Tag: Opinion

MMA: Will the Fickleness of the Fans Ultimately Bring the UFC and MMA Down?

The sport of mixed martial arts is noted for many things such as being the fastest growing sport in the world, being the purest combat sport on the planet, demanding the highest level of athleticism from it’s participants…and having perhaps the most …

The sport of mixed martial arts is noted for many things such as being the fastest growing sport in the world, being the purest combat sport on the planet, demanding the highest level of athleticism from it’s participants…and having perhaps the most notoriously difficult to please fans in sports.

When an event disappoints, MMA fans will light many an Internet forum ablaze with complaints and criticisms faster than any other group of fans.

This even happens if only the main event is bad. Such is the case with Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum, a fight card in which many of the fights were packed with solid action but the main event was seen as a disappointment. Thus, the entire event was seen by many fans as lackluster even though a majority of the fights were good.

Unfortunately, this trend is nothing new. There almost always seems to be complaints coming from the fans about one thing or another.

This inclination towards misery and negativity is commonly just written off as people being spoiled and is given little more than a sigh before attention is moved elsewhere. This stance on the constantly changing (although often only changing between varying negative extremes) has its merits but also its flaws.

First, finicky fans shouldn’t always be taken seriously; people will complain about anything and everything.

Second, many fans have selective memories and only remember the bad about an event. Does anyone remember UFC 112 for anything but the Anderson Silva-Demian Maia fiasco?

However, the general opinion(s) of the fans cannot be wholly discounted, for it is their wallets that are responsible for keeping the sport alive and growing.

Therefore, if the fans are consistently bored and become disillusioned with the sport and the UFC ignores them, the organization and the sport could be brought down. Case in point: many professional sports organizations have had to alter their rules to make for a more exciting contest.

Will the UFC have to do this? Only time will tell, although many fans are becoming concerned with the prevalence of “fighting not to lose,” a fighting style which UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is acrimoniously accused of employing.

An interesting point to note is that the UFC under Zuffa ownership has “grown up” in the age of the Internet (as did many of its fans). It’s possible that the fickleness comes from living in a quick-fix/instant-oatmeal society in which people want more for their time and money, and they aren’t willing to wait for it. Maybe most fans expect every main event—or even every fight—to be Forrest Griffin-Stephan Bonnar all over again?

So will the fickleness of the fans be the sport’s downfall? Probably not. Many of the fan’s complaints are bombastic, and sometimes ignorant. In addition, the fans (as well as people in general these days, does anyone remember the BP oil spill anymore?) have a short memory regarding many things. While people will remember UFC 112 for being bad, the sour taste in their mouths will likely have dissipated when it’s time pay up for the next event.

Nevertheless, the fans cannot be completely disregarded as high-maintenance complainers. If enough fans fall out of love with the sport, MMA could drop off the face of the sports world as soon as it appeared.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Strikeforce: Overeem vs. Werdum, Is Alistair the Best Heavyweight in MMA?

Making his first appearance in Strikeforce since his dismantling of Brett Rogers on May 15, 2010, Alistair Overeem outpointed Fabricio Werdum on his way to a unanimous decision victory.While his performance was hardly impressive, he still has a date wi…

Making his first appearance in Strikeforce since his dismantling of Brett Rogers on May 15, 2010, Alistair Overeem outpointed Fabricio Werdum on his way to a unanimous decision victory.

While his performance was hardly impressive, he still has a date with Antonio Silva in the semifinals of the Heavyweight Grand Prix.

To many, the winner of this fight was widely considered to be the best heavyweight in Strikeforce and perhaps in all of MMA, but does Overeem’s lackluster performance hinder his place among the great heavyweights?

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Strikeforce Results: Who Is the New Favorite to Win the Heavyweight Grand Prix?

After a spate of upsets and flaccid fighting, interest in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix is seeping away like helium from a balloon in the days following a kid’s birthday party where the clown never showed. And the ice cream tasted like freezer…

After a spate of upsets and flaccid fighting, interest in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix is seeping away like helium from a balloon in the days following a kid’s birthday party where the clown never showed. And the ice cream tasted like freezer.

But to walk away now would be to miss some interesting stylistic matchups and some potentially terrific fights between four veterans who hail from around the world and sport a combined MMA record of 99-22-1.

Three of the four (maybe all four) are not exactly household names, but one of them and maybe more will take a big step in that direction once the Grand Prix is all said and done. 

