Im outraged they bumped the inkmaster rerun slot for this drek.
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MMA-GAF |OT4| BangBros
- Thread starter polyh3dron
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Im outraged they bumped the inkmaster rerun slot for this drek.
Chael Sonnen will apply to referee Weidman vs. Silva 2
Special guest refrees in the Ultimate? Genius.
Chael will stop the action midway through round 1 to chide Anderson after a low blow, threatening to take 2 points. Anderson will crack a smile, Chael will freeze...only to smile back, ripping off his ref stripes to reveal an "Anderson Knows' shirt. He dips his hand in his slacks and tucks a foreign object in his hand, hitting Chris and knocking him out cold. He then stands above his unconscious body, waving off the fight with a menacing grin on his face as Anderson plays the air guitar.
"Whose side is he on?!", says Goldie.
Anderson Silver, your new UFC Middleweight champion.
Special guest refrees in the Ultimate? Genius.
Chael will stop the action midway through round 1 to chide Anderson after a low blow, threatening to take 2 points. Anderson will crack a smile, Chael will freeze...only to smile back, ripping off his ref stripes to reveal an "Anderson Knows' shirt. He dips his hand in his slacks and tucks a foreign object in his hand, hitting Chris and knocking him out cold. He then stands above his unconscious body, waving off the fight with a menacing grin on his face as Anderson plays the air guitar.
"Whose side is he on?!", says Goldie.
Anderson Silver, your new UFC Middleweight champion.
Maklershed
Member
Asschin Kutcher
It helps that I rarely watch the events live and just brisk through a full card in a couple hours, leaving out any downtime. I just don't get all the complaining. Is every hockey/football/basketball/football/whatever sport you like match exciting? Hell no. There's good and bad with every sport, I just go in to a MMA card and expect the unexpected, and enjoy the potential for great fights.
UFC president Dana White makes Nick Diaz an offer: Lyoto Machida at 185 pounds
Sounds awesome. Could Diaz finally make PPM stop running?
Maybe a win will put him up for a title bid at 185 against eventual winner, Anderson Silva?
Sounds awesome. Could Diaz finally make PPM stop running?
Maybe a win will put him up for a title bid at 185 against eventual winner, Anderson Silva?
Fornaximus
Member
That would be a terrible fight. If he couldn't get Condit to engage, how is he gonna get Machida? I'd rather see Belfort roid rage in Machida's general direction. Something's bound to connect.
Welcome young Vox Pop to OT 2. Are you a man of science? Or are you a blood thirsty roman stomping your hooves onto the cobbles of the coliseum calling for blood?
Probably the latter but I've been wanting Anderson vs Diaz forever. This could very well be the best way to get there provided they both win. I have a soft spot for clowns.
Also, I'm going to UFC on FS1 on Saturday. I know there are some events to meet the fighters a day or two before but is there anyway I can get some photos/autographs on the day of or after?
You talk mad shit about Pride fights but you've been waiting for one? C'mon son. Get it together.
As far as the signings go as early as you can. The earlier the better, providing they're doing it. Even the days of (when offered) are miserable as fuck. Days after dudes probably wont show up. Open workouts are your best chance.
TheKaeptain
Banned
What kind of sick fuck would want to watch Anderson beat up mentally challenged child?
Pride would never have made that fight. It wouldve definitely ended up with Anderson vs Shungo Oyama and Diaz vs Krazy Horse.
Yeah I can't make it on Thurs/Friday cause of work. I'll be driving there from NY on Saturday morning and staying till Sun night for the Yanks/Sox game. Would've loved to meet the legendary Chael Sonnen and JLau.
TheKaeptain said:
We've seen it before and it ended wonderfully
http://mmaversus.com/2012/02/20/and...-video-full-fight-ufc-ultimate-fight-night-5/
I also hate how googling chris leben vs anderson silva kept bringing up Weidman's stupid face
I would pay good money for this.
Youre from NY? Let me find out son? Queens all up in here. I'll tell you for a fact. That drive is super rough. If youre doing it in the time frame you said. Just prepare to be boned.
Yup, same, lived here all my life.
The drive isnt TOO bad. 3.5 hours. Gonna be with 2 of my friends too. General plan is to get there around like 1PM, rented an apt on airbnb so gotta check in, make it to TD Garden by 4:30 for the prelims and its off to 7 hours of MMA bliss. The drive back on Sunday night will probably be a bitch though.
Work with a 2 hour buffer. Trust me. Between check in. And getting food..and getting settled in. It will add up. Just do it.
Yeah for sure, thanks. I don't really mind missing OSP vs Donovan anyways. Gotta make it for Manvil vs Miller though.
I would love to see this fight so the Lawler hype train can get derailed. He beat a complete can in his last fight, a Koscheck on the downwind of his career, and before that he lost to a nobody named Lorenz Larkin.
Why you gotta disrespect The Monsoon like that, breh? Great fighter.
