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3 Boxers Silva Should Face Instead of Jones for True Test in the Ring

I will be the first to admit, I was stunned when I heard Dana White speaking about a potential fight between Anderson Silva and Roy Jones Jr. when he was a guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast before UFC 157.
“I have to make him [Silva] and f–king…

I will be the first to admit, I was stunned when I heard Dana White speaking about a potential fight between Anderson Silva and Roy Jones Jr. when he was a guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast before UFC 157.

“I have to make him [Silva] and f–king Jones happen, man,” he said.

Of course, this made me blink in disbelief. I kept on blinking as Rogan and White talked about the greatness of Silva, how lucky the MMA world would be if he could actually finish his new 10-fight contract and so on.

It’s not that I didn’t think White possessed the same basic DNA as most MMA and boxing fans; I just didn’t think he would be willing to take such a risk.

The idea of Silva wanting to fight Jones to “test himself” seems absurd to me; Jones is many years outside of his prime, and I cannot shake the feeling that should he win, many would try and sell it as an MMA great beating a pound-for-pound boxing legend in the boxing ring.

And that is far from the truth.

Jones was once the greatest fighter in the sport of boxing, but that was many years ago. Silva fighting Jones just seems like bad theater; it’s as if Silva is letting five-plus years of hard defeats and knockouts do the work beforehand.

If Silva really wanted to test himself, there are many other boxers out there who would be able to give him a true test without making it look like they are throwing an MMA fighter to the lions.

But this really isn’t about Silva “testing himself,” it’s about Silva wanting to fight an idol.

And here is the onion; it should not happen under any circumstances because MMA cannot honestly be served in victory or defeat.

Should Silva win a boxing match against Jones, it honestly proves nothing. Over the past eight years, Jones has lost via KO/TKO four times, and he’s taken plenty of hard shots to the head in his other three decision losses. His reflexes are not even a fraction of what they once were, and he is a 44-year-old fighter who has been in the ring 64 times; the math isn’t hard.

Now, should Silva lose (a very real possibility), one of the best MMA fighters of all time will have been defeated by a once-great fighter who is but a shell of his former self—a fact that will be given publicity at nearly every convenient turn for years to come.

And make no mistake about it, this is a very losable fight for Silva. His hands won’t be nearly as fast wearing the bigger gloves, and his hands are going to be all he’s got. Against a man who is still faster than most boxers, who has forgotten more about the sport of boxing than most MMA fighters will ever learn, Silva is probably (and rightfully) an underdog.

It’s ageism at its worst if Silva wins, and it’s a crushing defeat if he loses.

People are going to say that Silva can’t look bad in victory because Jones wants the fight just as bad but that won’t matter when all is said and done. This fight was Silva’s idea, and that is why a victory is going to be seen as a kind of cowardice; there are other fighters out there who haven’t suffered so many hard knockouts, and they would jump at a chance to fight Silva.

Believe it or not, a tougher opponent would make Silva look better even if he lost; it would be seen as an MMA fighter wanting to honestly test himself. That is a much better scenario than Silva trying to claim a meal that has already been chewed up by the fighters who came before him.

There has been a lot made of Silva’s boxing ability in MMA circles due to a video-tapped sparring session in Freddie Roach’s Wild Card gym. If Silva really is as great as such a session would lead many to believe, then there is no real reason why he shouldn’t be fighting any of the three men below.

Bernard Hopkins

At age 48, no one could say that Silva didn’t have the advantage of youth on his side in a boxing match against Bernard Hopkins.

They could also say he has a significant size advantage as well, and they would be right. And truth be told, Silva would need every advantage he could get against Hopkins, who is one of the craftiest boxers fighting today.

In addition, unlike Jones, Hopkins has never been knocked out so should Silva defeat him, he would be able to hold his head very high indeed.

While Hopkins probably doesn’t have the power to score a knockout, he might be able to garner a TKO which would ensure that Silva came into the bout in the best shape ever, fully aware of the task ahead of him.

But in all probability, Hopkins would handle Silva with ease, making him look like a fish out of water, which is honestly what he would be in a legitimate boxing match. Hopkins would hold just about every advantage one can imagine, and I doubt Silva would even win a single round.

But if Silva really wants a test, Hopkins could give it to him without sending him into a medically mandated retirement, which allows him to go back to fighting in the UFC.

