As the age-old saying goes, “real recognize real.”Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt is a scary dude on the gridiron, so it makes sense that he would be supporting UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, arguably the most intimidating athlete in sp…
As the age-old saying goes, “real recognize real.”
Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt is a scary dude on the gridiron, so it makes sense that he would be supporting UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, arguably the most intimidating athlete in sports.
With Rousey set to defend her title against Holly Holm at UFC 193 Saturday night in Melbourne, Australia, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year made it clear whom he’s rooting for, sending out a picture of himself on Instagram donning a shirt depicting the champ.
After an abundance of trash talk, a pre-fight press conference brawl, asking pussies if they’re still there, technical breakdowns, and moving betting lines, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier duked it out for five rounds in an early “Fight of the Year” candidate, which went exactly how most of us thought it would. The main card of UFC 182, however, was pretty putrid.
Our excitement was at an all-time high, which is rare nowadays when it comes to MMA in general. This truly felt like 2008 all over again, but sometimes, we rely on nostalgia to compare upcoming fight cards that may or may not be worth viewing live.
Nevertheless, Jones vs. Cormier lived up to the billing, as both light heavyweights engaged in a dogfight at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV., this past Saturday night.
After an abundance of trash talk, a pre-fight press conference brawl, asking pussies if they’re still there, technical breakdowns, and moving betting lines, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier duked it out for five rounds in an early “Fight of the Year” candidate, which went exactly how most of us thought it would. The main card of UFC 182, however, was pretty putrid.
Our excitement was at an all-time high, which is rare nowadays when it comes to MMA in general. This truly felt like 2008 all over again, but sometimes, we rely on nostalgia to compare upcoming fight cards that may or may not be worth viewing live.
Nevertheless, Jones vs. Cormier lived up to the billing, as both light heavyweights engaged in a dogfight at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV., this past Saturday night.
Truth be told, their fight couldn’t have come any sooner to save the day. There was uncontrolled excitement running through our veins Saturday morning, but after the FOX Sports 1 and Fight Pass prelims concluded, we were better off rummaging through our Twin Peaks Definitive Gold Box Edition and watching some of our favorite episodes.
The prelims were off to a raucous start, with Marion Reneau pummeling Alexis Dufresne in a unanimous decision win, and making the latter look like she came straight out of those So You Wanna Fight? events we used to see on our PPV listing (they must be at #341 by now…talk about real oversaturation). The highlight from that fight was Dufresne’s pathetic corner, who had too much pride to throw in the towel and actually made it seen like their fighter could have bounced back when she lost every second of that fight.
After Omari Akhmedov and Evan Dunham returned to winning ways over Mats Nilsson and Rodrigo Damm, respectively, Shawn Jordan scored another highlight-reel knockout over the debuting Jared Cannonier. Then, Team Alpha Male witnessed some ups and downs, as rising prospect Cody Garbrandt scored a stoppage victory over Marcus Brimage with 10 seconds left in the round.
Although the happiness was short-lived, as Paul Felder, taking the fight on short notice, blasted Danny Castillo with a spinning back forearm that sent “Last Call” into the Himalayas. If Garbrandt was seen as one of the starlets of the under card, the undefeated lightweight stole his thunder minutes later, and even walked out of Las Vegas $50,000 richer. The downside is with the sheer volume of athletes competing inside the Octagon these days, it’s impossible for bar bros to remember their names come Monday morning.
The main card was supposed to be off to bang, since Hector Lombard was going to smother the returning Josh Burkman in seconds. However, the former WSOF welterweight title challenger hung in there, hands down and guns blazing, stepping up to “Showeather” and looked good early. Lombard eventually cracked Burkman enough times to convince us the scrap was a lot more lopsided than we initially thought, earning the unanimous decision victory and disappointing UFC President Dana White in the process, since he thought the winner should have tried harder to finish.
Then, it all went miserably downhill from there. You know, there are plenty of things to do on a Saturday night when staying in. MMA fans have sacrificed hitting the club or having a meaningful social life outside of the bubble, and that’s okay. But watching the next three fights (all involving popular fighters like Donald Cerrone, Nate Marquardt, and according to Fightland, the next Prime Minister of Japan, flyweight Kyoji Horiguchi), over the NFL wildcard playoff between the Steelers vs. the Ravens, Saturday Night Live, a black market copy of Birdman, or Louie on Netflix was an absurd decision. I’m not saying the main card of UFC 182 wins The 2015 Potato Award for Greatest-Hype Deflation, but it’s definitely worth consideration.
