Come this Saturday, Jon Jones will be defending his title against Vitor Belfort. Make no mistake about it, Jones is going to beat Belfort just as he has every other former Champion placed in front of him.The question is, what comes next?There’s been a …
Come this Saturday, Jon Jones will be defending his title against VitorBelfort. Make no mistake about it, Jones is going to beat Belfort just as he has every other former Champion placed in front of him.
The question is, what comes next?
There’s been a huge shakeup in the light heavyweight division since Henderson pulled out of UFC 151. It seems like Henderson has lost his title shot because he failed to disclose the injury soon enough.
Machida too looks like he lost his number one contender spot when he refused to fight Jones on short notice.
So who is left to fight Jones for the title? The obvious answer emerges at UFC on Fox 5.
Shogun Rua is facing Alexander Gustafsson in what looks a lot like a number one contender fight. Rua is a former champion and obviously that gives him an edge in getting another shot to reclaim his title. Gustafsson on the other hand is a once-beaten fighter who has been steadily climbing the light heavyweight ranks.
When these two square off, we will have an obvious candidate to take a fight with Jones. If Rua wins, he’ll have amassed a three fight win streak and beaten a top prospect. If Gustafsson wins he’ll have worked his way through increasingly difficult opposition and beaten a former champion. Either man will be an easy sell as a number one contender.
And what about Jones and Machida? Supposedly the two will be fighting before years end. Both men are known to have no objection of taking some time off after their fights.
Given the frequency with which Jones fights, in December we could have two contenders ready for an early- to mid-year fight with the champ.
Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Weidman just pulled a Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on Alan Belcher.At least Weidman pulled something close to a “Shogun” on Belcher; though, to be fair, the records are unlikely to recall any meeting in which UFC president Dana Whi…
Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Weidman just pulled a Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on Alan Belcher.
At least Weidman pulled something close to a “Shogun” on Belcher; though, to be fair, the records are unlikely to recall any meeting in which UFC president Dana White ever offered Belcher to Weidman for UFC 155, despite Belcher asking for a bout with Weidman in November.
Still, Weidmansaid what he felt, and instead of getting put on blast by White for not wanting Belcher, he instead drew Tim Boetsch, who recently defeated Hector Lombard at UFC 149 in a lackluster affair by way of a split decision. Weidman still looks to capitalize on the strength of his UFC on Fuel TV 4 win over Mark Munoz, and Belcher is sidelined with a spinal fracture. Belcher‘s spinal fracture would have taken him out of a UFC 153 fight with VitorBelfort had Belfort not chosen to step up and face UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones at UFC 152.
Was it a wise move by Weidman? After all, Belcher is seen by some as no more than a top-15 middleweight, at best, despite beating RousimarPalhares in May. Meanwhile, Palhares stands as no more than a top-25 middleweight, which begs a question as to how much it meant for Belcher to snap Palhares‘ three-fight win streak.
It meant something to beat the man who many thought had the best chance to submit Anderson Silva, as fighters knew what Palhares looked for in going for the win, and yet few could prevent it from happening. Still, there’s no question that if Weidman thought taking the fight with Boetsch was a better career move than taking on Belcher, he made the right call.
A “Shogun,” as Weidman did pull off, is a step up from an “Anderson.” Remember when Rua got moved from UFC 149 to UFC on Fox 4 and drew Brandon Vera as an opponent, despite the UFC offering Glover Teixeira to Rua? What Weidman did was basically that. Just as Glover was seen as at least higher up in the ranks than Vera, Boetsch stands as a higher-ranked foe than Belcher currently. It may not do any more for Weidman to beat Boetsch than it would for Weidman to beat Belcher, but he’s doing what he needs to do to solidify his status as the only true challenge left for Silva.
If you can fault him for that, good for you. I can’t fault him for it, and I have my reasons why. When all is said and done, it could be a different story, but let’s allow for UFC 155 to play out before we go any further into the matter, because a lot can and likely will change before that event is all said and done.
