The UFC will return to London once more this coming March, as officials announced plans for a Fight Night event. The action goes down from The O2 on March 17, making it the 10th time that the Octagon has set up shop in London. “London is always a landm…
The UFC will return to London once more this coming March, as officials announced plans for a Fight Night event. The action goes down from The O2 on March 17, making it the 10th time that the Octagon has set up shop in London. “London is always a landmark event for UFC; the fights, fans […]
(“The Dream” is not impressed by your moshing skills. Check out this bromoshop and more here.)
Less than a day after I hinted at the possibility of 2014 becoming the true year of the injury curse, Georges St. Pierre tore his ACL while training for absolutely nothing. Proof of the curse, or of my prophetic abilities as a blogger? I can’t say for certain, but I do know that the job of an orthopaedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine is becoming more lucrative by the day thanks to UFC stars like Johny Hendricks, Chris Weidman, and Carlos Condit, making my decision to drop out of fancy doctor school and follow my passion of writing fart jokes for a living seem…hasty.
Thankfully, those two-bit body mechanics (technical jargon) won’t be able to get their greasy hands on Diego Sanchez, whom most assumed would be going under the knife after he was (self) poisoned by a raw quail egg and beef tartare at UFC 171. Quite the contrary, however, as Sanchez has not only managed to avoid surgery, but has already booked his next fight against TUF 9 winner Ross Pearson at a Fight Night event in his native Albuquerque on June 7th. A true “mind over matter” story if I’ve ever seen one before.
Sanchez finds himself in a unique position with the UFC, having dropped three out of his past four fights for the first time in his career. His excitement-over-strategy style has been entertaining as of late, sure, but “The Dream” better approach this fight with a more intelligent gameplan than lowering his hands and asking bros to come at him if he wants to score that win he so desperately needs.
(“The Dream” is not impressed by your moshing skills. Check out this bromoshop and more here.)
Less than a day after I hinted at the possibility of 2014 becoming the true year of the injury curse, Georges St. Pierre tore his ACL while training for absolutely nothing. Proof of the curse, or of my prophetic abilities as a blogger? I can’t say for certain, but I do know that the job of an orthopaedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine is becoming more lucrative by the day thanks to UFC stars like Johny Hendricks, Chris Weidman, and Carlos Condit, making my decision to drop out of fancy doctor school and follow my passion of writing fart jokes for a living seem…hasty.
Thankfully, those two-bit body mechanics (technical jargon) won’t be able to get their greasy hands on Diego Sanchez, whom most assumed would be going under the knife after he was (self) poisoned by a raw quail egg and beef tartare at UFC 171. Quite the contrary, however, as Sanchez has not only managed to avoid surgery, but has already booked his next fight against TUF 9 winner Ross Pearson at a Fight Night event in his native Albuquerque on June 7th. A true “mind over matter” story if I’ve ever seen one before.
Sanchez finds himself in a unique position with the UFC, having dropped three out of his past four fights for the first time in his career. His excitement-over-strategy style has been entertaining as of late, sure, but “The Dream” better approach this fight with a more intelligent gameplan than lowering his hands and asking bros to come at him if he wants to score that win he so desperately needs.
Pearson, on the other hand, has not fought since his Fight Night 30 bout with Melvin Guillard was declared a No Contest due to an illegal knee that wasn’t really illegal. “The Real Deal” was scheduled to rematch Guillard at Fight Night 37: Gustafsson vs. Manuwa earlier this month until a knee injury (CURSE!!) forced him to bow out. Now that Guillard has been released by the UFC following his loss to Pearson’s replacement opponent, 46 year-old Olympic sprinter-turned 27 year-old MMA fighter Michael Johnson, the likelihood of the rematch has been downgraded to “nah, son.”
(Stephens puts the stamp on TUF Brazil winner Ronny Jason, while Kenny Florian does his best Joe Silva impersonation in the background. Photo via Getty.)
