The UFC will be heading to Connecticut on September 5th. The card will air on FS1. Normally we wouldn’t cover such a banal, uninteresting announcement, but something makes it very special: September 5th also marks the date of Bellator’s season 11 debut, and it’s also being held in Connecticut to boot—a mere 10 miles away.
To say this is a big deal is an understatement. Perhaps Bellator’s rumored 100k PPV buys for Bellator 120 turned the UFC’s head, and now they view the promotion as a threat? And what about ratings? Will Bellator and SpikeTV be able to out-draw the UFC and FOX Sports 1?
(Photo via Getty)
The UFC will be heading to Connecticut on September 5th. The card will air on FS1. Normally we wouldn’t cover such a banal, uninteresting announcement, but something makes it very special: September 5th also marks the date of Bellator’s season 11 debut, and it’s also being held in Connecticut to boot—a mere 10 miles away.
To say this is a big deal is an understatement. Perhaps Bellator’s rumored 100k PPV buys for Bellator 120 turned the UFC’s head, and now they view the promotion as a threat? And what about ratings? Will Bellator and SpikeTV be able to out-draw the UFC and FOX Sports 1?
It’s difficult to answer any of these questions at the current moment, especially since neither the UFC nor Bellator has announced a main event. The only fight announced for Bellator 123 is Brennan Ward vs. James Irvin, which isn’t super-appealing in all honesty.
It seems that the only way Bellator can hope to compete with the UFC is if they—forgive the use of this cliche—stack Bellator 123. They’ll have to put Rampage Jackson on the card, and perhaps even Tito Ortiz as well. But if Bellator puts its top draws on the card for free, it’ll cost quite a bit. The UFC is going head-to-head in order to force Bellator into a pace its roster can’t sustain, it would appear.
These are just musings, of course. We have very little information right now. We’ll be sure to update you when we get more.
Just a friendly reminder for you to set your PVR for 9:00 p.m. ET tonight so you don’t miss the acclaimed two-hour Bruce Lee documentary SPIKE TV is airing.
The film, “I Am Bruce Lee,” is a theatrical release currently playing in select theatres in Australia, the U.S. and Canada this month, and by all accounts it’s definitely worth watching, especially if you’re a fan of the late great martial artist and actor’s work.
Just a friendly reminder for you to set your PVR for 9:00 p.m. ET tonight so you don’t miss the acclaimed two-hour Bruce Lee documentary SPIKE TV is airing.
The film, “I Am Bruce Lee,” is a theatrical release currently playing in select theatres in Australia, the U.S. and Canada this month, and by all accounts it’s definitely worth watching, especially if you’re a fan of the late great martial artist and actor’s work.
(Video courtesy of SPIKE TV)
Featuring interviews with several MMA luminaries, including Dana White, Gina Carano, Cung Le, Jon Jones and Stephan Bonnar, the movie is a retrospective look at Lee’s legacy and how his films and dedication to martial arts affected those who experienced the cultural icon’s talents.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/SuperMovietrailers20)
Many fighters point to Lee as the reason why they got into martial arts and eventually fighting, so it’s no wonder they had so many mixed martial artists in the film.
When we mentioned earlier that Mark Munoz had perhaps jumped the gun when he called out Anderson Silva in his post-fight interview, we had no idea how much the execs at Spike TV agreed with us. Turns out, most of you probably never even knew this had happened, because despite the amount of time Spike had to compose the event following it’s actual occurrence, Munoz’s call out of “The Spider” was cut off before we even had the time to process how ridiculous it was. Perhaps this is one of the many reasons that Dana White & Co. are no longer putting up with Spike TV’s bullshit.
In the above video, Munoz states that “I’ve paid my dues in this weight class” and that “I consider [Anderson] a friend, but right now I’d love to get a title shot.” Apparently Munoz believes that if threatening the champ’s wife with sexual harassment and calling him a coward doesn’t work, then maybe a little ass kissing will. And at this point, it’s hard telling what you have to do to get a fight with A. Silva.
So what do you guys think? Is Munoz drinking the wrong Kool-Aid or does he have a point here?
Speaking of Munoz, join us after the jump to see how Leben congratulated “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” on his victory:
When we mentioned earlier that Mark Munoz had perhaps jumped the gun when he called out Anderson Silva in his post-fight interview, we had no idea how much the execs at Spike TV agreed with us. Turns out, most of you probably never even knew this had happened, because despite the amount of time Spike had to compose the event following it’s actual occurrence, Munoz’s call out of “The Spider” was cut off before we even had the time to process how ridiculous it was. Perhaps this is one of the many reasons that Dana White & Co. are no longer putting up with Spike TV’s bullshit.
In the above video, Munoz states that “I’ve paid my dues in this weight class” and that “I consider [Anderson] a friend, but right now I’d love to get a title shot.” Apparently Munoz believes that if threatening the champ’s wife with sexual harassment and calling him a coward doesn’t work, then maybe a little ass kissing will. And at this point, it’s hard telling what you have to do to get a fight with A. Silva.
So what do you guys think? Is Munoz drinking the wrong Kool-Aid or does he have a point here?
Speaking of Munoz, join us after the jump to see how Leben congratulated “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” on his victory:
Always the cheeky bastard gentleman, Leben left a candy bar and note for Munoz at the front desk of their hotel, which Munoz tweeted last night. For those of you with vision like mine, the note reads:
Thank you! I think we put on a grate show. Congratulations. 8=D Chris Leben
Crippler, you classy son of a bitch. Your ability to warm our hearts almost makes us overlook your grammatical shortcomings and need for a phallic insignia. On a side note, who knew that Cadbury made anything other than creme filled eggs? Looks like I’m off to FAO Schwarz to further investigate this mystery.
The UFC has raised several personal bars with its first stadium show, UFC 129 next week in Toronto. Why not one more?
The UFC announced early Thursday morning via its Twitter feed that all five of its unaired preliminary card fights for UFC 129 will be streamed live on Facebook. MMA Fighting was first to report Wednesday that at least two bouts were planned for the social networking giant.
For the first time in its history, every fight on the card will air on a broadcast of some type. The first five fights will stream at the UFC’s Facebook fan page, a trend the company started in January at its Fight for the Troops 2 show. Two prelims will air live on Spike TV, a common pay-per-view lead-in the promotion started at UFC 103 in September 2009. And the main card will air on pay-per-view.
Filed under: UFCTalk all things UFC Fight Night 24 with Matt Erickson and other members of the MMA Fighting team as you watch the Spike TV broadcast live at 10 p.m. ET.
The four fights we’ll be discussing are Phil Davis vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, …
Talk all things UFC Fight Night 24 with Matt Erickson and other members of the MMA Fighting team as you watch the Spike TV broadcast live at 10 p.m. ET.
The UFC has raised several personal bars with its first stadium show, UFC 129 next week in Toronto. Why not one more? 
Talk all things