Jeremy Stephens has been released from Polk County Jail, capping off one of the odder stories that circulated around UFC on FX 5 earlier this month.Stephens’ management group, EvoAgents, updated the fighter’s official website with a public stateme…
Jeremy Stephens has been released from Polk County Jail, capping off one of the odder stories that circulated around UFC on FX 5 earlier this month.
Stephens’ management group, EvoAgents, updated the fighter’s official website with a public statement, thanking the UFC and mixed martial arts fans for their support during Stephen’s incarceration:
While Jeremy’s employer (UFC), his family, friends, and loyal fans have stood behind him, certainly the recent events have garnered some negative media attention.
Jeremy felt it was very important to thank each and every one of those who have stood by his side during this tough time. He wanted everyone to know that despite the negative situation that he’s been placed in, he has remained upbeat and positive, reflecting on the opportunities that have been and will be presented to him, reflecting on his family, and his firm believe [sic] in his innocence.
Stephens was originally scheduled to face-off against Yves Edwards at UFC on FX 5 on October 5th, but was arrested on a warrant for a felony assault charge, dating back to a December 2011 altercation in his home state.
According to the Des Moines Register, Stephens and a friend attacked a man outside of an Iowa bar, rendering the victim unconscious and in need of medical attention.
Stephens lives and trains out of Alliance MMA in San Diego, California, which authorities noted was the primary reason why an arrest couldn’t be accomplished earlier. UFC on FX 5 was hosted at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which made it easier for police to apprehend Stephen in his hotel room.
MMA Fighting reports that Stephens will have a future court date. Stephens’ jail bond was posted at $100,000.
(Where the hell do y’all think you’re going?! Please, I’m begging you, if you stick around, I’ll even break out the Techno Viking dance!)
We can’t wait to see how Dana White tries to spin this one.
The numbers were just released for all of last weekend’s UFC events. The good news: The main FX card did pretty well and the fourth episode of The Ultimate Fighter hit a seasonal high in terms of viewership (take that with a grain of salt). The bad news: The FUEL prelims were caught by less people than the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee prelims on ESPN 3. Probably.
You see, last Friday’s FUEL prelims only managed to draw in 44,000 viewers, absolutely shattering the promotion’s previous FUEL prelim low of 84,000 for UFC on FX 3. If these kind of numbers do not improve, the UFC won’t have to worry about emerging victorious from a ratings war with the WWE because they will be too busy trying to compete with the Punkin Chunkin people. We expect DW to start lobbing insults at “those four-eyed f*cking scumbag f*cks on the Lience Channel” any day now.
(Where the hell do y’all think you’re going?! Please, I’m begging you, if you stick around, I’ll even break out the Techno Viking dance!)
We can’t wait to see how Dana White tries to spin this one.
The numbers were just released for all of last weekend’s UFC events. The good news: The main FX card did pretty well and the fourth episode of The Ultimate Fighter hit a seasonal high in terms of viewership (take that with a grain of salt). The bad news: The FUEL prelims were caught by less people than the 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee prelims on ESPN 3. Probably.
You see, last Friday’s FUEL prelims only managed to draw in 44,000 viewers, absolutely shattering the promotion’s previous FUEL prelim low of 84,000 for UFC on FX 3. If these kind of numbers do not improve, the UFC won’t have to worry about emerging victorious from a ratings war with the WWE because they will be too busy trying to compete with the Punkin Chunkin people. We expect DW to start lobbing insults at “those four-eyed f*cking scumbag f*cks on the Lience Channel” any day now.
In all seriousness, at least part of the insane drop can be attributed to the fact that last weekend’s prelims started one hour earlier than normal — at 5 p.m. EST rather than 6 p.m. — meaning that many West Coast viewers would still likely be working or on their way home when the fights began. That being said, we don’t think a one hour difference could be the sole factor behind a 75% drop from the UFC on FX 4 prelims, which managed to reel in over 160,000 viewers. Although the card suffered some last minute setbacks, we also can’t imagine that the absence of Jeremy Stephens and Dennis Hallman were responsible for this ratings drop either.
