The UFC is closing out its 2014 in Brazil with UFC Fight Night 58. Live on Saturday, the card boasts a main event with a former UFC champion and a rising middleweight contender.
Former light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida throws down with CB Dollaway …
The UFC is closing out its 2014 in Brazil with UFC Fight Night 58. Live on Saturday, the card boasts a main event with a former UFC champion and a rising middleweight contender.
Former light heavyweight champ LyotoMachida throws down with CB Dollaway in the main event, while former bantamweight champ RenanBarao meets Mitch Gagnon in the co-main event. Those two fights head up an interesting card, and before that we have some intriguing prelims.
Last weekend featured a doubleheader, and despite a strong showing at The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale, I went just .500 withUFC on Fox 13. I look to close out the year with a strong showing in order to raise my winning percentage.
Without further ado, here are the preliminary card predictions for UFC Fight Night 58.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White has already assured in an interview with ESPN that CM Punk, the iconoclast former WWE Champion turned UFC hopeful, will be pitted against competitors who share the same level of mixed martial ar…
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) president Dana White has already assured in an interview with ESPN that CM Punk, the iconoclast former WWE Champion turned UFC hopeful, will be pitted against competitors who share the same level of mixed martial arts experience.
When Punk first enters the cage in 2015, however, he will bring far more to the Octagon than just that.
Round One
The Chicago native began his fighting career as a backyard wrestler, putting on popular shows with his brother and teenage friends. He recounted in the WWE Home Video documentary, CM Punk: Best in the World, how he alienated those friends when he decided to take the craft seriously and train professionally.
For the next 15 years, Punk proved to be the consummate professional, gaining a loyal following who appreciated his work ethic and characterizations in a legacy of matches throughout Ring of Honor and into WWE.
It was not until the seminal “pipe bomb promo” in June 2011—where WWE producers gave Punk, whose contract was soon to expire, a live mic on a live broadcast and told him to air his grievances—that Punk finally skyrocketed from a reliable, entertaining WWE Superstar and into the rare stardom enjoyed by the likes of Gorgeous George, his protege Muhammad Ali or more recent standouts such as Rowdy Roddy Piper, all whose talents and appeal transcended the confines of a ring.
Round Two
Punk quietly walked away from WWE and a rabid fanbase in January 2014. When he finally decided to explain why in November 2014 on the Art of Wrestling podcast of his friend and fellow professional wrestler Colt Cabana, it was a “break the Internet” moment that forced Cabana to release the interview on multiple platforms so the numerous listeners could access the audio without it crashing. Punk’s fanbase was alive and well, it seemed, and fans even continue to chant his name during WWE events, despite the fact all parties know he will not be returning to perform.
Punk capitalized on the buzz with a promised second interview on Cabana’s show, where he fielded questions from fans, and then again, weeks later, officially announcing via UFC’s social media that he had signed with the promotion to fight in 2015.
Round Three
As Punk transitions from four posts to eight, will his considerable professional wrestling experience be a help or a hindrance?
Heavyweights Brock Lesnar, Ken Shamrock, Bobby Lashley and Dave Bautista (Batista) have all successfully transitioned between the two sports. Though Punk will be the first two-sport athlete in the middleweight class, precedent is on his side.
Even though Punk is arriving in the Octagon as an MMA novice, he brings three key advantages over his similarly experienced opponents that could, at least in the early stage of his UFC career, give him a decided advantage:
Cardio
Professional wrestlers have the most grueling schedule in all of sports and entertainment. They are on the road most of the year in an endless tour with no offseason, picking up their exercise regimens when they can in whatever local or hotel gym is available. To survive in this environment, cardio is key.
Hall of Famer Bret Hart briefly detailed the grind in his autobiography, Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling:
I was dog tired. I’d been working hard to build up my cardio, and the three matches I’d wrestled the night before could only help, as long as I didn’t get too beat up. Early that morning, I’d worked out at a local gym and was amazed to see Ric Flair blazing a trail on the StairMaster next to me, despite being hungover from his usual night of hard drinking. Flair was easily one of the fittest wrestlers I have ever seen. As he sweated out his poisons, he didn’t show any sign of slowing down.
