(It’s Ireland. You gotta have at least one pikey-fight. Screen-cap via MMAMania; be sure to come back to CagePotato tomorrow 3 p.m. ET/noon PT for our liveblog of UFC Fight Night Dublin: McGregor vs. Brandao.)
Some must-see highlights from our friends around the Internet…
(It’s Ireland. You gotta have at least one pikey-fight. Screen-cap via MMAMania; be sure to come back to CagePotato tomorrow 3 p.m. ET/noon PT for our liveblog of UFC Fight Night Dublin: McGregor vs. Brandao.)
Some must-see highlights from our friends around the Internet…
With some of the promotion’s most crowd-pleasing stars returning to action in the near future, the UFC has released a bunch of classic fights to hype up their appearances.
First up: Donald Cerrone‘s comeback knockout of Melvin Guillard at UFC 150 in August 2012, in which Cowboy gets battered around the cage for a minute before stunning Guillard with a head-kick and finishing the job with a right cross. The 76-second performance earned Cerrone an extra $120,000 in Fight of the Night/Knockout of the Night bonuses. He returns to the cage this Wednesday against Jim Miller at UFC Fight Night 45 in Atlantic City. Set your DVRs, folks.
With some of the promotion’s most crowd-pleasing stars returning to action in the near future, the UFC has released a bunch of classic fights to hype up their appearances.
First up: Donald Cerrone‘s comeback knockout of Melvin Guillard at UFC 150 in August 2012, in which Cowboy gets battered around the cage for a minute before stunning Guillard with a head-kick and finishing the job with a right cross. The 76-second performance earned Cerrone an extra $120,000 in Fight of the Night/Knockout of the Night bonuses. He returns to the cage this Wednesday against Jim Miller at UFC Fight Night 45 in Atlantic City. Set your DVRs, folks.
In honor of Conor McGregor‘s long-awaited return to the Octagon this Saturday in Dublin against Diego Brandao, here’s his UFC debut last April, in which he smoked Marcus Brimage in just over a minute.
Now, Brandao is in a main event against The King of Dublin — which kind of seems undeserved, but considering that McGregor and Brandao have had their eyes on each other since last year, it could still be an entertaining scrap. The current fight-lineup for UFC Fight Night 46: McGregor vs. Brandao is…
(No, Conor. It was certainly *not* as good for us as it was for you. / Photo via @TheNotoriousMMA)
Now, Brandao is in a main event against The King of Dublin — which kind of seems undeserved, but considering that McGregor and Brandao have had their eyes on each other since last year, it could still be an entertaining scrap. The current fight-lineup for UFC Fight Night 46: McGregor vs. Brandao is…
Conor McGregor vs. Diego Brandao
Gunnar Nelson vs. Zak Cummings
Ian McCall vs. Brad Pickett
Ilir Latifi vs. Tom Lawlor
Cody Donovan vs. Nikita Krylov
Phil Harris vs. Neil Seery
Trevor Smith vs. Tor Troeng
Naoyuki Kotani vs. Norman Parke
Not content with simply being known as a Heineken-drinking origami master, UFC featherweight Conor McGregor is now the spokesman for Dublin’s own King Crisps. (Note: “Crisps” is just the fancy European word for what you Americans know as “tater chips, y’all.”) Watch his new commercial above, which features McGregor really selling the hell out of those ***king chips. LOL?
Not content with simply being known as a Heineken-drinking origami master, UFC featherweight Conor McGregor is now the spokesman for Dublin’s own King Crisps. (Note: “Crisps” is just the fancy European word for what you Americans know as “tater chips, y’all.”) Watch his new commercial above, which features McGregor really selling the hell out of those ***king chips. LOL?
(Another lightning-fast knockout from UCMMA, just two months after the last one. Hey, could somebody get us the name of the blonde Hot Potato at 0:28-0:41? #hnnnnng)
(Another lightning-fast knockout from UCMMA, just two months after the last one. Hey, could somebody get us the name of the blonde Hot Potato at 0:28-0:41? #hnnnnng)
MMA is the ultimate “nice guys finish last” sport. It’s called prize fighting for a reason, and “I respect him; he’s a great opponent” doesn’t sell.
This is no secret. Just look at how Chael Sonnen—a perennial mid-carder who nobody knew or cared about—resurrected his career with carefully executed, bombastic trash talk.
Why am I telling you this if it’s common sense? Because it’s only common sense to people who appreciate MMA for what it is—real-life pro wrestling. Unfortunately, most hardcore MMA fans (and some media members) refuse to see it this way. They either believe in a non-existent code of honor, or an even less corporeal competitive architecture. “It’s a sport,” they maintain. “It should be only about competition. Besides, who wouldn’t want to see the best fighters go at it, even if they have less charisma than a light bulb?” The answer to that question: Most of the country.
There’s a sport with no flash, no glitz, and none of the other maligned “entertainment” trappings of the UFC and the WWE. It’s called amateur wrestling, and nobody watches it. MMA turning into amateur wrestling hurts the fighters. If there’s no viewers, there’s no money. It’s crazy that people still need to be reminded of this, but selling the fight is equally as important as fighting the fight. To quote The Simpsons, “Every good scientist is half B.F. Skinner and half P.T. Barnum.”
MMA is the ultimate “nice guys finish last” sport. It’s called prize fighting for a reason, and “I respect him; he’s a great opponent” doesn’t sell.
This is no secret. Just look at how Chael Sonnen—a perennial mid-carder who nobody knew or cared about—resurrected his career with carefully executed, bombastic trash talk.
Why am I telling you this if it’s common sense? Because it’s only common sense to people who appreciate MMA for what it is—real-life pro wrestling. Unfortunately, most hardcore MMA fans (and some media members) refuse to see it this way. They either believe in a non-existent code of honor, or an even less corporeal competitive architecture. “It’s a sport,” they maintain. “It should be only about competition. Besides, who wouldn’t want to see the best fighters go at it, even if they have less charisma than a light bulb?” The answer to that question: Most of the country.
There’s a sport with no flash, no glitz, and none of the other maligned “entertainment” trappings of the UFC and the WWE. It’s called amateur wrestling, and nobody watches it. MMA turning into amateur wrestling hurts the fighters. If there’s no viewers, there’s no money. It’s crazy that people still need to be reminded of this, but selling the fight is equally as important as fighting the fight. To quote The Simpsons, “Every good scientist is half B.F. Skinner and half P.T. Barnum.”
Chael Sonnen understood this. And so does boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather Jr. Remember when Mayweather said he was interested in buying the L.A. Clippers after the Donald Sterling fiasco? That’s brilliant promotion; he injected himself into a highly volatile, nation-wide story and in doing so drew more eyeballs onto his upcoming fight. Then there’s the chicanery about cancelling the fight over gloves, which was another great way to build buzz.
Bethe Correia is another example. After defeating Jessamyn Duke at UFC 172, she mocked Ronda Rousey‘s “four horsewomen” (ugh) stable with a gesture, putting up four fingers and then knocking one down. Now it’s a legitimate plot in a division that typically serves as a promotional vehicle for Ronda Rousey. Bethe Correia stood out in a weight class of sacrificial lambs because she said something interesting when she opened her mouth.
Of course, trash talk doesn’t always work (see: Phil Davis), but the rewards far outweigh the risks. More fighters need to embrace their brazen sides, lest they fade into the abyss of generic, video game create-a-fighter lookalikes that is the UFC’s current roster.
