To the bewilderment of mixed martial arts (MMA) fans and media members across the world, tomorrow’s (Sat., July 29, 2017) stacked UFC 214 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, appears to be poised to go off without a hitch (fingers crossed), something that unfortunately hasn’t been the norm for a Jon Jones-headlined card in recent […]
To the bewilderment of mixed martial arts (MMA) fans and media members across the world, tomorrow’s (Sat., July 29, 2017) stacked UFC 214 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, appears to be poised to go off without a hitch (fingers crossed), something that unfortunately hasn’t been the norm for a Jon Jones-headlined card in recent years.
The all-time great, who was only beaten by himself and his outside-of-the-cage problems with drugs, will have yet another attempt at a comeback when he meets archrival Daniel Cormier, the stalwart champion who has won four fights in “Bones’” absence but was still beaten by the troubled ex-champ, in the UFC 214 main event. The co-main event features a closely-matched welterweight title affair between power slugger Tyron Woodley and peerless grappling whiz Demian Maia, why consensus women’s No. 1 pound-for-pound star Cris Cyborg meets former Invicta champ Tonya Evinger for the women’s featherweight belt in the event’s third title fight.
The fighters weighed in according to California’s increasingly strict weigh-in standards this morning, the results of which can be seen here. Now, the fighters will square off in the final media event of the UFC 214 build-up when the ceremonial weigh-in begins shortly at 8:00 p.m. EST. Watch the video streaming live right here:
It’s no secret that the UFC is having a tough run in the first seven months of 2017. After a banner year in 2016 with multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events eclipsing the coveted one-million buy threshold, new owners WME-IMG are finding out just what it’s like to run the world’s biggest MMA promotion in a time […]
It’s no secret that the UFC is having a tough run in the first seven months of 2017.
After a banner year in 2016 with multiple pay-per-view (PPV) events eclipsing the coveted one-million buy threshold, new owners WME-IMG are finding out just what it’s like to run the world’s biggest MMA promotion in a time of downward-trending PPVs without flagship stars Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey anywhere close to the octagon.
True, McGregor will return to the ring against Floyd Mayweather, on August 26, but that could be hurting the UFC’s actual numbers more than helping them. We’ll get to that shortly.
Regardless, both the preliminary card television ratings and pay-per-view buyrates for July 8’s UFC 213 from Las Vegas were recently revealed, and the numbers ultimately amounted to some of the most dismal overall viewership turnouts the UFC has ever seen. Now, women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes’ extremely late withdrawal from her championship bout versus Valentina Shevchenko most definitely caused the lack of buys, but the numbers are concerning nonetheless.
Things didn’t get better two weeks later when UFC on FOX 25 aired live from the Nassau Coliseum on July 22. Despite former middleweight champion Chris Weidman securing an emotional headlining win over Kelvin Gastelum in his hometown, the card had the lowest-ever ratings for a UFC on FOX event in overnight ratings, a number that rose to “only” the third-worst of all-time when the time slot spillover numbers for the main event were factored in.
That continued a disturbing decline for big FOX-aired cards in 2017, but those numbers are also simply indicative of the overall trend of the year, where pay-per-view rates have went down drastically in addition to TV-aired events and PPV prelim numbers.
There are several big underlying factors for this sharp and disturbing decline. On the eve of the biggest pay-per-view of the year, let’s take at the five most impactful.
Promoting Only McGregor & Rousey:
The UFC enjoyed their most lucrative two-year stretch in history from 2015-2016, a time when their biggest-ever crossover stars in Rousey and McGregor were winning big fights in dominant fashion. Rousey was being called the most dominant fighter in MMA, and McGregor won both the featherweight and lightweight titles while becoming the sport’s biggest star.
But that time period simply couldn’t be sustained, as Rousey infamously lost the belt to Holly Holm at UFC 193, following it up with another unsuccessful title fight in her 48-second loss to Nunes at 2016’s UFC 207, after which it appears Rousey may never fight in the UFC again.