BigJonsson
Member
Diaz vs Machida could work if the octagon was half the size
Come on, a win over THE Bobby Voelker definitely warrants a title shot. You heard Rogan, Robbie Lawler is in his PRIME!
Diaz just wants to scrap. Sure, he lost to Condit, but that was because Condit would rather dance than bang. He also beat GSP 50-30, because we all know that stupid takedowns and stalling don't count for points.
Watch and be amazed: http://vimeo.com/72337631
It's basically Mike's Gym Florida. Mike completely removed him from the Blackzilians outside of Kenny Monday for grappling. He doesn't want to even train him in front of the Blackzilians because he's breaking him down and humbling the shit out of him. He's one step from hooking him up to a dog collar like he's Melvin Manhoef and slapping him with a wet sponge.
Hapa is in for a Dutch beatdown.
TheKaeptain
Banned
Oh shit...
Oh I saw it good Heel, I just wanted to talk like Sheiky Baby.
I do think he should go full time with Mike's Gym no fight camp BS and just cut off Blackzillians.
A
A More Normal Bird
Unconfirmed Member
I was planning on watching the episode when I got home but nothing could live up to this image.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Is it wrong that the first thing I noticed was "Ruud Gullit's really fucking old" ?
That and yeah. Overeem needed that verbalised Schiphol Slap. Being screamed at in Dutch by Mike must be one of the most intimidating things in the world that I can think of.
Maklershed
Member
Thank God they got the Reem away from the cocky Miami party scene taint of Blackzillians. I got nothing against Travis Browne but I'm hoping Reem has a better showing this time out.
Schedule that fight to take place in a phone booth and I'm all for it.
EDIT: Maybe its confirmation bias but going through the list of Blackzilians fighters on wikipedia and it seems like all the mma fighters are on a downswing except for Belfort and Rumble.
EDIT 2: Looks like Alpha Male is the team to be with.
EDIT 3: Whaaa? Joey Beltran is back? Wasn't he cut twice already?
Schedule that fight to take place in a phone booth and I'm all for it.
EDIT: Maybe its confirmation bias but going through the list of Blackzilians fighters on wikipedia and it seems like all the mma fighters are on a downswing except for Belfort and Rumble.
EDIT 2: Looks like Alpha Male is the team to be with.
EDIT 3: Whaaa? Joey Beltran is back? Wasn't he cut twice already?
dream
Member
Two of the most important shows of the year take place this coming weekend.
WWEs annual No. 3 show of the year, SummerSlam on 8/18 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, is built around two matches, Brock Lesnar vs. C.M. Punk and John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE title with the addition this past week of HHH as referee.
UFCs show is a strong television lineup, but historically, its one of the most important shows of all, because Fox Sports 1, a new network, debuts on 8/17 and theyve gone with UFC to anchor the first day. UFC programming starts at 4:30 p.m. with Ultimate Insiders, and then has a pre-fight show for one hour at 5 p.m., before five hours of live fights from 6-11 p.m. headlined by Chael Sonnen vs. Mauricio Shogun Rua and Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne.
At press time, just a few days before kickoff, DirecTV, Dish and Time Warner Cable have not picked up FS 1, which would mean roughly 46 million homes wont have access to the show. As of the last word a few days before launch, negotiations hit an impasse over the fee increase Fox was asking for the new 24 hour sports channel that they are looking at using to compete with ESPN.
The station will be carried by Comcast, Cox Verizons FiOS, AT&T Inc.s U-verse, Cablevision, Charter Communication and Suddenlink Communications. At press time, the station was only officially cleared in 45 million homes, representing 39% of the U.S. overall households and about half of the cable and satellite homes. The clearance at press time was not all that much more than Fuel (36 million) has. With far lesser fanfare, Fuel, loaded with UFC programming, is being renamed Fox Sports 2, also on Saturday.
UFC on FS 1 is, going forward, one of the most important news stories of this year. If FS 1 gets full clearance and is a success, UFC rides the wave. In particular, Countdown shows will have the kind of exposure they had in the Spike days. Perhaps being on an all-sports channel is even better, since the shows will hit directly a sports fan audience which may be more likely to be convinced to buy a PPV show than the FX audience was, or perhaps even the Spike audience. But no matter what, its better than the last 19 months where most of the shoulder programming has aired on Fuel, which most of the fans have no access to.
There are no predictions regarding how the show will do. This show should be expected to have done about 2 million viewers, and maybe more, if it was on FX. The first day on a new channel, if it does even 1.5 million viewers its a major home run. If it does a lot less, and it probably will, its part of the growing pains of change, and it wont be until a few years from now that one can really evaluate how its doing. For the next few months, the only UFC figures that really matter on FS 1 are how it does in comparison to the other sports. If it does far worse, then there are problems. As long as it does near the best, whatever that level is, then its good. But it is bad for UFC short-term if the audience for its shows is down, and there is a very good chance thatll happen. As far as how the station itself does, FOX is committed to it over the long haul. But the idea of a short-term negative in exposure that ends up as a long-term positive is a likely scenario provided FOX can make the station viable.
