Five Ways The UFC Is Becoming More Like WWE

When UFC 1 took place on a cold November night back in 1993 from McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado, it ignited the beginning of the world’s foremost mixed martial arts (MMA) competition, fueled by the concept of the best fighting the best to call themselves champion. It may have been extremely rough around the edges in […]

The post Five Ways The UFC Is Becoming More Like WWE appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

When UFC 1 took place on a cold November night back in 1993 from McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado, it ignited the beginning of the world’s foremost mixed martial arts (MMA) competition, fueled by the concept of the best fighting the best to call themselves champion.

It may have been extremely rough around the edges in those ‘dark’ days where the sport having few rules and regulation had it on the precipice of doom, but the opposite is very much true today. After the Fertitta brothers along with Dana White purchased the UFC for a paltry sum and turned it into a legitimately regulated competition watched on pay-per-view the world over, the UFC exploded into a global brand that put shows on nearly every weekend.

When its popularity peaked in 2016 on the heels of the Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz rivalry, the Fertitta brothers saw an opportunity to cash in, and cash in they did. Selling the UFC to Hollywood talent giant WME-IMG (now Endeavor) for a then-record $4.2 billion, one of the biggest franchise sales in sports (of any kind) history was complete. But all was not rosy. This year has seen the advent of some truly horrific pay-per-view and television ratings, with UFC 213, UFC 215, and UFC 216 ranking as three of the lowest-watched PPVs ever, while December’s TUF 26 Finale was the least-watched UFC live event of all-time.

So while it was undoubtedly rough around the edges in its infancy, the UFC is dealing with a whole different set of problems heading into 2018, and many would argue that the UFC owners don’t exactly know what they’re doing. A growing sense is that the Hollywood agency is now trying to book the more mainstream, over-the-top spectacle fights rather than those that clearly have a more legitimate meaning based on meritocracy.

It’s lead to a steady stream of criticism that the UFC is becoming more like pro-wrestling and their WWE counterpart, obviously not the most endearing of words from fight fans. The argument, unfortunately, cannot be totally denied. Let’s take a look at the reasons why:

Jason Silva/Zuma Press/Icon Sportswire

5.) Titles Mean Next To Nothing:

Endeavor has to be commended for finally getting the middleweight division moving in the right direction by booking Robert Whittaker vs. Luke Rockhold for UFC 221, but there is one weight class that is an absolute mess in the UFC.

It’s obviously Conor McGregor’s held-hostage lightweight division, where “The Notorious” fought once and won the belt way back at UFC 205 in November 2016 before leaving to box – and lose – to Floyd Mayweather for the entirety of 2017. McGregor made the record-setting payday he was always looking for and can’t be blamed for doing it, but the fact remains the 155-pound landscape, which is still one of the most talented in MMA, has no clarity whatsoever at the current moment.

An interim belt was given to Tony Ferguson at October’s UFC 216, but without a path to a unification bout with McGregor, he opted to have elbow surgery, leaving not one but two champions on the sidelines with no real news about a return. Take into account the middleweight situation as well, where Michael Bisping was allowed to avoid the top 10 contenders by facing a retiring No. 14 Dan Henderson and an unretiring Georges St-Pierre, who had never even fought in the division. St-Pierre won and vacated the belt hardly a month later.

Interim titles are also created around much more frequently, making them seem more like the WWE titles that are handed over and won back on a never-ending cycle.

Because of these occurrences, UFC titles seem like little more than gold belts to be flaunted after a win rather than symbols of true MMA supremacy to be defended with pride.

The post Five Ways The UFC Is Becoming More Like WWE appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Five Ways The UFC Is Becoming More Like WWE

When UFC 1 took place on a cold November night back in 1993 from McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado, it ignited the beginning of the world’s foremost mixed martial arts (MMA) competition, fueled by the concept of the best fighting the best to call themselves champion. It may have been extremely rough around the edges in […]

The post Five Ways The UFC Is Becoming More Like WWE appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

When UFC 1 took place on a cold November night back in 1993 from McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado, it ignited the beginning of the world’s foremost mixed martial arts (MMA) competition, fueled by the concept of the best fighting the best to call themselves champion.