Punk has spent his entire adult life in this conditioning, ready to work a 10-minute match on television one night, then a 25-minute at a house show the next, then a 40-minute pay-per-view match to end the week before being ready for TV again the next night.
Even if Punk displays ring rust in his first UFC match, three-minute rounds with weeks upon weeks solely dedicated to focus on a single match and training is a luxury Punk’s body is not accustomed to, which means he is going to enter the cage rested, healed and ready for a fight.
Professional Poise
Unlike his opponents, Punk has big-match experience that many of the top UFC fighters cannot even claim. He has performed multiple times in front of crowds 70,000 fans deep, and millions more watching on television worldwide, at his industry’s premiere event, WrestleMania. Part of his training, and part of the skill set he has developed, is to know when to engage an audience and when and how to tune them out.
Cutting promos and talking with the media are second nature to this seasoned performer, and his ego has been in the public spotlight long enough to know how to handle the pitfalls of both media scrutiny and praise.
Whatever butterflies or anxiety Punk might feel before his first UFC match, the oppressive media spotlight is just another day at the office.
Candor
As reported by ESPN, Punk expressed his excitement in pursuing his UFC dream and concluded by saying, “I’m either here to win or get my ass kicked.”
In the Punk documentary WWE produced and distributed, Punk acknowledge ripping up scripts WWE writers would hand him because they were not up to the professional standards he was trying to achieve. Needless to say, this is not a man who is shy about sharing his opinions.
If Punk is willing to tell reporters, “I’m either here to win or get my ass kicked,” one can only imagine the conversations he is having with his trainers. These are not the words of a braggadocio screaming he will tear down the temple walls.
Punk’s wrestling persona boasted he was the best in the world, but he had spent 12 years earning the right to say it. His name appears multiple times on WWE best matches of the year DVDs for a reason.
UFC Punk is at year zero, but the dedication and the professional pride and drive remain intact. He will assess his strengths and weaknesses to the uncompromising standard he holds himself to, and he will formulate his game plan accordingly.
Ring the Bell
Punk has spent the past 15 years “getting his ass kicked” by the grueling gauntlet of the professional wrestling circuit, becoming a success doing what he loved and leaving on his own terms.
UFC is a different animal than WWE, but Punk is the same animal who has found a new love. The physical rigors that conditioned him for a life in the ring only bolster what he needs to bring to the Octagon, and the mental toughness that carried him through unfathomable highs and lows will fortify the rest.
Wacky things can happen in the lower levels of any sport. From flea flickers in high school football to bouncing-puck goals in junior league hockey, extra heaps of fun (be it through novelty or schadenfreude) can often be had when looking to the amateu…
Wacky things can happen in the lower levels of any sport. From flea flickers in high school football to bouncing-puck goals in junior league hockey, extra heaps of fun (be it through novelty or schadenfreude) can often be had when looking to the amateurs.
MMA is no different, and absurd things, whether funny, silly or scary, can be found when one looks past the bright lights of the UFC and into the dim barns, rec centers and converted basketball courts of the regional circuit.
From unusual submissions to sloppy striking, from creativity gone awry to one-of-a-kind finishes and from bad fighters to bad promoters, every reaction from “holy crap” to “What was he thinking?” can be heard at any given event. Well, with 2014 coming to a close, it is worth taking a look back over the last 12 months and finding some of the best (and the worst) moments of the regional, amateur and international circuits.
Some of them will make you shake your head at the silliness. Some of them will warm your heart. Some of them will make you crane your neck or recoil in your seat in an attempt to fathom what happened.
So what were these moments? Click on and find out!
There is an art to matchmaking in combat sports.
While some fights come together with natural ease, most bouts are formed through a hectic process of evaluation. Several aspects need to be graded on each side of the table before committing to the match…
There is an art to matchmaking in combat sports.
While some fights come together with natural ease, most bouts are formed through a hectic process of evaluation. Several aspects need to be graded on each side of the table before committing to the matchup.
Whether or not a fight makes sense in the divisional scheme, timing and making sure both fighters stand to gain similar rewards are the most pressing issues that come to mind. Then, of course, there is the most important aspect of a potential fight: Will both competitors be willing to mix it up and put on a show?