For WWE, there are also major short-term ramifications of the show, particularly the Cena vs. Bryan match.
WWE has attempted to keep this quiet, but Cena will be undergoing surgery shortly on his left elbow. The surgery may be as early as next week, although we were just told it would shortly after SummerSlam. Cenas left elbow is swollen like he had a something nearly the size of a baseball implanted in it, and that isnt good. It got so bad that Cena was pulled out of all in-ring, pulled from the only weekend house show in Oakland, where he was scheduled to main event, as well as pulled from wrestling on Raw, where he was also advertised in the main event.
Like the last time, it depends on what they find when they open him up how extensive the surgery will be and how long hell be out of action. Even had he not needed surgery, it feels like the right time for him to lose the title. They could swerve and have him retain, and have Randy Orton cash it in on Raw the next day or the next week, but more than likely the change should be part of a big angle on Sunday. Because there is no way of knowing how long Cena will be out of action, which figures to mean getting the title off him is a decision that has to be made, whether it would have been the original decision or not.
But to their benefit given the timing, Bryan has tremendous momentum as a face, and it is the time to give him the title if hes going to stay face. And if hes going to go heel, its also the time for him to get the title.
With Cena, Punk, Bryan and Orton all as top faces, the company is heavy on that side. The leading heel right now is Alberto Del Rio, who is hardly the guy to carry that side. Given that Punk just turned, his turning back is way premature, and Punk vs. Paul Heyman as a program would be ridiculous to end this early. The idea of Bryan winning a long, classic match, and then Orton cashing it in, makes tons of sense. The only reason Im not sure itll happen is because on TV they are almost telling you it will, and because it feels so obvious.
The big question regards whether Bryan or Orton wind up the night as champion. They are doing everything to convince people Orton is cashing the briefcase in, with Orton coming out during Bryans segment on both major shows this week. Usually when they tease that, it means they arent doing it because the briefcase cash-in is supposed to be a surprise. Ive been told very little, but the plan is for both Orton and HHH to have key storyline influences on the Cena vs. Bryan title match.
This match is expected to end up as the kickoff of the WrestleMania angle with the McMahons. HHH being added as referee is not because they think Bryan doesnt have enough star power and they need HHH there. Quite the opposite. HHH is there because this is a high profile title match, the biggest since WrestleMania, and the right spot for the angle to kick off the McMahon family.
As noted here many times, the original McMahon family storyline was that at SummerSlam, they would become united, and then after, its HHH that goes heel, leading to a match where the ownership of the company is at stake. There is also a long time for that direction to change. But based on television, it does appear the ultimate long-term program is the McMahon familys battle for power.
HHH going heel as referee would be the swerve that could happen. You are led to believe Vince is going to try and screw Cena or Bryan, and Bryan more than Cena, and HHH as referee will save the day and the right guy will win.
At this point, the rest of the card has Bray Wyatt vs. Kane in a Ring of Fire (ring surrounded by fire) match, Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian for the world title, Dolph Ziggler & Kaitlyn vs. Big E Langston & A.J. Lee, Cody Rhodes vs. Damien Sandow and Natalya vs. Brie Bella. Dean Ambrose vs. Rob Van Dam for the U.S. Title is official as the pre-show match. Last month, the pre-show match not only aired on the Internet, but on the PPV channel itself as a free part of the show for the first time.
Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs. Mark Henry & Big Show for the tag team title was not announced as official at press time, but the angle to set up that direction was shot on Raw, so if its not a late add, its probably taking place very soon.
In a strange situation, Maria Menounos, who has wrestled a few times for WWE in the past, will be wrestling this week. The company announced Natalya & Menounos vs. Brie Bella and a partner of her choosing for one of the Fan Axxess sessions, but at press time did not specify when the match would happen.
The match was the result of back-and-forth Twitter challenges with Natalya and the Bella Twins that appeared they were building a SummerSlam match. Because Nikki Bella has been out with a stress fracture in one of her shins, the Natalya challenge was for a tag match and telling Brie that if her sister wasnt ready she could pick a partner of her choosing and Natalya said shed bring Menounos. Its notable in going back-and-forth that all challenges were for a tag and not the singles match that is on the SummerSlam show, so that would make it appear there was a change of plans over the weekend, because why would they be ordered to build up a Fan Axxess match on Twitter, since thats aimed at the public and the public wont have access to the match except those attending Fan Axxess, as opposed to a SummerSlam match?
Its an interesting concept. It appears the company is thinking the ability to garner publicity from Menounos wrestling is more beneficial if its before SummerSlam takes place as opposed to being on the show. It does make sense if you think about it. Her wrestling and clips may be used in some entertainment media and can be used to promote the imminent SummerSlam event in getting the WWE name and the name of the event out, as opposed to the usual of having the celebrity wrestle being a selling point to get people to buy the PPV.
