Tag: unsupportable opinion

The Unsupportable Opinion: I’m Watching Bellator Instead of UFC This Friday, And You Should Too


(Bobby Lashley has swelled up to Guy on the Right proportions. That’s worth your attention, right there.)

By Shep Ramsey

Unless you’ve been trapped in your basement savoring celebrity nudes for the past few days, you can’t ignore the UFC vs. Bellator showdown this Friday night. Both MMA organizations are going head-to-head, and to make the pot even sweeter, both events take place in the not-so-glorious state of Connecticut.

Are Dana White and Scott Coker both there to lobby for MMA regulation in nearby New York, or petition for the return of the Hartford Whalers? No.

Not since Donovan Bailey and Michael Johnson’s match of “Who Can Run Faster, You or Me” has the sporting world been on the edge of their seats for something of this magnitude. But first, a brief rundown of what’s been happening in each promotion.

Let’s begin with Bellator, the little-brother league that used to hold tournaments not only for its fighters to earn title shots, but also to give champions 14-month periods of rest between fights. Viacom, the mega broadcast company that currently pulls the strings, recently axed Bjorn Rebney from his presidential post for being a “dickrider,” and brought former Strikeforce mastermind Scott Coker into the fold to run this promotion before it runs itself into the ground. I mean, who else brought you the demise of Fedor Emilianenko, premiere women’s MMA battles, Frank Shamrock getting his arms broken by kicks, a post-fight brawl involving Californian gangs, and Gus “Call of the Century” Johnson?

As for the UFC, the promotion started out as an addictive source of violence after two casino heirs-turned-bodybuilders used their papa’s money to hire King Kong Bundy in a dress, and revolutionized the sport of MMA. Nowadays, UFC head honcho (and the sole reason why MMA exists) Dana White, has turned on the fans, media, and even fighters because nobody is watching the 2,034 shows his company puts on a year. Basically, it’s your fault that the UFC is watered down, and if you don’t like it, don’t watch it, but keep in mind, you’re a piece of trash for not watching and supporting fighters who are away from their families for six weeks. And fuck the media for telling you otherwise, because if they’re not with UFC, they have no business writing editorials or opinion columns that their employers pay them for.

So here we are on the eve of UFC Fight Night 50 (which really feels like 250) and Bellator 123 (which feels like 123, considering we have no idea what happened from 1 to 81). You have to pick one, and this writer is going to pretend that dual television sets, DVR, or sketchy Internet streams don’t exist. Which one is it going to be?

You bet your ass we’re watching Bellator…well, at least I am.


(Bobby Lashley has swelled up to Guy on the Right proportions. That’s worth your attention, right there.)

By Shep Ramsey

Unless you’ve been trapped in your basement savoring celebrity nudes for the past few days, you can’t ignore the UFC vs. Bellator showdown this Friday night. Both MMA organizations are going head-to-head, and to make the pot even sweeter, both events take place in the not-so-glorious state of Connecticut.

Are Dana White and Scott Coker both there to lobby for MMA regulation in nearby New York, or petition for the return of the Hartford Whalers? No.

Not since Donovan Bailey and Michael Johnson’s match of “Who Can Run Faster, You or Me” has the sporting world been on the edge of their seats for something of this magnitude. But first, a brief rundown of what’s been happening in each promotion.

Let’s begin with Bellator, the little-brother league that used to hold tournaments not only for its fighters to earn title shots, but also to give champions 14-month periods of rest between fights. Viacom, the mega broadcast company that currently pulls the strings, recently axed Bjorn Rebney from his presidential post for being a “dickrider,” and brought former Strikeforce mastermind Scott Coker into the fold to run this promotion before it runs itself into the ground. I mean, who else brought you the demise of Fedor Emilianenko, premiere women’s MMA battles, Frank Shamrock getting his arms broken by kicks, a post-fight brawl involving Californian gangs, and Gus “Call of the Century” Johnson?

As for the UFC, the promotion started out as an addictive source of violence after two casino heirs-turned-bodybuilders used their papa’s money to hire King Kong Bundy in a dress, and revolutionized the sport of MMA. Nowadays, UFC head honcho (and the sole reason why MMA exists) Dana White, has turned on the fans, media, and even fighters because nobody is watching the 2,034 shows his company puts on a year. Basically, it’s your fault that the UFC is watered down, and if you don’t like it, don’t watch it, but keep in mind, you’re a piece of trash for not watching and supporting fighters who are away from their families for six weeks. And fuck the media for telling you otherwise, because if they’re not with UFC, they have no business writing editorials or opinion columns that their employers pay them for.

So here we are on the eve of UFC Fight Night 50 (which really feels like 250) and Bellator 123 (which feels like 123, considering we have no idea what happened from 1 to 81). You have to pick one, and this writer is going to pretend that dual television sets, DVR, or sketchy Internet streams don’t exist. Which one is it going to be?

