(Within 24 hours of touching that thing at a UFC Expo, Overeem will punch you in the face.)
Typically, UFC champions fight at least two to three times per year. This year, each strap was defended an average of 1.86 times because of a rash of injuries we chalk up to the UFC title curse.
13 title defenses for seven belts is a problem for any organization, especially one as big as the UFC. It’s tough to garner interest for your promotion’s champions when only a few are defending their titles more than once or twice a year.
(Days after Arianny presented Ali with theOctagon Girl Championship belt, she was let go by the UFC. Coincidence?)
The question is, should there be a limit to the amount of time a champion can go without defending his or her leather and gold before an interim champ is declared?
Check out the breakdown of the 2011 UFC champion injury plague in order of lightest to heaviest weight class after the jump and judge for yourself if title fights are less interesting as a result of how infrequently they occur.
(Within 24 hours of touching that thing at a UFC Expo, Overeem will punch you in the face.)
Typically, UFC champions fight at least two to three times per year. This year, each strap was defended an average of 1.86 times because of a rash of injuries we chalk up to the UFC title curse.
13 title defenses for seven belts is a problem for any organization, especially one as big as the UFC. It’s tough to garner interest for your promotion’s champions when only a few are defending their titles more than once or twice a year.
(Days after Arianny presented Ali with theOctagon Girl Championship belt, she was let go by the UFC. Coincidence?)
The question is, should there be a limit to the amount of time a champion can go without defending his or her leather and gold before an interim champ is declared?
Check out the breakdown of the 2011 UFC champion injury plague in order of lightest to heaviest weight class after the jump and judge for yourself if title fights are less interesting as a result of how infrequently they occur.
As ESPN’s Bill Simmons tweeted, the UFC lost its network virginity to FOX and it was over in a matter of seconds – just like real life. Similarly, for most of you, there seemed to be that same awkward feeling afterwards where you’re not sure if should zip up and head home to catch Sports Center or if she expects you to spoon with her until the early morning light reveals what she looks like when you’re sober. Regardless of what decision is made you can be certain that from this moment forth, life will never be the same. Ever.
It’s done – over. You can’t change anything even if you wanted to, like what you screamed as the finish came about. This is probably in your best interest seeing as how you’ll need money if you want her to stay around, at least more money than you currently have. Women love when you shower them with tokens of your affection so you should really pay attention to this next part. So crack open that portfolio and let’s play another round of ‘Buy, Sell, Hold’ in the MMA Stock Market.
“Cigano” defeated the previously unbeaten UFC heavyweight in one minute and four seconds to capture the belt – with a torn meniscus. With only sixty-four seconds to analyze, it is hard to point out anything we didn’t already know like getting hit by JDS may be hazardous to your health. Any way you want to slice it, it all turns out the same; dos Santos is here to stay.
As ESPN’s Bill Simmons tweeted, the UFC lost its network virginity to FOX and it was over in a matter of seconds – just like real life. Similarly, for most of you, there seemed to be that same awkward feeling afterwards where you’re not sure if should zip up and head home to catch Sports Center or if she expects you to spoon with her until the early morning light reveals what she looks like when you’re sober. Regardless of what decision is made you can be certain that from this moment forth, life will never be the same. Ever.
It’s done – over. You can’t change anything even if you wanted to, like what you screamed as the finish came about. This is probably in your best interest seeing as how you’ll need money if you want her to stay around, at least more money than you currently have. Women love when you shower them with tokens of your affection so you should really pay attention to this next part. So crack open that portfolio and let’s play another round of ‘Buy, Sell, Hold’ in the MMA Stock Market.
“Cigano” defeated the previously unbeaten UFC heavyweight in one minute and four seconds to capture the belt – with a torn meniscus. With only sixty-four seconds to analyze, it is hard to point out anything we didn’t already know like getting hit by JDS may be hazardous to your health. Any way you want to slice it, it all turns out the same; dos Santos is here to stay.
There will be more than a few rookie day traders dumping loads of “Brown Pride” after Cain’s performance Saturday night. Don’t get caught up in the heat of the moment, kid. Use rook’s weakness against him and buy all the ‘Shrexican‘ stock you can afford. Look, Velasquez didn’t go out and get man handled, out wrestled, or even out struck – he got caught. He will get another title shot, and judging from the competition, he’ll more than likely fight JDS again.