Should Silva somehow win, he looks great because he would have earned a victory over perhaps the greatest Methuselah boxing has ever known. If he loses, then he will have lost against a fighter who is still viable in his sport, and there is no shame in that.

James Toney

Many MMA fans and pundits do not give James Toney his due, but the man was willing to walk all his talk into the Octagon, and while he came up short against Couture, in a boxing ring he could be far more than Silva could handle.

Silva wouldn’t be outsized, and Toney is 45, so once again, youth would go to “The Spider.”

But Toney would be looking for revenge, and odds are he would be swinging for the knockout; given his defensive abilities and punching power, Silva could spend some time throwing his hands before getting countered for the KO.

The main reason why Toney would be a reasonable choice is that even though he is old for the fight game (and well outside his prime), he hasn’t ever been knocked out like Jones has, so an improbable Silva victory wouldn’t be cheapened.

And should Silva win, argument could even be made that it was as close to an even fight as possible since Silva hasn’t ever really fought in a boxing match of note against anyone good. That is a good thing because anytime an athlete crosses over into another sport, there is going to have to be some spin involved.

But how would Silva do in a boxing ring with a motivated James Toney? Probably not that well.

The defensive style of Toney makes him very hard to hit flush and allows him to land brutally hard counters. A novice like Silva would likely get knocked out by the middle rounds, but at least it would look like the sport of MMA was about the business of fair play; Toney fought in the UFC, and the UFC sent one of their best into the boxing ring to fight Toney.

There is also the fact that in Toney, Silva could test himself against a man Jones bested many years ago. It might not seem so grand in 2014, but for Silva’s first true boxing bout, it’s not bad.

Chad Dawson

Even though he’s coming off some tough losses (both via TKO), Chad Dawson would be the toughest choice out of the bunch given his youth, skill, speed and power.

Thankfully, Dawson isn’t a KO machine and would be surrendering a significant size advantage against Silva, which could help “The Spider” hang in there for a good number of rounds.

A fight against a man like Dawson yields the biggest risk but the biggest rewards; once again, should Silva somehow win, he looks simply fantastic, no matter how much bigger he is. Should he lose, well Dawson is just one defeat removed from being the WBC light heavyweight champion and thus a loss is honestly expected.

But it would be, by far, the most legitimate challenge for Silva, and in Dawson he would be facing a man who defeated two men who bested Jones: Bernard Hopkins and Antonio Tarver.

If you’re going to go into hostile territory, you might as well go all the way.

If Silva—one of MMA’s greatest fighters ever—climbs into the boxing ring, it shouldn’t be about an MMA fighter looking for an easy victory. That panders to the very thing that so many in the MMA community see as the biggest fault of boxing today—too many good fighters take easy fights instead of risking defeat in order to face better competition.

If Silva really does step into the squared circle, he should do it while representing all that makes MMA great—the willingness to face anyone in honest competition.

Until he is ready to do that, perhaps he should try and find some contentment in being an idol in his own right. As one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time, god knows there are plenty who would love to be in his shoes.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Wanderlei Silva Turns Down Chael Sonnen Fight (?!), Wants PPV Points That He Apparently Doesn’t Deserve

(“I call dis de Tiger Claw. If do right, no can defense.”)

Less than five years ago, Wanderlei Silva would have accepted a fight with Chael “Too Sweet to be Sour” Sonnen in the parking lot of a Yogoberry for free (which is oddly enough what Lyoto Machida has resorted to these days). But they say that time has a way of healing all wounds, which is why “The Axe Murderer” suddenly seems hesitant to fight his one-time “BangBus” co-star without the added incentive of moar monies. Specifically, those tasty pay-per-view points that Sonnen is always getting in on.

In a text sent to MMAFighting, Dana White discussed Silva’s demands for a potential fight with Sonnen and took a huge, steaming dump on them in less than 100 characters. Now that’s how you efficiently run a business!

[Silva] said he won’t fight him unless he gets PPV [points] so I guess he’s gonna retire.

Yeah, you hear that Wandy? Only true mixed martial artists get a slice of the pay-per-view-point pie. I’m talking about the Brock Lesnars and the James Toneys of the world, you bum! Now go home and get your fucking shinebox!

(“I call dis de Tiger Claw. If do right, no can defense.”)

[Silva] said he won’t fight him unless he gets PPV [points] so I guess he’s gonna retire.

