Decisions can sometimes be looked at with a negative stigma when it comes to MMA. Fighters who excessively earn decisions usually don’t win the admiration of fans, although sometimes they do earn their walking papers.
A fight that goes the full 15&mdas…
Decisions can sometimes be looked at with a negative stigma when it comes to MMA. Fighters who excessively earn decisions usually don’t win the admiration of fans, although sometimes they do earn their walking papers.
A fight that goes the full 15—or 25 minutes—can be a grueling affair for either fighter. Some guys are great at fighting the full distance, and some just can’t handle it.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at the fighters who have gone to the judges the most, fighters who are some of the toughest warriors to ever step in the Octagon.
There are few fighters currently competing in the UFC middleweight ranks with as much momentum as Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.
The “Alligator” has been a force of nature since coming over from Strikeforce in 2013 and has made an immediate impact on the uppe…
There are few fighters currently competing in the UFC middleweight ranks with as much momentum as Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza.
The “Alligator” has been a force of nature since coming over from Strikeforce in 2013 and has made an immediate impact on the upper tier of the 185-pound weight class. The Brazilian grappling ace has risen to the forefront of a highly competitive division on the strength of a six-fight winning streak and an impressive stretch where he’s found success in 10 of his last 11 showings.
While Souza has been recognized as one of the sport’s top middleweights for the past few years, the path of destruction he’s carved recently inside of the Octagon has the 34-year-old within striking distance of a title shot.
That said, the former Strikeforce champion is looking for the quickest possible route to a championship opportunity, and he has a plan in mind to get there.
On Wednesday night’s episode of UFC Tonight, Ariel Helwani reported Souza would like to face the winner of the upcoming title fight between champion Chris Weidman and Lyoto Machida who square off at UFC 175 in July.
If that option is not available to him, the multi-time jiu-jitsu world champion wants to be paired up with former title challenger Vitor Belfort for his next matchup. “The Phenom” is a staple in the upper tier of the division, and Souza believes a fight with the former No. 1 contender could catapult him into title contention.
Whatever road the UFC decides to travel, Helwani stressed in his report that Souza wants to get back to work as soon as possible. His most recent outing came back in February, when he earned a unanimous-decision victory over Francis Carmont in Brazil.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
It has been a lengthy layoff, but Anthony Pettis has officially started his road back to the Octagon.
The lightweight champion has been on the shelf since last December, when he underwent surgery to repair a torn posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in hi…
It has been a lengthy layoff, but Anthony Pettis has officially started his road back to the Octagon.
The lightweight champion has been on the shelf since last December, when he underwent surgery to repair a torn posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in his left knee that he suffered in his title tilt with Benson Henderson at UFC 164 that August.
While “Showtime’s” injury stemmed from his championship performance in Milwaukee, the Roufusport fighter attempted to press on for a scheduled bout with Josh Thomson at UFC on Fox 9 before another setback to the same knee in his training camp sent him to the sidelines and into the operating room.
That series of events was undoubtedly a frustrating way for Pettis to end his 2013 campaign, but things appear to be on the rise for the 27-year-old. The 155-pound titleholder’s coach Duke Roufus recently told MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani that his prized pupil received clearance in early May to box and train jiu-jitsu, in addition to resuming his strength and conditioning program.
This is good news where Pettis is concerned, as the striking phenom’s schedule is about to get hectic. He is slated to face former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez at the end of the year, but before the two top lightweights collide inside the Octagon, they will take opposing coaching roles on the 20th installment of The Ultimate Fighter.
TUF 20 is set to be a historic chapter for the reality series, as it will introduce the women’s strawweight division to the UFC roster and will crown a divisional champion upon the conclusion of the season’s tournament.
With Pettis’ return, the UFC will once again have the service of one of the organization’s fastest rising stars. The former WEC champion has won eight of his last nine showings, including four of his five fights inside the Octagon, while his three most recent outings have all ended by way of an impressive finish.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
Urijah Faber is one of the UFC’s more popular fighters. He’s a pioneer in the lower weight divisions.
In fact, fighters competing at 145 pounds and below in the Octagon these days owe him a debt of thanks; he was a large reason for Zuffa pu…
Urijah Faber is one of the UFC’s more popular fighters. He’s a pioneer in the lower weight divisions.
In fact, fighters competing at 145 pounds and below in the Octagon these days owe him a debt of thanks; he was a large reason for Zuffa purchasing World Extreme Cagefighting in December 2006. Without that move, it may have taken quite a bit of time for the national spotlight to be focused on the lighter weight classes.
He had the best year of his career in 2013, winning four fights and earning a title shot against interim champion Renan Barao. He lost to Barao, but he’s still ranked No. 1 in the division behind the champ. He has beaten most of the Top 10, and despite going years without any success in title fights, he still seems primed for yet another run at a championship bout.
