for me,” dos Santos told Sherdog this week. “Carwin is an excellent fighter and deserves all my respect. His boxing skills are great. It’s gonna be a great fight with tough blows from both sides. I would say that it will end by knockout.”
Dos Santos rightly opened as a pretty significant favorite over Carwin, who will be staring down the barrel of his own 11-month absence from the cage by fight night. Oddly though, at least some of the early money appears to be falling to Carwin. According to reports, dos Santos opened at around -265, but has since seen those odds shrink to -225. That means there are a significant number of gamblers who might just think Carwin can win here. Winning would be a great thing for The Engineer, who came within a breath of claiming the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 116 and still, still at some point needs to give us his side of how his name wound up on that one list we’ve all forgotten about already.
As for the company itself, well, this change pretty much couldn’t come at a worse time, what with the upcoming PPV schedule already ailing. To add insult to injury, TUF 13 ratings slipped again this week, further fueling our speculation that a season of reality TV was exactly the wrong way to try to promote Lesnar in the first place. During 2010, the big fella was the company’s biggest (and best paid) PPV draw. At this point though – even if he is able to return to active competition – you have to wonder just how much the UFC can count on him as a reliable future PPV draw.
(“Please understand when I type ‘Go Fuk Urself’ it’s just part of a carefully orchestrated corporate branding campaign.” Pic: Dub)
If you’ve noticed the ridiculous crush of Twitter messages that have flooded the social networking site during the current Zuffa, LLC. fighter summit in Las Vegas, this may be the reason why: UFC President Dana White announced on Wednesday that the fight promotion will begin offering bonuses to fighters for Twitter use, essentially paying them to tweet. Bonuses will be available to fighters who add the most Twitter followers and write the most creative tweets, according to a report from MMA Fighting. Jesus, this oughta be good. No word yet on whether the UFC Octagon girls will get bonuses for incessantlytweetingabouttheirdailyagendas.
Those of you who have been paying attention know it is no accident that the UFC has quickly evolved into a major player in the social media world during the last couple of years. As one of its primary PR objectives, the promotion recently partnered with a marketing firm called The Digital Royalty, which specializes in teaching celebrities and organizations how to maximize their presence on Twitter. Turns out, Dana doesn’t just tweet because he likes it. And here we thought one of Twitter’s only redeeming qualities was that it seemed halfway organic and spontaneous. Guess not. Anyway, exactly how these bonuses will work is after the jump.
(“Please understand when I type ‘Go Fuk Urself’ it’s just part of a carefully orchestrated corporate branding campaign.” Pic: Dub)
If you’ve noticed the ridiculous crush of Twitter messages that have flooded the social networking site during the current Zuffa, LLC. fighter summit in Las Vegas, this may be the reason why: UFC President Dana White announced on Wednesday that the fight promotion will begin offering bonuses to fighters for Twitter use, essentially paying them to tweet. Bonuses will be available to fighters who add the most Twitter followers and write the most creative tweets, according to a report from MMA Fighting. Jesus, this oughta be good. No word yet on whether the UFC Octagon girls will get bonuses for incessantlytweetingabouttheirdailyagendas.
Those of you who have been paying attention know it is no accident that the UFC has quickly evolved into a major player in the social media world during the last couple of years. As one of its primary PR objectives, the promotion recently partnered with a marketing firm called The Digital Royalty, which specializes in teaching celebrities and organizations how to maximize their presence on Twitter. Turns out, Dana doesn’t just tweet because he likes it. And here we thought one of Twitter’s only redeeming qualities was that it seemed halfway organic and spontaneous. Guess not. Anyway, exactly how these bonuses will work is after the jump.
Straight from Ariel Helwani: “Starting June 1, UFC and Strikeforce fighters will be divided into four categories, based on how many Twitter followers they currently have. At the end of each quarter, three fighters from each category will be awarded a $5,000 bonus. The three winners will be based on who has gained the most followers since the start of the quarter, who gained the highest percentage of new followers and who wrote the most creative tweets. White will be the judge of the last category. At the conclusion of a full calendar year, the UFC will end up paying $240,000 a year to its fighters for their Twitter usage.”
Naturally, being our sport’s official arbiter of good taste and creativity, Dana will decide who gets the award for most creative tweets. If you ask us, this award may as well just be called The Miguel Torres Bonus. Seriously, if anybody is going to catch Miguel Angel, they’re really going to have to step their game up.
It goes without saying that the more followers the UFC can draw into its social networking web, the better it can advertise its various products (among which, the fighters themselves are No. 1) and ultimately push sales of things like merch and PPVs. Can it also use information about its followers to better hone its demographic information? Probably, but that’s just our guess.
(Weirdest part is, the Portuguese language has no phrase that means “dress shoes.”)
Just one of the many, many problems inherent in ranking MMA’s top “pound-for-pound” fighters – aside from the obvious fact these lists are 100 percent fantasy-based and therefore flatly ridiculous to begin with — is that a lot of people can’t even agree what the phrase “pound-for-pound” actually means. Does it simply provide a method for comparing the best fighters in the world across different classes? Does it purport to measure a fighter’s dominance relative to his size? Does it envision a bizzaro world where everyone is the same height and weight? And if so, does a 135-pound Fedor Emelianenko still have that ribbon of fat around his gut? Fuck if we know.