I like the idea, because Menounos wasnt going to mean an extra buy, her value is pure publicity and footage of her out the day before the show driving the show is more publicity than saying she would wrestle and garner that publicity after the show is over. Shes a unique celebrity in this instance because the idea is she can get a lot of entertainment press, but the reality is her presence on the show means nothing for PPV numbers, so its a completely different value than most name value celebrities WWE puts in the ring.
For the show to do in the neighborhood of last year (296,000 North American buys; 392,000 total; up from 180,000 in North American and 311,000 total the year before largely due to the Lesnar vs. HHH match), it will be all due to both the top two matches.
The UFC show will open with three Facebook Fights at 4:30 p.m., with Ramsey Nijem vs. James Vick, Ovince St. Preux vs. Cody Donovan and Manvel Gamburyan vs. Cole Miller.
They are airing ten live fights. In the current order, thats Diego Brandao vs Daniel Pineda, Steven Siler vs. former WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown, Max Holloway vs. Conor McGregor (who they are pushing to be the companys major Irish superstar which is why they made sure to book him in Boston), Michael McDonald vs. Brad Pickett, Michael Johnson vs. Bostons Bonus Machine, Joe Lauzon, Uriah Hall vs. John Howard, Matt Brown vs. Mike Pyle, Urijah Faber vs. Yuri Alcantara, Overeem vs. Browne and Rua vs. Sonnen.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal this past week ran a feature on UFCs international expansion which quotes Lorenzo Fertitta as stating that 40 percent of the companys roughly $500 million in gross revenue comes from outside the U.S.
The number is interesting because when it comes to UFC and WWE, who are entirely different in-ring products but have very similar business models, WWE had a huge head start on the international market given that pro wrestling existed all over the world with local and national promotions dating back 50 to 100 years, depending on the market, while MMA is relatively new.
Both brands are far and away the worldwide leader. UFC really has no competition anywhere in the world for supremacy, as, by default, Bellator is No. 2 in the world and at this point has very little popularity and interest.
WWE was dominant everywhere dating back a few years ago, but they are now clearly behind New Japan in the Japanese market, and AAA has equaled and in some weeks surpassed WWE in television ratings in Mexico even though WWE was doubling them a couple of years back.
In last weeks second quarter business comparisons, WWE revenue has dropped from 27.8% outside of North America in the second quarter of 2011 to 21.9% this past year, with a small drop in Europe and a huge drop in Latin America.
The 40% figure that UFC has claimed is not exactly a comparable figure. UFCs figure lists Canada, probably its No. 3 market behind the U.S. and Brazil, on the foreign side. For WWE, their version of domestic is the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico (as a U.S. territory). But it is amazing growth, in the sense that it was only a few years ago that Fertitta told me the company was only doing about 5% of its revenue outside North America.
But if the figure is accurate, that would indicate $300 million in U.S. revenue and $200 million overseas. WWE figures are public record, and in 2012, the company took in $484 million, of which $356 million came from North America. There is not a U.S. vs. Canada/Puerto Rico breakdown listed but weve been told its about 90% U.S., so the comparison numbers would look to be $320 million and $164 million.
Given that UFC revenues cant be checked, you cant state the accuracy of them. But again, UFC relies so much on PPV, while WWE relies on things like merchandise, where UFC is not in its league, and produces so much more television. Perhaps UFC is able to sell its product to the overseas market at a higher price, and certainly the type of deal they have in Brazil given the exposure level and the economy of Brazil would probably blow away any individual market WWE deal. But even though UFC individual shows outgross WWE events, WWE runs more than 300 shows and UFC runs less than 40, so when it comes to live event revenue, WWE should be well ahead both domestic and international when it comes to live events, licensing, Home video and web site. UFC almost surely has the edge, given Brazil, when it comes to international television revenue, and has a big edge in PPV, but the edge is U.S., Canada and Australia. Outside of those countries, WWE is well ahead in PPV. All of this would indicate UFC has made gigantic strides in recent years largely in the television rights fees department or the numbers dont come close to making sense.
More than anything, the huge difference is the Brazil market. My own experience in Las Vegas and more recently, in San Francisco with Junior Dos Santos in a tourist area is that in Brazil, a fighter like Dos Santos is every bit a top tier sports star and gets almost a rock star reaction. In the U.S., MMA champions are still secondary sports stars as compared to your top stars in the traditional sports. Its something obvious when you see it. I dont know if MMA is No. 2 to soccer as a lot of the UFC fighters say nowadays, but the biggest fights really do get more than 20 million viewers watching live on Globo for shows that air past midnight in a country of 191 million people. Its not quite a Super Bowl game in comparison, but based on a percentage of the population, its ahead of anything in the U.S. except the NFL playoffs, even ahead of Game Seven of the NBA finals, and in a far worse time slot.
Still, we are in a honeymoon period in Brazil, which really kicked off to a large degree with the Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort fight in early 2011, barely two years ago.