At this point, we don’t know what to say really. While it’s not exactly crisis mode for the UFC, there’s no way they can be completely satisfied with such continually disappointing numbers. Say what you want about “Spuke TV”, but they sure as hell knew how to market The Ultimate Fighter and the prelim events better than FX does. I can’t remember the last time I saw an advertisement for the prelims more than a day or two out from when they were scheduled to air, which seems to be the main problem FX is facing: awareness. With a UFC event happening practically every weekend, FX needs to start advertising each event earlier and with more frequency if they expect to bring in more viewers.
Then again, it could simply be a case of the UFC spreading themselves too thin. Think about it, most cable-accessible UFC events begin with a live stream on Facebook, then a few fights on FUEL, then the main card on FX. Aside from the fact that most of the country does not get FUEL even with special cable packages — I have a 160 channel package that doesn’t — asking your viewing audience to keep jumping through hoops to watch a few fights featuring lower-level fighters seems like a counterproductive strategy. Only die hard fans of the sport will make the effort to catch every single fight, and they must often resort to illegal streams and other means to do so because of the variety of channels and mediums through which the UFC broadcasts their content on a given night.
The question now becomes: What can the UFC/FX do to boost these ratings?
UFC fighter Jeremy Stephens, arrested hours before he was due to fight at UFC on FX 5 last Saturday has finally been told when he’ll face a judge. According to the Hennepin County sheriff’s roster in Minneapolis, a October 23 court hea…
UFC fighter Jeremy Stephens, arrested hours before he was due to fight at UFC on FX 5 last Saturday has finally been told when he’ll face a judge.
Records also show that his bail has been set at $100,000 (h/t MMA Fighting)
There are few details about the nature of the crime he’s being charged for, except a statement released by his management, Evolution Agents, Monday, which points to an altercation at a party in which Stephens was present back in 2011, in Des Moines, Iowa.
The 26-year-old lightweight has had an inconsistent career with the UFC where he’s gone 7-7 since joining the organisation in 2007. Last Saturday he was hoping to turn around a two-fight losing streak with a match against Yves Edwards.
However, as Dana White explained at the post-fight press conference, things got a little complicated.
“I cut the deal with people down in Des Moines, Iowa, to get him out. I accept that deal too,” said White. “They changed the deal. Every time I accepted the deal, they kept trying to make it harder and harder and harder. You know me, especially after I tweeted the media to shut up, I was devising a plan to break him out and get him over here to come out and do this fight. So, they finally made this deal for an astronomical amount of money to make the deal, and I agreed to it, and then they did it again. So they’re going to stick it to this kid big-time when he gets to Iowa.”
For now White is standing behind the fighter who remains in jail.
Fans knew something was wrong with Travis Browne in the lead-up to getting decked by a right hand from Antonio Silva.Browne began the fight with his trademark footwork and threw a high kick at his Brazilian opponent. At the post-fight press conference,…
Fans knew something was wrong with Travis Browne in the lead-up to getting decked by a right hand from Antonio Silva.
Browne began the fight with his trademark footwork and threw a high kick at his Brazilian opponent.
At the post-fight press conference, Browne stated that he heard his hamstring pop three times. Turns out the injury may have been more severe than a simple hyperextension. MMA Weekly has the details from Browne’s Twitter account.
“They said I tore my hamstring, ill be out for 2-4 months,” Browne tweeted. “Luckily no surgery.”
To his credit, Browne didn’t attempt to use the injury as an excuse for the loss. The loss was Browne’s first of his professional career and also snapped a three-fight win streak inside the Octagon. For Silva, it was his first win in the UFC and allowed the Brazilian to avoid the dreaded three-fight losing streak that generally ends with walking papers.
If Browne can come back as early as January, it could set him up for another possible title run depending how the title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos plays out.
Alistair Overeem is likely to play a big role in the title picture, but after those three, the list of credible challengers at heavyweight all require at least one more fight before a title bout.
