FightHubTV recently got in front of boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya, and asked him for his thoughts on the Rory MacDonald vs. BJ Penn fight at UFC on FOX 5, which De La Hoya was apparently live-tweeting. It seems that De La Hoya enjoys that MMA stuff once in a while, although he was a little confused by Rory’s performance:
“Well I wondering like, ‘why don’t you just go finish him?’ Because [MacDonald] looks like he has talents, he looks like he has that little ‘it’ factor…just keep on working on it, keep on working on it. You have to feel that killer instinct. Feel it! And go after it. Grab it, get it…I would love to see him use that jab to the body. If I was in there with that opponent he was fighting against, that jab to the body would have just paralyzed him. I mean, it would have. You could see it. I mean, obviously you could see things from outside, but he’s a talented fighter, my hat goes off to him.”
Dang, I kind of feel bad that Oscar referred to UFC legend BJ Penn simply as “that opponent [Rory] was fighting against,” and I’m sure it would break Penn’s heart to hear that. But honestly, I wondered the same thing during the fight. Particularly in the second round, when Penn was doubled up from body shots, with only his pride and otherworldly toughness keeping him on his feet — could MacDonald have turned it up a notch and beaten Penn to the ground? In the third round, when Rory was, ahem, “trying to mix it up [with] different distances” — what if McDonald just threw more strikes instead of showing off his totally sweet Muhammad Ali shuffle-step impression?
FightHubTV recently got in front of boxing legend Oscar De La Hoya, and asked him for his thoughts on the Rory MacDonald vs. BJ Penn fight at UFC on FOX 5, which De La Hoya was apparently live-tweeting. It seems that De La Hoya enjoys that MMA stuff once in a while, although he was a little confused by Rory’s performance:
“Well I wondering like, ‘why don’t you just go finish him?’ Because [MacDonald] looks like he has talents, he looks like he has that little ‘it’ factor…just keep on working on it, keep on working on it. You have to feel that killer instinct. Feel it! And go after it. Grab it, get it…I would love to see him use that jab to the body. If I was in there with that opponent he was fighting against, that jab to the body would have just paralyzed him. I mean, it would have. You could see it. I mean, obviously you could see things from outside, but he’s a talented fighter, my hat goes off to him.”
Dang, I kind of feel bad that Oscar referred to UFC legend BJ Penn simply as “that opponent [Rory] was fighting against,” and I’m sure it would break Penn’s heart to hear that. But honestly, I wondered the same thing during the fight. Particularly in the second round, when Penn was doubled up from body shots, with only his pride and otherworldly toughness keeping him on his feet — could MacDonald have turned it up a notch and beaten Penn to the ground? In the third round, when Rory was, ahem, “trying to mix it up [with] different distances” — what if McDonald just threw more strikes instead of showing off his totally sweet Muhammad Ali shuffle-step impression?
As De La Hoya mentioned himself, it’s easy to judge a fighter from outside the cage, and identify the things they could have done. (By the way, Oscar, if you ever want a blogging gig at CagePotato, just say the word.) Still, the fact that DLH cares enough to share his opinion is a nice change from the MMA vs. Boxing cold war that we’re usually subjected to.
In less than 20 years, the UFC has grown to the point that it’s now officially standing side-by-side with boxing, just like the little brother who grows to the height of his older sibling, and in the next five years, it looks like little brother …
In less than 20 years, the UFC has grown to the point that it’s now officially standing side-by-side with boxing, just like the little brother who grows to the height of his older sibling, and in the next five years, it looks like little brother will be taller and bigger.
How did this come to pass? How did boxing fall from being a sport full of big stars and big-money fights to a series of events dominated by many foreign fighters with foreign motivations?
Sure, boxing still has some great fights—excellent even—but not nearly as many people know about them now as they did 10 years ago.
Simply put, boxing has lost a lot of followers, for a variety of reasons.
For one, getting the fights the fans want to see made and turning them into a reality is more difficult now than it ever has been. While many a fan has been kept waiting, they decided to turn their attention elsewhere, and with them, they took their money.
Of course, this happens in every sport, but no one expected it to happen to the degree it has with boxing. Without names Like Oscar De La Hoya, Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Roy Jones Jr., Arturo Gatti and so on, the sport has lost a great deal of name recognition, and fans do attach themselves to names.
So, how on earth could Zuffa change that? Were they of the mind to get into the business of promoting boxing?
For starters, it wouldn’t be easy because boxers expect more money than your average MMA fighter, and rightly so, as boxing is more dangerous. But, what if it wasn’t a consideration of money? What if Zuffa was willing to pay out the big bucks in such a venture—could they do better than promoters like Bob Arum and Golden Boy?
Well, it would be a bit of both yes and no in the beginning.
Granted, Zuffa has all the right connections, especially in Nevada, and many of their top men know the world of boxing—in all of its aspects—inside and out, coming and going.
But still, the way business is conducted is vastly different, and perhaps, that’s where Zuffa could do the most changing and having the most success.