There has never been an organization close to the size and level of UFC running MMA in that country. But that country, dating back to the 1930s, has had a history with something resembling the sport of MMA, basically limited rules mixed fighting. The history has been of booms and busts a few years later, a few years of major popularity, often based on a charismatic star. Then something happens, whether it loses TV or the star gets old, or the novelty wears off, but it has never sustained. UFCs ratings for its big shows are still strong in Brazil, but the second season of The Ultimate Fighter saw ratings far lower than the first season, and the winners came out of the show as nowhere near the same level of stars.
As noted with WWE, there expectations of international being where the money that would carry the company has not turned out to be the case. Boom markets like Mexico, France, Italy and Spain went through huge years, but popularity did not sustain, even as the product itself in many ways improved. The sport vs. entertainment argument doesnt work because MMA had the similar pattern historically in Brazil and Japan, and in Japan, historically, it is pro wrestling that has proven to be the more sustainable long-term business. Still, UFCs Japan shows at a time when MMA isnt big in that country, without using the biggest drawing cards, draw larger crowds and gates than WWEs shows in the same market using most of its biggest names.
Of course, WWE has remained strong for more than two decades in the U.K. and Australia. In each case, both countries had huge pro wrestling traditions from the past. With only a few channels, a generation grew up with pro wrestling on TV in the U.K. as a fixture. In Australia, during the 60s, that country was the world hotbed of pro wrestling. But like with MMA, the promotions werent the kind of worldwide powerhouses that WWE and UFC are, and the Australia boom ended, and U.K. popularity fell as well, but did explode when WWE got regular television.
Feritta said that he believes, by 2015, that more than 50 percent of UFC revenue will come from outside the U.S. What makes that impressive is that UFC has, from its inception, been a PPV-driven business. Right now, the UFC really only makes significant PPV revenue in the U.S., Canada and Australia. They have not gotten on PPV in the U.K., which right now is the No. 2 country for WWE on PPV, even ahead of Canada. With the new U.K. TV deal where all the events will be on BT Sports, that isnt going to change any time soon.
At one point, the UFCs thoughts as far as the big money in the future had to do with PPV and the Internet, with the idea that eventually they could just put the shows up worldwide live and fans all over the world would buy, with idea of reaching millions of buyers, and if they did it through their own web site, not having to split the revenue with the cable companies like they do now. The jury is still out on that. Both UFC and WWE have their PPVs on the Internet, and in the big picture, they generate very little money even though there is a whole world where they arent available on local PPV. Part of the issue is the ease of piracy.
Both also have modified the future with the idea of, instead of a PPV, use the big shows as the main selling point for a 24 hour network. UFC is scheduled to start their Latin American 24 hour UFC network shortly, which would include all of their shows live, meaning essentially theyve given up the PPV model for that part of the world. WWE had early success on PPV in Mexico but it didnt sustain. WWE has talked of its network for years now, but we dont seem any closer to its launch than it seemed more than two years ago due to the cable industry not embracing the idea the way WWE expected.
Fertitta in particular talked about an expansion into Africa bypassing television and using mobile devices as the prime carrier.
What we found is that over 90 percent of the way people consume entertainment in those markets is through mobile devices, he said.
Because of that, unlike in the rest of the world where the U.S. model of 2005 is the key, get on television, and try and do a localized market Ultimate Fighter reality show to create first generation star, and run shows in the market, the Africa model is different. UFC is looking at South Africa, where WWE just came back last week from a successful tour with two nights of drawing close to 11,000 fans each night.
Fertitta said plans in 2014 include to debut shows in Mexico City, Berlin, Istanbul, Turkey, and Warsaw, Poland.
They also noted that of the companys 500 employees, 100 of them are based in places like London, Toronto and Beijing, where the company has offices.
WWEs annual No. 3 show of the year, SummerSlam on 8/18 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, is built around two matches, Brock Lesnar vs. C.M. Punk and John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE title with the addition this past week of HHH as referee.
UFCs show is a strong television lineup, but historically, its one of the most important shows of all, because Fox Sports 1, a new network, debuts on 8/17 and theyve gone with UFC to anchor the first day. UFC programming starts at 4:30 p.m. with Ultimate Insiders, and then has a pre-fight show for one hour at 5 p.m., before five hours of live fights from 6-11 p.m. headlined by Chael Sonnen vs. Mauricio Shogun Rua and Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne.
At press time, just a few days before kickoff, DirecTV, Dish and Time Warner Cable have not picked up FS 1, which would mean roughly 46 million homes wont have access to the show. As of the last word a few days before launch, negotiations hit an impasse over the fee increase Fox was asking for the new 24 hour sports channel that they are looking at using to compete with ESPN.