We know Wanderlei hasn’t exactly been knocking off top competitors (or even fighting above .500) since entering the UFC in 2007, but the man is still a legitimate draw who has shed more blood for the sport than perhaps anyone else and deserves to be paid accordingly. He’s also coming off a double award winning performance against Brian Stann at UFC on FUEL 8 that is almost sure to go down as the greatest fight of 2013. For White to dismiss his request so effortlessly seems rather disrespectful to say the least.

On the other hand, Silva is currently making around $200,000 to show these days, so perhaps White thinks that figure is more than enough compensation for an aging relic. One who just retired an American hero in the greatest fight we will see this year.

–J. Jones

CagePotato Roundtable #24: What Was the Most Memorable Publicity Stunt By an MMA Fighter?

(Photo by Ben Watts for ESPN The Magazine. Click image for full-size version)

With the newest issue of the “ESPN Body Issue” set to hit shelves today – featuring none other than UFC contender (by convenience) Miesha Tate – we decided to take look back at memorable publicity stunts from other MMA fighters. Some were one-time incidents, some were entire careers, and one actually managed to be both. Read on for our picks, and please continue to send your ideas for future Roundtable topics to [email protected].

Ben Goldstein

There was a time when Kimbo Slice was the most popular MMA fighter in the world. That’s not hyperbole. There are actual numbers to back this up.

After Kevin Ferguson — Kimbo’s real name, in case you’ve forgotten — became an Internet legend fighting in backyards, boatyards, and basements, the bare-knuckle brawler decided to go legit and fight in steel cages instead. Kimbo’s first MMA exhibition in June 2007 was a classic freak show against boxer Ray Mercer, which Slice won by guillotine choke in just over a minute. After that, it was a career-defining 12 months in Gary Shaw’s utterly shameless EliteXC outfit, where Kimbo picked up three consecutive wins against Bo Cantrell (who put up no resistance whatsoever), Tank Abbott (a old-school relic just there to pay off his bar tabs), and James Thompson (who was slapped with a standing-TKO loss only because his ear was about to fall off).

(Photo by Ben Watts for ESPN The Magazine. Click image for full-size version)

Ben Goldstein

There was a time when Kimbo Slice was the most popular MMA fighter in the world. That’s not hyperbole. There are actual numbers to back this up.

The fight against Thompson smashed American viewership records for MMA. Kimbo was an organic phenomenon who touched multiple groups of fight fans — from the YouTube noobs who were genuinely convinced that Slice was the baddest man in the world, to the skeptical MMA fans who were just waiting for the Miami Pound Machine to be humbled by an opponent who could actually fight. No matter what you thought of Kimbo, you watched those fights. Admit it, you did.

Despite his eerie ability to draw a crowd, Kimbo’s reputation as a fighter never rose beyond the level of “oddity,” and when he was knocked out by a back-pedaling Seth Petruzelli in October 2008 — the bizarre aftermath of which contributed to the demise of EliteXC — it seemed like the name “Kimbo” would fade away into MMA lore.

So it came as a bit of a shock when Kimbo Slice was signed to the UFC in June 2009, as part of the all-heavyweight cast of The Ultimate Fighter’s 10^th season. What made the signing particularly unexpected was that UFC president Dana White had publicly trashed Kimbo as a street-fighter who would get murdered in the UFC. Of course, that was back when Kimbo was making money for another promoter. As soon as Slice became a Zuffa-controlled asset, White did his best to spin the narrative, and suddenly, Kimbo was a real fighter who White respects, and maybe he’ll surprise everybody by winning the whole thing?

Wisely, the UFC did away with elimination fights for The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights, guaranteeing that Kimbo would be living in the house for the entire 11-episode run. But if viewers expected entertainment-value from Slice, they would soon be given a harsh reality check. To get a sense of how over-hyped Kimbo’s stint on TUF 10 was, just watch this “TUF’s Top Ten Kimbo Moments” highlight reel:

Seriously, that’s the best footage they could find. #8 is Kimbo dodging out of the way as Rampage Jackson pretends to be a bull. #7 is Kimbo turning down a fight. The only action he actually saw was a lopsided defeat at the hands of Roy Nelson — a fight that confirmed our expectations about how far Kimbo could actually go in this sport — and a dull decision win over Houston Alexander at the TUF 10 Finale. (Kimbo would be booted from the UFC after a follow-up TKO loss to Matt Mitrione.)