The main event was a straight-up dogfight, and even looked like a street fight at times. The battle was highly competitive for the first three rounds, as “Bones” was off to a flashy start, throwing strikes from every angle with every limb. It was the back-and-forth scuffle we hoped it would be, thanks to “D.C.” staying in Jones’ face and willing to close the distance, or better yet, nullify the champion’s reach advantage in the clinch. If the first round went to Jones, then it was fair to award Cormier the second.
The tide turned when Jones, who swore he could take down Cormier and presumably started this mess, took the Olympic wrestler down at will, and stuffed his adversary’s attempts, too. From that moment on, it seemed as if Cormier let the fight slip past him, with AKA’s Javier Mendez and Bob Cook yelling in his face while he sat on the stool before the fifth frame.
The challenger didn’t do much to finish the fight in the final round like he needed to, and instead, went for the takedown because of pride issues. He scored somewhat of a toss, and grappled with the champion when he should have separated and swung for the fences. As the fight concluded, Jones, who had given “D.C.” the crotch chop seconds after the final horn, blasted his adversary in his post-fight interview and told fans to return their “Break Bones” t-shirts. Finally, “Bones” embraced the heel persona, and did as good as Shawn Michaels did on The Barber Shop.
A while back, UFC announcer Bruce Buffer compared Jones to Muhammad Ali. Considering Jones was prepping for the Ryan Bader fight at UFC 126, and hadn’t even won his coveted 205-pound strap yet, some knew the comparison would eventually come to fruition, while others chose not to believe it. Ironically, leading up to this contest, there was a lot of talk as Jones being Ali, and Cormier serving as his Joe Frazier, even though “Bones” thought Alexander Gustafsson better suited the part.
However which way the media wants to spin it, Jones isn’t Ali, and quite frankly, he’s something even greater in the sport of MMA. Nobody talks the same way as they did when referring to Anderson Silva and Fedor Emilianenko, and with Georges St-Pierre absent from the whole scenario, Jones truly is the greatest fighter on planet earth right now, and maybe the greatest ever. It’s not like the main event was as close as Jones’ scrap against “The Mauler” at UFC 165.
When it comes to “Gus,” if the Swede beats Anthony Johnson later this month at UFC on FOX 14, he’s obviously next. But the division is so thin that “Rumble” would earn his spot against Jones if he pulls off the upset against the former title challenger.
But you have to wonder what happens after that. Jones sticking around to face his old foes would get tiresome, and maybe even pointless. Some are under the impression that “Bones” should move to heavyweight after his next fight, which would be the right call. If Jones was announced to face Cain Velasquez in four months from now, I’ll go out on a limb and say not only could he win the heavyweight title, he could even be favored. It’s all speculation at this point, yet this athlete is just too special, being 27 years old and already beating the division’s most dangerous fighters. We can say that he may not have even entered his prime yet, but we can also agree he’s wiped out everyone he’s had to in order to be called the greatest, with not much else to prove.
Apart from a lackluster PPV card, UFC 182’s main event was the perfect way to start off 2015, even though problems will continue to persist, like domestic abuse cases being thrown out the window, drug testing woes, odd MMA debuts, PPV price increases and the other nonsense we have to put up with. Apart from the cool Fight Pass library news, some other stuff has been getting us mildly intrigued, like Bellator in it to win it, Brock Lesnar’s rumored return, and the potential superfight involving Ariel Helwani vs. Front Row Brian at Cowboys Stadium (now the AT&T Stadium), stemming from their continued fight announcement rivalry.
Let’s not hold our hopes high for a groundbreaking year. We’re just praying it’s better than the last.
UFC 179: “Aldo vs. Mendes 2” proved to be exactly what we expected it to be, and that was a one-fight boxing card with a scintillating main event for the ages. The “greatest featherweight fight in history” was nothing short of amazing, with Jose Aldo defeating Chad Mendes for the second time after knocking out “Money” at UFC 142 almost three years ago. The battle was full of wild punches, eye pokes, a lot of heavy breathing, and at times, flying shit that didn’t land.
