Tim Sylvia is fighting Andrei Arlovski under the Pro Elite banner this November 5th. Dave Herman vs. Mike Russow scrapped from UFC 136 card due to an injury for Herman. Leonard Garcia vs. Nam Phan.
Tim Sylvia is fighting Andrei Arlovski under the Pro Elite banner this November 5th.
Dave Herman vs. Mike Russow scrapped from UFC 136 card due to an injury for Herman. Leonard Garcia vs. Nam Phan II now promoted to main card.
UFC 140‘s planned match of Lyoto Machida vs. Phil Davis is definitely a no-go. Davis didn’t even know it was a prospect.
Georges St. Pierretraining with Dan Hardy for his upcoming UFC 137 main event with Carlos Condit.
UFC 139 headlined by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan Henderson with co-maint event, Wanderlei Silva vs. Cung Le. But you won’t find San Jose residents, Jon Fitch or Josh Koscheck on the card unless there is a “vs.” sign between their two names, according to Dana White.
In case you missed it, here is that picture of Michael Jackson after he passed away that was submitted in court yesterday in the case of his doctor Conrad Murray‘s wrongful death trial.
Last week MMA Fighting reported that Paul Levesque, better known as Triple H, real life son-in-law of WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, said he thought the UFC should evolve like the pro wrestling juggernaut has, “because quite frankly sometimes the fights are long and boring, guys lying around and sometimes the fights are fast and over in five seconds.”
Is “The Game” right? Does it matter? Before we pass judgment on his comments, let’s take a quick look at a few specific examples he gave for his opinion, then weigh the pros and cons of leaning too far towards Entertainment or Winning.
I did it at least nine times. How else would I inherit his empire?
Last week MMA Fighting reported that Paul Levesque, better known as Triple H, real life son-in-law of WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, said he thought the UFC should evolve like the pro wrestling juggernaut has, “because quite frankly sometimes the fights are long and boring, guys lying around and sometimes the fights are fast and over in five seconds.”
Is “The Game” right? Does it matter? Before we pass judgment on his comments, let’s take a quick look at a few specific examples he gave for his opinion, then weigh the pros and cons of leaning too far towards Entertainment or Winning.
“[They should] give more of an entertainment standpoint. Give more form; they just have fighters who walk in in T-shirts and shorts and just stand there and then they fight and then they win and then they go ‘thanks, I’d like to thank my sponsors’ and then they leave. The whole world was up in arms when Brock was flipping people off and was cussing at the beer company because they didn’t give him any money. The whole world was talking about it. They couldn’t wait to see him get beat up. And then he did well, and he beat some guys and then people jump on his bandwagon going ‘Brock’s the greatest.’”
It appears that Hunter has taken a few too many chair shots over the years and has become quite confused. You see, his comments do not reflect a desire to see the UFC evolve — rather he would have them take a page out of Vinnie Mac’s script and add a bunch of fabricated drama to invoke human interest so the audience will become emotionally invested in the product.
His only valid point was the comments made about boring fights. Would you not agree? Dana White certainly does. Remember that interview with SI.com when they asked him if it’s a fighter’s job to entertain or just win fights.
Sure. But you’ve got to be exciting! If all we cared about was guys winning fights, you know how many wrestlers could just go lay on a guy? There are tons of wrestlers that could do that. I don’t know. Do you think we’d be talking about all these big plans and all the exciting things that we’re going to be doing if that was the case? I mean, that’s a pretty stupid question. If somebody really asks that question, you’d have to look at them and go, “Are you stupid?” Seriously, it’s a really dumb question.
Hear that Mr. Game? You’re preaching to the choir.
Why do most fighters fight? Money. How can they make more money? Winning, bonuses, and sponsorships. How do these streams of cash grow? Higher TV Ratings and increased PPV buy rates — essentially, you need more people watching your product. How do you get more people to watch your product? Be exciting, which means, according to the average MMA fan, you need to KO your opponent or get them to tap out. Whatever you do, it has to be fast-paced and explosive. Easy enough, right?