McGregor is not gone; at least not in the same sense as Rousey. He’s obviously involved in his hyped-up boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, and while the UFC will obviously get a ton of attention and hype from that massive spectacle, it brings up one vital, overarching point – the UFC simply promoted only their top two stars in recent years, and while it clearly worked in that regard, it left them much too dependent on McGregor and Rousey for success, because their other fighters just aren’t bringing in any numbers at all.
If they ever want to get back to the level where they have their big draws and their mid-level stars; say in the time of dominant champions Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre where mid-level stars like Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson could still sell an in-between card for 350-400,000 buys, they’re going to have to diversify their promotional strategy.
UFC 214 is set to take place on Saturday, July 29th at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. A portion of the preliminary card will air on the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass, at 6:30 p.m. ET while the rest of the prelims will air on FXX at 8 p.m. ET. The main card will […]
UFC 214 is set to take place on Saturday, July 29th at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. A portion of the preliminary card will air on the promotion’s streaming service, UFC Fight Pass, at 6:30 p.m. ET while the rest of the prelims will air on FXX at 8 p.m. ET. The main card will air on PPV (pay-per-view) at 10 p.m. ET.
The event will be headlined by a light heavyweight bout between champion Daniel Cormier and former champion Jon Jones. Tyron Woodley vs. Demian Maia for the welterweight title will serve as the co-main event. Rounding out the five bout main card is Cristiane Justino vs. Tonya Evinger for the vacant women’s featherweight title, Donald Cerrone vs. Robbie Lawler in a welterweight bout and Jimi Manuwa vs. Volkan Oezdemir in a light heavyweight bout.
UFC officials held the weigh-ins for UFC 214 on Friday and here are the weigh-in results:
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
Champ Daniel Cormier (205) vs. Jon Jones () – for light heavyweight title
Champ Tyron Woodley () vs. Demian Maia () – for welterweight title
Tonya Evinger () vs. Cristiane Justino () – for vacant women’s featherweight title
Donald Cerrone () vs. Robbie Lawler ()
Jimi Manuwa () vs. Volkan Oezdemir ()
PRELIMINARY CARD (FXX, 8 p.m. ET)
Jason Knight (145.5) vs. Ricardo Lamas ()
Renan Barao () vs. Aljamain Sterling ()
Renato Moicano () vs. Brian Ortega ()
Andre Fili () vs. Calvin Kattar ()
PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:30 p.m. ET)
Alexandra Albu vs. Kailin Curran ()
Jarred Brooks vs. Eric Shelton ()
Josh Burkman vs. Drew Dober ()
You can watch the ceremonial weigh-ins at 7:00 PM EST:
He may be slated to finally settle his three-year-long rivalry with Daniel Cormier in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., July 29, 2017) UFC 214 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, but much of the hype surrounding former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been about his rumored super fight with former heavyweight […]
He may be slated to finally settle his three-year-long rivalry with Daniel Cormier in the main event of this weekend’s (Sat., July 29, 2017) UFC 214 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, but much of the hype surrounding former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones has been about his rumored super fight with former heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar.
The speculation began when word arrived last week that Lesnar has re-entered the USADA testing pool to begin an octagon return, a notion that was shot down by UFC vice president of athlete health and wellness Jeff Novitzky when he confirmed Lesnar still had six months left on his USADA suspension.
But with the potential of such a massive fight gaining steam, Jones fired up discussions to an all-new level when he said he’d ‘love to fight Lesnar’ during a Facebook live chat earlier this week.
Lesnar was quick to respond to The Associated Press, stating he would fight Jones ‘anytime, anywhere,’ but had to worry about ‘DC’ on Saturday first. Indeed that was a true statement, yet Jones vs. Lesnar was still a topic of discussion at yesterday’s UFC 214 pre-fight presser. Asked about the hulking heavyweight during the last question, White revealed he had not talked to Lesnar, something that people are not surprisingly refusing to believe:
“I haven’t talked to Brock Lesnar. I don’t know. Sounds like nobody believes me, but it’s true. I have not talked to Brock Lesnar.”