With a certain “joker” sitting cageside, let’s examine UFC 179, and why it was great and equally pathetic…
UFC 179: “Aldo vs. Mendes 2” proved to be exactly what we expected it to be, and that was a one-fight boxing card with a scintillating main event for the ages. The “greatest featherweight fight in history” was nothing short of amazing, with Jose Aldo defeating Chad Mendes for the second time after knocking out “Money” at UFC 142 almost three years ago. The battle was full of wild punches, eye pokes, a lot of heavy breathing, and at times, flying shit that didn’t land.
With a certain “joker” sitting cageside, let’s examine UFC 179, and why it was great and equally pathetic:
Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes Was The Business
Aldo’s presence alone is like waiting to unwrap that PS4 your significant other bought you for Christmas. You’ve got to wait a while for it to happen, but when it does, you can bet your ass it was worth it. “Scarface” was met with a lot of criticism before this fight, seeing how he didn’t really sell the contest, and truth to be told, he’s not really one to generate great interest in the media when he fights. Say what you will about his output winding down, since it’s almost as if his battle against Ricardo Lamas at UFC 169 never happened, yet he’s the UFC’s most dominant champion right now.
You’ve got your Jon Jones and your Cain Velasquez, however, keep in mind the gold has been around Aldo’s waist since 2009, stemming from his WEC years. Last night, he was dragged into a dogfight and he delivered, with the whole of Brazil on his back to preserve the country’s identity in the fight world, since he’s the only champion left from a place that dominated the MMA landscape for so long. He’s pretty great, too.
As for Mendes, he certainly rocked the champion on multiple occasions and did the most damage anyone has done to his main event foe. The Team Alpha Male product’s striking has gotten much better, and it’s really depressing to say this, but he really cemented his status as the division’s number two guy. When he dropped Aldo in the first round after connecting with clean shots, it summoned the spirit of T.J. Dillashaw, yet things didn’t really go the Californian’s way. When he was hit with two shots after the horn in round one, it’s tough to say how much damage was done, and if Aldo truly had any bad intentions since he claimed he didn’t hear the buzzer.
This fight reminded us why MMA is truly awesome, much like the Dillashaw upset, and when Lyoto Machida took Chris Weidman to the deep waters at UFC 175. This featherweight tussle holds the pole position for “Fight of The Year,” and we can’t help but get that fuzzy feeling inside just thinking about it. At the same time, it’s not like we don’t have to put up our fair share of bullshit just to get to the center of the Tootsie Roll.
As for Conor McGregor, you might think UFC really missed an opportunity to have him enter the cage and do the dirty work to sell a fight against a champion that doesn’t care much about that stuff. After all, both the winner and the loser called him out. But maybe UFC isn’t jumping the gun after all, now that the Irishman is tied up with Dennis Siver, and that if you really had to look at it from a fair standpoint, the winner of Frankie Edgar vs. Cub Swanson deserves the next crack at the belt. It’s not really the wisest option, based on McGregor’s hype train riding from coast to coast across the globe, yet one has to think UFC wants us to believe Siver has a chance to win.
“A Light Heavyweight Matchup With True Title Implications”
UFC broadcaster supreme Mike Goldberg says a lot of drunk-white-girl things, but this takes the freaking cake. Once Phil Davis vs. Glover Teixeira concluded, he spat out this gem, which is borderline scary. Davis was coming off a crushing loss to Anthony Johnson at UFC 172, while “Bones” dominated Teixeira in a 205-pound title fight on the same exact card.
As for the fight, all you need to know is that the wrestler did what wrestlers do, neutralizing the power-puncher’s offense, and bringing him down to the mat over and over again. Maybe we should give a bit more credit to “Mr. Wonderful,” because it was arguably his best performance in the Octagon thus far. The Brazilian had trouble finding his range with Davis on his bicycle, and that’s pretty much how the three-round scrap went.