But as transparent and absurd as this publicity stunt was, it was an unqualified success. TUF 10’s debut episode took in over 4 million viewers, while episode three, featuring Kimbo’s fight against Nelson, hit a series high of 5.3 million; that number ballooned to 7.25 million when DVR viewing was accounted for. Every episode drew 2.4 million viewers or higher.

To put that in perspective: Brock Lesnar could only pull 1.5 million sets of eyeballs on his best day during his TUF 13 coaching stint, and the same was true of TUF 17’s desperation-booking between Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen. Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz cracked 2 million viewers for the 4^th episode of TUF 11, but never did better than that.

Maybe that’s an unfair comparison, and not just because Kimbo Slice’s TUF season was broadcast on Spike, while Team Jones vs. Team Sonnen had the misfortune of being on FX. The history of The Ultimate Fighter has proven that superstar coaches don’t really move the needle. But having a compelling fighter on the show gives viewers a real reason to tune in, and for reasons that are still baffling to some, Kimbo Slice was massively compelling to fight fans for a brief moment in history. The numbers speak for themselves.

And some nights, if the wind is up and the moon is full, you can still hear his voice echoing across the bungalows of Miami, the triumphant bellow of a man who came, cashed in, and left, a voice as hard and shining as a fist dipped in gold:

“giiiiive meeeeeee my breeeeaaad…”

Doug “ReX13″ Richardson

In the interests of full disclosure: I’m a real asshole to Tim Sylvia. But just like the emotionally abusive boyfriend who reminds his baby love of those five extra pounds, I’m only doing it because I love him (the big lard-o).

And Tim Sylvia makes it so, so hard to love him. There is no one – NO ONE – who will go to the lengths that Timmeh has to embarrass themselves. Other fighters may have tried a publicity stunt for a bump in attention, the Maine-iac could write a book: Staying In the Public Eye (And Giving It Conjunctivitis).

It’s important to remember that Sylvia started his career with 16 straight wins and a UFC belt, with his first loss coming via Herb Dean freakout – an invalid result that shouldn’t even count, but whatever. Was Tim proud? Brother, this guy never took his belt off. But even when he was the UFC’s official Baddest Man on the Planet ™, his publicity was hilariously incongruent with his dayjob’s badassery. When Dana thought that having a few fighters appear on reality dating show Blind Date would be a good publicity stunt, Timmy was happy to play along. Unfortunately, his 22 year old date prospect quickly found Sylvia’s weakness: a tolerance for alcohol that falls somewhere between Taylor Swift and Mr Miyagi. Whoopsie? ( In case you haven’t seen it, click here [you’re welcome]).

But hey, mistakes happen, right? Of course they do. But Sylvia would pinball from one embarrassing story to the next. As if hearing that Tim kept his belt on during sex didn’t do enough for the world’s stock of Brain Bleach, there’s also the story about him picking up Andrei Arlovski’s sloppy seconds. And hey, playa, do you, get some, whatever, but Arlovski sent Sylvia to the burn unit with his immortal quote about tasting Andrei’s big pee pee, and it still smells like burnt hair and pork marinated in Old Spice in here.

And when the wheels fell off for Tim, they rolled in four separate directions, as if mocking Sylvia’s lack of agility and speed. After losing his Precious to Randy Couture at UFC 68 and an interim shot against Big Nog at UFC 81, Sylvia faced off with Fedor under the Affliction banner (Affliction itself being the publicity stunt, in this case, just not necessarily Tim’s publicity stunt). Sylvia got man-handled, losing the stand-up fight, the grappling exchange, and the whole shebang in just 36 seconds. (I mean damn, son – the Browns hold it together longer than that.)

Tim drowned his sorrows in meditation and determined training in the mountains of Tibet. LOL J/K I MEANT HAAGEN-DASZ . Tim showed up for his next ~~publicity stunt~~ fight at 310 pounds for a fight with 48-year old retired boxer Ray Mercer. Funny thing: taking a former world champ/Olympic gold medalist lightly will get your lights turned out, because Sylvia got merc’ed in just nine (9) seconds. For perspective, it takes longer to say “Tim Sylvia got knocked out by Ray Mercer and I was embarrassed watching it” than it actually took to watch it happen, which is why no one talks about that fight, ever. Ray Mercer promptly retired (again), and probably still laughs his balls off everytime he sees that match in GIF form.