As they wouldn’t have any titles of recognition or importance to give out, they would have to focus on getting fighters who love to put on a show, and from there, take those fighters and put their accomplishments on a damn big stage under some very big lights.
In short, they would be looking to get fighters who think actions speak louder than words and who believe they have a lot to say and then give them all the exposure they need to do just that.
It would be the only real way to begin: letting the fighters sell themselves and helping them do so to the utmost of their ability; Zuffa could do that with a vengeance.
The second thing Zuffa would do is listen to the public and set up the fights the fans wanted to see, with no contractual hang ups. This is what attracts fans: knowing they are going to get to see the fight they want or at least the fight they’ve been hearing about around the water cooler for the past four months.
No more “Wouldn’t it be great if…?”—now it would be: “Did you hear? Those two guys on Zuffa’s Tuesday Night Fights—the one’s who’ve been kicking so much ass the past year? They’re fighting in July.”
After establishing themselves and their boxers in the minds of the public, they begin to target other promoters and their fighters and start to put on the pressure—your guy vs. my guy.
It’s simple, aggressive and totally to the point, and it would give boxing the shot in the arm it needs. Boxing suffers not from a lack of passion, but from being too encumbered—streaming it back to the glory of the earlier days is not a matter of addition, but subtraction.
It was simple back then because it was about bragging rights, and thus, so shall it be now on Zuffa boxing cards—or something like that.
Granted, this boxing model of Zuffa would be limited in scope and power, and in truth, would act much like a star builder for bigger promotions who already have the biggest names in the sport and the purses to match, but it would also get the fans to talking, and talking is how changes get made.
Back in the 1980s, boxing’s mega-bouts got made very quickly. Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Tommy Hearns was rumored to have been made in less than a week after serious talks began.
Think about that for a moment: the biggest fight of its time, made in less than a week.
That kind of deal-making happens in MMA, especially in the UFC, but in boxing, the only thing big stars could decide upon in a week is what size gloves they would wear if they were ever to decide to fight—and that’s pushing it.
Of course, this flight of fancy is nothing more than that, but it does beget a question: how badly would Bob Arum and Golden Boy be sweating if Zuffa were to get into the boxing promotion business?
Perhaps, not at all; or perhaps, enough to begin to put aside their differences and sign the fights the fans want to see in an effort to get Zuffa out of the sport of boxing and back into MMA.
If for no other reason than that, it would be worth it.
Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending the UFC on FOX 4 fight card at Staples Center in Los Angeles.As a big fight fan, and a person who has trained in both the sport of boxing and in MMA, I am one of those rare, all around fight fans, that has…
Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending the UFC on FOX 4 fight card at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
As a big fight fan, and a person who has trained in both the sport of boxing and in MMA, I am one of those rare, all around fight fans, that has love for both the sport of boxing and MMA, in a world where it seems you have to only love one or the other.
The main reason why I had an interest in attending the UFC on FOX 4 fight card was because I was a big fan of both the main event and co-main event fighters, Shogun and Machida.
From the pre-fight promotions, to the actual fight atmosphere, and post fight activities, I took notice to the reasons why the UFC is so successful and growing stronger to the mainstream as opposed to my personal favorite sport, boxing.
For those of you who have never been to a UFC fight, it is a bit of everything from a fight, to a rock concert, to even a DJ club party.
There is constant entertainment from the laser light shows, to the DJ constantly spinning good mash ups of rock and rap songs together between fights and down time, the UFC understands that they must keep the audience entertained at all times.
Many boxing fans may be also haters of the UFC, but there are definitely many things that boxing can and should learn from the UFC in order to win over new fans to their sport.
Here is a list of five things that boxing must learn from UFC on FOX 4.
(Rule #1 Tito: ALWAYS check for an Adam’s apple before you make your move.)
When we first heard that former UFC lightweight champion Tito Ortiz had purchased Oscar De La Hoya’s training compound, with only one fight left in his career, mind you, we just wrote it off as the kind of business decision that got him fired by Donald Trump. But if you know anything about “The People’s Champ,” you know that the guy more than makes up for his interview skills with business savvy. We may not be sure of the exact figure Tito dropped on this Big Bear Lake-side abode, but you only need to catch a glimpse of the place to realize it was worth it.
Fair warning: the euphoric feeling you will receive as the incredibly gorgeous, CagePotato-loving Corissa Furr leads you around this rustic villa on the latest episode of Ultimate Insiderwill immediately be followed by the crushing realization that you will NEVER live in a place so nice no matter how hard you try.
Video after the jump.
(Rule #1 Tito: ALWAYS check for an Adam’s apple before you make your move.)
When we first heard that former UFC lightweight champion Tito Ortiz had purchased Oscar De La Hoya’s training compound, with only one fight left in his career, mind you, we just wrote it off as the kind of business decision that got him fired by Donald Trump. But if you know anything about “The People’s Champ,” you know that the guy more than makes up for his interview skills with business savvy. We may not be sure of the exact figure Tito dropped on this Big Bear Lake-side abode, but you only need to catch a glimpse of the place to realize it was worth it.
