And click here if you want to read an article by a woman who has probably never seen an MMA fight in her life or seriously analyzed it in any way.
Or, if you don't want to give her the clicks, just imagine an article from the mid 90's about how MMA is "human cockfighting" and you'll get the general idea of the verbal tripe this woman tries to pass off as real journalism.
Are you telling me that alienating your best and most marketable fighter and then trying to co-headline a PPV with broken down former UFC fighters isn't good business strategy?
Are you telling me that alienating your best and most marketable fighter and then trying to co-headline a PPV with broken down former UFC fighters isn't good business strategy?
Say what you what you want about Rebney, but Rampage has been a successful draw for Bellator, he built the brand from the ground up, and he pulled off a PPV of an insane 100k buys.
Are you telling me that alienating your best and most marketable fighter and then trying to co-headline a PPV with broken down former UFC fighters isn't good business strategy?
Say what you what you want about Rebney, but Rampage has been a successful draw for Bellator, he built the brand from the ground up, and he pulled off a PPV of an insane 100k buys.
That's my bad for not actually looking at PPV numbers. I assumed it would get a shitty buy rate because we all made fun of it a lot in here.
Bunch of random news for you from the past few days.
Wandy's whole "I don't know English, I didn't run from the test, etc" story fell apart when he testified in front of the NSAC. It turns out Sonnen wasn't lying when he characterized Silva as having run from the scene:
Coker replacing Rebney isn't so much a rumor as an inevitability, it seems. Should be interesting to see what he does differently. My guess is the tournament format is gone.
Jonathan Snowden (@mmaencyclopedia)
6/18/14, 9:23 AM
First 3 calls if you're Scott Coker and about to take over @BellatorMMA ? 1. Fedor 2. Fedor again when you get voice mail. 3. Gina Carano
ChillyWilly on
PAFC Top 10 Finisher in Seasons 1 and 3. 2nd in Seasons 4 and 5. Final 4 in Season 6.
Bunch of random news for you from the past few days.
Wandy's whole "I don't know English, I didn't run from the test, etc" story fell apart when he testified in front of the NSAC. It turns out Sonnen wasn't lying when he characterized Silva as having run from the scene:
This whole situation with Wanderlei doesn't sit right with me. I just don't like how he released a video addressed directly to his fans professing his innocence in the matter, only to be later outed as guilty. Basically he was lying straight up to all his fans and followers.
Jason High gets suspended for ONE YEAR for slightly nudging a ref while rocked after an early stoppage.
Meanwhile, folks get away with double leg takedowns and guillotine chokes on refs.
PUSH STEROIDS NOT REFS, the UFC motto.
Apparently Beel thinks that attacking refs is a-ok. Shameful really, and no doubt part of why MMA is unable to move past its reputation of having bloodthirsty, ignorant fans.
[/beelface]
Usually whenever refs get attacked, it's because they just stopped the fight to protect the dude attacking them, who's got no idea what's going on and are clearly just going on survival instinct.
Plus of course he's getting suspended by the New Mexico Athletic Commission, not the UFC.
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
I cannot say I necessarily believe this rumor, but you never know...
FrontRowBrian (@FrontRowBrian)
6/18/14, 9:27 PM
Here's a bombshell. Viacom approached @sonnench & asked him to sign a confidentiality agreement regarding becoming Bellator President.
FrontRowBrian (@FrontRowBrian)
6/18/14, 9:29 PM
Chael refused to sign confidentiality agreement &talks broke off there. President Coker could have been Prez Sonnen. Too loyal to UFC tho
FrontRowBrian (@FrontRowBrian)
6/18/14, 9:36 PM
From Chael's perspective, came down to loyalty &he knows, in due time, his job title at Zuffa won't be broadcaster 4 long. Being groomed
Chael is obviously not a slouch in the grappling department, but if he even gets to a time limit draw with Andre, I will be amazed. If anyone doesn't know who Galvao is, please see the list of grappling medals on his wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_galvao
PAFC Top 10 Finisher in Seasons 1 and 3. 2nd in Seasons 4 and 5. Final 4 in Season 6.
Mike Chiappetta MMA (@MikeChiappetta)
6/19/14, 1:31 PM
I asked a Bellator source what the mood is there after the leadership switch: "There are a lot of sighs of relief."