You bet your ass we’re watching Bellator…well, at least I am.

You see, Bellator doesn’t really force me to watch its show; the broadcast is just there. After watching a Spike TV schedule of seven hours and realizing you’ve only seen three shows called Cops, Jail, and World’s Wildest Police Videos, it’s refreshing to see two guys who used to be really good fighters engage in a fight that if were food, would be the sloppiest of Joes. They even put on glorious title fights now and then.

On the other channel (which shows a high volume of Nascar and other crap) you’ve got the legendary Gegard Mousasi against Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza battle in a middleweight rematch for the ages. You also have Alistair Overeem potentially ruining a man’s kidney or falling straight to hell after a tap to the chin, Matt Mitrione getting his brain shattered by THE BLACK BEAST, Call of Duty veteran Joe Lauzon going to war, and a bunch of preliminary fights that start right after your morning coffee.

Belltor’s counter-programming effort (because Lord knows THEY should be blamed for this coincidental booking) is another rematch involving Pat Curran vs. Patricio Pitbull for the featherweight title, “The Cheick Kongo Nut Shot” drinking game, the return of the sport’s only royalist, “King Mo,” and a TNA World Heavyweight Championship match featuring Bobby Lashley vs. ‘Merican Samoa Joe.

Look, man…I don’t know about you, but that’s far more tempting than hearing two blokes and a football panel go at it for four hours with an hour of scraps in between. UFC has become the brand Kurt Cobain couldn’t stand, or more so, Metallica after …And Justice For All. Inviting friends over to watch a UFC card basically turns into a sleepover an hour and a half in, shutting your eyes after you reminisce about the high school girls you’re contemplating liking on Tinder. It’s too freaking long, boring, and more importantly, you’re doing them a service by tuning in. In the end, all you get for it is backlash because you aren’t a real fight fan if you didn’t particularly enjoy what you just saw.

With Bellator, I know for a fact it’s going to be a total shit show; they go live from places I’d only stop for Burger King while on tour with my off-kilter punk-folk three-piece band, and truthfully, I have no idea what the process is to attend these fights. That’s what makes it so fun. It’s mysterious, and so goddamn trashy you’ll never stop loving it. Seriously, do the partisans even know where they are?

Also, they don’t bombard me with hours of programming that is deemed necessary viewing while I would love nothing more than to spend my evening in pajamas listening to my wife berate me while on the phone with her friend for two hours. Also, they’re not secretly trying to tell me that Tony Ferguson and Danny Castillo move the needle.

More importantly, they come around every so often, and when their new season hits, I could skip shows without feeling like a worthless peon. Maybe it’s because every event for them isn’t the most stacked show they’ve ever done with the top pound for pound fighter in the world?

If we’re going to do our part to put an end to these slimy corporations stealing the sport we love, we have to fight for our cause. Do your part. We can’t change the world in a day, but eventually, we could rebuild Rome, where organized combat could or could not have first started.

UFC doesn’t care about you more than they do money. And if you’re not making them money — even if it’s a free card — then you’re not on board with the machine. How many UFC events have you watched on Fart Fight Pass wondering who in the hell was fighting? Do these motherfuckers care about mixed martial arts? They care about the growth of their own, and it’s happening at your own expense. If you seriously paid for UFC 177, close your computer, take a walk outside, and sit down in a park for three hours (minimum) to ask yourself what you want to do with your life.

Bellator doesn’t really give a nickel if you watch or not; it’s simply there. And if you’re on board, they’ll tell you it’s the greatest show on earth. The difference is, they say it followed by a smirk, and a big-ass swig of black label.

That’s what I want fighting to feel like.

The Unsupportable Opinion: Screw It, Bring Tim Sylvia Back to the UFC


(Image courtesy of Sherdog.)

By Seth Falvo

Yeah, I know we’ve written otherwise around these parts. I understand that he hasn’t won a fight since defeating a thirty-eight year old journeyman sporting a 13-11 record back in 2012, that he probably can’t make 265 pounds without amputating something, and that he’s been a subject of scorn during pretty much every CagePotato Roundtable we’ve published. I secretly realize that there isn’t a single thing that Tim Sylvia has done within the past two years to justify bringing him back to the world’s premier MMA organization.

But there’s something remarkably hypocritical about acknowledging that the UFC is a sports entertainment company, then crying foul when one of the biggest stars of the mid-to-late 2000s is offered that final fight in the UFC he’s been so desperately seeking, so let’s not do that.