MMA sponsorship talk seems to be all the rage these days. Fans are beginning to wonder about the business side of MMA and what a fighter can actually make after every fight. With new companies starting up almost every day, it seems like everyone is loo…
MMA sponsorship talk seems to be all the rage these days. Fans are beginning to wonder about the business side of MMA and what a fighter can actually make after every fight. With new companies starting up almost every day, it seems like everyone is looking for a piece of that proverbial MMA fat cash.
While in San Diego, I had the opportunity to speak with the head of one of the most recognizable brands. It was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up as I’ve been interested in learning more about the company for a couple of years now.
With a breakfast burrito slowly digesting, I drove to the Bad Boy offices and sat down to speak with CEO Robin Offner.
The conversation got off to a bit of a slow start. I didn’t want to jump in and show off all my knowledge of the brand and scare him off. Looking back, I doubt he would have flinched. But we discussed the humble beginnings of the brand and how it got started.
“We acquired the brand in 1991 but we started working with the brand in ’88. The way we got into the business was when that ‘surf shore’ craze happened. We had some guys we grew up with who were great marketers and great idea guys. They started a company called Life’s A Beach. Bad Boy was originally a subline under Life’s A Beach,” CEO Robin Offner explained to me. “In ’91 we went our separate ways and we acquired the brand from them and they went off with their offshoot brand called No Fear.”
The brand would get ahead of the MMA boom by connecting with a Brazilian company that had connections to the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community. Whereas MMA only became popular in the United States with the success of the UFC, combat sports had been thriving in Brazil with both Jiu Jitsu competition and Vale Tudo fights.
“We were one of the first brands that became very involved in sponsoring and supporting athletes. It wasn’t just giving them money. It’s helping them in all aspects of their lives and really bringing them into the Bad Boy family.”
Offner would explain, “Where we were formerly a manufacturer, we transitioned to a licensing model, which is what we are now our first licensee was a Brazilian company and we signed that license in 1992. They became the great idea people of the brand. They still are. They got into sponsoring Jiu Jitsu with Rickson Gracie in 1993.”
This connection would lead to Bad Boy sponsoring some very prominent members of the Jiu Jitsu community including Wallid Ismael and Vitor Belfort. It also allowed the company to build up a relationship with Brazilian fighters which ultimately created a brand identity.
At this point in the conversation, Offner changed the subject from MMA history to their involvement in other sports. I expected him to discuss surfing or skateboarding or maybe even football, I mean they did just sign DeMarco Murray. Instead, he brings up the 1994 baseball strike.
“What we did in 1994 when the baseball players went on strike, we made t-shirts that said ‘Bad Boy on Strike’ and we had the Bad Boy logo on it and we sent that t-shirt to every single baseball player. So when they went on strike that first morning, they all put on that t-shirt and it was on the cover of USA Today.”
It’s an interesting story that sets the tone for the rest of the interview.
His openness discussing their business model and what they look for when signing fighters emboldens me to ask what they will do in a world without Demian Maia and Shogun Rua—the two elder statesmen of the roster.
Without missing a beat, Offner explains that over a year and a half ago they came up with a strategy to identify and sign one American, one European, and one Brazilian fighter. The criteria were that they had to be young up and coming fighters with long-term viability.
Those fighters would end up being Chris Weidman, Alex Gustafsson, and Erick Silva. The way he speaks about them is almost like a father being proud of his children. It becomes very apparent that Offner really does view the brand as a family.
It sounds a cliché and if I wasn’t speaking with the man himself, I’d almost believe he was paying me lip service. However, Offner explained how the brand landed both Alex Gustafsson and Chris Weidman. Both cases to me seemed to be a bit non-traditional.
“When we were going to sponsor Chris and we had been talking, he flew out here and spent some time with us. We clicked. We felt good about him. We didn’t have a signed contract with him and we had been negotiating with his former manager. So it went back and forth but we had an understanding that we would have a long term deal.”
He added, “So then his new manager called me up and said ‘I wanna pick it up where you left off’. I was in Brazil and was really busy and I got a call from him saying that (Chris) was on the Fox card against Demian. His manager tells me ‘he’s fighting in 10 days and we don’t have a deal done’. Despite the fact that Chris was getting huge offers, he did the fight with us without a contract, without squeezing an extra nickel out of us.”