It may have been extremely rough around the edges in those ‘dark’ days where the sport having few rules and regulation had it on the precipice of doom, but the opposite is very much true today. After the Fertitta brothers along with Dana White purchased the UFC for a paltry sum and turned it into a legitimately regulated competition watched on pay-per-view the world over, the UFC exploded into a global brand that put shows on nearly every weekend.

When its popularity peaked in 2016 on the heels of the Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz rivalry, the Fertitta brothers saw an opportunity to cash in, and cash in they did. Selling the UFC to Hollywood talent giant WME-IMG (now Endeavor) for a then-record $4.2 billion, one of the biggest franchise sales in sports (of any kind) history was complete. But all was not rosy. This year has seen the advent of some truly horrific pay-per-view and television ratings, with UFC 213, UFC 215, and UFC 216 ranking as three of the lowest-watched PPVs ever, while December’s TUF 26 Finale was the least-watched UFC live event of all-time.

So while it was undoubtedly rough around the edges in its infancy, the UFC is dealing with a whole different set of problems heading into 2018, and many would argue that the UFC owners don’t exactly know what they’re doing. A growing sense is that the Hollywood agency is now trying to book the more mainstream, over-the-top spectacle fights rather than those that clearly have a more legitimate meaning based on meritocracy.

It’s lead to a steady stream of criticism that the UFC is becoming more like pro-wrestling and their WWE counterpart, obviously not the most endearing of words from fight fans. The argument, unfortunately, cannot be totally denied. Let’s take a look at the reasons why:

Jason Silva/Zuma Press/Icon Sportswire

5.) Titles Mean Next To Nothing:

Endeavor has to be commended for finally getting the middleweight division moving in the right direction by booking Robert Whittaker vs. Luke Rockhold for UFC 221, but there is one weight class that is an absolute mess in the UFC.

It’s obviously Conor McGregor’s held-hostage lightweight division, where “The Notorious” fought once and won the belt way back at UFC 205 in November 2016 before leaving to box – and lose – to Floyd Mayweather for the entirety of 2017. McGregor made the record-setting payday he was always looking for and can’t be blamed for doing it, but the fact remains the 155-pound landscape, which is still one of the most talented in MMA, has no clarity whatsoever at the current moment.

An interim belt was given to Tony Ferguson at October’s UFC 216, but without a path to a unification bout with McGregor, he opted to have elbow surgery, leaving not one but two champions on the sidelines with no real news about a return. Take into account the middleweight situation as well, where Michael Bisping was allowed to avoid the top 10 contenders by facing a retiring No. 14 Dan Henderson and an unretiring Georges St-Pierre, who had never even fought in the division. St-Pierre won and vacated the belt hardly a month later.

Interim titles are also created around much more frequently, making them seem more like the WWE titles that are handed over and won back on a never-ending cycle.

Because of these occurrences, UFC titles seem like little more than gold belts to be flaunted after a win rather than symbols of true MMA supremacy to be defended with pride.

The post Five Ways The UFC Is Becoming More Like WWE appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Cris Cyborg Blasts UFC For Offering Pay Downgrade

The UFC just can’t seem to find a happy medium with women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg. And there could be a distinct reason for that. After finally winning a UFC title against Invicta bantamweight champion Tonya Evinger at July’s UFC 214, Cyborg repeatedly called out for a title fight against former UFC women’s bantamweight champion […]

The post Cris Cyborg Blasts UFC For Offering Pay Downgrade appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The UFC just can’t seem to find a happy medium with women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg.

And there could be a distinct reason for that.

After finally winning a UFC title against Invicta bantamweight champion Tonya Evinger at July’s UFC 214, Cyborg repeatedly called out for a title fight against former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm, who fought Germaine de Randamie in the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight title fight, at December 30’s UFC 219.

However, according to Cyborg, that booking is seeming more and more unlikely due to the payday the UFC is offering her. She tweeted last night that a scheduled meeting with the UFC had been called off because they were offering her a downgrade in pay to fight Holm:

The issue is merely the latest in a long string of back-and-forth troubles between the UFC and Cyborg, which were seemingly remedied after she was hit with a potential USADA violation last year, of which she was exonerated yet still did not fight in the first UFC women’s 145-pound title bout in the main event of February’s UFC 208.