Since making the cut to featherweight, however, “Lil Heathen” has been a man reborn (also, acquitted). With decision victories over Estevan Payan and Darren Elkins and a brutal KO over TUF Brazil winner Rony Jason (who did not take the loss well), Stephens has gone from a perennial gatekeeper to a fighter ranked just outside the top 10 on the UFC’s totally unbiased rankings system.
And now, Stephens will be given arguably the biggest fight of his career when he faces off against #4 ranked Cub Swanson in the main event of a Fight Night card scheduled for June 28th in San Antonio. The likelihood of the winner receiving a title shot? Kinda sorta maybe. The likelihood that this fight turns into a slugfest the likes of Lawler vs. Hendricks? Definitely maybe.
(Stephens puts the stamp on TUF Brazil winner Ronny Jason, while Kenny Florian does his best Joe Silva impersonation in the background. Photo via Getty.)
Since making the cut to featherweight, however, “Lil Heathen” has been a man reborn (also, acquitted). With decision victories over Estevan Payan and Darren Elkins and a brutal KO over TUF Brazil winner Rony Jason (who did not take the loss well), Stephens has gone from a perennial gatekeeper to a fighter ranked just outside the top 10 on the UFC’s totally unbiased rankings system.
And now, Stephens will be given arguably the biggest fight of his career when he faces off against #4 ranked Cub Swanson in the main event of a Fight Night card scheduled for June 28th in San Antonio. The likelihood of the winner receiving a title shot? Kinda sorta maybe. The likelihood that this fight turns into a slugfest the likes of Lawler vs. Hendricks? Definitely maybe.
Earlier today, Ariel Helwani tweeted that there was going to be 54 UFC events in 2014, or at least that was the plan.
But there won’t be as many as 54 events, and it’s possible that many of the extra events won’t even be on television. Lorenzo Fertitta elucidated the UFC’s plans for 2014 in an interview with Ariel Helwani. Predictably, the UFC is focusing on international growth in 2014.
“We are looking at expanding our Fight Night product,” said Fertitta. “We have the bottom tier, we have the Ultimate Fighter which we’re taking around the world now. We have obviously the series on FOX Sports 1. We just got done filming The Ultimate Fighter: China which will air in January in China. We’ve got The Ultimate Fighter: Canada and Australia in production right now. We’re in pre-production for series in other various countries around the world. That’s our base,” he said. But TUF is only one piece of the global MMA puzzle. The more important piece, at least according to Fertitta, are the mid-level Fight Night cards.
“In the middle of the pyramid we have our UFC Fight Night brand,” he said. “We’re gonna take that Fight Night product and expand it into Europe and into Asia next year…We’re gonna add fights in those regions so when you add them on to the 33 we’d do this year, it gets into that 40-ish type number.”
Regarding the highly controversial number of 54, Fertitta claimed that he misspoke. He also teased about where the events would be televised (if anywhere).
“Is that what I said? 54? It won’t be quite that. I think I misspoke. It’ll be in the 40’s. Right now, we’ll have some news coming up on where they’re gonna air. I think we’re gonna have some ground-breaking ideas as far as where that’s gonna be available.”
Earlier today, Ariel Helwani tweeted that there was going to be 54 UFC events in 2014, or at least that was the plan.
But there won’t be as many as 54 events, and it’s possible that many of the extra events won’t even be on television. Lorenzo Fertitta elucidated the UFC’s plans for 2014 in an interview with Ariel Helwani. Predictably, the UFC is focusing on international growth in 2014.
“We are looking at expanding our Fight Night product,” said Fertitta. “We have the bottom tier, we have the Ultimate Fighter which we’re taking around the world now. We have obviously the series on FOX Sports 1. We just got done filming The Ultimate Fighter: China which will air in January in China. We’ve got The Ultimate Fighter: Canada and Australia in production right now. We’re in pre-production for series in other various countries around the world. That’s our base,” he said. But TUF is only one piece of the global MMA puzzle. The more important piece, at least according to Fertitta, are the mid-level Fight Night cards.
“In the middle of the pyramid we have our UFC Fight Night brand,” he said. “We’re gonna take that Fight Night product and expand it into Europe and into Asia next year…We’re gonna add fights in those regions so when you add them on to the 33 we’d do this year, it gets into that 40-ish type number.”