For a company to go into a major event without a contract shows trust in the fighters and managers that they deal with on a day to day basis. And as unbelievable as the signing of Chris Weidman sounded, Offner’s signing of Gustafsson was incredibly similar.
“We have a great relationship with a gym here in San Diego called Alliance and Eric Del Fierro. If one of his fighters has an issue or they want legal advice or they just want life advice, he’ll bring them to me and I’ll talk to them. Or if they have a legal question or something like that. We just have a really great relationship.”
He continued, “So Eric called me and said, ‘Robin, I want you to sponsor this kid named Alex Gustafsson.’ And I said ‘Eric, I don’t know him. I don’t sponsor people I don’t know.’ Eric said, ‘he’s fighting in five days and I need you to trust me.’ He’s never said that to me before. I said, ‘alright, I can’t give him a lot of money but if he does well and ends up on TV we’ll sit down and explore a contract.’ So he comes in and he’s the greatest kid in the world. He’s one of those special nice and humble people.”
The story continued that Offner was so impressed with Gustafsson as a person that they agreed to terms almost immediately. It’s how they do business. If you are a good person, they are willing to look past wins and losses.
With the interview winding down, I wanted to really get one last great story out of Offner. When given the opportunity to speak with the head of such a big company, you have to use your time wisely so I wanted to know what he thought about the UFC sponsorship tax.
The tax caught many in MMA off guard and angered many executives in the process. Here was a massive company asking for the little guy to pay for the opportunity to sponsor fighters. Offner, however, holds no ill will towards Zuffa. In fact, it almost seemed like he agreed with the policy.
“I heard companies complain about that and I think that’s crazy. Maybe this is one of the reason we get along well but the Fertittas and Dana White put up tens of millions of dollars creating this platform that we get to slide in on. We get to jump on their backs and ride in their wagon for free. That’s not fair for them though it’s great for us. The amount of money that they want to charge for a tax is minimal compared to what we get out of it.”
“The UFC created this for us and anyone who will be critical of the UFC for wanting to charge a fee is a taker and is crazy. We owe it to them. Every one of these brands wouldn’t be where they are without the UFC. These other newer brands wouldn’t be anything without the UFC. We all owe the UFC. We should recognize and acknowledge that.”
With the interview over I walked away knowing that I was given a rare opportunity to learn a bit more about the business side of MMA. Robin constantly brought up the Bad Boy family and after returning back to my hotel, I felt like I was a part of that, if only for that one day.
Despite two-time UFC middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen’s well-documented feud with Brazilian fighters, “The American Gangster” will be rooting for Vitor Belfort when he faces Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 152. “Vito…
Despite two-time UFC middleweight title challenger ChaelSonnen‘s well-documented feud with Brazilian fighters, “The American Gangster” will be rooting for VitorBelfort when he faces Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title at UFC 152.
“Vitor’s an excellent fighter,” Sonnen told MMA Junkie. “It’s world champion after world champion that he fights, and this isn’t any different. It’s a good chance for Vitor, and I hope he seizes the moment.”
Sonnen has been anything but complimentary of Belfort in the past, calling him a “chicken and a liar” when he withdrew from the UFC 147 main event against Wanderlei Silva due to a broken hand.
The former two-time All-American collegiate wrestler was offered a fight with Jones after Dan Henderson was forced out of his UFC 151 title fight just nine days before the fight, but “Bones” declined a bout with Sonnen and the event was ultimately cancelled.
“The Phenom,” who hasn’t fought at light heavyweight for nearly five years, got the nod for a championship fight after LyotoMachida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua both turned down a rematch with Jones on short notice.
Sonnen made it clear he holds no hard feelings against Belfort or the UFC for the way the situation played out, but he is still critical of Jones for turning down a fight with him.
“We’re used to being attacked by competition,” he said. “We welcome it. We’re used to being attacked by the states because it’s an opportunity to go in and educate them. But what we’re not used to is being attacked from within. We’re not used to having one of our own set off a grenade and walk away laughing and never look back. It was really kind of an unbelievable experience from where I stand.”
Initially, it seemed as though Sonnen‘s scheduled return to the light heavyweight division against Forrest Griffin at UFC 155, scheduled for Dec. 29, would remain intact.