The unfortunate part of the process comes when all of these criteria are met, and the fight fails to deliver. That said, the UFC showcases far more exciting tilts than flat fights these days, which goes to show just how good Joe Silva and Sean Shelby are at their jobs.
2014 was certainly one of those strange years for the UFC. While there were high-profile tilts, championship scraps and toe-to-toe tussles for the ages, there were plenty of down moments as well. Several big fights fell through, and a small collection of champions spent more time on the sidelines than they did in the prime time in 2014. While ticket sales and pay-per-view numbers hinge on the biggest names showing up to do their things, the bigger issue at hand is the lack of divisional movement.
With a champion out, a contender cannot climb correctly. This leads to backups, logjams and all kinds of unnecessary business at the top weight classes that have become increasingly more competitive. And while there appears to be hope for an entire host of champions getting back to work in the coming year, we here at B/R MMA prefer to focus this column on the fights just below the title tier. The ones that keep the things rolling.
Every month we propose three potential fights that we believe would keep divisional pictures firing on all cylinders. Here are the most recent selections for “UFC Fantasy Matchmaker.”
Anytime the big boys are inside the Octagon throwing leather it’s going to draw eyes, but a potential bout between Alistair Overeem and Matt Mitrione holds a tremendous amount of upside with very little downturn on the line. Pairing up “The Reem” vs. “Meat” could be the next big fight in the heavyweight fold, and there are more than a few reasons why it needs to happen.
When a fighter carries a large amount of name recognition the way Overeem does, the promotion they compete for has only a few ways to use them. They can either be on the hunt for the title, which has been attempted and failed twice in the Dutchman’s case, or they can fend off the elite level of the divisional ranks for the up-and-coming hungry bucks of the heavyweight fold.
While the former Strikeforce champion failed in his previous attempt to do this against Travis Browne, the “Demolition Man” was ultimately successful in his most recent showing against Stefan Struve. It took the muscle-heavy striker less than one round to leave “The Skyscraper” dazed and staring up at the arena lights, which gave him his second win in his past three showings.
And while that is solid progress for most heavyweights, for one who was figured to be as dominant as Overeem was assumed to be fresh out of the gates, it is going to take a few more solid wins over dangerous opponents to get himself back into the title conversation.
That said, a bout with Overeem would be a huge opportunity for Mitrione. The former NFL player turned mixed martial artist has been honing his craft on the sport’s biggest stage since being a cast member on Season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter. The former Purdue University football standout came onto the reality-based fighting program with zero professional fights and has notched 12 in the five years since.
Furthermore, while Mitrione has admitted he was given an easy entry into the UFC for his first couple of fights, his past seven have come against legitimate competition.
Over this stretch, Mitrione has matured before the very eyes of the UFC fanbase and is shaping up to be quite a fighter by all measurable standards. His knockout power has always been on point and is only getting more dangerous as he picks up hand speed, and his ever-improving footwork is making it difficult for the competition to stay up with him as was on display in his win over Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC on Fox 13 in Phoenix. Mitrione was simply too fast and too powerful for “Napao” to handle, and the results produced themselves in brutal fashion.
Futhermore, both Overeem and Mitrione picked up victories on the same card. Neither took any type of damage and would be on a similar timeline. Then when you sprinkle in the rumored bitterness and animosity between Overeem and his former Blackzilians teammates—the squad Mitrione represents—the makings for a solid build up are all right there.
Sources close to the fighters say there is no love lost on at least one side of this particular equation, and these things add up to something the heavyweight division needs.
If Overeem is going to get back into title contention, make him prove he’s found his groove by knocking off a rock-solid Mitrione. That said, if the TUFalum is ready to parlay his three-fight winning streak into the elite level of the division, the former K-1 champion is the ticket. It’s a fight that’s just that easy to make, and it will be interesting to see if it’s the route in which the UFC decides to travel.
Gilbert Melendez vs. Bobby Green
If you’ve read this column before (or any column I have written in the past three years) then you’ve surely been made aware of just how talented the UFC lightweight division is. The 155-pound fold is as stacked as they come under the promotional banner, with a dominant and exciting champion to go along with a collection of worthy title contenders. These elements combine to make it one of the best divisions in the UFC, and there are no signs of this changing anytime soon.