I expected him to return to the Octagon against Dominick Cruz, the former bantamweight champion who has been sidelined with various injuries since 2011. It just felt right. Sure, Faber is coming off a loss, and the UFC likes to match winners with winners and losers against losers. But with Cruz out of competition for three years, that booking philosophy goes out the window. They’ve split two previous bouts.
Plus, they don’t really like each other. That’s always a plus.
Faber and Caceres discussed on Twitter the possibility of facing each other on Tuesday, but it didn’t feel like a serious thing. Fighters call each other out on Twitter all the time. Joe Silva and Sean Shelby enjoy when their athletes make their jobs easier, but the matchmakers do not make fights based solely on Twitter.
So Faber and Caceres said they’d be honored to fight each other, but I paid no attention. I figured Faber was earmarked for Cruz or another high-level opponent. And this is not to disparage Cacares in any way, because he is riding a four-fight winning streak (with a no-contest thrown in for good measure) and is clearly deserving of a step up in competition.
But there is a difference between a step up in competition and a giant, chasm-crossing leap up the ladder.
Caceres, No. 13 in the division, taking on Faber, No. 1. If Caceres wanted a highly ranked opponent, well, he got it.
On some level, it makes sense. Faber has beaten six of the Top 10 UFC bantamweights. One of them is his training partner, T.J. Dillashaw. Unless you start digging into rematches, there weren’t many compelling bouts available for Faber against top opponents. The only way to find new opponents for “The California Kid” was to travel further down the rankings.
I get it. Still, it seems weird and perhaps even something of a mismatch. Faber will be a massive favorite over Caceres, and rightly so. I would have preferred to see Faber wait for Cruz to return, if the former bantamweight champion is still on track to come back this summer.
I am not a matchmaker, of course, and booking fights is an intricate art that goes far beyond just pitting Fighter A against Fighter B. Faber may be contractually owed a certain amount of fights this year. Or perhaps he didn’t want to bet on Cruz coming back healthy, given that “The Dominator” has tried to return to the Octagon for three years and keeps getting injured.
And look: There is every chance that Faber vs. Caceres will be an off-the-charts exciting fight. Both men have a penchant for thrilling audiences, so it’s a safe bet the fight will make us forget all about our initial reservations.
That doesn’t make it any less strange. In a perfect world, Faber would wait for Cruz or another Top Five opponent. But this is not a perfect world, and so we are left scratching our heads at Faber vs. Caceres: a fight that came out of nowhere, a fight that makes almost no sense and a fight that could greatly harm Faber or give Caceres a shortcut up the divisional ladder.
Urijah Faber has been by far one of the best mixed martial artists in the world over the past 10 years.
His dedication to the sport and to his training has consequently rewarded him with an accomplished and extremely lucrative career.
But on the heels …
Urijah Faber has been by far one of the best mixed martial artists in the world over the past 10 years.
His dedication to the sport and to his training has consequently rewarded him with an accomplished and extremely lucrative career.
But on the heels of yet another title defeat at UFC 169 to champion RenanBarao, “The California Kid” has been sent back down the ladder to face an opponent outside of the division’s top 10, No. 13 Alex Caceres.
ESPN.com’s Brett Okamoto confirmed Wednesday that the two bantamweights will do battle on July 5 in Las Vegas, as part of a card headlined by Chris Weidman vs. LyotoMachida for the UFC middleweight title.
Now while this matchup should come as a surprise to many considering each fighter’s position on the divisional ladder, it makes complete sense for the UFC.
On one hand you have Faber, a guy who has done everything he’s needed to do to reach ultimate glory but just hasn’t been able to win the big one.
On the other hand you have Caceres, a 25-year-old top prospect who has racked off four straight victories over the past two years (albeit for a no-contest back in March of 2013).
By scheduling this bout—which has solid potential to offer great exchanges—the promotion is essentially trying to push a personality like Caceres to the front of line, while giving Faber a respectable rebound opponent in effort to re-solidify his title hopes.
Also, putting a household name like Faber on a huge card that is UFC 175 will only allow a new champion like Weidman to achieve more and more pay-per-view exposure.
It’s a win-win scenario for a matchmaker like Joe Silva, but it’s understandable that Faber fans might feel slighted.
This is a guy whose seven career loses (30-7) have all been title fights in some way, shape or form. He isn’t exactly the type of fighter you would peg as a “gatekeeper.”
But a loss is a loss and Faber needs to earn his keep once again.
After two hearty swings, Bellator MMA will finally split the pay-per-view pinata on Saturday night, though most observers predict only sorrow and red ink will tumble out.
Lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez is concussed and out of his third meeting wit…
After two hearty swings, Bellator MMA will finally split the pay-per-view pinata on Saturday night, though most observers predict only sorrow and red ink will tumble out.
Lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez is concussed and out of his third meeting with Michael Chandler, effectively stripping the show of its crown jewel. In its place, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Muhammed Lawal will serve as the makeshift main event, while Chandler will meet Will Brooks for an interim title and Tito Ortiz will fight up-jumped middleweight Alexander Shlemenko in bout that obviously shouldn’t exist but somehow does.
Even in an industry that is conditioned to expect absurd flame-outs, the crumbling of Bellator 120 has been notable, especially considering what happened last time the fight company tried to move its circus from Spike TV to PPV.
This time the organization will stay the course, likely because rolling the dice on a depleted for-pay event seems preferable to angering providers by again pulling out on them at the last minute. Or, as Spike TV President Kevin Kay told MMA Fighting.com’s Luke Thomas back on May 6: “Look, I think there’s a point that comes in any promotion where you want to play with the big boys, right? Pay-per-view is the big boys and you want to put on premium fights.”
In the process of taking that step this weekend, the company may well answer the defining question of its life as a company: What (if any) is the demand for Bellator on PPV?
Say what you will about this fight card, but at least it will establish the baseline number of fans who are willing to shell out $34.99 (and more, if they opt for HD) to watch America’s second-best MMA promotion. The size of that number will no doubt be quite instructive for Bellator (and more importantly, its overlords at Viacom) and should be instrumental in plotting a course for its future.
On that front, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney is holding his cards pretty close to his tailored black suit at the moment. He told MMA Junkie Radio on Tuesday that Bellator is planning to remain in the PPV arena, regardless of what happens on Saturday.
“We’re absolutely looking to do pay-per-views in the future,” Rebney said. “We’ll do big, significant pay-per-view events.”
Perhaps that confidence is well-earned. Perhaps not.
Rebney’s company has found some moderate success on cable television lately. When it pulled Alvarez and Chandler off PPV and put them on Spike last November, the result was another Fight of the Year-caliber clash that garnered 1.1 million viewers (with a peak of 1.4 million) and set records for Bellator’s best-ever rating.
UFC castoffs like Jackson and Cheick Kongo have also popped the organization’s numbers in recent months, despite numerous jabs to the ribs from media and fans over their signings. Jackson averaged 880,000 viewers (1.1 million peak) when he fought Christian M’Pumbu at Bellator 110 in February, while Kongo netted 830,000 (1.1 million peak) against Vitaly Minakov at Bellator 116 last month.
Numbers fluctuated as the PPV drew nearer—Bellator 119 pulled just 511,000 last Friday—but Bellator’s 10 most recent events on Spike have averaged a bit more than 668,000 viewers apiece. That puts it near the same ballpark as UFC shows on Fox Sports 1, which have averaged 755,600 over the last 10 installments.
Comparing those two numbers should likely come with substantial caveats, but the fact is that Bellator has established a better television audience than we often give it credit for, while we’re busy ripping its personnel decisions and gloating over its bad luck.
Now we just have to see how many of those people it can convert into paying customers.
Historically, pay-per-view has been a wasteland for MMA promotions not named the UFC. Dan Plunkett of 411Mania.com recently detailed exactly how horrific it’s been, recalling the failed efforts of Bodog Fight (13,000 buys in April of 2007), a joint venture between Strikeforce and EliteXC (35,000, June 2007) and Affliction Entertainment (100,000, July 2008).
Not a good sign, though as Plunkett noted, it doesn’t necessarily spell disaster for Bellator.
“None of the promotions listed above had anything approaching Bellator’s television presence,” he wrote. “Its weekly events and various countdown shows go a long way in promoting the show and establishing the brand.”
If 10 percent of the 1.1 million peak viewers who watched Jackson’s first-round KO of M’Pumbu show up for the PPV? Go ahead and cover everything in Rebney’s office with plastic; otherwise you’ll never get the champagne smell out of there.
If Bellator 120 does even 80,000 buys? That’s still not terrible.
50,000? Salvageable.
Less than 50,000? Maybe then you take down the tent and move the whole shebang back to Spike TV on a permanent basis.
No matter the outcome—and despite what Rebney says—Bellator will have its answer. It will know if the demand is there for it to make “big, significant” contributions to the wild world of pay-per-view, or if it is merely a cable curiosity—a show with a dependable weekly time slot to help us wile away our Friday nights.
Either way, it’s better for the fight company to know what kind of player it really is than to continue booking PPVs like a blindfolded man with a club who is continually stumbling around and swinging at air.
It has been a lengthy layoff, but