Never one to shy away from speaking his mind, UFC heavyweight Pat Barry (7-5 MMA, 4-5 UFC) wore his frustrations on his sleeve at last weekend’s UFC on FX 5. Sitting in the front row of the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Barry became visibly …
Never one to shy away from speaking his mind, UFC heavyweight Pat Barry (7-5 MMA, 4-5 UFC) wore his frustrations on his sleeve at last weekend’s UFC on FX 5.
Sitting in the front row of the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Barry became visibly annoyed at the booing and abuse being hurled at Jussier Formiga and John Dodson by one particular fan.
As the booing continued, Barry began to seek out the source, and found a gentleman who, by this point, had begun calling the fighters some, shall we say, uncouth names. Or pussies if we’re going to be factual.
Curious as to how someone could think such a thing of two professional combat athletes, Barry stood up and began to query the gentleman, garnering the approval and applause of the crowd, and requested he repeat himself. Unwilling to oblige, the fan in question returned to his seat and attempted to wave off the unwanted attention from the fan-favourite heavyweight.
While goading a member of the public into a dispute is not necessarily a positive thing for a UFC fighter to do, Barry later had a discussion with the fan, as he found him in line waiting for an autograph from the very fighter he was voicing his disdain for, flyweight John Dodson.
In the ensuing conversation, according to Barry, and sourced from his video response on his official YouTube.com channel, Barry elucidated his point to the fan, that it’s perverse to question the bravery of athletes from the comfort of a spectator’s chair.
In a sport where fan education, or a lack thereof, can often lead to ground-game-heavy fights and anything that doesn’t approximate a slug-fest being unpopular, it’s refreshing to see an employee of the UFC take a stand in defense of his peers and colleagues.
(Having recently established himself as the alpha male, the Bigfoot eagerly races off into the jungles of Brazil to copulate with the herd’s last remaining female.)
We may be a few days removed from UFC on FX 5, but that doesn’t mean that the future has already been determined for the night’s biggest winners. Joe Silva and Sean Shelby may be the best in the biz, but even they could probably use a bit of matchmaking advice — or at least a backup plan– considering that half of the fights they book in the aftermath of this event will be cancelled due to injury, arrest, or a classic case of bitch wife. This is where the Armchair Matchmaker comes in, for what are sports without over analysis, needless speculation, and a headscratching appearance from Liam Neeson? By the end of this article, you will have witnessed at least one of these.
Here we go.
Antonio Silva: You might chalk this up to laziness, but pairing the rebounding “Bigfoot” against Stefan Struve seems like an awesome idea to us. We know Stefan called out Fabricio Werdum following his big win over Stipe Miocic at UFC on FUEL 5, but we think this matchup makes just as much sense, if not more. Both men have recently reestablished themselves at legitimate threats and Werdum 2.0 (you know, the one that can do this to people on the feet) seems like he would put on a clinic against either man. It would be a stretch to declare that either Struve or Silva are exactly title-worthy material yet, so let these two big men slug it out and give the winner a top contender. It’s a classic battle of Chin vs. Lankiness — Jay Leno vs. Conan O’Brien in an MMA ring, if you will — and would surely deliver an exciting finish inside the distance.
(Having recently established himself as the alpha male, the Bigfoot eagerly races off into the jungles of Brazil to copulate with the herd’s last remaining female.)
We may be a few days removed from UFC on FX 5, but that doesn’t mean that the future has already been determined for the night’s biggest winners. Joe Silva and Sean Shelby may be the best in the biz, but even they could probably use a bit of matchmaking advice — or at least a backup plan– considering that half of the fights they book in the aftermath of this event will be cancelled due to injury, arrest, or a classic case of bitch wife. This is where the Armchair Matchmaker comes in, for what are sports without over analysis, needless speculation, and a headscratching appearance from Liam Neeson? By the end of this article, you will have witnessed at least one of these.
Here we go.
