Tag: UFC intro

So Why Exactly Did That Nu Metal-Lite New UFC Intro Cost Anderson Silva Money to Make?

(Video courtesy of DailyMotion/JMMANow)

You know an intro is questionable at best when it has fans clamouring for more Stemm and a metrosexual gladiator.

Saturday night the UFC debuted its new “Evolution” video montage that will kick off every pay-per-view event for the unforeseeable future, or at least until fans bitch and moan enough that Dana White gets sick of hearing them and gives in and changes it. The concept was good, but superimposing classic UFC moments over top of an industrial CGI set made it look like the outtakes from a dime-a-dozen video game.

Fans have been split on whether or not they like the “upgrade,” but the ones who seem okay with it are the ones who never really cared one way or the other.

Dana revealed last week that the intro cost an obscene amount of money to make, but unfortunately the piece of avant-garde visual “art” ended up looking like a hot mess, rather than a Jackson Pollock. Money well spent.


(Video courtesy of DailyMotion/JMMANow)

You know an intro is questionable at best when it has fans clamouring for more Stemm and a metrosexual gladiator.

Saturday night the UFC debuted its new “Evolution” video montage that will kick off every pay-per-view event for the unforeseeable future, or at least until fans bitch and moan enough that Dana White gets sick of hearing them and gives in and changes it. The concept was good, but superimposing classic UFC moments over top of an industrial CGI set made it look like the outtakes from a dime-a-dozen video game.

Fans have been split on whether or not they like the “upgrade,” but the ones who seem okay with it are the ones who never really cared one way or the other.

Dana revealed last week that the intro cost “an obscene amount of money” to make, but unfortunately the piece of avant-garde visual “art” ended up looking like a hot mess, rather than a Jackson Pollock. Money well spent.

A few observations:

– I wonder how many veins popped out on Ken Shamrock’s head when he saw that he was used prominently in the promo, considering how he is basically living fight-to-fight and paycheck-to-paycheck after losing his lawsuit against Zuffa.

– No Shogun, no Machida, no Frank Shamrock, no Mark Coleman, no Dan Severn and no Dan Henderson, yet we have Lesnar in the video, twice? Seriously?

– Wouldn’t it have been less cheesy to have them appear to be fighting in a Roman colosseum?

– Couldn’t they have forgone Hans Zimmer in favor of someone under the age of 50 who may actually know what MMA is, like say the Dust Brothers.

– Does anyone else get a “Wide World of Sports/SportsCenter vibe from this?

As much as I wasn’t a big fan of the Gladiator, I much prefer the old intro to this new incarnation. Maybe it’s the Pavlovian response I have when I hear the opening bars of Optimus Bellum Domitor and I get pumped up to see fights. The new score just doesn’t have the same effect.

It reminds me of few years back when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) decided to rewrite the theme for it’s historic landmark Saturday night staple, Hockey Night in Canada. Fans were pissed since the original had become a part of the sport’s culture, but they eventually got over it like they do with most things, except new Coke and Obama.

On This Day in MMA History: “The Gladiator” Got Axed

Today is truly a sad day for the MMA world, one that no amount of Office Space parodies or Korean television can resolve. For today, a great man has died, and therefore has taken a piece of us all with him. We’re talking, of course, about none other than the unacknowledged gladiator who’s trials and tribulations were once synonymous with the beginning of every UFC event. We’re talking about the nameless, faceless warrior who could grind sand into…well, sand, in the palm of his hand whilst an epic chorus sang in the background. Though we never knew what lied beyond the blinding white he so courageously stepped into night after night, it seems now that the mysterious abyss was in fact the UFC vault. The Underground was the first to break the story:

Tonight, UFC President Dana White revealed exclusively to the Underground that the opening sequence for its PPV broadcast has been redone and the new introduction will be revealed this Saturday for UFC 143. The event will feature Nick Diaz fighting Carlos Condit for the interim welterweight championship in the main event.

The opening sequence, which has shown a Roman gladiator preparing for battle has often been critiqued by fans and although the sequence hasn’t been used by the UFC on its FOX and Fuel TV broadcasts, it had been present as most recent as this past UFC 142.

To quote the UFC President directly: “He’s been cut.”

We know what you’re thinking, what does this mean for Stemm?

Today is truly a sad day for the MMA world, one that no amount of Office Space parodies or Korean television can resolve. For today, a great man has died, and therefore has taken a piece of us all with him. We’re talking, of course, about none other than the unacknowledged gladiator who’s trials and tribulations were once synonymous with the beginning of every UFC event. We’re talking about the nameless, faceless warrior who could grind sand into…well, sand, in the palm of his hand whilst an epic chorus sang in the background. Though we never knew what lied beyond the blinding white he so courageously stepped into night after night, it seems now that the mysterious abyss was in fact the UFC vault. The Underground was the first to break the story:

Tonight, UFC President Dana White revealed exclusively to the Underground that the opening sequence for its PPV broadcast has been redone and the new introduction will be revealed this Saturday for UFC 143. The event will feature Nick Diaz fighting Carlos Condit for the interim welterweight championship in the main event.

The opening sequence, which has shown a Roman gladiator preparing for battle has often been critiqued by fans and although the sequence hasn’t been used by the UFC on its FOX and Fuel TV broadcasts, it had been present as most recent as this past UFC 142.

To quote the UFC President directly: “He’s been cut.”

We know what you’re thinking, what does this mean for Stemm? Well, we simply can’t answer that at the moment, but as long as “Face the Pain” isn’t replaced by one of those terrible Bee Gees/50 Cent mash-ups we are forced to sit through in between fights at actual UFC events, we imagine it will be fine. [Author’s note: I actually saw Stemm open for Chimaira back in ’04, unaware that they were the band behind the UFC theme song at the time. They put on a hell of a show, believe it or not. If you’re a fan of metal, check out one of their better songs IMO here.] It does appear, however, that Canadian trainer Hovig Tchaderian will be taking the place of “gladiator guy” in the new sequence, which will apparently consist of a hand wrapping scene and a glorified entrance. Thrilling stuff.

Now, whether or not you were a fan of the gladiator sequence (and really, who was?), you have to admit that all these changes the UFC has been undergoing is getting a little foreboding. Don’t follow? Perhaps you are familiar with the tale of how Utah came to be, as told by Stumpy. Be careful what you wish for, Potato Nation; our Papa Muntz statue has just been hauled off the figurative mountain.


R.I.P. Gladiator Guy 
? – January 30th, 2012
“Now You Are Free” 

-J. Jones