The station will be carried by Comcast, Cox Verizons FiOS, AT&T Inc.s U-verse, Cablevision, Charter Communication and Suddenlink Communications. At press time, the station was only officially cleared in 45 million homes, representing 39% of the U.S. overall households and about half of the cable and satellite homes. The clearance at press time was not all that much more than Fuel (36 million) has. With far lesser fanfare, Fuel, loaded with UFC programming, is being renamed Fox Sports 2, also on Saturday.
UFC on FS 1 is, going forward, one of the most important news stories of this year. If FS 1 gets full clearance and is a success, UFC rides the wave. In particular, Countdown shows will have the kind of exposure they had in the Spike days. Perhaps being on an all-sports channel is even better, since the shows will hit directly a sports fan audience which may be more likely to be convinced to buy a PPV show than the FX audience was, or perhaps even the Spike audience. But no matter what, its better than the last 19 months where most of the shoulder programming has aired on Fuel, which most of the fans have no access to.
There are no predictions regarding how the show will do. This show should be expected to have done about 2 million viewers, and maybe more, if it was on FX. The first day on a new channel, if it does even 1.5 million viewers its a major home run. If it does a lot less, and it probably will, its part of the growing pains of change, and it wont be until a few years from now that one can really evaluate how its doing. For the next few months, the only UFC figures that really matter on FS 1 are how it does in comparison to the other sports. If it does far worse, then there are problems. As long as it does near the best, whatever that level is, then its good. But it is bad for UFC short-term if the audience for its shows is down, and there is a very good chance thatll happen. As far as how the station itself does, FOX is committed to it over the long haul. But the idea of a short-term negative in exposure that ends up as a long-term positive is a likely scenario provided FOX can make the station viable.
For WWE, there are also major short-term ramifications of the show, particularly the Cena vs. Bryan match.
WWE has attempted to keep this quiet, but Cena will be undergoing surgery shortly on his left elbow. The surgery may be as early as next week, although we were just told it would shortly after SummerSlam. Cenas left elbow is swollen like he had a something nearly the size of a baseball implanted in it, and that isnt good. It got so bad that Cena was pulled out of all in-ring, pulled from the only weekend house show in Oakland, where he was scheduled to main event, as well as pulled from wrestling on Raw, where he was also advertised in the main event.
Like the last time, it depends on what they find when they open him up how extensive the surgery will be and how long hell be out of action. Even had he not needed surgery, it feels like the right time for him to lose the title. They could swerve and have him retain, and have Randy Orton cash it in on Raw the next day or the next week, but more than likely the change should be part of a big angle on Sunday. Because there is no way of knowing how long Cena will be out of action, which figures to mean getting the title off him is a decision that has to be made, whether it would have been the original decision or not.
But to their benefit given the timing, Bryan has tremendous momentum as a face, and it is the time to give him the title if hes going to stay face. And if hes going to go heel, its also the time for him to get the title.
With Cena, Punk, Bryan and Orton all as top faces, the company is heavy on that side. The leading heel right now is Alberto Del Rio, who is hardly the guy to carry that side. Given that Punk just turned, his turning back is way premature, and Punk vs. Paul Heyman as a program would be ridiculous to end this early. The idea of Bryan winning a long, classic match, and then Orton cashing it in, makes tons of sense. The only reason Im not sure itll happen is because on TV they are almost telling you it will, and because it feels so obvious.
The big question regards whether Bryan or Orton wind up the night as champion. They are doing everything to convince people Orton is cashing the briefcase in, with Orton coming out during Bryans segment on both major shows this week. Usually when they tease that, it means they arent doing it because the briefcase cash-in is supposed to be a surprise. Ive been told very little, but the plan is for both Orton and HHH to have key storyline influences on the Cena vs. Bryan title match.
This match is expected to end up as the kickoff of the WrestleMania angle with the McMahons. HHH being added as referee is not because they think Bryan doesnt have enough star power and they need HHH there. Quite the opposite. HHH is there because this is a high profile title match, the biggest since WrestleMania, and the right spot for the angle to kick off the McMahon family.
As noted here many times, the original McMahon family storyline was that at SummerSlam, they would become united, and then after, its HHH that goes heel, leading to a match where the ownership of the company is at stake. There is also a long time for that direction to change. But based on television, it does appear the ultimate long-term program is the McMahon familys battle for power.
HHH going heel as referee would be the swerve that could happen. You are led to believe Vince is going to try and screw Cena or Bryan, and Bryan more than Cena, and HHH as referee will save the day and the right guy will win.
At this point, the rest of the card has Bray Wyatt vs. Kane in a Ring of Fire (ring surrounded by fire) match, Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian for the world title, Dolph Ziggler & Kaitlyn vs. Big E Langston & A.J. Lee, Cody Rhodes vs. Damien Sandow and Natalya vs. Brie Bella. Dean Ambrose vs. Rob Van Dam for the U.S. Title is official as the pre-show match. Last month, the pre-show match not only aired on the Internet, but on the PPV channel itself as a free part of the show for the first time.
Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs. Mark Henry & Big Show for the tag team title was not announced as official at press time, but the angle to set up that direction was shot on Raw, so if its not a late add, its probably taking place very soon.
In a strange situation, Maria Menounos, who has wrestled a few times for WWE in the past, will be wrestling this week. The company announced Natalya & Menounos vs. Brie Bella and a partner of her choosing for one of the Fan Axxess sessions, but at press time did not specify when the match would happen.
The match was the result of back-and-forth Twitter challenges with Natalya and the Bella Twins that appeared they were building a SummerSlam match. Because Nikki Bella has been out with a stress fracture in one of her shins, the Natalya challenge was for a tag match and telling Brie that if her sister wasnt ready she could pick a partner of her choosing and Natalya said shed bring Menounos. Its notable in going back-and-forth that all challenges were for a tag and not the singles match that is on the SummerSlam show, so that would make it appear there was a change of plans over the weekend, because why would they be ordered to build up a Fan Axxess match on Twitter, since thats aimed at the public and the public wont have access to the match except those attending Fan Axxess, as opposed to a SummerSlam match?
Its an interesting concept. It appears the company is thinking the ability to garner publicity from Menounos wrestling is more beneficial if its before SummerSlam takes place as opposed to being on the show. It does make sense if you think about it. Her wrestling and clips may be used in some entertainment media and can be used to promote the imminent SummerSlam event in getting the WWE name and the name of the event out, as opposed to the usual of having the celebrity wrestle being a selling point to get people to buy the PPV.
I like the idea, because Menounos wasnt going to mean an extra buy, her value is pure publicity and footage of her out the day before the show driving the show is more publicity than saying she would wrestle and garner that publicity after the show is over. Shes a unique celebrity in this instance because the idea is she can get a lot of entertainment press, but the reality is her presence on the show means nothing for PPV numbers, so its a completely different value than most name value celebrities WWE puts in the ring.
For the show to do in the neighborhood of last year (296,000 North American buys; 392,000 total; up from 180,000 in North American and 311,000 total the year before largely due to the Lesnar vs. HHH match), it will be all due to both the top two matches.
The UFC show will open with three Facebook Fights at 4:30 p.m., with Ramsey Nijem vs. James Vick, Ovince St. Preux vs. Cody Donovan and Manvel Gamburyan vs. Cole Miller.
They are airing ten live fights. In the current order, thats Diego Brandao vs Daniel Pineda, Steven Siler vs. former WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown, Max Holloway vs. Conor McGregor (who they are pushing to be the companys major Irish superstar which is why they made sure to book him in Boston), Michael McDonald vs. Brad Pickett, Michael Johnson vs. Bostons Bonus Machine, Joe Lauzon, Uriah Hall vs. John Howard, Matt Brown vs. Mike Pyle, Urijah Faber vs. Yuri Alcantara, Overeem vs. Browne and Rua vs. Sonnen.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal this past week ran a feature on UFCs international expansion which quotes Lorenzo Fertitta as stating that 40 percent of the companys roughly $500 million in gross revenue comes from outside the U.S.
The number is interesting because when it comes to UFC and WWE, who are entirely different in-ring products but have very similar business models, WWE had a huge head start on the international market given that pro wrestling existed all over the world with local and national promotions dating back 50 to 100 years, depending on the market, while MMA is relatively new.
Both brands are far and away the worldwide leader. UFC really has no competition anywhere in the world for supremacy, as, by default, Bellator is No. 2 in the world and at this point has very little popularity and interest.
WWE was dominant everywhere dating back a few years ago, but they are now clearly behind New Japan in the Japanese market, and AAA has equaled and in some weeks surpassed WWE in television ratings in Mexico even though WWE was doubling them a couple of years back.
In last weeks second quarter business comparisons, WWE revenue has dropped from 27.8% outside of North America in the second quarter of 2011 to 21.9% this past year, with a small drop in Europe and a huge drop in Latin America.
The 40% figure that UFC has claimed is not exactly a comparable figure. UFCs figure lists Canada, probably its No. 3 market behind the U.S. and Brazil, on the foreign side. For WWE, their version of domestic is the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico (as a U.S. territory). But it is amazing growth, in the sense that it was only a few years ago that Fertitta told me the company was only doing about 5% of its revenue outside North America.
But if the figure is accurate, that would indicate $300 million in U.S. revenue and $200 million overseas. WWE figures are public record, and in 2012, the company took in $484 million, of which $356 million came from North America. There is not a U.S. vs. Canada/Puerto Rico breakdown listed but weve been told its about 90% U.S., so the comparison numbers would look to be $320 million and $164 million.