Instead of focusing so heavily on the sports, let’s actually focus on the entertainment that Tim Sylvia has provided us over the years. Personally, I was still in high school during the Tim Sylvia Era. A friend had exposed me to his collection of UFC events, and I immediately became hooked. I won’t claim that I was the biggest fan of the then-heavyweight champion — even with my limited knowledge of MMA, I realized Sylvia was an unrefined fighter — but there was something inspiring about watching him compete. “The Maine-iac” managed to achieve the highest honor in his sport, despite being the last person on the planet who most people would look at and think “professional athlete.” And of course, his rivalry with Andrei Arlovski helped make things interesting, even when his fights occasionally weren’t.


(Image courtesy of Sherdog.)

By Seth Falvo

Yeah, I know we’ve written otherwise around these parts. I understand that he hasn’t won a fight since defeating a thirty-eight year old journeyman sporting a 13-11 record back in 2012, that he probably can’t make 265 pounds without amputating something, and that he’s been a subject of scorn during pretty much every CagePotato Roundtable we’ve published. I secretly realize that there isn’t a single thing that Tim Sylvia has done within the past two years to justify bringing him back to the world’s premier MMA organization.

But there’s something remarkably hypocritical about acknowledging that the UFC is a sports entertainment company, then crying foul when one of the biggest stars of the mid-to-late 2000s is offered that final fight in the UFC he’s been so desperately seeking, so let’s not do that.

Instead of focusing so heavily on the sports, let’s actually focus on the entertainment that Tim Sylvia has provided us over the years. Personally, I was still in high school during the Tim Sylvia Era. A friend had exposed me to his collection of UFC events, and I immediately became hooked. I won’t claim that I was the biggest fan of the then-heavyweight champion — even with my limited knowledge of MMA, I realized Sylvia was an unrefined fighter — but there was something inspiring about watching him compete. “The Maine-iac” managed to achieve the highest honor in his sport, despite being the last person on the planet who most people would look at and think “professional athlete.” And of course, his rivalry with Andrei Arlovski helped make things interesting, even when his fights occasionally weren’t.

I’m willing to bet that most of our readers in their mid-to-late twenties have identical stories. And though the times have changed — I’d never believe you if you told me I’d one day be covering this crazy sport — and MMA has evolved considerably, there’s still a part of me that would totally mark out over the sight of Tim Sylvia inside the Octagon one last time. The fact that he’d be getting re-signed merely one week after his old nemesis Andrei Arlovski found his way back into the UFC would only make things better.

To those of you who are rolling your eyes at the suggestion of trotting out Tim Sylvia to feed our love of nostalgia, I have to question whether that’s any more offensive than what we’re currently being asked to pay for on Fight Pass. Is a preliminary scrap featuring a fighter you actually recognize — and probably still care about — any less legitimate than, say, a top-ten heavyweight squaring off against a doughy light-heavyweight known for his Homer Simpson-esque ability to take punches and not much else? If you answered yes, perhaps the nicest thing that can be written about you is that you’re very, very gullible.

Tim Sylvia was never the ideal heavyweight fighter, but then again, the UFC was never strictly about fighting. The UFC — for better and for worse — is about sports entertainment. And Tim Sylvia — for better and for worse — has always entertained us.

The Unsupportable Opinion: MMA/The UFC Is NOT Slowly Swirling Down the Shitter


(MMA’s heyday, according to at least one guy.)

“The night is always darkest before the dawn.” — Two-Face, quoting Plato or some shit.

MMA is facing a crisis, Nation. Or so we’re being told. Not one of irrelevance, a lack of funding, or societal ignorance like it faced during the so-called “Dark Ages,” but one of complacency, of apathy. Over the past several years, we have seen the sport rise to a level of popularity we previously thought unattainable. With more major network deals, cross-promotion with major brands, and movies featuring UFC stars popping up by the day, it’s hard to argue that MMA is exactly struggling to generate interest amongst fans.

But somewhere between the death of Strikeforce and the Fight Pass subscriptions, MMA (or at least, its premiere organization) reached a tipping point. Despite an ever-burgeoning roster, the quality of the average card started to slip. Viewership began to decline. Truly “stacked” cards started to come further and further between, as did the number of marketable stars present on them.

While the UFC was busy making efforts to dominate the fucking world, its stateside presence slowly began to diminish with each lackluster “Fight Night” card, the majority of which have been spread across three channels and subscriptions-only networks. It isn’t helping that the UFC is now nickel and diming those of us hoping to watch their international events and prelims, adding to the growing “UFC is in trouble” sentiment among fans. The UFC has gotten greedy, and our view of the sport has slowly begun to shift from optimistic to apathetic as a result.

Is it simply a case of the UFC expanding too fast and oversaturating it’s niche market, as many followers of the sport will tell you? Or have fans simply lost interest in the sport now that it has become a globally recognized, increasingly expensive commodity?

Actually, the answer is a firm “no” to both of those questions. MMA is NOT rapidly descending into the watered-down, passionless, corporate-sponsored hellscape we all think it is, and everyone needs to man (or woman) the fuck up and stop acting like the sport is a lost cause.


