Matt Hughes is a legend of the fighting game. Because of that, he’s earned the right to decide when he walks away from the sport for good.But as Hughes told MMAjunkie.com prior to taping last night’s episode of UFC Tonight, the decision is isn’t up to …
Matt Hughes is a legend of the fighting game. Because of that, he’s earned the right to decide when he walks away from the sport for good.
But as Hughes told MMAjunkie.com prior to taping last night’s episode of UFC Tonight, the decision is isn’t up to him. It’s not even up to his wife, who has repeatedly told Hughes over the previous 12 months that she’d like her husband to retire and come home to the farm.
“She wants me to retire from fighting so fighting doesn’t retire me,” Hughes said.
That’s not the way she put it, he adds. Somebody else told him that, but the point is the same. She gets worried and doesn’t want to see her husband hurt.
“And I see where she’s coming from,” Hughes said. “She didn’t grow up like I did. She’s a city girl, not rough at all. I grew up on a farm with a twin brother. We grew up beating each other up.”
The decision rests with UFC President Dana White, Hughes said. White has noted in the past that he’d like Hughes to retire soon, but Hughes said the decision hasn’t been made and that he hasn’t heard from White regarding the end of his career.
“I’m at a crossroads between fighting another fight or retirement,” he said, adding that a decision will come “soon.” “I’m 38, and I keep getting older, and the fighters keep staying the same age. I wanted the fall and spring off, and now it’s time to talk with DW.”
I’ve heard rumblings that Hughes may be slotted for a fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama later in the summer. If that’s the case, it would be a great fight for both men. Akiyama probably should’ve been cut already, but the UFC likes guys who go out there and put on exciting fights, and that weighs heavily in his favor.
A loss to Hughes would certainly spell the end of his UFC run, though.
Jon Jones will finally face Rashad Evans at UFC 145, but if he wins, he may just give the UFC some headaches on what to do with him next.After Evans, what is there left for him at light heavyweight?Jones has already torn through most of the division an…
Jon Jones will finally face Rashad Evans at UFC 145, but if he wins, he may just give the UFC some headaches on what to do with him next.
After Evans, what is there left for him at light heavyweight?
Jones has already torn through most of the division and the fight with Evans seems like the ultimate matchup. It is the fight that most fans have invested time and energy into and are ready to see take place. Much like the fight between Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson, fans are ready to see the bad blood between these two fighters explode.
But if Jones does walk through Evans like he has his other opponents, what is the company going to do with him? He is still too young to move to heavyweight and hasn’t built the body mass he would need to survive.
At the same time, he doesn’t really have much in the way of challengers for his weight class. An argument could be made for Dan Henderson, but that is about it. Even then it would feel like a backward step, not because of the level of competition, but because there would b less of an emotional investment.
Dan Henderson is a great fighter, but he isn’t known for bringing drama outside the cage. In a sport like MMA that focuses so much on pay-per-view buys, both are important. It is a large part of why Henderson isn’t getting a title shot at light heavyweight or middleweight.
He may have had fight of the year in 2011, but he isn’t as interesting an opponent as Rashad Evans or ChaelSonnen—at least not from a media perspective.
So even if Jones wins against Evans, he is still faced with a problem because he has to face either taking opponents that casual fans won’t be as interested in watching or moving up in weight before he should.
Jones could wait until he gains a plethora of new challengers, though at this point in his career, that would possibly damage his growth and make him lose out on a large amount of revenue.
More importantly for the UFC, it would mean that they would lose a chance to make money off of one of their most profitable fighters. Jones has reached star status and there isn’t much more he can do to gain greater relevance in pop culture. He is a rare mixture of talent and charisma that comes around only once in a long while.
But the UFC won’t have any way to capitalize on his talents if he beats Evans—especially with such ease. He will evolve to a level, at least in most fans’ minds, where no one can challenge him.
Without a drastic change in weight or taking some time off, that notion won’t change.
People might stop buying pay-per-views because the money could go elsewhere and “Jones is just going to win anyway.” It might be a foolish line of thought, but one that plenty of folks have. Most hardcore fans know that no fighter is indestructible, but casual fans are impacted by marketing.
The same way that fans perceived Mike Tyson or view Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao today is the same way that Jones could be viewed shortly. Not as a fighter with flaws, but as a dominant force that can’t lose.
In an economy where money is tight, casual fans, the larger part of the UFC’s market share, might just spend their money elsewhere.