Fact is, pound-for-pound lists are really just a study in speculative fiction. Rather than trying to rank a bunch of fighters who will never actually fight we’d probably be better off writing a sprawling, dystopian novel presupposing that the Nazis won WWII, Custer didn’t die at the Little Bighorn and that during the summer of 1985 a 27-year-old Dan Severn accidentally stepped on a butterfly during his morning jog through Ann Arbor, setting off a chain reaction that caused Jon Jones never to be born at all. I guess what we’re trying to say is, things are about to get real theoretical up in this bitch. Like, comically subjective and shit.
Still, even if we can’t claim to know exactly what these rankings are trying to achieve, we do know one thing: Our carefully cultivated demographic information tells us you motherfuckers loves you some lists. And in that, we must oblige …
(Weirdest part is, the Portuguese language doesn’t even have a phrase that means “dress shoes.”)
Just one of the many, many problems inherent in ranking MMA’s top “pound-for-pound” fighters – aside from the obvious fact these lists are 100 percent fantasy-based and therefore flatly ridiculous to begin with — is that a lot of people can’t even agree what the phrase “pound-for-pound” actually means. Does it simply provide a method for comparing the best fighters in the world across different classes? Does it purport to measure a fighter’s dominance relative to his size? Does it envision a bizzaro world where everyone is the same height and weight? And if so, does a 135-pound Fedor Emelianenko still have that ribbon of fat around his gut? Fuck if we know.
Fact is, pound-for-pound lists are really just a study in speculative fiction. Rather than trying to rank a bunch of fighters who will never actually fight we’d probably be better off writing a sprawling, dystopian novel presupposing that the Nazis won WWII, Custer didn’t die at the Little Bighorn and that during the summer of 1985 a 27-year-old Dan Severn accidentally stepped on a butterfly during his morning jog through Ann Arbor, setting off a chain reaction that caused Jon Jones never to be born at all. I guess what we’re trying to say is, things are about to get real theoretical up in this bitch. Like, comically subjective and shit.
Still, even if we can’t claim to know exactly what these rankings are trying to achieve, we do know one thing: Our carefully cultivated demographic information tells us you motherfuckers loves you some lists. And in that, we must oblige …
Ben Goldstein:
1. Anderson Silva: All the easy analogies have been beaten to death, so what can you really say about Anderson Silva except that he’s a lion playing among wildebeests? It’s not just athleticism, aptitude, and creativity — Silva possesses the kind of extra-dimensional vision usually reserved for deaf composers and chess savants. When it comes to fighting, he can do literally anything.
2. Georges St. Pierre: Let’s be frank — GSP’s technical perfection is not always a thrill to watch, and his five-rounder against Jake Shields nearly ruined UFC 129. But the level of dominance he’s displayed against the UFC’s welterweight elite over the last four years has been astounding. You have to give it up for a guy who can take the fight wherever he wants it to go, 100 percent of the time.
3. Jose Aldo: I actually liked seeing Aldo get beat up a little bit by Mark Hominick; adversity is what makes a legend. Now that he’s survived that test, I have no doubt he’ll resume his slash-and-burn through the contender list at 145, starting with Chad Mendes, then (fingers crossed) moving on to Kenny Florian.
4. Jon Jones: The present and the future of MMA. His performances are already as impressively superhuman as Anderson Silva’s. All he needs is the title reign — and maybe, one day, a run at heavyweight.
5. Dominick Cruz: A complete and uniquely talented champion who has left some of the best bantamweights in the sport licking their wounds and scratching their heads. A win over Urijah Faber at UFC 132 in July would finally get him over with casual fans, while avenging his only loss in 18 fights.
Chad Dundas:
1. Jon Jones: Jonny Bones is 23 years old, has had fewer than 10 fights in the UFC, isn’t even done physically maturing yet and already, nobody in the world wants to fight him. That includes at least one guy on this list and that’s good enough for me.
2. Georges St. Pierre: All St. Pierre has done during the last three and a half years is outthink, outperform and outclass every opponent the UFC could find to put in the cage with him. Is it his fault he competes in the only sport in the world where that’s not good enough for some people?
3. Anderson Silva: Silva is so good that half the time it looks like he’s not even really trying. I guess that’s a problem for everybody not named Anderson Silva.
4. Dominick Cruz: One of the most elusive and unorthodox fighters in the sport, Cruz must be a nightmare to prepare for. Just 25 years old, as long as his body doesn’t come apart on him, he could be champ for a while.
5. Jose Aldo: Aldo may have shown his mettle in gutting one out over Hominick, but he didn’t exactly come away looking like a pound-for-pound great. I’m willing to chalk it up to sickness for now, but I’ll need to see a return to form if I’m going to justify keeping him on this list at the expense of guys like Frankie Edgar, Gilbert Melendez and Cain Velasquez next time. Wait, we are going to do this again at some point … right?