It seemed getting Cyborg to the octagon was becoming tougher by the day, but the two sides hashed things out enough to get her inside the Octagon at UFC 214, where she dominated a tough Evinger en route to a third-round TKO stoppage. The stage was certainly set for Cyborg to realize her potential as one of MMA’s biggest stars (and most controversial draws) against Holm, who is quite possibly the only woman ready and willing to fight, other than Cyborg, at featherweight right now.

But with fighter pay and treatment one of the most heated topics in MMA in the year following WME-IMG’s then-record $4.2 billion UFC purchase, a champion probably won’t take a pay cut to fight a bigger name than she did for her previous bout, especially considering she’s finally champion. We’ve only gotten Cyborg’s side of the story for now, and UFC 219, at least of this writing, isn’t shaping up to be quite as impactful a card as UFC 214, which featured the long-awaited return of Jon Jones, was.

That could all change, of course, but Cyborg’s accusation at her employer, if true, would seem like just another unnecessary hold-up in an era where the UFC is trying to nickel and dime their fighters to death – even their champions.

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USADA Clears Cyborg Following Thailand Police Confusion

Cris Cyborg is reportedly on par with all of the required steps of the UFC’s partnership with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). After a report recently surfaced from Bloody Elbow stating that Cyborg had potentially run afoul of USADA after someone had called police on USADA testing agents in Thailand, where Cyborg has been […]

The post USADA Clears Cyborg Following Thailand Police Confusion appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Cris Cyborg is reportedly on par with all of the required steps of the UFC’s partnership with the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

After a report recently surfaced from Bloody Elbow stating that Cyborg had potentially run afoul of USADA after someone had called police on USADA testing agents in Thailand, where Cyborg has been training with Phuket Top Team, who had shown up to the gym to test the UFC women’s featherweight champ.

However, USADA issued a statement to MMA Fighting this week (Tues., September 26, 2017) that fully exonerated Cyborg from any confusion or wrongdoing after her sample was successfully collected and sent to a WADA-accredited lab in Tokyo:

“Ms. Justino fully complied with the sample collection process. From collection to delivery, the integrity of the sample was secured, and it is currently being analyzed by the WADA accredited lab in Tokyo. Athletes’ cooperation in providing a requested sample is critical to ensure all athletes’ right to safe and clean sport is protected.”

Photo: Gary A. Vasquez for USA TODAY Sports

Apparently, the police had been called on the testing agents by workers at her hotel and Phuket Top Team front-desk employees. Phuket Top Team owner Boyd Clarke addressed the situation by explaining just why the police were called on the agents in a lengthy forum post on The Underground:

“Fake news aside, here’s the first hand on the spot happenings of the situation. As owner of Phuket Top Team I feel I should fill in some of the missing info. My Thai staff was made aware of several people believed to be “stalking” Cris cyborg, as they would not identify themselves.

We were told by our staff that 2 people checked into a hotel room next to cris and were acting strange by asking questions about them. Cyborg was placed in an exclusive location to provide her privacy while training at my gym.

Initially my staff thought the couple were just overly excited fans. At 6am those people knocked on the door of the of Cris’s bungalow and the hotel staff notified my office of the disturbance.The hotel staff told my front desk that they heard the people requesting a urine sample. In Thailand the only people who do this are police. Unable to contact Cris by phone My staff rang the local police to ask why they would send people to her residence.

The police stated they had no knowledge of any officers at that hotel, and sent a patrol car to investingate. It was after the police arrived that they discovered the pair was from Singapore.Speaking directly to Cris they learned that the testers where checked into the hotel to do their job of collecting a urine sample for testing and not on vacation.

The police further investigated the situation to discover that neither employee had a valid work permit and when questioned both individuals from Singapore failed to mention they were part of any international testing agency, instead informing the officers on site they were only in Phuket for Vacation. Allowing them to initially leave, the police later detained them upon reviewing paperwork completed during the testing. and later discovering that they were wearing uniforms and in the presence of work ID’s. Cris cyborg complied with the entire process, giving her sample as she was unaware of the issues with them not having a valid work permit until the test was completed and the local authorities arrived to investigate the situation.