(MMA’s heyday, according to at least one guy.)

“The night is always darkest before the dawn.” — Two-Face, quoting Plato or some shit.

MMA is facing a crisis, Nation. Or so we’re being told. Not one of irrelevance, a lack of funding, or societal ignorance like it faced during the so-called “Dark Ages,” but one of complacency, of apathy. Over the past several years, we have seen the sport rise to a level of popularity we previously thought unattainable. With more major network deals, cross-promotion with major brands, and movies featuring UFC stars popping up by the day, it’s hard to argue that MMA is exactly struggling to generate interest amongst fans.

But somewhere between the death of Strikeforce and the Fight Pass subscriptions, MMA (or at least, its premiere organization) reached a tipping point. Despite an ever-burgeoning roster, the quality of the average card started to slip. Viewership began to decline. Truly “stacked” cards started to come further and further between, as did the number of marketable stars present on them.

While the UFC was busy making efforts to dominate the fucking world, its stateside presence slowly began to diminish with each lackluster “Fight Night” card, the majority of which have been spread across three channels and subscriptions-only networks. It isn’t helping that the UFC is now nickel and diming those of us hoping to watch their international events and prelims, adding to the growing “UFC is in trouble” sentiment among fans. The UFC has gotten greedy, and our view of the sport has slowly begun to shift from optimistic to apathetic as a result.

Is it simply a case of the UFC expanding too fast and oversaturating it’s niche market, as many followers of the sport will tell you? Or have fans simply lost interest in the sport now that it has become a globally recognized, increasingly expensive commodity?

Actually, the answer is a firm “no” to both of those questions. MMA is NOT rapidly descending into the watered-down, passionless, corporate-sponsored hellscape we all think it is, and everyone needs to man (or woman) the fuck up and stop acting like the sport is a lost cause.

As CP reader Mike Grant asked us in a somewhat heated email (entitled “Screw you guys”):

Is the UFC really ruining this sport so completely? I mean, I know that they seem to think they are short in the “marketable fighters” department, but I don’t think that’s true at all. Maybe if the UFC and the shills who cover it would get their heads out of Ronda Rousey’s ass for some fresh air, they would see they have an All-American champion (and a pretty fucking good guy) in Chris Weidman. What about Carlos Condit? He’s a fucking machine. I know he has lost to the top guys in his division but you cannot deny that he is the embodiment of will and toughness. Johny Hendricks is another good guy/soon-to-be-champion. He’s a family man and a great spokesperson for MMA.

Can you write something a bit more uplifting about the future of MMA?

And you know what, he’s right. True, it is becoming more and more expensive (not to mention time-consuming) to be a “diehard” fan of MMA/the UFC these days, and our recent headlines haven’t exactly been comforting to the average MMA fan. But not all is lost, Nation.

You say the UFC is failing to generate new stars? Johny Hendrick’s Reebok deal surely seems to dispute that. As does the first co-ed season of The Ultimate Fighter, TUF 20, and truly, the rise of women’s MMA in general. The UFC may not be pushing Jon Jones like they are Ronda Rousey, but he’s still a bonafide star among anyone who follows the sport. The same goes for Cain Velasquez, the face of Metro PCS, and Conor McGregor, Heineken’s latest brand rep and the star of his own upcoming feature-length RTE documentary.

And besides, major stars aren’t what drives the sport. They never have been. Great fights are what drives the sport, and thanks to the UFC’s (and Bellator’s, I guess) ever-expanding roster, the potential for witnessing amazing fights is at an all-time high. Question: What has been the most exciting card of 2014 so far? Did you say the TUF China Finale? Because the correct answer is the TUF China Finale, which featured fuck-all in terms of star power. As MMAFighting’s Dave Meltzer wrote:

The reality is before every UFC event, every consumer will decide, based on the lineup, whether the show is worth their time to either pay for, or watch for free. But a lineup that doesn’t look interesting can, and often is, a better show that a lineup that going in looks like it can’t miss.

The show was filled with unknown debuting fighters, including names only familiar to those who watched TUF China. Given that the show didn’t air anywhere in North America, and even those who were able to find it on the Internet had to watch a show mostly in Chinese, there wasn’t exactly a ground swell of interest in whether Wang Sai or Zhang Lipeng would win a UFC contract, let alone people salivating at the prospect of Kazuki Tokudome and Yui Chul Nam.

It ended up being UFC’s most entertaining show of a year that has had its share of lackluster nights. There were only eight fights, the least of any UFC show in recent memory. But there was nothing remotely close to a bad fight, and the presentation on Fight Pass, with no commercials except for UFC events and shows between fights, seemed to almost breeze by. And even the commercials were highlights on this night, in particular a lengthy preview to the upcoming TUF Brazil featuring Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva. An edited version of that commercial on YouTube was at just under 1.3 million views over the next 48 hours.