While Anthony Pettis will most likely face Rafael dos Anjos with the winner facing KhabibNurmagomedov in their following bout, this leaves a batch of past contenders and title challengers in a space where they are going to have to scrap it out in order to keep their places on the divisional hierarchy. With Benson Henderson vs. Eddie Alvarez and Donald Cerrone vs. Myles Jury already booked, the next fight to make in this mix would be Gilbert Melendez vs. Bobby Green.
Since coming over from Strikeforce in 2013, “El Nino” has been close to getting his hands on UFC gold. While his first attempt was a much closer affair that ended in a split-decision loss to champion Benson Henderson at UFC on Fox 7 in his official promotional debut, he didn’t get nearly as close in his most recent attempt against striking phenom Anthony Pettis at UFC 181 earlier in the month.
That said, Melendez fought his signature gritty, in-your-face brand of fight, and he gave the talented young champion fits for the first seven minutes of the fight. Still, the “Skrap Pack” leader was dazed by a short counter shot attempting to close distance against the cage, then fell victim to a Pettis guillotine as he attempted a desperate takedown attempt.
And while his second setback in a UFC title fight was undoubtedly disappointing for the longstanding 155-pound standout, he’s far from being out of the mix for good in the lightweight fold. He’s going to need to jump right back into the cage to start making up the ground he lost, and Green would make for an excellent opponent against whom to do just that.
Much like Melendez, “King” is not only a transplant from the now-defunct Strikeforce roster, but a fighter who wasted zero time earning his respect under the UFC banner. The scrappy lightweight brought a four-fight winning streak into his UFC debut and then bolstered those numbers by adding four more straight wins to his resume all coming over tough competition.
Still, on the same night when Melendez was halted by Pettis, the California native had his momentum stunted by rangy striker EdsonBarboza. It was a solid fight in which Green did his best to hang with the Team Renzo Gracie fighter’s rapid-fire offense, but in the end he was toppled via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards.
With Green battling so hard to get up to the top level of the lightweight division, it’s doubtful he’ll be looking to slide too far down and that’s why a potential bout with Melendez makes sense. That, and with everyone else ranked above them currently tied up or injured, a showdown between two fighters who always bring action-packed, fan-friendly tilts would be an easy make.
Granted, there is potentially a roadblock with Green having trained with the Diaz brothers for his most recent bout, but both of these fighters are professionals. The pairing would potentially be barn-burner between two fighters who are looking to claw their way back to the top of the division, and that has all the makings for some good action inside the Octagon.
Jessica Penne vs. Tecia Torres
The latest installment of The Ultimate Fighter may still be fresh in the brains of fight fans, but that doesn’t mean there is any reason to take their foot off the proverbial gas pedal when it comes to working the women’s strawweight action into the regular divisional chaos of the UFC’s event schedule.
Granted, it may take a bit for the organization to determine who will get the chance to face newly crowned champion Carla Esparza in her first official title defense, but there’s no reason not to throw a batch of potential future contenders right back into the mix.
Although Tecia Torres’ season didn’t go remotely as planned, with “The Tiny Tornado” losing in the first round then again later on in the tournament when she was brought back, the fiery bomber had an excellent showing against Angela Magana at the TUF20 finale to pick up her first official UFC victory. In the fight with her TUF housemate, Torres’ signature pressure was on point, and she fought relentlessly to pick up the win against an opponent who had zero answers for what she was throwing in her direction.
Still, while Torres looked solid at the finale, the best scrap of the night was easily the one that went down between Jessica Penne and Randa Markos. The Orange County representative and the savvy Canadian went all-out for 15 minutes as they spent the entirety of the three-round affair mixing it up in intense grappling exchanges and slick transitions. When the final bell sounded, Penne had her hand raised, and she not only picked up her first official victory as a UFC fighter, but her first official win competing at 115 pounds.
Penne vacated her atomweight strap (105 pounds) to compete in the 20th domestic installment of the reality-based fighting program, and with each showing, she became increasingly more comfortable fighting up in weight. UFC President Dana White hasn’t made clear how many of the competitors from this most recent season are going to have a permanent home under the UFC banner, but there is no doubt that both Penne and Torres have their respective roster spots on lock.