So after last Saturday’s action at Strikeforce Dallas, who’s the favorite to go all the way?

On one side, you’ve got American grappler and former pro wrestler Josh Barnett against one of the most underrated heavyweights in the world (in my opinion) in Sergei Kharitonov.

Kharitonov is fairly well-rounded, but his bread and butter is his thudding standup game (11 of his 18 wins have come by way of a striking-related stoppage). Barnett, on the other hand, is a grappler’s grappler, and proved in his quarterfinal submission win over Brett Rogers that he hasn’t lost his touch after nearly a year away from the ring.

The heart says Kharitonov on this one (especially since Kharitonov and tourney favorite Alistair Overeem have split two bloody and entertaining matches thus far in their careers), but the head says Barnett.

While Kharitonov always has a puncher’s chance, Barnett has shown he still has the capability to take someone to the mat and hold them there. Kharitonov is working to improve his takedown defense, but it probably will not be at the world-class level it would need to be to consistently stuff Barnett’s shots. Barnett wins by unanimous decision.

On the other side, Strikeforce heavyweight champion Overeem takes on Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, who defeated Fedor Emelianenko in the Grand Prix’s opening round. Many observers are calling Overeem the favorite, to win the whole enchilada, and understandably so.

But I’m calling the upset. Overeem is a stupendous kickboxer and physical specimen, but has shown a propensity to be tentative when faced with an opponent who can’t be bum-rushed. I believe Silva is one of those opponents.

Bigfoot has the size, power, boxing and takedowns to pose a threat both vertically and horizontally. This won’t be a Fabricio Werdum Part Deux; Silva converts 70 percent of his takedown attempts, according to CompuStrike, and thus should be able to put Overeem on his back.

And having earned 12 of his 16 victories through KO or other striking-related stoppage, Silva knows what to do once the fight gets there. And he’ll certainly try to use his power in any event to break through to Overeem’s chin (he’s been knocked out seven times).

Silva wins by second-round TKO. And once again, Overeem fails to capitalize on the big stage.

With the tournament’s two most glamorous fighters watching from the sidelines, a Josh Barnett vs. Antonio Silva final will feel a bit like San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks, back when the Knicks were scoring 65 a game and giving up 60. (Guess which fighter is the Knicks!)

Barnett will surely try to control Silva on the ground, but Bigfoot’s size and grappling savvy (he is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, after all) should help him there. And if Silva can stuff a few takedowns and keep the fight upright, I think he can use his heavy hands, sharp Muay Thai and relatively fresh legs to inflict major damage.

Barnett is a tough customer, which makes a stoppage unlikely. But he’s also 33 years old, and Silva ain’t Brett Rogers.

Antonio Silva wins the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix by unanimous decision. And maybe, just maybe, a star is born.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Strikeforce Results: Overeem Beats Werdum, but Can He Compete with UFC’s Best?

There was a lot of hype surrounding Alistair Overeem going into his fight with Fabricio Werdum.For years, Overeem has been dominating his opponents in the heavyweight division and recently people have been toting him as the man to take out guys like Ju…

There was a lot of hype surrounding Alistair Overeem going into his fight with Fabricio Werdum.

For years, Overeem has been dominating his opponents in the heavyweight division and recently people have been toting him as the man to take out guys like Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez.

The issue with these speculations are they were just that—speculative.

Until his bout with Fabricio this passed Saturday, Overeem had not competed against a top ten heavyweight. His string of victories, while impressive, were against lesser competition and so they meant little.

Now that Alistair has finally fought a top ten opponent in Werdum, we have a tangible measuring stick to compare him to the division’s elite.

I don’t mean to get all “Georges St. Pierre” on you guys, but I was absolutely not impressed with Alistair’s victory this weekend.

To the dismay of many, the striking portions of the fight were actually pretty even. Alistair was able to land the more significant shots, but Werdum landed the most punches. Surprisingly, ‘Reem wasn’t able to capitalize on his reach advantage and Fabricio was able to land shots pretty much whenever he tried to.

The reason Werdum lost this fight is he kept going for takedowns and not getting them. Then he would pull guard, effectively giving Alistair top position, and he was unable to do anything from the bottom. Fabricio was so sure he needed to get this fight to ground that he didn’t realize he was doing pretty well on the feet.

Both fighter’s cardio looked horrible; they both seemed exhausted by the end of the second round, Werdum more than Overeem.

All in all, it was a pretty unimpressive showing from both fighters.