While it’s undoubtedly true that MMA/the UFC will always need its Chuck Liddells and Anderson Silvas to really drive up fan interest and pay-per-view numbers, let’s not act like a few lackluster cards and minorly increased pay-per-view prices are the end of the world. The UFC has a long way to go before it reaches the level of the NBA or NFL, regardless of what Dana White tells you, and maybe I’m just being optimistic here, but I’d like to think that our hard-earned cash is helping build a brand and a sport we love until it can one day compete with those other sports through the same mediums, relatively free of charge. International TUF events and “Fight Night” cards are appetizers. They’re opening bands that get you excited for the main act. Whether you choose to indulge in them is entirely up to you, and most of the time, you can catch the highlights from said events (again, free of charge) through the all-encompassing power of the Internet within minutes of the events themselves.

Despite the sport’s immense rise over the years, there are still many kinks in need of being worked out. But if the Gilbert Melendez contract fiasco taught us anything, it’s that the UFC might not have the stronghold on the sport we once thought it did. MMA is here to stay, and where one organization drops the ball, the other will hopefully be there to pick it up. Entire divisions are being added to the UFC. Female fighters are not only headlining pay-per-views, but generating heaps of fan interest at the mere mention of a “huge announcement.” Previously unknown fighters among casual fans like Demetrious Johnson and Renan Barao are well on their way to becoming household names. It is an exciting, if transitional time to be an MMA fan to say the least.

So let’s all hold hands, take a deep breath, and repeat after me, “Everything is going to be fine. *MMA* is going to be fine.”

–J. Jones

The Unsupportable Opinion: With a Victory at UFC 169, Jose Aldo Should Earn the Next Lightweight Title Shot


(Or at least a weekend trip for two to lovely Bahia.)

By Adam Martin

Two judges screwed up the UFC’s plans this past weekend, but it may ultimately be for the best.

When Sal D’Amato and Brian Puccillo decided that Benson Henderson did enough to earn a split decision victory over Josh Thomson in the main event of UFC on FOX 10, the lightweight division had a wrench thrown into it. Had he received the judges’ decision, Thomson was already confirmed by UFC president Dana White as the next title challenger for currently-injured UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.

“Showtime” has stated that he wants to return in July and his timeline would have matched up well with Thomson’s. Not only that, but Thomson had been scheduled to fight Pettis back at UFC on FOX 9 before the titleholder pulled out with an injury. Many thought Thomson got that fight with Pettis more due to timing than anything else, but had he defeated the former champion this past weekend, Thomson would have truly earned his title shot.

But then Henderson had his hand raised. As soon as that happened, the UFC lightweight division had to be rejigged because Henderson has already lost to Pettis twice and isn’t anywhere close to getting a trilogy fight with him. The other top contender, TJ Grant, has been out since last summer with post-concussion symptoms and isn’t even training yet, so he’s out of the picture. Nate Diaz, who has been vocal on Twitter about wanting a title shot, isn’t getting one anytime soon because c’mon. Former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez is still out there, but it’s hard to say he deserves a title shot just because he defeated Diego Sanchez at UFC 166, even if his resume is amongst the absolute finest in the division. There’s also guys like Rafael Dos Anjos, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Donald Cerrone and Jim Miller, but none of them are deserving of a crack at the crown right now.

Cue Jose Aldo.


(Or at least a weekend trip for two to lovely Bahia.)

By Adam Martin

Two judges screwed up the UFC’s plans this past weekend, but it may ultimately be for the best.

When Sal D’Amato and Brian Puccillo decided that Benson Henderson did enough to earn a split decision victory over Josh Thomson in the main event of UFC on FOX 10, the lightweight division had a wrench thrown into it. Had he received the judges’ decision, Thomson was already confirmed by UFC president Dana White as the next title challenger for currently-injured UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis.

“Showtime” has stated that he wants to return in July and his timeline would have matched up well with Thomson’s. Not only that, but Thomson had been scheduled to fight Pettis back at UFC on FOX 9 before the titleholder pulled out with an injury. Many thought Thomson got that fight with Pettis more due to timing than anything else, but had he defeated the former champion this past weekend, Thomson would have truly earned his title shot.

But then Henderson had his hand raised. As soon as that happened, the UFC lightweight division had to be rejigged because Henderson has already lost to Pettis twice and isn’t anywhere close to getting a trilogy fight with him. The other top contender, TJ Grant, has been out since last summer with post-concussion symptoms and isn’t even training yet, so he’s out of the picture. Nate Diaz, who has been vocal on Twitter about wanting a title shot, isn’t getting one anytime soon because c’mon. Former Strikeforce lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez is still out there, but it’s hard to say he deserves a title shot just because he defeated Diego Sanchez at UFC 166, even if his resume is amongst the absolute finest in the division. There’s also guys like Rafael Dos Anjos, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Donald Cerrone and Jim Miller, but none of them are deserving of a crack at the crown right now.