Tim has struggled with his weight ever since, even though he’s tried (and tried, and tried some more) to get back down to his old fighting shape, which, for the record, was pear. He’s still working, though, and keeping that dream alive of making it back to fight for the UFC again. But despite all his work and support on Twitter (I’m so sorry, Tim), the UFC continues to not blow up his cell phone. It’s almost like his publicity is working against him.

Josh Hutchinson

There are far better and worse examples of fighters attempting to use publicity to their advantage, but as history will prove, none more memorable than the career of Brock Lesnar. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been known to shit on Lesnar over the years, possibly a tad unjustly. The fact is that numbers don’t lie, and Lesnar did apparently put asses in seats. Which begs the question, why?

From 2000 till 2007 Lesnar made his living in the esteemed profession of professional wrestling. At some point during 2007 the genetically gifted athlete decided to try his hand at MMA, and what followed can only be described as…interesting (Note: I’ve decided to try and not be such an asshole, so bear with me on my choice in wording). Professional Wrestling fans jumped at this chance to prove once and for all that there is a lot more to their beloved sport than just acting. On the other hand MMA fans saw this as an opportunity to show the world that there is no place for pro wrestlers in real, sanctioned fights. While both sides were busy arguing for their respective sport, the head honchos at Zuffa were trying their best to conceal a raging money boner. At least until it was time to promote Brock.

Everyone was jumping on the Brock bandwagon in one form or another. Hell, we here at Cage Potato ran 10 separate articles on the guy before his first UFC fight. Let me put that in perspective. One MMA site runs ten articles on a 1-0 fighter that’s making his UFC debut. Multiply that by how many other MMA news outlets ran stories (10 times something…carry the one…shit, I don’t math good) and you get an idea of how much energy Zuffa was putting into promoting the unstoppable beast that is Lesnar.

Fast forward to today and you can clearly see the results of said promotion. There is still talk of a “superfight” between Lesnar and Fedor. Randy Coutre, among many others, think Brock deserves a spot in the hall of fame. And if you ask Google Brock is clearly the baddest man on the planet. Now would be the point where I remind you that this is a retired 5-3 professional wrestler we are talking about.

So say what you will about Brock Lesnar *cough* way fucking overrated *cough*, but the evidence is all there. Brock Lesnar is, was, and god willing will always be the most memorable publicity stunt in MMA history.

Nathan Smith

*approaches podium with microphone in hand, clears throat*

The Ultimate Fighting Championship paid James Toney $500,000 for a fight against Randy Couture that he didn’t even pretend to take seriously at UFC 118, which garnered a feeble 570,000 PPV buys. I rest my case.

*drops mic, walks off stage as a slow clap starts*

Jared Jones

While one could at least make the case that the boxing career of Eric “Butterbean” Esch contained the slightest semblance of merit – to this day, his record stands at 77-9-4 (and you don’t need to look any further into it than that) and he was the one time WBA Super Heavyweight champion – to claim that Butterbean’s MMA career was anything more than a sad, albeit memorable running gag would be a crime punishable by Scaphism. In fact, until Steven Seagal reemerged from his particular realm of B-movie hell to become Anderson Silva’s Sensei, it’s safe to say that Butterbean was perhaps the biggest in-joke in the sport’s short history – a 400+ pound, tortoise of a man who has tapped to strikes on nearly as many occasions as Bob Sapp, who he was coincidentally trounced by in a sumo match.

Look, everyone from Peter McNeeley to Johnny Knoxville will tell you that Butterbean possesses some solid boxing skills and hits like a Mac Truck to boot. But as was the case with James “Kele Calamari Express” Toney, a good boxer does not a good MMA fighter make. The fact that Butterbean’s first foray into the world of mixed martial arts was against the 155-pound Genki Sudo, whom he lost to by second round cankle hook, should have told us all we needed to know about where his career was headed. The man literally lacks the ability to get to his feet once placed on his back, and you allow him to compete in a sport that is 50% ground fighting? Yeah, I’m really looking forward to Kyle Maynard’s upcoming run on the PGA tour as well. Hear he’s got a great short game.