Look, the light heavyweight division is pretty bad these days, and if you want proof of that, just listen to the Penn State alumnus calling out Anderson Silva in his post-fight interview. With Anthony Johnson’s uncertain future, along with the plans to have Alexander Gustafsson fight Rashad Evans, Davis kind of is “in the mix.” One more win, and the guy is inching closer to a title shot, as odd as that sounds. The promotion will most likely book Davis to fight Ryan Bader next, because frankly, nothing else really makes much sense.
Main Card Woes And The Need For Change
Credit the fighters on the prelims for bringing it, since five out of six fights were over before the final horn. With that said, the three other main card contests almost put everyone to sleep, with takedown-heavy game plans and fighters that just don’t cut the mustard on the big stage.
Fabio Maldonado’s comeback win over Hans Stringer seemed like a shot in the dark, but more so for the event in general. It was like a Hail Mary thrown to save the interest of the main card, after witnessing Darren Elkins vs. Lucas Martins and Beneil Dariush vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira stink up the joint. Maybe every fighter deserves his or her chance to shine on the big stage, but we’re also in the entertainment business, or even better, the $50 to $60 price-tag business.
Before you accuse us of hating the UFC and being these snotty historians that wish it was 2006 all over again, please understand what is happening. More MMA isn’t a bad thing at all. Hell, I’d watch live MMA every night if I had to, or at least be content with the fact that it’s available in those circumstances. On the flip side, the quality just isn’t there anymore, and there’s a reason why you don’t want to watch the Jacksonville Jaguars against the New York Jets every single weekend. This card is a perfect example of what Dana White criticized for so long, and that’s a boxing event with one high-profile fight on it. The UFC needs to change its PPV and television model fast.
Nobody is forcing you to watch the prelims, or the fights outside the main and co-main events on the main card. We get that. Although how exactly is this sport supposed to grow, and shouldn’t we at least be concerned with the lack of thereof? You’ll have an event like UFC Fight Night 46, followed by UFC on FOX 12, and observers will come out in full force and trash the oversaturation bit. But in terms of consistency, UFC just doesn’t have it anymore. Injuries are one thing, but it can’t be the basis of an argument, either.
If a tree falls a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Maybe. If a main event is described as one of the best fights of the year, but only 200,000 people saw it because nobody really gave it the time of day, was it still as great as it was? Yes, but we’ll definitely need to put time aside to convince those that didn’t watch. One of the best fights of the year was on one of the worst PPV’s of the year, period. If you need to any further convincing, please refer to this.
At the end of the day, it’s no skin off our backs. That title fight was a prime example of why we need to put up with some dry stuff to have a good time. But UFC needs to think of something to get the casual fan’s interest back, because The Ultimate Fighter and celebrity tweets aren’t doing it anymore. If not, the “bubble” is going to get smaller and smaller, with limited selling points.
Watching Dana White’s recent appearance on “Fox Sports Live” paints a very clear picture: Dana White does not want you to compare him to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“I can tell you this, I wouldn’t want to be Roger Goodell,” White says, after being asked about his reaction to the video of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice knocking out then-fiancee Janay Palmer. No surprises there, given that the NFL is in the middle of a domestic violence crisis built on the foundation of years of denial and reframing the issue. What is surprising is that he follows up his statement by resorting to the same strategies that the NFL employed to downplay Ray Rice’s assault in order to justify the UFC’s decision to resign Thiago Silva.
You don’t even have to wait for the parallels between how the UFC is choosing to handle Thiago Silva and how the NFL has attempted to cover up domestic violence to become apparent, they’re observable in the very first sentence White speaks once Silva’s name comes up:
“If you believe in the legal process, they came, they arrested him, and he wasn’t brought up on any charges.”
Watching Dana White’s recent appearance on “Fox Sports Live” paints a very clear picture: Dana White does not want you to compare him to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“I can tell you this, I wouldn’t want to be Roger Goodell,” White says, after being asked about his reaction to the video of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice knocking out then-fiancee Janay Palmer. No surprises there, given that the NFL is in the middle of a domestic violence crisis built on the foundation of years of denial and reframing the issue. What is surprising is that he follows up his statement by resorting to the same strategies that the NFL employed to downplay Ray Rice’s assault in order to justify the UFC’s decision to resign Thiago Silva.
You don’t even have to wait for the parallels between how the UFC is choosing to handle Thiago Silva and how the NFL has attempted to cover up domestic violence to become apparent, they’re observable in the very first sentence White speaks once Silva’s name comes up:
“If you believe in the legal process, they came, they arrested him, and he wasn’t brought up on any charges.”