Regarding the highly controversial number of 54, Fertitta claimed that he misspoke. He also teased about where the events would be televised (if anywhere).
“Is that what I said? 54? It won’t be quite that. I think I misspoke. It’ll be in the 40′s. Right now, we’ll have some news coming up on where they’re gonna air. I think we’re gonna have some ground-breaking ideas as far as where that’s gonna be available.”
It’s fortunate that the cool-headed Lorenzo took on this issue. Had Dana White been breaking this news he’d have been cursing out everyone for questioning holding more events per year, calling them butt-hurt pussies and dickheads. Lorenzo manages to professional while being real and actually providing useful, non-PR bullshit.
The biggest takeaway from this interview, obviously, is that the UFC is gearing up for further international expansion and is holding even more events next year. Initially, my gut reaction was that this was disastrous; the UFC’s efforts overseas have already damaged the sport’s popularity in the US. What will diluting the schedule with even more Fight Night events headlined by fighters without Wikipedia pages like Ilir Latifi do?
Fortunately, it seems like this problem won’t be exacerbated in 2014. (It won’t be solved either, but that’s an issue for another article.) Many of the newly added events are going to be overseas and may not make it to the eyeballs of your average FS1/FS2 viewers, which is a positive thing. The UFC won’t risk further poisoning the US market with horrific fight cards. Yes, the hardcore fans love free fights, but it has become painfully clear that the strength of the UFC brand alone can’t entice the casuals. They need Brock Lesnar and Kimbo Slice, not Cezar Ferreira and Paulo Thiago. Putting a mid-carder in a main event doesn’t make them a main-eventer in anything but a literal sense.
Bad idea: Booking it as the main event of a UFC Fight Night card on FOX Sports 2…because Machida main-eventing on that channel worked so well the first time.
Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi is a fight that’ll make hardcore fans happy. It’s one of those matches where you can’t help but go “Hmm, I really wonder how that’s gonna play out,” when you hear that it’s been booked. That’s what we did at CagePotato HQ. We stroked our burgeoning beards and pondered who would win.
Machida is coming off a dominant head-kick knockout of Mark Munoz, in the Dragon’s debut at 185 pounds. Mousasi, while on a four-fight winning streak, hasn’t competed since April 2013. By the time he steps into the cage against Machida in February, the Armenian will have nearly a year’s worth of ring rust.
No other matchups have yet been announced for the 2/8 Fight Night card, which will take place at the Arena Jaragua, the same venue that previously hosted Belfort vs. Rockhold. So will February’s lack of baseball produce a considerable uptick in ratings? Or is this one of those international events that us North Americans aren’t supposed to care about in the first place? Either way, we’ll keep you posted on any more updates for this card, or if either combatant pulls a Lil’ Nog.
(Come February, we’ll find out if “Middleweight Machida” is on par with “Motivated Penn” and “Broke Fitch.” / Image via Getty)
Bad idea: Booking it as the main event of a UFC Fight Night card on FOX Sports 2…because Machida main-eventing on that channel worked so well the first time.
Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi is a fight that’ll make hardcore fans happy. It’s one of those matches where you can’t help but go “Hmm, I really wonder how that’s gonna play out,” when you hear that it’s been booked. That’s what we did at CagePotato HQ. We stroked our burgeoning beards and pondered who would win.
Machida is coming off a dominant head-kick knockout of Mark Munoz, in the Dragon’s debut at 185 pounds. Mousasi, while on a four-fight winning streak, hasn’t competed since April 2013. By the time he steps into the cage against Machida in February, the Armenian will have nearly a year’s worth of ring rust.
No other matchups have yet been announced for the 2/8 Fight Night card, which will take place at the Arena Jaragua, the same venue that previously hosted Belfort vs. Rockhold. So will February’s lack of baseball produce a considerable uptick in ratings? Or is this one of those international events that us North Americans aren’t supposed to care about in the first place? Either way, we’ll keep you posted on any more updates for this card, or if either combatant pulls a Lil’ Nog.