‘Reem managed to live up to his hype, to an extent. He did defeat a top ten fighter, but the victory was lackluster. So, does this mean that Alistair is ready for the UFC’s elite?

Definitely not.

Overeem has very impressive striking offense, but if he wants to get by in the UFC he is going to need to work on his striking defense. Fabricio was able to tag him consistently throughout the fight by just charging forward and throwing fairly sloppy punches.

It’s common knowledge that Alistair doesn’t have the best chin; more than half of his career defeats have come by knockout. He may have gotten away with eating some of Fabricio’s punches, but Fabricio doesn’t have particularly heavy hands. If Overeem were to eat those same punches from a guy like Junior dos Santos, or Shane Carwin, he would likely be in big trouble.

Something a lot of people forget when speculating on Alistair’s potential success in the UFC is that he has never fought an elite wrestler. His takedown defense was good against Werdum, but Werdum does not have explosive takedowns. Given his inexperience with high level wrestlers, I think ‘Reem would have a hard time staying on his feet against guys like Cain Velasquez, Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin.

Overeem is coming along nicely as a heavyweight, that’s for sure, but look at his victory of Werdum and then look at Junior dos Santos’ victory over Werdum. That should give you an idea of where Alistair’s game is at.

Alistair is an excellent fighter, but I don’t think he is ready for the best the UFC’s heavyweight division has to offer. Not yet, at least.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC News: Is Cain Velasquez On His Way to Being An All-Time Great?

Cain Velasquez Is Already the Most Talented Heavyweight Of All-Time
I am about to make an argument that most fans will attempt to disown. I think that Cain Velasquez is already the best heavyweight, ever. Not currently or in the past decade, I mean the…

Cain Velasquez Is Already the Most Talented Heavyweight Of All-Time


I am about to make an argument that most fans will attempt to disown. I think that Cain Velasquez is already the best heavyweight, ever. Not currently or in the past decade, I mean the best to ever fight in mixed martial arts.


What makes Cain Velasquez so dynamic? He has the best cardio in the heavyweight division. Most welterweights envy his stamina. This cardio skill is from years and years of hard training. It started at high school, where he won two state wrestling titles. Cain then wrestled at Iowa Central Community College where he won a NJCAA national title. Arizona State took interest in Cain and he transferred there to finish college. He compiled an 86-17 record over the next three years.


Velasquez joined the American Kickboxing Academy directly after college. From there he exploded onto the scene! An impressive statistic is that Cain has never lost a round in his MMA career. Velasquez gets better after every fight. His hand placement is phenomenal. I was a serious doubter of his until I watched him fight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. After he knocked him down, he used his lightning fast power to pinpoint strike after strike until the ref stopped the fight.


His brilliance was shown during UFC 121. Brock Lesnar took Cain down early and Cain shrugged him off like he was nothing. He went on to dominate that fight and finish Lesnar with ease. He goes on to make his first title defense this November against Junior Dos Santos.


Cain is on top of the heavyweight division right now, and it doesn’t look like anyone is chopping him down.

Brock Lesnar: Is the UFC Still in Lesnar’s Future?

With Another Hard Fought Battle With a Disease On The Horizon, Is Brock Lesnar Done
Diverticulitis is no laughing matter. It can be a nasty illness and once you have it, it may never leave you. While some forms of the sickness are mild, Brock Lesnar ha…

With Another Hard Fought Battle With a Disease On The Horizon, Is Brock Lesnar Done


Diverticulitis is no laughing matter. It can be a nasty illness and once you have it, it may never leave you. While some forms of the sickness are mild, Brock Lesnar has a very severe form. It is causing him to miss fights and ruining his MMA career.


It has caused Brock to delay his fights and even drop out of one. Whether you believe it or not, it is very hard on him emotionally and physically. Imagine being that big and unstoppable. Now imagine being told that you can’t do something you’re born to do. Brock has viking heritage and even if its a small amount, it is in his blood to fight.


I think that Lesnar will continue to fight through this disease and get back to a UFC title fight. I don’t think that he will ever beat Cain Velasquez, but I do feel that while he is around, he will always be in the top five heavyweights. Lesnar has speed and strength that many cannot match. He trains very hard and is always improving. Brock started completely raw and has managed to defeat some seriously talented fighters. He only has 7 fights under his belt and is 33 years old.


 Rumors have surfaced that Lesnar is nearly done with his stint with the UFC, but I disagree. As a \matter of fact, he is just getting started.