One of the first rules they’ll teach you about investing is to keep emotions out of it. In other words, don’t buy Microsoft stock just because you have an Xbox 360 when you should be buying Lowe’s even if you couldn’t find a reciprocating saw to save your life. Pretty easy, right? As a fan of exciting fights, I can’t advise you to sell Guida’s stock even if he wears a crown that reads ‘Gatekeeper’. Although you shouldn’t sell, you shouldn’t spend any more money on him either. If you do, you run the risk of diminishing your ROI, which is the exact opposite you want. (Remember, your girlfriend expects a nice gift for Christmas) Hold the stock and let’s see if Clay Guide follows suit and cuts to the 145 lb. division like all the other fighters who couldn’t hack it at lightweight.
After his fight-of-the-night win over Clay Guida, Ben Henderson called out UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. Well, sort of. While derailing Guida’s four-fight win streak, Bendo displayed the prowess and aggression that has me convinced he’s a destined to be crowned champion in Japan, should Edgar start out slow as he did in his memorable fights against Gray Maynard. A little money spent now will ensure you pay off the Christmas debt you incurred after visiting her parents. Wait, you didn’t honestly think you’d get out of that one, did you?
Among other topics, White addressed the possible scenario that the Velasquez-JDS fight could be over faster then the planned pre-fight extravaganza and said that if it is, then there won’t be any other fights shown on Fox, period.
“There’s only gonna be one fight. The heavyweight championship is the only fight that’s gonna be on Fox, [even if] it goes 10 seconds.”
Check out the highlights of the call after the jump.
Among other topics, White addressed the possible scenario that the Velasquez-JDS fight could be over faster then the planned pre-fight extravaganza and said that if it is, then there won’t be any other fights shown on Fox, period.
“There’s only gonna be one fight. The heavyweight championship is the only fight that’s gonna be on Fox, [even if] it goes 10 seconds.”
Here are the highlight’s of the call:
• Velasquez says his media obligations haven’t been too overwhelming. Just the right amount.
• Cain says his shoulder rehab went well and he’s glad he didn’t rush his recovery as it is a tough surgery to heal up from
• He has been watching lots of tape on JDS and has been sparring a lot with Paul Buentello
• Dos Santos says it was tough waiting so long for his shot and that he was a bit frustrated when Cain got injured, but it was worth the wait
• Says he believes that Cain is the number one heavyweight in the world and that by beating him he will take his crown and ranking
• Junior has been training for three months for the bout with guys like the Noguieras and Doria
• Doesn’t believe the bout will go the distance but says he’s ready conditioning-wise if it does
• Dana says prelims will be on Facebook and Fox.com and the weigh-ins will be aired on Fuel and that we can expect major changes to the format including production changes starting in January (goodbye gladiator montage?)
• Mexico is taking longer then expected to make happen as there have been lots of unforeseeable problems
• Dana is confident that the main event will be a great one, which is why he based the premier Fox event around it
• In spite of the financial hit he says they will take with cards like this one, there are no plans to reduce number of free shows as White says he wants the UFC’s TV model to resemble ABC’s “Wide World of Sports”
• Says he doesn’t look at what anyone else has done on network TV before because they’ve all failed
• Credits the massive success of the Brazil show for landing the GLOBO deal and calls the channel a “monster network”
• Rogers Sportsnet will air the event in Canada
• White feels that the Brazilian edition of TUF will be talent steeped and says he wants to do the show on a global scale and have the winners compete in a format similar to the World Cup
• Says the Fox deal helped to legitimize the sport and was one of his proudest moments as UFC president
• The biggest change to TUF is that the finals will happen at the end of the six weeks and the coaches will fight two weeks later, which is crazy since there isn’t much time for a decent camp while the coaches are filming
• Says EliteXC screwed themselves, that they should never have had a TV deal and if they had done things properly likely would still be around and on CBS
• Hinted perhaps that the Strikeforce negotiations may not happen as he stated that the UFC doesn’t do a deal unless they are completely in the driver’s seat