When their dynamic styles and the possibility of future title contention are factored in, booking Penne vs. Torres would be a surefire hit for one of the early cards in 2015.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
You can tell a given point in time is momentous when a simple date won’t suffice.
When you bring exact times into it, you’re probably in red-letter territory. It thus felt appropriate that when legal reps for three elite MMA fighters announced they had…
You can tell a given point in time is momentous when a simple date won’t suffice.
When you bring exact times into it, you’re probably in red-letter territory. It thus felt appropriate that when legal reps for three elite MMA fighters announced they had officially filed suit against the UFC in a case that could change MMA forever, they added the hour and minute: 12:45 p.m., Tuesday, December 16.
It felt like a line in the sand, and that’s exactly what it is.
Brought by UFC middleweight Cung Le, former UFC title challenger and current World Series of Fighting welterweight Jon Fitch and retired UFC middleweight Nate Quarry, the suit was formally announced Tuesday afternoon in a news conference and media call in which Bleacher Report participated.
The plaintiffs are seeking as-of-yet-unspecified damages (though it may reportedly reach nine figures, according to Brent Brookhouse and John S. Nash of Bloody Elbow). Along with Fitch, Le and Quarry, other plaintiffs, including fighters, can and just might sign on down the line, attorneys said. Packing both MMA star power and legal firepower, the plaintiffs appear to have assembled a formidable challenge to the UFC status quo.
Before we go any further, let’s make the statement that should be obvious but isn’t in this world where everyone is a technical expert: No one knows how this will play out. Not even Internet writers and article commenters.
However, there is one firm statement that can be comfortably made: Over the coming months or years, the UFC is going to find itself in a protracted fight, one it won’t be able to tamp down with the bluster and strong-arm tactics that have characterized many of its other public confrontations. For that reason alone, this case is virtually unprecedented.
But back to the case for a moment. The complaint document, which you can read in its entirety here, summarizes the lawsuit clearly:
The UFC has engaged in an illegal scheme to eliminate competition from would-be rival MMA Promoters by systematically preventing them from gaining access to resources critical to successful MMA Promotions, including by imposing extreme restrictions on UFC Fighters’ ability to fight for would-be rivals during and after their tenure with the UFC. As part of the scheme, the UFC not only controls Fighters’ careers, but also takes and expropriates the rights to their names and likenesses in perpetuity. As a result of this scheme, UFC Fighters are paid a fraction of what they would earn in a competitive marketplace.
In general terms, the suit alleges, among other, more granular accusations, that the UFC and parent company Zuffa underpays its fighters, suppresses competition by buying and dismantling other promotions (Pride and Strikeforce, for example) and controls the way fighters use their own names and likenesses in products like video games.
These accusations are nothing new. What’s new is that a group of attorneys are now claiming they can prove these business practices break the law, most notably the Sherman Act, which provides the framework for U.S. antitrust rules.
Over the years, Zuffa leaders, especially UFC President Dana White, haven’t exactly kept their strategy under wraps.
“There is no competition,” White told MMAjunkie.com in 2010 in an interview quoted by the complaint. “We’re the NFL. You don’t see people looking at the NFL and going, ‘Yeah, but he’s not the best player in the world because there’s a guy playing for the Canadian Football League or the Arena League over here.’ We’re the NFL. There is no other guy.”
That’s exactly the kind of mentality that plaintiffs are out to exploit. Sports leagues like the NFL, the suit states, typically include a group of teams that compete against one another for athletes, with none centrally controlling league operations.
Contrasted with that model, does the UFC constitute an illegal monopoly? Should other promotions like Bellator and WSOF be considered legitimate competitors to the UFC, or are they clear “minor leagues”? That’s what this lawsuit will ultimately decide.
“Today, there is only one real promotional option for elite MMA: the UFC,” said Joseph Saveri, the plaintiffs’ co-counsel and lead attorney for the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, during Tuesday’s news conference. “The purpose is to right this wrong, change the status quo and restore healthy competition.”