What happens if a fighter’s goal is solely to entertain the crowd and look for the Knockout of the Night bonus? We laugh at his attempts to defeat better opposition — guys who actually have a gameplan and well-rounded skill-set, and know more than what they learned in Mike Tyson’s ‘Punch-Out!’. Does this hypothetical slugger have a tendency to give us highlight-reel material from time to time? Sure. But you won’t see him in the main event anytime soon [Ed. note: well…] because although he’s an exciting guy to watch, his skills can only take him so far up the contender ladder. So much for that cash flow increasing.
Conversely, we have “safe” fighters whose only objective is to win, good, bad, or ugly…and it’s usually the latter two. When these guys fight, the numbers don’t suddenly jump off the charts. No one says, “I am pumped to see Jon Fitch fight again,” since the only thing he seems to care about is getting a ‘W’ and that paper. If he only understood that laying someone the eff out would garner him much more money than merely violating him for fifteen minutes, we’d all be winners.
So how do we deal with this contradiction? Should fighters fight to get a win at all costs, even if it means hearing a roar of boos as you smother your opponent for three rounds, or should you call your shot as you step up to the plate, swinging for the fences the entire bout hoping you drop him before he drops you?
So since Triple H brought it up, let’s talk about “evolution,” and what it means in this sport. The UFC has grown and adapted to the changes in our culture by adding rules, protective gear, and a referee. As the organization continued to grow, it became more corporate, breaking away from its blue collar, blood-thirsty past. Dana White and the Fertittas will continue to allow the UFC to evolve, just as the sport of mixed martial arts itself did. Remember when it was a fight between a karate guy and a boxer, fighting to see which style was superior? Now we have guys who can do it all — or at least all that is necessary to eke out a win — squaring off to determine which fighter, not style, is king.
In the end, the only thing that matters is that everyone is satisfied. White wants to be satisfied with the success of the UFC which is ultimately dependent upon its fighters, who want to be satisfied with what they are paid, which largely depends on the fans — who really just want to be satisfied with how enjoyable the fights are. So I just have to ask, ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!
The “Korean Zombie Jung Chan-Sung made history at UFC Fight Night 24 in March when he defeated Leonard Garcia with the “Twister,” one of the most rare and painful submission in MMA.The submission, which became a huge hit on YouTube as…
The “Korean Zombie Jung Chan-Sung made history at UFC Fight Night 24 in March when he defeated Leonard Garcia with the “Twister,” one of the most rare and painful submission in MMA.
The submission, which became a huge hit on YouTube as well as message boards throughout the internet, is a difficult yet highly effective maneuver which exploded into popularity as it was the first time it was used in a UFC fight.
Though he admits that he learned the move from watching legendary jiu-jitsu expert Eddie Bravo on YouTube, the Korean Zombie has released his own instructional video in which he explains his own twist on how to apply the twister submission.
The training victim in the video is fellow South Korean fighter, Jang Yong “The Beast” Kim.
You will see one video attached here, but if you would like to see part two, which explains more on the submission, you can view it here.
After watching MMA as a dedicated fan for six years now, a pattern has emerged time and time again that frustrates both the fighters and the fans.A series of bad decisions by judges have finally left me fed up with the ten point must system in mi…
After watching MMA as a dedicated fan for six years now, a pattern has emerged time and time again that frustrates both the fighters and the fans.
A series of bad decisions by judges have finally left me fed up with the ten point must system in mixed martial arts. For the most part, the system works in boxing when there are only punches to consider, but in mixed martial arts it causes problems, confusion and sometimes anger.
There have been several MMA results in the last year that led me to this position. The most glaring instance was the matchup between Nam Phan and Leonard Garcia at the Ultimate Fighter 12 finale in December. Phan clearly won the fight, yet somehow lost on a split decision. There have been other results where the unfairness of the ten point system was even more apparent. Joe Warren’s fight with Marco Galvao could easily have gone to Galvao. Diego Sanchez probably should have lost his last bout to Martin Kampmann, and Kampmann was also snubbed of a potential win last October when he lost via decision to Jake Shields.