And that is the most important thing. Not the fights or the outcomes, but the bottom dollar. That is harsh, though reality is that unless the UFC turns a profit they have to shut their doors.
Even though the company isn’t in any trouble, that doesn’t mean that Jones doesn’t present a marketing problem if he is victorious.
The UFC may not have a favorite when it comes to two of their fighters squaring off, but it is in the company’s best interest to have Jones become human.
Otherwise, they will have a veritable Superman on their hands and a harder time convincing people that he is otherwise.
Mixed Martial Arts is one of the greatest rapid-success stories of the past decade, and does not seem to be losing momentum. MMA has had its ups and downs since its inauguration, but has ultimately continued to evolve and grow. MMA is competition, and …
Mixed Martial Arts is one of the greatest rapid-success stories of the past decade, and does not seem to be losing momentum. MMA has had its ups and downs since its inauguration, but has ultimately continued to evolve and grow. MMA is competition, and an exciting and unpredictable presentation; but is it a sport?
A sport is defined as: “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.”
When one looks at Mixed Martial Arts, it clearly fits this description. While some may get hung up on the last two words, “for entertainment”; this is more so pertaining to the audience watching, rather than describing the act itself.
Critics might argue that MMA is not a sport, but an entertainment show. The WWE is probably the best example of what people compare and contrast in this regard. One can argue that the WWE fits the description above, but the “competes” part is where it gets hazy.
The difference between MMA and pro wrestling is that MMA is not scripted, nor fake. WWE wrestlers are certainly skilled and athletic, and do undergo real harm in their line of work, but it is not competitive when the outcome is already determined.
MMA has come along way, and has earned its right to be called a sport. While its roots were controversial, MMA has evolved into a legitimate and exciting sport that people all over the world enjoy. With unified rules and regulations, protocols are implemented to maintain the safety of the fighter, as well as the competition as a whole. These rules have helped usher in the new face of MMA.
What helps MMA to be defined as a sport, is the fact that rules and regulations make for a fair competition, watched by a referee and three judges. Strict drug testing and other precautionary actions are taken with each athlete as well.
The fact that MMA is a sport that is popular worldwide, certainly helps legitimize it. American football is extremely popular stateside, but not as much elsewhere. If anything, MMA may be more popular in other countries aside from ours. Both Brazil and Canada are Meccas of MMA, and companies like the UFC are constantly going to new places every year.
But does success and popularity mean it’s a sport?
Not necessarily, since curling is considered a sport, and probably isn’t the most popular one compared to others. With already popular sports in the USA such as Boxing, it’s hard to imagine why MMA wouldn’t be a sport as well. Some might argue that boxing gives the fighter more padded gear and therefore is less dangerous, but that same concept doesn’t apply to football and rugby.
MMA is a competition, in which athletes train and hone their skills to become the best they can be. They train to show the world what they have learned, what they can do, and how much better they are than other athletes. They train and fight for themselves, for country, for their team and families. These acts are nothing less than the underlying principles of the Olympic games and any other sport out there.
MMA is a sport, and the fastest-growing one at that. With most of the States already sanctioned and legalized, and many places over the globe, MMA is here to stay and keep growing. Slowly but surely we have watched sports websites and television gain sections for MMA, and many are soon to follow.
The second episode of FX’s the Ultimate Fighter has already come and gone. Dominick Cruz took an early lead over Urijah Faber as Cruz’s top pick Justin Lawrence came out victorious in the fight. This week’s episode had a little …
The second episode of FX’s the Ultimate Fighter has already come and gone. Dominick Cruz took an early lead over Urijah Faber as Cruz’s top pick Justin Lawrence came out victorious in the fight. This week’s episode had a little bit of everything, which made for a dramatic and entertaining night of television. Next week’s episode will surely top the last as Justin Lawrence is set to fight again, but this time he will face Faber’s fighter Christiano Marcello. We can’t wait.
James Wilks shows you amateurs out there how to execute a hip lock in the move the week segment. Pay attention because a solid ground game is key in the UFC. Next week The Ultimate Show brings in Ian McCall for his move of the week.
The Ultimate Show interviews former Ultimate Fighter winner Mac Danzig. He tells Kenda which Ultimate Fighter coach will win this season and that his feud with Blake Bowman wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Danzig gives the current contestants on the Ultimate Fighter some wise advice and lets us in on his training regiment for UFC 145. Danzigs talks about the weaknesses in Efrain Escudero’s fight game, as he sets to square off against him on April 21st. See if you can win that coveted t-shirt in this week’s Identi-Fighter and pick a side as Matt and Corey debate Nick Diaz’s fate in the UFC.