However, Sonnen indicated that may not be the case. “There’s going to be some news coming out on me soon. We’ll see how things play out. Stay tuned.”
Sonnen‘s fight with Griffin would have been a rematch from Sept. 2003, where Griffin won via first-round triangle choke.
Should that fight be off the table, a matchup with Machida could be a real possibility given the legitimate bad blood between the two fighters.
Title implications in the light heavyweight division will be felt at the next UFC on Fox, when former champion Mauricio Rua meets up with hot, up-and-coming Swede Alexander Gustafsson on the main card.Each man has a chance to be in the title picture. R…
Title implications in the light heavyweight division will be felt at the next UFC on Fox, when former champion Mauricio Rua meets up with hot, up-and-coming Swede Alexander Gustafsson on the main card.
Each man has a chance to be in the title picture. Rua, who won his last fight in the last UFC on Fox headliner against Brandon Vera, is one of the top fighters at 205 pounds and has a chance to get the title shot with a win.
Gustafsson, who has looked stellar as of late, is on a solid winning streak as of right now. He may be a win or two away from a title shot.
Here is a head-to-toe breakdown of this important matchup.
This past week was interesting, shall we say, for fans and fighters alike. We saw UFC 151 disappear before our very eyes, and in the fallout, we ended up with a new main event at UFC 152.Ah, if only things would have been that simple. Things began to g…
This past week was interesting, shall we say, for fans and fighters alike. We saw UFC 151 disappear before our very eyes, and in the fallout, we ended up with a new main event at UFC 152.
Ah, if only things would have been that simple.
Things began to get interesting on Wednesday night, when rumors started to swirl that Dan Henderson had been injured and forced to withdraw from his UFC 151 bout against UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. Those rumors turned to reality when UFC President Dana White held an impromptu media call on Thursday afternoon.
During the call, White detailed that Henderson was indeed out of the bout and that Chael Sonnen had offered to step in to face Jones. However, much to the chagrin of the UFC boss, Jones had turned down the fight with Sonnen. And as a result, the promotion was taking the unprecedented step of canceling the entire fight card.
White then said that Jones’ next title defense would take place on September 22 and that he would face Lyoto Machida in the main event of UFC 152.
It was somewhat of a surprise to later learn that Machida turned down the fight and had been replaced by Vitor Belfort.
As of now, that’s where we stand: Jones versus Belfort for the UFC light heavyweight title on September 22. However, if you thought that the drama was over, you’d be wrong. Before Belfort accepted the fight, former light heavyweight champion Mauricio Rua had been offered the fight and turned it down.
For Rua, a rematch with Jones would have been a chance for him to regain the title he lost to Jones on March 19, 2011. But the rematch never came to fruition. Julio Heller, Rua’s manager, explains why (via Luca Gomes of Tatame):
We were in Sao Paulo and my phone rang about midnight. It was Lorenzo’s (Lorenzo Fertitta is a partner in the UFC). Lorenzo was on another call, so I talked to him like half hour later. He offered me a rematch against Jon Jones because Lyoto had declined it and asked me to give him an answer in ten minutes. I hung up and Mauricio was there with me. We talked and called Dida in Curitiba and we got to a conclusion we should accept the rematch, but only if Shogun had a couple of months to train and it would mean a fight later in October or in November. I said that to Lorenzo but he said there was no time because Jon Jones’s fight is on September 22nd. Unfortunately, he couldn’t give us this time but he understood.
Rua is currently booked to fight Alexander Gustafsson on December 8 in the UFC on Fox 5 fight card. With that in mind, Rua is most likely not in the middle of a full-fledged fight camp. And the turnaround time between September 22 and his last fight—an August 4 fourth-round TKO victory over Brandon Vera—would have left him not fully prepared to face Jones.
Let’s not forget that Rua is still under the 30-day no contact medical suspension from that August 4 fight.
It’s been a busy few days for the UFC. Hopefully it can put the fiasco of UFC 151 in the rear-view mirror and start looking toward the final few months of 2012.
Come this Saturday, Jon Jones will be defending his title against Vitor Belfort. Make no mistake about it, Jones is going to beat Belfort just as he has every other former Champion placed in front of him.