UFC President Dana White always says to never leave it in the hands of the judges. It is true that the finish makes mixed martial arts more exciting, but why should guys fear the scorecards? The system should work, but it no longer does. Some have suggested changes such as a decimal system or a half point system, but nothing has happened.
I see there being two major problems. The first major problem is the ten point must system itself, which needs to be changed to prevent unnecessary bad decisions and draws. The second major problem is with the judges themselves.
The ten point must system needs to be changed, and no one seems to have the “right” answer. Why not let a council of mixed martial arts professionals decide? I propose starting a council of maybe 1,000 or so individuals, a group of trainers, fighters, writers and executives.
We can call it the MMA World Council, and call a yearly meeting similar to the UFC fighter summit where these informed individuals vote on rule changes to the unified rules of MMA. They could find a better solution to scoring bouts than the ten point must system that mixed martial arts adopted from boxing years ago.
The group of MMA experts and advocates could use democratic principles to propose changes, and vote on those changes. The democratic approach of letting everyone vote is not only fair, but could breed partnership between MMA organizations. Rather than competing against one another, the members could work together to help further the sport as a whole.
The second major problem is with the judges. As it stands, judges are simply not informed well enough on the ins and outs of MMA fighting. The UFC is bringing in monitors for UFC 130 and beyond, but the judge can choose to use them or to ignore them entirely. I think the real problem is that the judges need to know more about MMA, its multi-faceted game and how to decide who is really winning.
Either the existing judges must be better educated about the sport, or the UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator and others must find new judges. These groups need to hire former fighters and referees to judge until the average judges learn that a takedown means nothing when the other guy pops right back up and delivers a punch, or that a guy rushing ahead and getting picked apart shouldn’t be awarded points just for moving forward.
Monitors are a baby step in the right direction, but the sport can’t always hide behind the mantra of “never leave it in the hands of the judges.” At some point we have to start making these people accountable for what they put on their cards, and possibly monitor them to make sure they’re competent enough in MMA to be a judge in the first place. I hope that the use of monitors is the first step of many to improving the ten point must problem that’s currently hurting mixed martial arts all across the board.
“Don’t leave it to the judges,” is an endlessly repeated refrain inside the world of MMA. Those six words have been uttered by everyone from the freshest MMA fan to the UFC’s president Dana White.Often fans that have watched the fight from the comfort …
“Don’t leave it to the judges,” is an endlessly repeated refrain inside the world of MMA. Those six words have been uttered by everyone from the freshest MMA fan to the UFC’s president Dana White.
Often fans that have watched the fight from the comfort of their own homes have slapped their heads in wonder when the judges scorecards were read at the conclusion of a fight.
To paraphrase Bob Dylan, the times may be a-changin’ in MMA, more specifically with the UFC. UFC 131 will be the first UFC event that will allow the judges video monitors. Later this week, the Nevada State Athletic Commission will discuss allowing video monitors at UFC 130.
The judges are currently at a disadvantage to those viewing the fights at home. The judges, get one angle and can often miss the subtle (or not so subtle) nuances the at home viewer can easily see.
If judges are allowed monitors at every MMA event, the following controversial decisions may have turned out different.
If UFC president Dana White has said it once, he’s said it a thousand times: MMA is not a team sport.
It’s a sport that’s all about individual success and failure. It’s about two men locked in a violent struggle for money and status, and there’s not enough of either to go around.
This, of course, is the inexorable logic of the fight promoter, who stands to profit handsomely if he can convince friends, teammates, and training partners to forego all other loyalties and duke it out in the cage. But then, the promoter doesn’t have to actually get in there and knock his best friend unconscious.
As UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub put it, “This isn’t basketball. It’s not like Magic [Johnson] and [Larry] Bird playing each other and being all buddy-buddy. Somebody’s getting fu**ed up.”
If UFC president 