Does anyone honestly think it was a coincidence that Butterbean fought Zuluzinho at what would be PRIDE’s final event? You ignorant sluts. Butterbean was the kind of freak show publicity stunt that finally backfired on the Japanese, resulting in the death of one of the greatest MMA promotions to ever exist. Butterbean would have a similar effect on the woefully misguided YAMMA pit fighting promotion almost a year to the day later, when he fought Patrick Smith in what would go down in the history books as an American tragedy on par with the USS Indianapolis.

Of all the embarrassing, not to mention brutal knockouts in the MMA career of James Thompson, I imagine that his loss to Butterbean at Cage Rage 20 is the first thing he thinks of every morning and is the sole reason he cries himself to sleep every night. Minowaman *dropkicked* Butterbean’s fat ass and armbarred him within a round, yet Thompson is forced to attend hypnosis classes every single day to try and erase the memory of the time he was KO’d by Portly McT-RexArms. That is some kind of hell I don’t even want to imagine.

Butterbean’s last MMA fight (for now) took place in October of 2011, with Esch tapping to strikes in under a minute, go figure. Worse than that? He lost to a guy named Sandy. Sandy. There is no recovering from that.

Seth Falvo

Pfft. I’m about to end y’all’s whole careers with my pick.

Boom…bam…bop…

Badda-bop boom pow.

The 9 Most Pathetic Hooks the UFC Has Used to Draw PPV Buys

(At one point, Jones tried to pull away because he thought the handshake was over, but Chael held on for like a half-second longer. It was, without question, the most challenging moment of Jones’s professional MMA career. / Photo via Getty Images)

By Matt Saccaro

The fight game isn’t just about tatted-up white guys with shaved heads hitting each other in the face. If it were, BodogFIGHT and the IFL would still be alive and kicking. Marketing /Hype/PR is a crucial aspect of the fight business — but it doesn’t always go so well.

There were times when the UFC has had stunning marketing triumphs (the whole “Zuffa created the entire MMA world and if you don’t like it you’re a butthurt Pride fanboy” shtick). But there were also times when the UFC’s efforts fell flat on their face like Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante against Dan Henderson.

What were some of these hyped-up but obviously bullshit moments? Let’s have a look…

1. Watch Che Mills, the Unstoppable Killing Machine!

(Source: Getty)

UFC 145’s main event of Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans was strong enough to sell a pay-per-view on. Sure, sometimes the promo made the two fighters look like jilted lovers, but we’re not gonna hate on the UFC for hyping up a title fight.

We will, however, hate on them for trying to convince fans that a squash match — Rory MacDonald vs. Che Mills — was some kind of epic duel between two young lions. There was only one prospect in that fight, and it wasn’t Che Mills.

The UFC’s inability to do anything with subtlety ruined the promos for this event, the prelims for this event, and most of the PPV portion of this event. Describing Mills as a “new, dangerous welterweight from the UK” was a gross exaggeration. The British striker was only dangerous if you were a TUF bum or if you suffered an accidental knee injury while fighting him.

During the prelims, Rogan was doing the hard sell. THIS CHE MILLS GUY IS A KILLER. HE’S A MONSTER. HE’S A BADASS. HE BEHEADED NED STARK. HE SHOT BAMBI’S MOTHER. Insane falsehoods like this littered the broadcast. Rogan didn’t stop the bullshit once the main card started, either.

We got treated with pro-wrestling-level fakeness about how Che Mills was on MacDonald’s level up until MacDonald, predictably, ran through Mills.

Thus, the only thing that got killed at UFC 145 was Mills’s career.

Since then, Mills hasn’t legitimately won a fight, unless you count Duane Ludwig’s freak injury as a legit win. Earlier this month, Mills lost via TKO to Irishman Cathal Pendred (never heard of him either) at a CWFC event in Ireland.

2. James Toney, Bane of MMA Fighters.

By Matt Saccaro

What were some of these hyped-up but obviously bullshit moments? Let’s have a look…

1. Watch Che Mills, the Unstoppable Killing Machine!

(Source: Getty)

We got treated with pro-wrestling-level fakeness about how Che Mills was on MacDonald’s level up until MacDonald, predictably, ran through Mills.

Thus, the only thing that got killed at UFC 145 was Mills’s career.

2. James Toney, Bane of MMA Fighters.

(Source: AP)

We at CagePotato have sleepless nights sometimes because James Toney vs. Randy Couture was an actual thing that happened.