Mike Russell:
1. Anderson Silva: Besides the four round spanking he received from Chael Sonnen last year, no opponent has been able to touch “The Spider” the past few years. He’s the reason Georges St. Pierre is reluctant to move up to 185 and why Jon Jones will likely change his tune about fighting friends if Silva decides to move up to light heavyweight.
2. Georges St-Pierre: His only loss of the past six years came at the hands of Matt Serra, who loses 9.995 times out of 10 to GSP under normal circumstances. The problem is, the loss made him revert to a more careful (read, boring) style that has turned many fans off of watching his fights. It’s tough to argue against him being on this list, as he is as dominant a fighter as you’ll find, but if this was the top most exciting fighters in the game he would be somewhere at the bottom, ahead of Jake Shields and Jon Fitch.
3. Jon Jones: Another few wins over top competition could move Jones ahead of St-Pierre on the list, but considering that the UFC’s light heavyweight strap is becoming as cursed as its heavyweight one (in the past nine championship bouts it has been won by seven different men), the odds of him remaining champion are stacked against him.
4. Jose Aldo: Some people think that Aldo’s hard-fought win over Hominick should drop him in the pound-for-pound rankings. I think it should elevate Hominick up a few slots. The fight proved that Aldo can fight through adversity to win and although he didn’t look dominant in doing it, the same can also be said for the top two on this list at times during their respective careers.
5. Frankie Edgar: If Edgar can definitively beat Gray Maynard in their rubber match, nobody will argue that he deserves to be on this list. If he wins, I’d like to see him take on Gilbert Melendez next, as I think “El Nino” could shake things up a bit in the UFC’s lightweight class and in these rankings.
Honorable mentions: Gilbert Melendez, Cain Velasquez, Dominick Cruz, Nick Diaz.
("Is your person Russian, or commonly mistaken for Russian?" Image courtesy of MMAMania)
MiddleEasy passes along the helpful info that at least one online sportsbook, 2betdsi.com, is offering a prop bet on who will win the Strikeforce Heavy…
("Is your person Russian, or commonly mistaken for Russian?" Image courtesy of MMAMania)
FEDOR EMELIANENKO +160 [opened at +125] ALISTAIR OVEREEM +200 JOSH BARNETT +400 ANDREI ARLOVSKI +900 FABRICIO WERDUM +1400 [opened at +700] ANTONIO SILVA +1800 [opened at +900] SERGEI KHARITONOV +2000 [opened at +1400] BRETT ROGERS +2200 [opened at +1900] SHANE DEL ROSARIO +3000 [opened at +2400] VALENTIJN OVEREEM +3500 [opened at +2600] LAVAR JOHNSON +4000 [opened at +3200] RAY SEFO +4500 [opened at +3600] FIELD (any fighter not listed, which would include Chad Griggs and Gian Villante) +5000
(Don’t give him any money. You know he’ll just spend it on N.O.-Xplode. Photo courtesy of Myron Watkins.)
By CagePotato contributor Jason Moles
This week, our nation’s attention has been captured by redneck birds and the Golden Voice Hobo, only one …
(Don’t give him any money. You know he’ll just spend it on N.O.-Xplode. Photo courtesy of Myron Watkins.)
By CagePotato contributor Jason Moles
This week, our nation’s attention has been captured by redneck birds and the Golden Voice Hobo, only one of which has a happy ending. (No, not that kind…the other kind. Yes, there is another kind.) The rags-to-riches-to-rags-and-back-to-riches tale of fortune for Ted Williams is the polar opposite of that of many fighters lately. In the last two weeks, Zuffa has cut six fighters and suspended one more. The economy is still in the can and homeboys gotta eat, so if Strikeforce or Bellator don’t come calling soon, this is where you’re going to see ‘The Expendables’ next:
Brandon "The Truth" Vera: Some believe the number 13 to be unlucky, and for Vera it was. After exactly that many fights in the Octagon, his days in the spotlight are over. From now on he’ll be slinging dinuguan [Ed. note: Eww.] with a side of balut [Ed. note: *barfs*] at his aunt and uncle’s restaurant, Manila Good-Ha, in L.A.’s Koreatown. It’s a match made in heaven for Vera because he’ll never have to worry about getting punched in the nose again — that is, unless he back-talks his wife Kerry. He’s just gotta make sure Jon Jones’s order is just how he likes it.
Marcus "The Irish Hand Grenade" Davis: The former TUF 2 contestant will grow out his hair and learn how to drop flying-elbows off the top turnbuckle. Davis will join forces with Samoa Joe, the man he trained back in 2008, to form the world’s most obscure tag-team since The Oddities. At some point Marc Mero, also a former boxer, will come out of retirement to challenge The Irish Hand Grenade to a Caribbean Strap Match for bragging rights as the best ‘real’ fighter in TNA. Dan Hardy will interfere and cost him the match leaving him to reconsider life in some barn with his ex-Army sniper friend.