Credit where it’s due: Le, Fitch and Quarry know how to lawyer up. They’ve hired some very heavy hitters in the world of antitrust and class-action litigation. Saveri and his firm recently won a big antitrust ruling against Silicon Valley giants like Apple and Intel. Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll have won major decisions over the likes of Dow Chemical. It’s fair to conclude that the plaintiffs aren’t cutting corners in the deployment of legal resources for this case.
In its response to the suit, the UFC did not back down one iota, noting in an unattributed statement published online that it “will vigorously defend itself and its business practices.”
That reaction is decidedly unsurprising. Throughout its existence, Zuffa has shown a pluck and ready willingness to defend itself—and attack its opponents—that dovetails perfectly with the confrontational product it peddles. Problem is, those confrontations are usually in the UFC’s own sandbox and against opponents who are, for various reasons, not in the best position to fight back.
This time is different.
What is surprising this time is all that legal muscle the plaintiffs are deploying in their attempt to force the UFC to change the way it operates. Will it work? Nobody knows. But the UFC isn’t going to be able to talk, spend or saber-rattle its way out of this one. The UFC is going into the deep waters this time with someone that might be closer to its own size. For Zuffa and the UFC, that’s a big landmark.
Scott Harris writes about MMA for Bleacher Report. For more, follow Scott on Twitter. MMA lead writer Jonathan Snowden contributed to this article. All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
The moment the signing of Phillip Brooks (CM Punk) was announced, I suddenly had a new appreciation for Conor McGregor.
I might not have agreed that he should get the next shot at Jose Aldo, but at least he has a true MMA background and is a proven com…
The moment the signing of Phillip Brooks (CM Punk) was announced, I suddenly had a new appreciation for ConorMcGregor.
I might not have agreed that he should get the next shot at Jose Aldo, but at least he has a true MMA background and is a proven competitor.
I have nothing against Brooks for wanting to test himself in real competition. In fact, I find that highly admirable. If any rancor about his signing exists, it should be leveled at the UFC decision-makers, not Brooks.
We all get why Brooks was signed. There have always been two aspects of how the UFC machine runs and makes decisions: for the entertainment dollar or for the sports dollar.
The signing of Brooks was clearly meant to grab the former, and to be honest, it probably won’t be the last time the UFC tries to cash in on such a public character.
And make no mistake about it, the man that is Brooks will be fighting in the Octagon, but it will be CM Punk the character that Zuffa hopes will pull in the big pay-per-view numbers.
Yes, he’s going to be making a lot of money putting his health and his WWE persona on the line, but no one has any right to tell a man how to make his money, as long as it is done legally.
In fact, if there is any sport where a man should be looking to make as much money as possible, it’s the combative sports, period.
Brooks will get his day in the cage and with that the most naked reckoning of a man’s character available. If he rises to the occasion or ends up crushed, that is the question that Zuffa hopes you find compelling enough to pay to see answered.
And that is fine, because Brooks’ fight will be honest, even if it is against a rank amateur.
But it is only fine for so long as the UFC remembers that borrowing from the WWE cast list isn’t speaking to the bona fide worth of real competition, but the novelty of juxtaposition.
CM Punk is a character, and any fan of MMA knows that characters sell because they attract attention. McGregor is a character of sorts, but his inner core is utterly real. The same was true of ChaelSonnen.
It is now a matter of what the UFC does, as a legitimate sport, with all the attention that Brooks should bring to the table, that needs to be considered.
There are some excellent fights waiting to be made out there, and those fights are worth every ounce of energy the UFC can muster as a fight promotion. It’s easy to forget that part of its job is to promote the fighters already seated at its table; it seems more interested in promoting its own brand than the fighters that enable it.
This has been done for many reasons, chief among them seeming to be the fact that it has never wanted fighters to get so big that they might turn down the fights that matter.
But with the UFC growing so large and looking to expand even further, the purchase of Brooks looks a bit short-sighted if only because it seems like it would rather buy us fast food than cook us a meal at home.
And it’s got some quality ingredients in its cupboards, just waiting to be thrown together on the oven.
That is the thing the UFC cannot allow to happen, because it is within its own stores that it will find the fights that matter, not raiding the pantries of the WWE.