James Lynch (@LynchOnSports)
6/18/14, 12:59 PM
Wow Ben Saunders goes off on Bjorn Rebney. Wishes current fighters the best under Scott Coker pic.twitter.com/zVby2mOGe8
Josh Barnett (@JoshLBarnett)
6/18/14, 8:27 PM
It's time I had a soapbox from which to dispense my rhetoric of manly, badassery and @FOXSports has given me such a place w/my new podcast
It's rumored that UFC 174 did under 100k buys, which would put it under the Bellator PPV. Ouch.
Mookie Alexander (@mookiealexander)
6/19/14, 11:33 AM
UFC 174 doing less than 100k buys (rumored) would be embarrassing. And that would probably be the last time Mighty Mouse headlines a PPV.
PAFC Top 10 Finisher in Seasons 1 and 3. 2nd in Seasons 4 and 5. Final 4 in Season 6.
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mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
Ufc is in a bit of trouble. No new mega stars- theres talent. Theres not new superstars.
Viacom smells blood as bellator did good on ppv and ufc tanked. They have the fat purse to lure many expiring contracts away from ufc too.
Theres too much ufc right now. Tuf amillion. Fightnights all the time. Two ufcs on top of esch other. Man.... if someone had a fresh new thing.... nows the time.
This will be an amazing time if bellator truelly becomes the wcw and forces the ufc to be better ala the wwf. Competition means no bs events. Competition means fighters get paid. Could be the dawn of a new era in mma.
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
Yep, the UFC have saturated the market, too much noise. The expectation is higher with their brand as well, you can have a decent card of mid level fighters but people want big "name" fights, problem is those names are largely retired now and the new generation of guys are (for some reason) not generating the same buzz.
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mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
Re new gen- are the stats much different.... ie in the chuck/randy ufc is getting bigger era were there more kos?
Chief Wiggum: "Ladies, please. All our founding fathers, astronauts, and World Series heroes have been either drunk or on cocaine."
I think having a harder time creating stars is because of two things. Because there are more events there are more fighters which means fans have to remember a lot more people so it's harder for new guys to stand out. Also as MMA has expanded the talent gap is shrinking so you don't have guys who are clearly better than other fighters. Somebody can't just come in and dominate with a single style, they have to be well balanced so there's a little bit less of a stylistic difference between a lot of fighters. It's just having more fighters and more homogenity in the sport so people aren't standing out.
Compounding everything Magell said are some other issues:
1. TUF is completely pointless now.
They've watered down the talent pool by doing it too often. Because of that, it doesn't create stars. Also, by virtue of having 2-3 seasons of it a year all over the planet, they make it less special. It's not an event anymore. If they stopped doing it for a few years and then brought it back, I guarantee the ratings would come back up because it would mean something again.
As it is now, anyone who is good enough to be in the UFC just gets signed by them without TUF and TUF guys are used to pad out the ridiculous number of cards they're doing. Speaking of which...
2. The amount of cards in this UFC is too damn high
Seriously, guys. Stop it. You have 2-3 TUFS a year, Fight Nights on multiple channels, sometimes two on the same day in different parts of the world, and then you have entire cards on Fight Pass that the majority of your audience doesn't see and doesn't give a shit about. Barraging us with fight after fight after fight would only help build the sport if every MMA fan was independently wealthy and had infinite time in a week to watch MMA until their eyes bled. Unfortunately, most of us have jobs, lives and other interests. So we can't buy cable, then buy the PPVs and then buy your Fight Pass so we can watch every little thing. So, people are inevitably going to miss things and be left out of the loop on not only the new fighters you're trying to present, but possibly even title contenders.
And what do a lot of people do when they don't have the time/money to see everything they want to see? They watch it on their own time by pirating it. So this problem doesn't only affect fight fans, it also affects the UFC's bottom line to a certain degree.
PAFC Top 10 Finisher in Seasons 1 and 3. 2nd in Seasons 4 and 5. Final 4 in Season 6.
Compounding everything Magell said are some other issues:
1. TUF is completely pointless now.
They've watered down the talent pool by doing it too often. Because of that, it doesn't create stars. Also, by virtue of having 2-3 seasons of it a year all over the planet, they make it less special. It's not an event anymore. If they stopped doing it for a few years and then brought it back, I guarantee the ratings would come back up because it would mean something again.
Eh, I'd disagree with at least half of this.