Fair warning: the euphoric feeling you will receive as the incredibly gorgeous, CagePotato-loving Corissa Furr leads you around this rustic villa on the latest episode of Ultimate Insiderwill immediately be followed by the crushing realization that you will NEVER live in a place so nice no matter how hard you try.
First off, was anyone aware that Ortiz and Jenna Jameson were back together? The last we remember, these two were going at it on Twitter like a pair of attention-whoring celebutants. Secondly, what in holy Hell has happened to Jenna Jameson’s face? It looks like some Tijuana back alley surgeon stretched a piece of bologna over Gwyneth Paltrow’s elbow for Christ’s sake. That is not the same woman that captured America’s penises hearts with her acting talents just under a decade ago.
As if the house wasn’t enough to make you turn green with envy, one look at Ortiz’s car collection might just make you curse the heavens above for giving you the body structure and fighting ability of a thirteen year old girl. Not that we could relate, because the CP staff is built like the O’Doyle family and treats the rest of the MMA world as such. But anyway, a Rolls Royce Phantom, which Ortiz describes as “like a house on wheels, literally, that’s how much it cost” and 2012 Porsche rest outside his training facility, along with a few vehicles Ortiz probably didn’t have the time to talk about — apparently he isn’t aware that bitches really give it up for a Ford Fiesta covered in Spice Girls stickers from the previous owner.
Around the three minute mark you will find that *spoiler* De La Hoya actually built two houses on the grounds, the second of which contains yet another billiards table, a monster-sized jacuzzi, and a double staircase straight out of Scarface. All I’m saying is, if I had a place like this, not even the hundred men or more described in Toto’s “Africa” could drag me away from it. Then again, if the old hag I am currently throwing it to ever has the common decency to croak already, I may just get that opportunity.
Ortiz, on the other hand, will get the opportunity to retire Forrest Griffin from life at UFC 148, which goes down from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on July 7th.
Floyd Mayweather Junior will tell you he’s the best boxer of his generation, arguably of all time. And, self-promotion and bombast aside, he might just be right. Mayweather has stood across the ring from 42 different opponents in professional bouts. On…
Floyd Mayweather Junior will tell you he’s the best boxer of his generation, arguably of all time. And, self-promotion and bombast aside, he might just be right.
Mayweather has stood across the ring from 42 different opponents in professional bouts. On 42 different occasions, from Mississippi to Idaho, he’s had his hand raised high. Nine major world titles have been strapped around his waist, and his list of victims reads like a list of future boxing Hall of Famers—Corrales, Castillo, Gatti, De La Hoya, Marquez and Mosley.
Saturday night in Las Vegas, at the MGM Grand where he’s competed on eight occasions, Mayweather will look to add Miguel Cotto to that list. But it’s far from a done deal. Mayweather may have never been beaten—but he’s not unbeatable.
Past opponents have laid the groundwork for how to beat him. There is a game plan that, if executed perfectly, that can lead an opponent to victory. I’m not saying Miguel Cotto is going to beat Floyd Mayweather. But if he does, this will be how.
Brock Lesnar has been retired from MMA since UFC 141 last December, and yet he is still making headlines. After an eight-year hiatus from the WWE, Lesnar returned April 2nd on Monday Night Raw, as he gave WWE superstar John Cena his old finishing…
Brock Lesnar has been retired from MMA since UFC 141 last December, and yet he is still making headlines.
After an eight-year hiatus from the WWE, Lesnar returned April 2nd on Monday Night Raw, as he gave WWE superstar John Cena his old finishing move: the F5.
Lesnar has since appeared on Raw two times and will be making his long anticipated return to the squared circle on Sunday, April 29th at Extreme Rules in Chicago against Cena.
A lot of the public has said that Lesnar had one foot out the door after his loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 in October 2011, and going though the motions against Alistair Overeem at UFC 141 in December.
Another criticism of Lesnar in his UFC days was that he didn’t like to get hit in training camp and never really worked on his standup game. I spoke to famed boxing expert Percy Crawford, who now writes for Fighthype.com, who gave an interesting note that could prove that theory to be true.
“I actually offered I believe it was before the Shane Carwin fight (at UFC 116). His friend Paul Heyman took him with Floyd Mayweather, Sr.,” Crawford told me.
“Heyman said, ‘You know what? That’s not a bad idea. Let me talk to Brock and get back with ya.’
“And then it was kinda like, uh Brock’s kinda comfortable in Minnesota. We’re gonna go with what we have.”
Mayweather Sr, who’s the father and former trainer of boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., has also trained the likes of Ricky Hatton, BJ Penn and former boxing great Oscar De La Hoya in the past.
In less than 20 years, the UFC has grown to the point that it’s now officially standing side-by-side with boxing, just like the little brother who grows to the height of his older sibling, and in the next five years, it looks like little brother will be taller and bigger.