It would be wonderful to see the UFC take a serious interest in getting back to the business of promoting its fighters. It’s been all about the UFC as a brand, thinking that where the brand is served, then so too are the fighters, by proxy.
While making sense in theory, this has seen the idea of character forsaken for characters, salesmanship lauded above performance. Nowadays, it seems of equal importance how a fighter can market and sell himself, how much drama he can generate, in addition to how well he can fight.
And if a fighter is lacking in the field of salesmanship, odds are he’s not going to be getting the financial rewards one would think he’s due, no matter how dominant he is in the cage.
That is where it seems the wheels have come off the machine. Throwing seeds to the soil is not enough to see them grow; it requires energy and attention beyond what they can glean themselves by simply being left alone to the environment.
That is the art of fight promotion: selling the fights that matter when the fighters are not up to the task of doing anything else other than fighting.
As if that wasn’t hard enough in a sport of such change and demand.
Not every fighter out there can wear many hats with such grace and joy. That is why the Sonnens and the McGregors grab so much attention; they are the exception, not the norm.
It’s why fighters fight and promoters promote; one is strong where the other is weak and vice versa. Together, the idea is that they provide a whole package to the consumer of such sport, to the delight of all involved on either side of the dollar.
And in the case of the UFC, it has always been its strongest argument that it can deliver what others cannot: the fights that matter.
It has proved incredibly capable of implementing whatever changes it feels are needed in order to get what it wants, which is very important.
But why hasn’t it found a way to get Ronda Rousey and Cris “Cyborg” Justino in the Octagon? One has to believe that if it really wanted to get that deal done, it would have been able to make it happen.
Obviously, there is the weight issue, but that only holds so much water when you have a fighter like Rousey, who has said that if asked by Dana White, she would face Cyborg under any circumstances.
So why hasn’t he asked?
Clearly, she’d be very well compensated (much more so than Cyborg) in either victory or defeat. As far as there being no division available for Cyborg, well, White created WMMA in the UFC for Rousey; the creation of another division for the greatest fight currently available to WMMA would show the cause is bigger than any one name.
Rousey by herself has been great for the UFC, but a great fighter alone is a picture incomplete. But to see her in a fight with her greatest rival? That will see both women elevated far beyond anything known now and in turn will be great for WMMA, both in and outside the UFC.
There are other fights as well, just waiting to be realized before time erodes their value.
One such fight that springs to mind is Jose Aldo and Anthony Pettis. Even with injuries and all the other obstacles that have been thrown up, it seems the UFC would be using all the energy and considerable resources it enjoys to keep the people talking about it and get the fighters themselves invested in it.
Aldo vs. Pettis is a “Superfight” the likes of Marco Antonio Barrera vs. Erik Morales; two striking machines going toe-to-toe, while still in their primes. Just thinking about such a bout is the closest thing to Christmas-wish fulfillment the UFC could give us since Georges St. Pierre faced BJ Penn the second time at UFC 94.
None of this is to say that the UFC hasn’t given us some excellent fights, or that it won’t in the near future. Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier and Anderson Silva vs. Nick Diaz are going to be excellent fights that serve the fans because they serve the interest of the sport.
And while some big fights happen organically, the UFC should be doing anything and everything it can to make the other fights a reality, no matter how hard to promote.
Let’s face it, Jose Aldo isn’t the kind of man who’s going to inflame fans with provocative language; he’s a fighter, not an orator. To help sell a fight with Anthony Pettis for its full market value, he’s going to need a lot of help, and the UFC should be happy to give it to him, free of charge.
Because the fights that matter are worth it, and their value cannot be eclipsed by any obvious and forgivable sleight of hand.
So go ahead and enjoy the bounty that the signing of Brooks will doubtlessly bring. Reap the rewards of enabling his dream to compete legitimately in the biggest and best MMA promotion in the world.
Just don’t forget about the dreams of the fans in the process. We’re a greedy bunch and won’t be satisfied with fast food for very long.
And our dreams are important too…because they’re based in reality. For a sport that espouses the “As Real As It Gets” credo, nothing could be more important.
There is an art to matchmaking in combat sports.