Let’s take a look at the actual documents detailing why the prosecutors decided to drop the charges against Thiago Silva. As Deadspin puts it, “The memo outlines how in this case, as in so many domestic violence cases, the key witness went from working with investigators to uncooperative to eventually abandoning the legal process, instead getting physically as far away from her alleged attacker as she could.” This wasn’t an issue of the police believing that Thiago Silva was innocent – if that were so, this case would have never made it past the pre-arrest investigation. This was the police acknowledging that without cooperation from the alleged victim, there isn’t enough evidence to press charges at this time; as Sydnie pointed out, the announcement of a nolle prosequi makes it possible for the police to re-indict him if Thaysa Silva decides to cooperate with them.
White’s justification gets much uglier from there:
“Plus, I know a lot more of the story and what went on. You take his side of the story, her side of the story and the truth lies somewhere in the middle. But he went through the process and he wasn’t charged with anything. The guy should have the ability to make a living.”
This statement on Thaysa Silva’s accusations is the exact same strategy that the Baltimore Ravens used in an attempt to undermine Janay Rice: Toe the line of “Don’t trust what you’ve seen,” but don’t explicitly say that the alleged victim is lying. The police reports make Thiago Silva look like some kind of monster, but Dana White knows a lot more about what really happened. And Thaysa isn’t lying, but the whole truth lies somewhere between her version of the events and Thiago’s proclamation of innocence. By that logic, Thiago only kind-of held a gun in Thaysa’s mouth, and what kind of hot-head bans someone from the UFC over that?
The “make a living” remark at the end is equal parts misdirection and gaslighting. Nobody is trying to say that Thiago Silva shouldn’t be able to make a living, but a lot of fans are questioning whether it’s really appropriate for an alleged domestic abuser whose charges were dropped on a technicality to be punching people for money. White wants the offended parties to ask themselves how they can let a human being starve, while those opposed to his decision are wondering when “UFC fighter” became the only occupation on the planet.
And how did White’s justification end? With perhaps the most Goodellian stance possible:
“And obviously if some tape surfaced [Silva would be fired] but the police have already investigated this entire thing, and they let the guy go.”
Then again, perhaps he isn’t ignorant towards this – notice how he never directly says that he believes that Thiago Silva is an innocent man, like he did for Sean Sherk when Sherk failed a drug test following UFC 73? He’s not so much telling you that Silva has never been abusive towards Thaysa as he’s telling you that the charges were dropped, so move past it.
Perhaps the most disturbing correlations between the UFC and the NFL come while observing how the UFC plans on strengthening their domestic violence policy going forward. The organization takes a page directly out of the NFL’s playbook: Deny that there’s any problems with the current policy. [Author Note: The NFL’s “new” policy of suspending players for six games is nothing more than a slight re-wording of the old policy. “Mitigating factors” can still shorten the suspension as the NFL sees fit.] White kicked off the process:
“We have a track record of getting rid of many people that have done bad things, and we’ve been human beings in letting other guys make up for things and come back. There’s one thing you never bounce back from, and that’s putting your hands on a woman. It’s been that way in the UFC since we started here. You don’t bounce back from putting your hands on a woman.”
“We are no different than any other sport,” she says. “Some individuals will do things that don’t reflect well on our organization.” She pointed to recent domestic violence cases involving NFL players as evidence the issue is not specific to the UFC or MMA.
For the sake of this argument, let’s assume that the NFL in fact has a worse problem than the UFC does with athletes committing domestic violence. What does that have anything to do with the UFC’s stance on domestic violence? How does downplaying the issue as a whole – it happens in football, too, you guys! – change the fact that it’s still happening in your organization? How does “at least we’re not the NFL” change the fact that the UFC claims to ban all offenders, yet only does so when they’re disposable commodities? Why is “don’t change until we’re as bad as the worst organization” a good strategy moving forward?
The answers, of course, are: Nothing, It doesn’t, It definitely doesn’t, and It isn’t.