This freak show fight — more suited to a Japanese promotion or the backyard that hosted Tank Abbott vs. Scott Ferrozzo — found its way to the UFC’s Octagon due to James Toney’s superlative trolling abilities and Dana White’s spider-sense for money-making.

Couture vs. Toney didn’t headline the UFC 118 PPV — Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn had that honor — but it was a large part of the event’s marketing.

Dana/The Zuffa hype machine gave out reasons why the fight wasn’t bullshit and why you should buy the PPV. They cited the statistic that James Toney had more knockouts than Randy Couture had fights and trotted out the tired, near-meaningless phrase “you never know what’s gonna happen in a fight” again and again.

Forget the fact that pure boxers had tried to ply their craft in the UFC twice and had failed, DANA WHITE is telling you James Toney has a chance so it must be right and you better buy the PPV so you can see the upset of a lifetime!

Toney’s ass-crack being visible at the weigh-ins foreshadowed the shittyness to come. The match ended the way everybody thought it would, with Toney having laughably bad MMA skills (he didn’t even know how to tap out correctly) and Couture effortlessly submitting him.

3. Banned in 49 States, 340 Countries, 7 Planets, 340 Trillion Galaxies…

When the UFC was founded, one of the bigger issues was how to market it.

The American public had long been familiar with the typical Asian martial arts bushido bullshit thanks to the wave of interest inspired by movies ranging from Enter the Dragon to The Karate Kid. But the UFC was more than just karate guys and katas. It was the world’s toughest and purest fighting tournament. How, exactly, are you supposed to sell that?

According to Campbell McLaren, as gracelessly as possible.

McLaren was the man in charge of the UFC’s marketing in 1993. His strategy was to make the UFC appear as anything BUT a sport. To McLaren, the UFC had to be presented as Mortal Kombat without the thunder gods and four-armed Shokan princes.

The result of this policy was the enthusiastic yet ultimately self-defeating “BANNED IN 49 STATES. FIGHTS END VIA KNOCKOUT, SUBMISSION, OR DEATH” marketing campaign that piqued the interest of martial arts enthusiasts, street brawlers, and pornography theater owners.

4. Revenge Is a Dish Best Served on a Lackluster PPV Main Event.

(Source: MMAWeekly)

Remember Chuck Liddell’s “fearsome” title reign where he allegedly fought the best light-heavyweights in the world?

Yeah, we’re gonna talk about that for a second.

Riding high off capturing the UFC light heavyweight crown from Randy Couture, Chuck Liddell was pitted against Jeremy Horn. It was a peculiar match to make seeing as Horn hadn’t been in the UFC since a 2001 loss to Elvis Sinosic, of all people.

So why rush Horn to the front of the title-shot line?

Well, one theory is that Horn’s victory over the legendary Spencer Canup impressed Dana White so much that he had no other choice than to give Horn the title shot.

Another, equally likely theory, is that Liddell’s 1999 loss to Horn was a great pretext for a “REVENGE! GRUDGE MATCH!” angle straight out of the WWE’s playbook. Liddell got to avenge his loss, Horn lost some brain cells, and MMA fans lost a few hours and $40.

5. Anything Ken Shamrock–Tito Ortiz Related.

The UFC couldn’t survive if Tito Ortiz kept fighting the likes of Elvis Sinosic (that’s two Sinosic mentions in one article, if anyone is keeping count). The UFC needed established names. Ken Shamrock was an established name.

Yes, he was coming off a loss when he was brought in to fight Tito Ortiz for the first time in 2002 but that didn’t matter. Everybody remembered Ken Shamrock thanks to his status as a UFC Legend™ and thanks to his time in the WWE.

“Here are two guys who DON’T LIKE EACH OTHER!” “Watch the DISRESPECTFUL, UPSTART PUNK trash talk the RESPECTFUL VETERAN”

Ironically, the hype around the feud was all real. Shamrock’s Lion’s Den and Tito Ortiz had legitimate beef with one another. Thus, matching up him an Ortiz was an easy sell. But the reason this hook was so terrible was that Shamrock was no match for Ortiz. Shamrock wasn’t a roided-up superman anymore. He was Samson without his hair, Batman without his money, Chael Sonnen without TRT.

Yeah, great they don’t like each other. That doesn’t mean a fight between them made sense because, quite frankly, it didn’t. It was a cash-grab and attention whoring.