TUF10: Brendan Schaub, Roy Nelson, Matt Mitrione TUF11: Nick Ring, Chris Camozzi, Seth Baczynski, Kyle Noke, Brad Tavares, Court McGee TUF12: Nam Phan, Michael Johnson, Bruce Leroy, Johnathan Brookins TUF13: Tony Ferguson, Myles Jury, Ramsey Nijem, Justin Edwards TUF14: John Dodson, TJ Dillashaw, Johnny Bedford, Roland Delorme, Dennis Bermudez, Bryan Caraway, Steven Siler TUF15: Sam Sicilia, Vinc Pichel, James Vick, Al Iaquinta, Cristiano Marcello, Daron Cruickshank, Michael Chiesa, Andy Ogle TUF 16: Neil Magny, Mike Ricci, Colton Smith TUF 17: Luke Barnatt, Uriah Hall, Zak Cummings, Tor Troeng, Kevin Casey, Kelvin Gastelum, Clint Hester, Josh Samman, Dylan Andrews TUF 18: Juliana Pena, Chris Beal, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, Raquel Pennington, Chris Holdsworth TUF 19: There will be a few good fighters from this season.
TUF Brazil 1: Rony Jason, Francisco Trinaldo, Hugo Viana, Rodrigo Damm, Godofredo Pepey, Cezar Ferreira, Daniel Sarafian, Sérgio Moraes TUF Brazil 2: Leonardo Santos, William Macario, Viscardi Andrade, Yan Cabral TUF Brazil 3: Too soon to tell TUF Smashes: Robert Whittaker, Brad Scott, Norman Parke TUF China: Not enough time has passed to know. TUF CA vs AUS: Olivier Aubin-Mercier, Chad Laprise, Nordine Taleb, Elias Theodorou, Vik Grujic
Not all of these guys are world-beaters, but some of them are doing super well and others have proven themselves as decent gatekeepers.
Dodson, Pena, Dillybar, Ferguson, Jury, Bermudez, & Gastelum are either current or possible future champions.
I'd say TUF is still trucking mid-level to great talent this far from the beginnings, but there will obviously be some roster fatigue, that's natural with how much MMA has blown up.
Spectre, we're not talking about the same thing in regards to TUF.
I'm talking about guys that are stars. Guys that move the needle. Guys that sell PPVs. You're talking about guys that are talented. Not the same thing.
Think of every major name the UFC has ever had. All of them were either big before TUF, weren't on it, on were on earlier seasons: Ortiz, Liddell, Couture, Anderson, Sonnen, Jones, Rousey, Lesnar, GSP, Griffin, etc.
I'm sure there are guys that I'm missing because there have just been so many seasons of the show, but I can't think of anyone past season 5 or 6 of TUF who has really been a big draw for the company (besides Kimbo, and he was popular for reasons that had nothing to do with the UFC).
PAFC Top 10 Finisher in Seasons 1 and 3. 2nd in Seasons 4 and 5. Final 4 in Season 6.
Posts
...the fuck?
And click here if you want to read an article by a woman who has probably never seen an MMA fight in her life or seriously analyzed it in any way.
Or, if you don't want to give her the clicks, just imagine an article from the mid 90's about how MMA is "human cockfighting" and you'll get the general idea of the verbal tripe this woman tries to pass off as real journalism.
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Daphne+Bramham+barbaric+spectacle+demeans/9941561/story.html
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
Scott Coker (Strikeforce) is rumored to be taking over.
This shit be cray.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{Writing and Story Blog}
That's my bad for not actually looking at PPV numbers. I assumed it would get a shitty buy rate because we all made fun of it a lot in here.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{Writing and Story Blog}
Wandy's whole "I don't know English, I didn't run from the test, etc" story fell apart when he testified in front of the NSAC. It turns out Sonnen wasn't lying when he characterized Silva as having run from the scene:
http://www.mmaweekly.com/wanderlei-silva-admits-to-nsac-that-he-evaded-random-drug-test-due-to-taking-diuretics?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Brandon Vera and the UFC have officially parted ways. No one will shed a tear:
http://msn.foxsports.com/ufc/story/brandon-vera-ufc-part-ways-after-8-year-run-061714
Coker replacing Rebney isn't so much a rumor as an inevitability, it seems. Should be interesting to see what he does differently. My guess is the tournament format is gone.