It’s far from difficult to surmise just why people wouldn’t believe White has talked to Lesnar amidst seemingly infinite rumors about his return, as White has gained a nefarious reputation for saying one thing was not true only to see it announced within a matter of days – or even hours. Lesnar’s return at UFC 200 was also shrouded in secrecy – at least, the UFC attempted to havee it be that way last June, but the story was broke early before it was to be announced at UFC 199.
So the promotion, despite being under new ownership, may still be playing it coy with Lesnar’s return. He does have the aforementioned six months left on his ‘frozen’ suspension from his win over Mark Hunt, before and during which he failed USADA drug tests for banned substance clomiphene, retiring when he was handed a ban.
He could return in 2018, and obviously a fight against Jones, if he’s able to beat Cormier and stay out of trouble until then, would obviously be a massive pay-per-view success. Jones knows that, and so does White, yet “Bones” chose to take a stance along the lines of Lesnar’s suggestion at the press conference:
“I’ll deal with Daniel, and then I’ll deal with Brock Lesnar.”
Probably a good idea after only one fight in the last two-and-a-half years. There are many hurdles to be toppled in the fight becoming a legitimate possibility, as Jones and Lesnar’s well-documented troubles with performance-enhancing drugs (and other illegal drugs in Jones’ case) will factor in perhaps more than any other fight, as both were ironically suspended at the same event for the same substance.
That makes it seem like Jones vs. Lesnar, while a fight fan’s dream on paper, could be tough to actually book in real life. As jones says, he has to get by Cormier first.
Perhaps there has been no other UFC rivalry with the sheer amount of trash talk, backstory, and animosity than the over three-year spat between current light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and longtime former champion Jon Jones. The two started off their resilient confrontation with the spectacle that was the UFC 178 media day brawl back […]
Perhaps there has been no other UFC rivalry with the sheer amount of trash talk, backstory, and animosity than the over three-year spat between current light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier and longtime former champion Jon Jones.
The two started off their resilient confrontation with the spectacle that was the UFC 178 media day brawl back in the summer of 2014, and after fighting once in early 2015, the foregone conclusion that was a rematch was then rescheduled more than once thanks to injuries from Cormier and a never-ending stream of drug-related troubles for Jones.
They’ll finally rematch in the main event of Saturday night’s (July 29, 2017) UFC 214 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, and today, the two light heavyweight legends went face-to-face for what will hopefully rank as the final press conference of many. Due to that fact, Jones not surprisingly got the trash talk rolling early, snubbing a well-known MMA reporter before going off on “DC” as predicted.
It all started when Cormier was asked if he truly believed Jones had used steroids to get to the championship, to which the champ relied he believed he had and was not afraid to say it:
“Earlier this week, Jon about cried because I accused him of using steroids. Do I feel like he tried to cheat? Yeah I do. Why can I not say what I feel? Why can I not say what I want? If I believe it in my heart, I will say it. And yes, I do believe he’s done it for a long time, so I don’t care.”
Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea for USA TODAY Sports
Jones interrupted his opponent by asking how long he thought he’d been on the juice:
“How long do you think I’ve been doing steroids?”
Cormier gave an honest assessment of his view, believing Jones to have not used steroids only during the very first part of his career while being dirty for the vast majority of his time at the top:
“Well, you’ve earned the title fight, you know, so I imagine you’re about 3-0 in the UFC, so those first three fights. Ovince Saint Preux, Gusmao, and Forrest Bonnar – what’s that guy’s name that he beat? Yeah, Stephan Bonnar. Stephen Bonnar those three fights is when you didn’t do steroids, but everything else in the middle is eliminated.”