The issue for the police was two part.

First The Singaporean collectors made false statements denying they were here working and to collect urine samples. In Thailand the country is big on saving “face” and having two Singaporeans lie about their purpose on the island did not sit well with them.

Second since they were here working without a permit they did not provide the country with the proper taxes for conducting business in Thailand.

To further escalate the situation one of the testers attempted to offer money to the Thai police in exchange for them to be let go without incident.Cris was uninvolved in the police and immigration issues other than providing answers to the police when questioned.

The entire process was started by the hotel staff notifying my front desk of a disturbance at our VIP guests residence and was further escalated by the false statements made to the police by the testing agency.

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Cris Cyborg Deals Savage Beating To Male Training Partner In Thailand

UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino is currently aiming for her first title defense against former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm at December’s UFC 219 – and apparently she’s staying incredibly sharp in the meantime. Earlier today (Wed., September 20, 2017) Phuket Top Team in Thailand tweeted a video of her chasing down an […]

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UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino is currently aiming for her first title defense against former women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm at December’s UFC 219 – and apparently she’s staying incredibly sharp in the meantime.

Earlier today (Wed., September 20, 2017) Phuket Top Team in Thailand tweeted a video of her chasing down an extremely unlucky male training partner in a drawn-out beating at the gym, further proving she’s the most dominant female fighter right now – and most likely of all-time.

Perhaps Edmond Tarverdyan should cool his jets on his desired Ronda Rousey comeback fight with Cyborg. Check it out here:

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Cris Cyborg Reacts To Edmond Tarverdyan’s Callout

Yesterday, Ronda Rousey’s longtime head coach Edmond Tarverdyan slithered his way back into the headlines by calling out UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino for his pupil. Rousey was famously involved in a heated back-and-forth with Cyborg during her time as a dominant UFC women’s bantamweight champion, when a bout between the two seemingly […]

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Yesterday, Ronda Rousey’s longtime head coach Edmond Tarverdyan slithered his way back into the headlines by calling out UFC women’s featherweight champion Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino for his pupil.

Rousey was famously involved in a heated back-and-forth with Cyborg during her time as a dominant UFC women’s bantamweight champion, when a bout between the two seemingly unstoppable forces was one of the hottest topics in MMA.

But with Rousey having lost her last two fights by one-sided knockout, the shine has worn off the fight, and with Rousey currently headed for a WWE career, it’s highly doubtful that she ever returns to the cage. That didn’t stop Tarverdyan, who has been embroiled in a highly-publicized bankruptcy case, from stirring up old beef and calling out Cyborg himself during The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani yesterday:

“That’s the one,” Tarverdyan said. “I want that fight. When I trained Ronda, I know Ronda could beat Cyborg. I know that. Cyborg is too slow.”

Today, Cyborg responded to the callout to MMA Fighting, offering the belief everyone already knows – that Rousey has long been checked out of MMA and would offer little resistance to the true top women’s fighter in MMA. With that said, however, Cyborg did offer to face Rousey in WWE, a place where she believes her ‘joke’ of a coach Tarverdyan would fit in well:

“If Ronda wants to come back for a fight,” Cyborg said, “I believe it’s better for her to fight Miesha Tate. I’m in another stage of my career. I wanted to fight Ronda when she was psychologically well and confident.

“Now, if she wants to make a good fight for the fans, we can make it at WWE,” she said. “It would fit perfectly [for her] to go to Hollywood, and for me would be another challenge in my career.

“And something brilliant, her coach would fit perfectly in her corner in WWE, he’s nothing but a joke.”

It’s hard to argue with Cyborg’s response, as the many fight fans who have witnessed Rousey look absolutely lost in the stand-up game versus Holm and Nunes can plainly see things most likely wouldn’t go any better versus by far the most powerful knockout artist the female side of the sport has ever seen.

Rousey’s unlikely to return to the octagon at any point, and Tarverdyan calling out the best fighter after two brutal knockout losses which many attributed to him only looks like what most have already called it – a money grab.

Would Rousey have any shot at returning to MMA if she ditched Tarverdyan?

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