Cue Jose Aldo.

This weekend at UFC 169, Aldo puts his UFC featherweight title on the line for the sixth time in the Octagon when he takes on Ricardo Lamas in the event’s co-headliner. Should Aldo win, he would be on a 17-fight win streak which would include six defenses of the UFC featherweight championship as well as two defences of the old WEC featherweight title. He’s beaten everyone the UFC and WEC has thrown at him, including former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, Urijah Faber, Chad Mendes, Kenny Florian, and TUF 12 winner Jonathan Brookins. That’s a resume that ranks amongst the very best in the entire sport, especially when it comes to the lighter-weight divisions. If Aldo beats Lamas this weekend at UFC 169, there is literally no one left for him to fight in the UFC featherweight division.

And that’s why, with a win at UFC 169, Aldo should move up to lightweight and be the next challenger for Pettis.

Pettis and Aldo match up extremely well with one another. They are each the best strikers in their respective divisions, and both are amongst the most exciting finishers in the sport. Don’t forget they were supposed to fight last summer at UFC 163 for Aldo’s featherweight title before Pettis pulled out with an injury (an unfortunate theme with him). That fight was highly anticipated by hardcore fans, no doubt, but it was strange that Pettis would be moving down to 145, a division he had never fought at before, when he was considered by many to be the best lightweight in the world.

So, in a way, it may be a blessing in disguise that the fight never took place, because now that Pettis is a champion at lightweight and Aldo still has his belt at 145, the UFC can promote a true superfight between two active champs, something that hasn’t happened since UFC 94.

In 2014, the UFC has very few stars. And by stars, I meant guys/girls who move the needle. Their No. 1 moneyman, former UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, recently announced an indefinite hiatus from the sport and gave up his title. He’s now at odds with the promotion over their mediocre drug testing. Anderson Silva, the No. 2 guy, had his leg snapped in half on Chris Weidman’s kneecap at UFC 168 and figures to be out most of the year despite White insisting that he will return before the calendar year is over. Former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, who hasn’t competed since 2011, seems content to do professional wrestling and isn’t likely to return anytime soon.

The only big stars the UFC has right now are UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, and former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort. Former UFC light/welterweight champion BJ Penn will return to the Octagon this summer 10 pounds lighter and figures to draw as well. It’s also possible that Nick Diaz could mount a comeback, and that’s a guy who always moves the needle. But other than that, there really aren’t any elite draws.

The UFC doesn’t just need a star, though. They need a superstar. And that’s exactly what the winner of the Pettis vs. Aldo fight would be – a bonafide superstar that the UFC could market as one of the very best athletes on the planet, especially if their fight is exciting and especially if it ends in a devastating finish. So the UFC has to strike while the iron is hot, and they have to figure out a way to make this match.

This is what I propose: For the UFC’s annual 4th of July weekend event in Las Vegas, Aldo should fight Pettis in the main event for the UFC lightweight title. Aldo will still be the UFC featherweight champion (barring a Ricardo Lamas upset), but if he defeats Pettis he must relinquish the belt and move up to 155 permanently. Should he lose, however, Aldo moves back to 145 and is still the champion.

Since there is a very real possibility that Aldo beats Pettis, an interim title would be created for the 145-pound division. The UFC featherweight division can’t just sit around and wait to see what happens with Aldo. The division has to move on, and so the right thing to do is to schedule an interim title fight between Chad Mendes and Cub Swanson, two fighters who already lost to Aldo but who are very much deserving of a featherweight title shot at the moment. The fight would also be a rematch of their WEC bout that Mendes won via decision, which adds another interesting wrinkle.

Should Aldo defeat Pettis and become the UFC lightweight champion, the winner of the Mendes vs. Swanson fight would be promoted to undisputed UFC featherweight champion. But if Aldo loses to Pettis, Aldo would come back and fight the Mendes vs. Swanson winner to unify the 145-pound belts. Either way, the UFC wins, Aldo wins, and the top contenders at 145 aren’t just sitting around waiting for Aldo. I’m not normally a fan of interim titles, but in this situation it is warranted.

The UFC said that 2013 was going to be the year of the superfight, but the only big match between cross-divisional rivals that we got to see was Aldo vs. Edgar. We never got to see GSP vs. Silva, and Jones never moved up to fight Velasquez. But in 2014, the UFC can stick to their promise from last year and put together a true superfight between the UFC lightweight champion and the UFC featherweight champion.