Antonio Silva: You might chalk this up to laziness, but pairing the rebounding “Bigfoot” against Stefan Struve seems like an awesome idea to us. We know Stefan called out Fabricio Werdum following his big win over Stipe Miocic at UFC on FUEL 5, but we think this matchup makes just as much sense, if not more. Both men have recently reestablished themselves at legitimate threats and Werdum 2.0 (you know, the one that can do this to people on the feet) seems like he would put on a clinic against either man. It would be a stretch to declare that either Struve or Silva are exactly title-worthy material yet, so let these two big men slug it out and give the winner a top contender. It’s a classic battle of Chin vs. Lankiness – Jay Leno vs. Conan O’Brien in an MMA ring, if you will — and would surely deliver an exciting finish inside the distance.
Jake Ellenberger: He may have come away with a victory over a legit fighter in Jay Hieron on Friday, but Ellenberger’s performance was easily one of the most disappointing in recent memory, which is saying something considering he was just TKO’d in his last fight. Ellenberger seemed far too content to throw haymakers with the hope of a flash KO and never really went out of his way to try and obtain a finish, so there’d be no better way to light a fire under him for his next fight than to pair him with perennial trash-talking contender Josh Koscheck. Kos is coming off a close loss to Johnny Hendricks, who he ranked just above “Ingleburger” in a previous interview and would love the opportunity to prove all of us retarded, fighter-ranking assholes wrong anyway.
John Dodson: Although Dodson earned the right to fight newly-crowned flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson with his impressive second round knockout of Jussier Formiga, we’d rather see Dodson take on the drunken asshole that couldn’t keep quiet on Friday in a no holds-barred street fight to the death. If Dodson wins, we can never complain about another flyweight fight again. If he loses, we pack him and as many flyweights as humanely possible into an undersized car and let the hijinks ensue.
Justin Edwards: Edwards is four fights into his UFC career, yet we still don’t really know what to make of the guy. His 45-second victory over Neer was both impressive and unexpected, but again, it didn’t tell us much about him other than the fact that he has a nasty arm-in guillotine. Simply put, we need to see more of Edwards, and a fight that would show us a lot about the guy would be against a Dan Miller type fighter. Not only does Miller also possess one of the nastiest guillotines in the division — which he used to score his last victory — but he is a well rounded, middle-of-the-pack guy who would be the perfect litmus test for Edwards. Miller was expected to face Sean Pierson at UFC 152, but pulled out when he received word that his son Danny Jr. would be undergoing a much needed kidney transplant. Now that Danny Jr. appears to be in the clear for the time being, we imagine Dan could use some more help paying the bills, and a win over Edwards would be a solid step in the right direction.
Michael Johnson: The TUF 12 product was able to overcome some early difficulty against Danny Castillo (thanks in part to a slight mental error by “Last Call”) in the first round and scored the most vicious knockout of his career in the second. Now finding himself on a three fight win streak, Johnson could use a slight step up in competition to see if he can overcome adversity again. A clash against the ever-improving Matt Wiman would make sense. Wiman recently scored a huge upset over Paul Sass at UFC on FUEL 5, and like Johnson, could use another big victory to keep his name in circulation.
Mike Pierce: It was almost eerie how similar Pierce’s and Johnson’s performances were last Friday. Both men were rocked in the first round, only to release the Kraken (I TOLD YOU!) and deliver a spine-shattering knockout early in the second. Considering how terrible Pierce looked in his victory over Carlos Eduardo Rocha his last trip out, he has to be feeling like a boss right now and rightfully so. Pierce is now 7-3 in his UFC career, with all of his losses coming to title challengers, so why not toss him another former title challenger? After falling to a third round come from behind submission at the hands of Martin Kampmann, Thiago Alves was supposed to fight Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 149, but blah blah blah injury curse, so pairing him against Pierce seems like a pretty smart move to effectively destroy any hope one of these men has at a title shot (or another in Alves’ case).
Are there any matchups that you’d rather see, Potato Nation?
Jeremy Stephens has been released from Polk County Jail, capping off one of the odder stories that circulated around UFC on FX 5 earlier this month.