“Bones” then pointed out that he when he was attempting his comeback in early 2016 and posting videos of him lifting insane amounts of weights at a new powerlifting gym, USADA was in effect and he did not test positive, choosing to leave out the fact that he was removed from last summer’s UFC 200 rematch with Cormier for failing a USADA drug test:
“When I started powerlifting four days a week, with these chicken-ass legs , with these bad genetics, and I started deadlifting 600 pounds, squatting 500 pounds, USADA was in full effect. So how did I get away with that?”
Cormier clarified his words, adding that he didn’t believe Jones was on steroids for his lackluster defeat of Ovince Saint Preux at UFC 197 last year, and it showed:
“I’m not saying you did it last year versus Ovince Saint Preux. You were clean last year when you fought Ovince Saint Preux. That’s why you look like you look. You look like a bum.”
That’s when Jones took things up a level, sowing off his physique that has been a highly discussed topic this week:
(Lifts shirt up) “How do I look? How do I look DC?”
Never one to rely on the merits of his physique, Cormier brushed Jones’ six-pack off as vanity muscle:
“That’s all just for show.”
But Jones wasn’t playing, as he ripped into an obviously drained Cormier for actually being the one who looked like the junkie of the two, ending the assault with a vicious insult:
“Who looks like a junkie here? Look at this guy’s face. Who looks like a junkie here today? You look like a crackhead with a suit on.”
Finally, Cormier ended the back-and-forth by noting that while he can look like a crackhead with a suit on as long as he’s never been one like Jones had:
“I can look like a crackhead with a suit on, but I’ve never been a crackhead like you have though. So you can say I look like one, but I’ve never been one. I’ve never been one.”
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will finally return from a one-year suspension and a host of other outside-the-cage problems when he meets current champion and rival Daniel Cormier in the main event of Saturday’s (July 29, 2017) UFC 214 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The two bitter rivals continued a verbal […]
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones will finally return from a one-year suspension and a host of other outside-the-cage problems when he meets current champion and rival Daniel Cormier in the main event of Saturday’s (July 29, 2017) UFC 214 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
The two bitter rivals continued a verbal battle that has lasted more than three years at today’s UFC 214 pre-fight press conference, and not surprisingly, things got heated quickly.
But it may not have been how you expected it to go down. Part of that was exacerbated by the fact that Jones , when asked if he cared about being the so-called “bad guy,” any longer, told MMA Junkie’s John Morgan he had stopped caring:
“Yeah, I feel like I’m at a pretty good place in my life with who I am, and I’ve just kind of learned not to give a fuck, and it feels great.”
An interesting choice of words, as it could certainly be suggested that not giving a you-know-what was what got Jones into all of the trouble that has severely hampered his otherwise decorated fighting career for the past three years.
Indeed Jones’ entire UFC run has been littered with massive successes held back by only head-scratching mishaps involving drugs and other poor decisions. Now that he has turned 30, Jones was asked by MMA Fighting’s Luke Thomas how he viewed his 20s:
“You’re 30 now, so I’m wondering as you turned 30, I guess on the 19th of July, what would you say about your 20s? Was it good, was it bad, was it somewhere in between, how would you look back on that decade?”
Jones appeared to not like that question whatsoever, telling Thomas he did not like him and would therefore deny answering his question:
“I don’t really like you, Luke, so I’m not going to answer your question.”
There’s no clear explanation of what past discord Jones and Thomas may have had with one another, but it was clearly enough, at least in Jones’ mind, to publicly call out a man who is widely respected as one of the best and most thorough journalists in the MMA industry.
We’ll reserve our own judgements for now, however, as once again, the details of why Jones declined are uncertain. Depending on just what they are, Jones, who probably should be trying to repair his extremely tarnished image, has instead taken the not-so-tactful stance of “not giving a f***,” and that seemed to come off on a reporter just trying to gain a point of view today. The fans in California seemed to side with Jones, cheering when he snubbed Thomas, but they were probably there to see some drama unfold in the first place.
What was your opinion of the press conference scene? Did Thomas somehow deserve to be brushed aside, or is Jones continuing on the same path despite claiming to be a changed man for his latest comeback?