It all depends on Aldo winning this weekend, of course, but if he does there is absolutely no reason the UFC shouldn’t put this fight together. They can’t blow it. They need a superstar. And that’s why they need Aldo and Pettis to fight, so a new superstar can be created.

The Unsupportable Opinion: UFC 168 Is Kind of a Garbage-Ass Card


(Yeah, and…?)

As some promoters would have you believe, UFC 168: Silva vs. Weidman 2 is the biggest event in UFC history. It’s so stacked, in fact, that some unnamed executives at Zuffa decided to raise the price of the card $5, in a one-time-only mini-gouge. (Dana White’s explanation for this? “Cuz.” Ladies and gentlemen, your UFC president.)

The price bump carries the implication that UFC 168 is not just a great pay-per-view event, it’s more valuable than every single UFC show that came before it. But is it? Let’s take a quick look at the pay-per-view lineup — i.e., the five fights they’re asking you to pay for:

Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva (for UFC middleweight title)
Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate (for women’s bantamweight title)
Josh Barnett vs. Travis Browne (HW)
Jim Miller vs. Fabricio Camoes (LW)
Dustin Poirier vs. Diego Brandao (FW)

To me, we’re talking about three big fights. The shocking ending of Silva vs. Weidman 1 gives their rematch a great narrative (horrible marketing aside), and it’s safe to say that most UFC fans are curious to see how the sequel will turn out. Rousey vs. Tate is compelling simply because all Ronda Rousey appearances are compelling, but there’s nothing to suggest that her second meeting with Miesha won’t end in another first-round armbar. And Barnett vs. Browne? Yep, I’m on board for that.

Beyond that, we have two solid contender fights that you could find on any other UFC main card. This kind of arrangement would place UFC 168 in line with past mega-shows like UFC 92 and UFC 100, which also followed the “two huge fights, one really good fight, two pretty decent fights” format. The difference is, the UFC never tried to jack up the prices of those shows, and there’s a reason for that. In 2008-2009, a UFC card with two big-name title fights was a special occasion. These days, it’s a ultra-rare fluke — and this might be the last time you see it.


(Yeah, and…?)

As some promoters would have you believe, UFC 168: Silva vs. Weidman 2 is the biggest event in UFC history. It’s so stacked, in fact, that some unnamed executives at Zuffa decided to raise the price of the card $5, in a one-time-only mini-gouge. (Dana White’s explanation for this? “Cuz.” Ladies and gentlemen, your UFC president.)

The price bump carries the implication that UFC 168 is not just a great pay-per-view event, it’s more valuable than every single UFC show that came before it. But is it? Let’s take a quick look at the pay-per-view lineup — i.e., the five fights they’re asking you to pay for:

Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva (for UFC middleweight title)
Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate (for women’s bantamweight title)
Josh Barnett vs. Travis Browne (HW)
Jim Miller vs. Fabricio Camoes (LW)
Dustin Poirier vs. Diego Brandao (FW)

To me, we’re talking about three big fights. The shocking ending of Silva vs. Weidman 1 gives their rematch a great narrative (horrible marketing aside), and it’s safe to say that most UFC fans are curious to see how the sequel will turn out. Rousey vs. Tate is compelling simply because all Ronda Rousey appearances are compelling, but there’s nothing to suggest that her second meeting with Miesha won’t end in another first-round armbar. And Barnett vs. Browne? Yep, I’m on board for that.

Beyond that, we have two solid contender fights that you could find on any other UFC main card. This kind of arrangement would place UFC 168 in line with past mega-shows like UFC 92 and UFC 100, which also followed the “two huge fights, one really good fight, two pretty decent fights” format. The difference is, the UFC never tried to jack up the prices of those shows, and there’s a reason for that. In 2008-2009, a UFC card with two big-name title fights was a special occasion. These days, it’s a ultra-rare fluke — and this might be the last time you see it.

My interpretation of UFC 168′s five-dollar price-bump is simple: The UFC has no idea when it will be able to put on another blockbuster event, and the promotion is trying to cash in while it can. Next year will be marked by the absences of former PPV king Georges St. Pierre as well as currently-injured champions Cain Velasquez and Anthony Pettis. But despite the reduced star power on its roster, the UFC will have even more main event spots to fill on its ever-growing broadcast schedule. The idea of stacking two title fights on one card is a luxury that Zuffa can no longer afford.

When the UFC announced Johny Hendricks vs. Robbie Lawler for UFC 171, Dana White originally stated that the welterweight title fight would be on the same card as Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira. But plans changed (again!), and the date and venue of Jones/Teixeira are TBA once more. Clearly, the UFC realized that putting on two PPV events that do 300k buys each is better than one that does 500k — especially as the promotion struggles to find strong headliners for its pay-per-view shows, which will be a bigger challenge than ever in 2014.

