A quick quote from UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn on his opponent at UFC 84, Sean Sherk.
I know there are a lot of people out there doing steroids, cheating and every time I run into one of them, I’m going to call them on it and then I’m going to beat the shit out of […]
Tag: MMA News
Nogueira & Mir Announced as Ultimate Fighter 8 Coaches
Spike TV announced today its coaches for the 8th season of The Ultimate Fighter season, interim Heavyweight Champion and Former Champion Frank Mir.
While the notoriety of “former title holder” Frank Mir has sounds quite prestigious, it just underlines the sad state of the UFC’s Heavyweight Division. Since his comeback from a near-fatal motorcycle accident, […]
UFC trying to sign Andrei Arlovski
Dana White answers a fan’s question over at Yahoo Sports. Here’s the snip:
We were just talking about Arlovski. We want to sign him. It’s our intention to sign him. But I don’t know. We’re, well, I don’t know. We want to. Whether we will or not, I have no idea. We like Andrei and […]
Gina Carano to be Featured on ESPN's "E:60" Tonight
I don’t have video of that yet, so perhaps this will tide you over in the meantime:
Tim Sylvia is Boring? Not According to This Math
The numbers don’t lie (for the most part):
Two-time UFC champion Tim Sylvia holds the highest knockout percentage among the world’s premier heavyweights. The 32-year-old product of the Miletich Fighting Systems camp has delivered 16 of his 28 career wins (57 percent) by knockout or technical knockout. His percentage is followed by Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (52 percent), Ben Rothwell (50 percent), former UFC titleholder Andrei Arlovski (47 percent), Aleksander Emelianenko (44 percent), UFC Hall-of-Fame Randy Couture (29 percent), Gabriel Gonzaga (27 percent), Fedor Emelianenko (21 percent), Fabricio Werdum (21 percent), Heath Herring (17 percent), Josh Barnett (15 percent) and interim UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (8 percent).
Yes, yes, I know. Sylvia’s become more boring as his career has progressed. I get that. I just thought the data was interesting.
Josh Barnett Offers Advice to Would-Be MMA Promoters
Sounds like spot-on analysis to me:
Affliction is a new organization coming up, and World Victory Road is a relatively new organization. Should new organizations even think about competing with the UFC?
No, they shouldn’t. They can’t operate within a vacuum, because what every promotion does, even to a small extent, is going to affect them, but they can’t worry about competing with UFC.
They have to try and make sure that:
a) They can put together a great product, in a fashion that is going to draw people to watch it and is available for people to watch it.
b) All their i’s are dotted and all their t’s are crossed, and everything is laid out and set up, so that someone like UFC couldn’t come along and try and find some way to throw a wrench into it, hijack it, challenge it by running programming against it or just simply going behind the scenes to whoever and making a few handshakes, and (say), “Hey, make sure this thing doesn’t go off.”
You’ve worked with many promoters in your career. Why is it so hard for new organizations to get traction?
They don’t secure the viewership first and basically they just spend way too much right off the bat.
Of course, you’re going to lose money when you start, but some of these guys, I think they come in not with the understanding of how long it’s going to take them to recoup that investment, and they don’t have a nest egg that’s large enough to hang in there, especially at the level they’re trying to do it at.