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Ken Shamrock’s having a hard time letting go.There’s no question that Shamrock is one of the legends of the early days of the sport, and I respect him for all that he’s done to get us to where we are. Without Shamrock, I wouldn’t have my job. And I rea…
There’s no question that Shamrock is one of the legends of the early days of the sport, and I respect him for all that he’s done to get us to where we are. Without Shamrock, I wouldn’t have my job. And I really, really like my job.
But it’s long past time for Shamrock to move on, both from the fight game and from a feud with Dana White that he just can’t win.
“I don’t like to come in and say, ‘I’ve done this and I’ve done that,’ because really, it takes a village to make something happen. It takes a lot of people to make it successful. And to hear Dana White say, ‘I did this and I did that. It was me. And he didn’t do this and didn’t do that.’ Well, how in the world did they get to where they were at if it was just Dana? Because I didn’t see him in the ring. I didn’t see Dana fighting. I didn’t see the numbers go up when they had just Tito there. I didn’t see any of that.
What I saw was me getting in there, building an organization, having a feud with Tito Ortiz to help build those numbers, along with Dana White and the corporation and the company to shoot that feud. And also to have Tito there, who was a great villain — to have someone going against me. And that’s how we did those numbers. Because we all got involved and did it.”
Again, Shamrock is owed plenty of respect for his work in the early days of the sport. And there is a very real chance that without his feud with Tito Ortiz, MMA never would have reached the heights it has today. That’s a fact.
But Shamrock is mistaken when he trivializes White’s role in building the sport. Without White and his brash, take-no-prisoners style, it’s very likely that the UFC never becomes as popular as it did. The rise of the UFC and of mixed martial arts in the mainstream took three parts: exciting fights on television, intriguing characters and a promoter willing to say and do things that other sporting figureheads would never even consider.
Shamrock will never grasp this concept. And that’s why he’s stuck on the outside, fighting bums and buffoons like James Toney when he could have a lifetime role with the company much like Chuck Liddell.
UFC 148 will feature a bout between Michael “The Count” Bisping (22-4) and Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch (15-4) when it takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas this coming July 7. Here’s a short primer on the …
UFC 148 will feature a bout between Michael “The Count” Bisping (22-4) and Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch (15-4) when it takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas this coming July 7.
Here’s a short primer on the two fighters courtesy of TristenCritchfield in his article for Sherdog.com:
Boetsch left the light heavyweight division following a submission loss to Phil Davis at UFC 123. He defeated Kendall Grove via unanimous nod in his middleweight debut at UFC 130 and followed that performance with a three-round triumph against Nick Ring last September. The AMCPankration representative achieved the signature victory of his career in earning a technical knockout over Okami at UFC 144, overwhelming the Japanese fighter with a third-round flurry to force a stoppage.
Bisping saw a four-fight winning streak come to an end when he was outpointed by ChaelSonnen at UFC on Fox 2, with the loss costing him a shot at middleweight king Anderson Silva. “The Count” parted ways with his longtime gym Wolfslair Academy shortly thereafter. The Englishman’s 12 victories inside the Octagon puts him 11th on the UFC’s all-time wins list.
The two fighters’ respective last fights showed contrasting results.
Boetsch was beaten up by Okami in the first two rounds until he lived up to his nickname and went barbaric and finished the Japanese fighter for a dramatic come-from-behind victory.
Bisping, on the other hand, was in a close fight until he got taken down in the pivotal third and last round, spending most of it on his back fending top man Sonnen’s attacks inside his guard, eventually losing by decision.
The Count, despite the loss, impressed fans and gained more support—even earning the begrudged respect of his critics—for keeping it a close, competitive fight against Sonnen.
What was also significantly remarkable was Bisping’s dramatic improvement in the wrestling department, both in defense and offense.
He even took down Sonnen inside the last minute of the third and final round. (It should be noted, though, that he already showed improved wrestling versus Jorge Rivera, but giving Sonnen a hard time should give Bisping’s sharpening skill a much higher appraisal.)
Bisping’s superiority in the striking aspect and his still underrated (?) wrestling skill will teach Boetsch a thing or two about elite MMA fighting—as long as The Count doesn’t get overconfident and count the always dangerous Barbarian out.
Matt Hughes is a legend of the fighting game. Because of that, he’s earned the right to decide when he walks away from the sport for good.