(Semi-related rant: On this week’s episode of the CME, Ben Fowlkes floated the idea of having the UFC’s vacant welterweight title be decided by a four-man single-night tournament. Would any UFC fan in the world argue with that idea? The UFC may have buried multi-fight tournaments in the interest of turning MMA into a modern sport, but if it wants to regain some of the fading interest among its fans, the promotion should start giving people more of what hooked them on MMA in the first place. Namely, crazy shit.)

So, is UFC 168 a great lineup? Sure it is. (I guess now I can break kayfabe and admit that I was half-trolling with this article’s headline.) Is UFC 168 the greatest lineup in UFC history? Of course it isn’t — and if you were a UFC fan five years ago, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. But hey, you might as well enjoy it while you still can.

– Ben Goldstein

The Unsupportable Opinion: Death Was the Best Outcome for Bellator’s Inaugural PPV


(MMA gets another PPV that never was)

When your dog is terminally ill, you put it down.

When the sales for your inaugural PPV are anemic, you should do the same.

Officially, Bellator canceled the PPV because Tito Ortiz withdrew from the main event bout versus Rampage Jackson, and not because of the PPV’s dubious chances of success. But the result is the same as if they had just canceled it outright: Bellator saves face.

Ortiz’s injury and the resulting cancellation of the PPV were a godsend for Bellator. Why? Let’s look at the most likely scenario for what could’ve happened if Bellator went on with their PPV — both if Ortiz had gotten injured and if he hadn’t.

Scenario 1, Ortiz doesn’t get injured and the PPV goes on:


(MMA gets another PPV that never was)

By Matt Saccaro

When your dog is terminally ill, you put it down.

When the sales for your inaugural PPV are anemic, you should do the same.

Officially, Bellator canceled the PPV because Tito Ortiz withdrew from the main event bout versus Rampage Jackson, and not because of the PPV’s dubious chances of success. But the result is the same as if they had just canceled it outright: Bellator saves face.

Ortiz’s injury and the resulting cancellation of the PPV were a godsend for Bellator. Why? Let’s look at the most likely scenario for what could’ve happened if Bellator went on with their PPV — both if Ortiz had gotten injured and if he hadn’t.

Scenario 1, Ortiz doesn’t get injured and the PPV goes on: What happens here? The show probably bombs with 10k buys or fewer. Viacom realizes that, like Dana White said, there’s no value in Bellator.

Viacom either pulls the plug outright or scales down Bellator from hopeful claimant to the UFC’s throne into something akin to the toughman contests on FX. If this happened, Viacom would keep it around because it’d get decent enough ratings for the pittance it’d cost to produce the scaled down version of the show.

Scenario 2, Ortiz does get injured and the PPV still goes on: Attila Vegh replaces Ortiz against Rampage (even though Attila Vegh was “injured” and had to pull out of a fight on this PPV previously). The PPV bombs even worse.

Those two scenarios are both terrible for Bellator. The PPV, Ortiz or no, was destined for Affliction-level failure. Making the card free on Spike was the best option (and was from the onset of Viacom’s acquisition of former UFC “stars”).

The casuals don’t know Michael Chandler (despite the fact that he’s the face of Dave & Busters). The casuals don’t know Eddie Alvarez. The casuals don’t know most of the other fighters on the card either. Putting the entirety of the Bellator PPV card on Spike will help build their profiles a little more, or at the very least stop people from forgetting about them.

Furthermore, Bellator can use Rampage like he should’ve been used: To help get more ratings on Spike to draw more eyeballs to Bellator’s stable of talented, non-UFC-washout fighters.

Bjorn Rebney said that they were going to book a fight for Rampage “literally as quickly as possible.” Hopefully for Bellator’s sake, that means it’ll be on free television (unless they’re planning on producing an ad-hoc PPV solely to showcase an old, slow, whining, lazy Rampage versus some random can). Rampage, being Bellator’s fighter with the greatest name value — yeah, I know, that’s not saying much — can draw more viewers to the younger, more talented fighters on Bellator’s roster.

Allow me to make a comparison to pro wrestling history: #2 promotion WCW hired Hulk Hogan after he had left the WWE (then WWF) because he was a star. That star brought viewers to WCW, viewers who where then wowed by some the undercard matches between young, exciting wrestlers like Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio Jr, and Chris Jericho — wrestlers who many casual fans might not have ever seen if the older, established Hogan hadn’t brought attention to WCW.

Of course, Bellator Rampage Jackson is no WCW Hulk Hogan — who was still the biggest star in wrestling at the time. Nevertheless, Bellator will build greater name value for their fighters by showcasing their big UFC acquisitions Tito and Rampage on free TV alongside the young, hungry, talented fighters. Canceling the PPV has allowed them to do that.

The cloud of Bellator’s PPV cancellation doesn’t have a silver lining because the entire cloud practically is a silver lining.