You wonder why people say our sport has a sexist, toxic culture? It’s because the UFC’s current policy on domestic violence depends on how many fans know who the abuser is, and White’s biggest concern about male fighters beating women revolves around the usage of “Ex-UFC Fighter” in the headlines. You can’t even have a discussion about fixing the problem, because that requires acknowledging that a problem even exists. The UFC has been hard on domestic violence since Zuffa took over, pay no attention to the man assaulting his wife behind the curtain.
A culture of denial in regard to athletes and domestic violence is exactly what created the scandal that the NFL is currently facing, and it’s hardly unreasonable to worry that the UFC’s similar approach will lead to an equally tragic result. The decision to resign Thiago Silva is troubling for a number of reasons, chief among them being that the UFC – like the NFL before them – is choosing to ignore the problem and pretend that they’re tougher on domestic violence than they are. Given how compliant the MMA media is with pushing the UFC narrative at all costs, the organization may very well be able to do this for as long as it wants to.
“If Roger Goodell saw that video, knew that’s what happened, knew Ray Rice did that to his fiancee, he should just get up and leave on his own,” White says at the end of his segment on “Fox Sports Live.” He seems offended that the NFL chose to deny that a problem existed, then chose to cover it up once they were forced to confront it. If only he felt that way about the UFC.
For whatever reason, the Dallas Cowboys and the Oakland Raiders decided to host a joint practice in California yesterday. It did not end well.
The skirmish above is apparently one of several that broke out during the joint practice, which at one point saw Dallas cornerback B.W. Webb struck in the back of the head by a fan brandishing a helmet and respond by taking a swing of his own. To be fair, that fan probably should have known that a cowardice will never go unpunished in these post-Malice in the Palace times.
After the jump: A different angle of the brawl, via Instagram user sc_spitta.
For whatever reason, the Dallas Cowboys and the Oakland Raiders decided to host a joint practice in California yesterday. It did not end well.
The skirmish above is apparently one of several that broke out during the joint practice, which at one point saw Dallas cornerback B.W. Webb struck in the back of the head by a fan brandishing a helmet and respond by taking a swing of his own. To be fair, that fan probably should have known that a cowardice will never go unpunished in these post-Malice in the Palace times.
After the jump: A different angle of the brawl, via Instagram user sc_spitta.
“That passion, that’s mostly what I’d hoped what we would get out of getting these teams together,” said Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones, who half-jokingly praised the remarkable power of Raiders offensive lineman Austin Howard’s uppercut punches.
(What we refer to as) Professional sports, everybody.
News that Super Bowl XLVIII might be moved from its usual Sunday time slot to Saturday night has turned the sports world upside down, and the UFC is not immune to that phenomenon. At the UFC on Fox 10 post-fight press conference, though, they announced…
News that Super Bowl XLVIII might be moved from its usual Sunday time slot to Saturday night has turned the sports world upside down, and the UFC is not immune to that phenomenon. At the UFC on Fox 10 post-fight press conference, though, they announced their contingency plan.
Per Fox Sports’ Mike Chiappetta:
UFC says they will move UFC 169 to Sunday if the Super Bowl is moved to Saturday due to bad weather. Right now, snow is in forecast. #UFC
For those who missed it, Super Bowl XLVIII, which features a showdown of the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, may end up getting moved to Saturday due to the brutal cold that has been battering the northeast.
This story comes after Miami’s Sun Life Stadium was indefinitely denied the opportunity to host the Super Bowl…due to concerns that its lack of a roof may let rain impact games. Before you ask, no MetLife Stadium doesn’t have a roof either.
The UFC has always preferred to have their pay-per-view events on Saturday night, making this a serious departure from the MMA promotion’s norm. However, as UFC President Dana Whitediscussed, contending directly with the Super Bowl is a seriously unwise idea.
Potentially moving to Sunday allows the promotion to maintain a weekend time slot (White initially hinted the event may be moved to Monday), while keeping it a safe distance away from interfering with football.
Of course, this may be much ado about nothing. Weather.com is predicting a wintry mix on Sunday and the NFL, as it so often does, is likely to be more willing to sacrifice the integrity of its game than inconvenience promoters.
Unless the weather prediction shifts in the direction of a blizzard (which, of course, is always possible in New Jersey), expect fight fans to be able to look forward to two title bouts, directly followed by the Big Game.