http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/6/18/5820740/bellator-officially-parts-ways-with-bjorn-rebney-tim-danaher-scott
Jonathan Snowden (@mmaencyclopedia)
6/18/14, 9:23 AM
First 3 calls if you're Scott Coker and about to take over @BellatorMMA ? 1. Fedor 2. Fedor again when you get voice mail. 3. Gina Carano
Jacare vs. Mousasi:
http://mmajunkie.com/2014/06/ufc-176-co-main-event-set-with-gegard-mousasi-vs-jacare-souza
Bendo vs. dos Anjos:
http://espn.go.com/mma/story/_/id/11100899/benson-henderson-rafael-dos-anjos-headline-ufc-fight-night-card
Bader vs. OSP:
http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/6/18/5820756/ryan-bader-ovince-st-preux-headline-ufc-fight-night-in-maine
Lauzon vs. Chiesa:
http://bostonherald.com/sports/other/ultimate_fighting/2014/06/joe_lauzon_to_fight_michael_chiesa_on_foxwoods_ufc_card
This whole situation with Wanderlei doesn't sit right with me. I just don't like how he released a video addressed directly to his fans professing his innocence in the matter, only to be later outed as guilty. Basically he was lying straight up to all his fans and followers.
chael is my hero and the greatest American gangster to walk the face of the earth
Meanwhile, folks get away with double leg takedowns and guillotine chokes on refs.
PUSH STEROIDS NOT REFS, the UFC motto.
Apparently Beel thinks that attacking refs is a-ok. Shameful really, and no doubt part of why MMA is unable to move past its reputation of having bloodthirsty, ignorant fans.
[/beelface]
Usually whenever refs get attacked, it's because they just stopped the fight to protect the dude attacking them, who's got no idea what's going on and are clearly just going on survival instinct.
Compare that to Jason High, who looked the ref in the face and then shoved him
Plus of course he's getting suspended by the New Mexico Athletic Commission, not the UFC.
FrontRowBrian (@FrontRowBrian)
6/18/14, 9:27 PM
Here's a bombshell. Viacom approached @sonnench & asked him to sign a confidentiality agreement regarding becoming Bellator President.
FrontRowBrian (@FrontRowBrian)
6/18/14, 9:29 PM
Chael refused to sign confidentiality agreement &talks broke off there. President Coker could have been Prez Sonnen. Too loyal to UFC tho
FrontRowBrian (@FrontRowBrian)
6/18/14, 9:36 PM
From Chael's perspective, came down to loyalty &he knows, in due time, his job title at Zuffa won't be broadcaster 4 long. Being groomed
And Chael couldn't resist replying:
chael sonnen (@sonnench)
6/18/14, 9:38 PM
.@FrontRowBrian I'M NOT FOR SALE
And in other ridiculous Chael news, if you hate the guy, here's your chance to see him get choked straight the fuck out!
http://fansided.com/2014/06/19/chael-sonnen-vs-andre-galvao-main-events-metamoris-4/
Chael is obviously not a slouch in the grappling department, but if he even gets to a time limit draw with Andre, I will be amazed. If anyone doesn't know who Galvao is, please see the list of grappling medals on his wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_galvao
Mike Chiappetta MMA (@MikeChiappetta)
6/19/14, 1:31 PM
I asked a Bellator source what the mood is there after the leadership switch: "There are a lot of sighs of relief."
James Lynch (@LynchOnSports)
6/18/14, 12:59 PM
Wow Ben Saunders goes off on Bjorn Rebney. Wishes current fighters the best under Scott Coker pic.twitter.com/zVby2mOGe8
Josh Barnett (@JoshLBarnett)
6/18/14, 8:27 PM
It's time I had a soapbox from which to dispense my rhetoric of manly, badassery and @FOXSports has given me such a place w/my new podcast
It's rumored that UFC 174 did under 100k buys, which would put it under the Bellator PPV. Ouch.
Mookie Alexander (@mookiealexander)
6/19/14, 11:33 AM
UFC 174 doing less than 100k buys (rumored) would be embarrassing. And that would probably be the last time Mighty Mouse headlines a PPV.
Viacom smells blood as bellator did good on ppv and ufc tanked. They have the fat purse to lure many expiring contracts away from ufc too.
Theres too much ufc right now. Tuf amillion. Fightnights all the time. Two ufcs on top of esch other. Man.... if someone had a fresh new thing.... nows the time.
This will be an amazing time if bellator truelly becomes the wcw and forces the ufc to be better ala the wwf. Competition means no bs events. Competition means fighters get paid. Could be the dawn of a new era in mma.
What did a ref get guillotined? I'm cracking up right now picturing the circumstances.
Sam Stout did it and the ref tapped
Yep, the UFC have saturated the market, too much noise. The expectation is higher with their brand as well, you can have a decent card of mid level fighters but people want big "name" fights, problem is those names are largely retired now and the new generation of guys are (for some reason) not generating the same buzz.