And it worked — so well, in fact, that they did it again twice. Shamrock would face Ortiz four years later on another PPV, UFC 61, and on a UFC Fight Night card called “Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter” just three months after that. Both of those fights ended in first-round TKO wins for Ortiz.

On the next page: A legend gets executed, “fun fights” (aka “squash matches”) and the absurd bullshit that actually turned out to be true.

Boxers Need to Stop Calling out MMA Fighters

Perhaps it is the curse of growth, but the rivalry between MMA and professional boxing is not going away. One would have thought that after James Toney was dispatched in short order by Randy Couture that boxers would stop calling out MMA fighters, cont…

Perhaps it is the curse of growth, but the rivalry between MMA and professional boxing is not going away.

One would have thought that after James Toney was dispatched in short order by Randy Couture that boxers would stop calling out MMA fighters, content in the knowing their sports were finally proven—with no shame—to be vastly different.

But if anything, such a “merger” has begun to whet the appetite of certain boxers who want to get more exposure for their name; if they lose they can simply attribute it to being strangers in a strange land, and if they win then suddenly more people than ever know their name and they are welcomed back to the boxing community as conquering heroes.

Case in point: the challenge Cain Velasquez had thrown at his feet by heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury, via Twitter, who claimed he would crush Velasquez inside the UFC octagon.

“I challenge u to fight all in in a cage or ring! It could be billed as the man vs midget lets get it on!”

For his part, Velasquez handled the challenge like he should have. He stated that if Fury wants to fight him, he needs to join the UFC and work his way up the ladder like everyone else.

It is unknown if Fury will let the topic die or try to keep on fanning the flames in the hopes of making a fire so big everyone will know his name, but it still speaks to the idea that more pro boxers, tired of being unknown, may use this tactic in order to get their name spoken aloud in front of the cameras that follow and report on both sports.

The question is a tired one, but if professional boxers are going to keep trying to cash this lottery ticket, then it needs to be pressed hard.

The question is: “Are you going to follow through?”

Most know they will not, so pressing the issue in a manner that is unapologetic and uncompromising is perhaps the only way to silence them. I am not saying defeating another boxer in the octagon is the answer, because even then, they lose little to no face.

Unless they lose a lot of face in the actual fight, which is really the only way that the sport of MMA can draw a hard line in the sand.

Dana White and the UFC shouldn’t reward every boxer that decides to run his mouth with the exposure and money that is expected from such a clash in the octagon. He did it once with James Toney, and once was enough.

So it seems like the only things left are in the hands of Dana White, because when men like Fury begin throwing out challenges to fighters, they are really talking to White.

One option he has is to make it quite clear that professional boxers are welcome into the UFC, but they have to fight for the spot, on a season of The Ultimate Fighter. It would give these boxers a great deal of exposure and would also perhaps uncover new talent, as that is what the show is all about.

Hardly any of them would take it, but should White continue to return to that option as their own chance, eventually those boxers will either get on board and take the shot on the show or return their focus to where it belongs: in the boxing ring.

The second option is to simply declare that no pro boxer will ever step foot into the octagon again without becoming an MMA fighter and establishing a record as such, no questions asked.

Of course, there are problems with both of those solutions, but they seem to be the most direct and sensible choices that serve the sport no matter what said boxers chose to do.

The more I think about it, a season of The Ultimate Fighter that had some professional boxers included would probably do fairly well and it would also serve as a tool to teach other boxers just how demanding the sport of MMA really is.

Either way, it would provide an education for men like Fury who are assuming much and knowing little, and education is never a bad thing.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Top 10 Ugliest Debuts in UFC History

With fights like Todd Duffee vs. Tim Hague, Joe Lauzon vs. Jens Pulver and, more recently, John Moraga vs. Ulysses Gomez, it’s easy to say “that guy is going to become a great fighter.” Naturally, however, there is a flipside to this. We ha…

We have seen more than a few UFC debuts over the years that made us squirm, led us to think “what is this guy even doing here?” or even feel pity for the poor guy who just got his face punched off in front of a global audience.

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the 10 Ugliest Debuts in UFC History.

Here, we take a look at some of the fighters that chose the wrong foot to put forward in their first appearance on “The Show.” Some are names you’ll remember for the better days in their career. Some you’ll remember for how bad they were in these fights. Some, meanwhile, will just make you go “who?”

Either way, prepare to have your memories refreshed of these ugly, horrible fights that you probably wish never even happened in the first place!

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