{Twitter, Everybody's doing it. }{Writing and Story Blog}
1. TUF is completely pointless now.
They've watered down the talent pool by doing it too often. Because of that, it doesn't create stars. Also, by virtue of having 2-3 seasons of it a year all over the planet, they make it less special. It's not an event anymore. If they stopped doing it for a few years and then brought it back, I guarantee the ratings would come back up because it would mean something again.
As it is now, anyone who is good enough to be in the UFC just gets signed by them without TUF and TUF guys are used to pad out the ridiculous number of cards they're doing. Speaking of which...
2. The amount of cards in this UFC is too damn high
Seriously, guys. Stop it. You have 2-3 TUFS a year, Fight Nights on multiple channels, sometimes two on the same day in different parts of the world, and then you have entire cards on Fight Pass that the majority of your audience doesn't see and doesn't give a shit about. Barraging us with fight after fight after fight would only help build the sport if every MMA fan was independently wealthy and had infinite time in a week to watch MMA until their eyes bled. Unfortunately, most of us have jobs, lives and other interests. So we can't buy cable, then buy the PPVs and then buy your Fight Pass so we can watch every little thing. So, people are inevitably going to miss things and be left out of the loop on not only the new fighters you're trying to present, but possibly even title contenders.
And what do a lot of people do when they don't have the time/money to see everything they want to see? They watch it on their own time by pirating it. So this problem doesn't only affect fight fans, it also affects the UFC's bottom line to a certain degree.
Josh Barnett vs. Dean Lister is also going to be on the next Metamoris card.
I think I may have to buy this one.
http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/6/20/5827620/josh-barnett-vs-dean-lister-slated-for-metamoris-4-in-august
TUF10: Brendan Schaub, Roy Nelson, Matt Mitrione
TUF11: Nick Ring, Chris Camozzi, Seth Baczynski, Kyle Noke, Brad Tavares, Court McGee
TUF12: Nam Phan, Michael Johnson, Bruce Leroy, Johnathan Brookins
TUF13: Tony Ferguson, Myles Jury, Ramsey Nijem, Justin Edwards
TUF14: John Dodson, TJ Dillashaw, Johnny Bedford, Roland Delorme, Dennis Bermudez, Bryan Caraway, Steven Siler
TUF15: Sam Sicilia, Vinc Pichel, James Vick, Al Iaquinta, Cristiano Marcello, Daron Cruickshank, Michael Chiesa, Andy Ogle
TUF 16: Neil Magny, Mike Ricci, Colton Smith
TUF 17: Luke Barnatt, Uriah Hall, Zak Cummings, Tor Troeng, Kevin Casey, Kelvin Gastelum, Clint Hester, Josh Samman, Dylan Andrews
TUF 18: Juliana Pena, Chris Beal, Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, Raquel Pennington, Chris Holdsworth
TUF 19: There will be a few good fighters from this season.
TUF Brazil 1: Rony Jason, Francisco Trinaldo, Hugo Viana, Rodrigo Damm, Godofredo Pepey, Cezar Ferreira, Daniel Sarafian, Sérgio Moraes
TUF Brazil 2: Leonardo Santos, William Macario, Viscardi Andrade, Yan Cabral
TUF Brazil 3: Too soon to tell
TUF Smashes: Robert Whittaker, Brad Scott, Norman Parke
TUF China: Not enough time has passed to know.
TUF CA vs AUS: Olivier Aubin-Mercier, Chad Laprise, Nordine Taleb, Elias Theodorou, Vik Grujic
Not all of these guys are world-beaters, but some of them are doing super well and others have proven themselves as decent gatekeepers.
Dodson, Pena, Dillybar, Ferguson, Jury, Bermudez, & Gastelum are either current or possible future champions.
I'd say TUF is still trucking mid-level to great talent this far from the beginnings, but there will obviously be some roster fatigue, that's natural with how much MMA has blown up.
I'm talking about guys that are stars. Guys that move the needle. Guys that sell PPVs. You're talking about guys that are talented. Not the same thing.
Think of every major name the UFC has ever had. All of them were either big before TUF, weren't on it, on were on earlier seasons: Ortiz, Liddell, Couture, Anderson, Sonnen, Jones, Rousey, Lesnar, GSP, Griffin, etc.
I'm sure there are guys that I'm missing because there have just been so many seasons of the show, but I can't think of anyone past season 5 or 6 of TUF who has really been a big draw for the company (besides Kimbo, and he was popular for reasons that had nothing to do with the UFC).