Given that UFC revenues cant be checked, you cant state the accuracy of them. But again, UFC relies so much on PPV, while WWE relies on things like merchandise, where UFC is not in its league, and produces so much more television. Perhaps UFC is able to sell its product to the overseas market at a higher price, and certainly the type of deal they have in Brazil given the exposure level and the economy of Brazil would probably blow away any individual market WWE deal. But even though UFC individual shows outgross WWE events, WWE runs more than 300 shows and UFC runs less than 40, so when it comes to live event revenue, WWE should be well ahead both domestic and international when it comes to live events, licensing, Home video and web site. UFC almost surely has the edge, given Brazil, when it comes to international television revenue, and has a big edge in PPV, but the edge is U.S., Canada and Australia. Outside of those countries, WWE is well ahead in PPV. All of this would indicate UFC has made gigantic strides in recent years largely in the television rights fees department or the numbers dont come close to making sense.
More than anything, the huge difference is the Brazil market. My own experience in Las Vegas and more recently, in San Francisco with Junior Dos Santos in a tourist area is that in Brazil, a fighter like Dos Santos is every bit a top tier sports star and gets almost a rock star reaction. In the U.S., MMA champions are still secondary sports stars as compared to your top stars in the traditional sports. Its something obvious when you see it. I dont know if MMA is No. 2 to soccer as a lot of the UFC fighters say nowadays, but the biggest fights really do get more than 20 million viewers watching live on Globo for shows that air past midnight in a country of 191 million people. Its not quite a Super Bowl game in comparison, but based on a percentage of the population, its ahead of anything in the U.S. except the NFL playoffs, even ahead of Game Seven of the NBA finals, and in a far worse time slot.
Still, we are in a honeymoon period in Brazil, which really kicked off to a large degree with the Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort fight in early 2011, barely two years ago.
There has never been an organization close to the size and level of UFC running MMA in that country. But that country, dating back to the 1930s, has had a history with something resembling the sport of MMA, basically limited rules mixed fighting. The history has been of booms and busts a few years later, a few years of major popularity, often based on a charismatic star. Then something happens, whether it loses TV or the star gets old, or the novelty wears off, but it has never sustained. UFCs ratings for its big shows are still strong in Brazil, but the second season of The Ultimate Fighter saw ratings far lower than the first season, and the winners came out of the show as nowhere near the same level of stars.
As noted with WWE, there expectations of international being where the money that would carry the company has not turned out to be the case. Boom markets like Mexico, France, Italy and Spain went through huge years, but popularity did not sustain, even as the product itself in many ways improved. The sport vs. entertainment argument doesnt work because MMA had the similar pattern historically in Brazil and Japan, and in Japan, historically, it is pro wrestling that has proven to be the more sustainable long-term business. Still, UFCs Japan shows at a time when MMA isnt big in that country, without using the biggest drawing cards, draw larger crowds and gates than WWEs shows in the same market using most of its biggest names.
Of course, WWE has remained strong for more than two decades in the U.K. and Australia. In each case, both countries had huge pro wrestling traditions from the past. With only a few channels, a generation grew up with pro wrestling on TV in the U.K. as a fixture. In Australia, during the 60s, that country was the world hotbed of pro wrestling. But like with MMA, the promotions werent the kind of worldwide powerhouses that WWE and UFC are, and the Australia boom ended, and U.K. popularity fell as well, but did explode when WWE got regular television.
Feritta said that he believes, by 2015, that more than 50 percent of UFC revenue will come from outside the U.S. What makes that impressive is that UFC has, from its inception, been a PPV-driven business. Right now, the UFC really only makes significant PPV revenue in the U.S., Canada and Australia. They have not gotten on PPV in the U.K., which right now is the No. 2 country for WWE on PPV, even ahead of Canada. With the new U.K. TV deal where all the events will be on BT Sports, that isnt going to change any time soon.
At one point, the UFCs thoughts as far as the big money in the future had to do with PPV and the Internet, with the idea that eventually they could just put the shows up worldwide live and fans all over the world would buy, with idea of reaching millions of buyers, and if they did it through their own web site, not having to split the revenue with the cable companies like they do now. The jury is still out on that. Both UFC and WWE have their PPVs on the Internet, and in the big picture, they generate very little money even though there is a whole world where they arent available on local PPV. Part of the issue is the ease of piracy.
Both also have modified the future with the idea of, instead of a PPV, use the big shows as the main selling point for a 24 hour network. UFC is scheduled to start their Latin American 24 hour UFC network shortly, which would include all of their shows live, meaning essentially theyve given up the PPV model for that part of the world. WWE had early success on PPV in Mexico but it didnt sustain. WWE has talked of its network for years now, but we dont seem any closer to its launch than it seemed more than two years ago due to the cable industry not embracing the idea the way WWE expected.
Fertitta in particular talked about an expansion into Africa bypassing television and using mobile devices as the prime carrier.
What we found is that over 90 percent of the way people consume entertainment in those markets is through mobile devices, he said.
Because of that, unlike in the rest of the world where the U.S. model of 2005 is the key, get on television, and try and do a localized market Ultimate Fighter reality show to create first generation star, and run shows in the market, the Africa model is different. UFC is looking at South Africa, where WWE just came back last week from a successful tour with two nights of drawing close to 11,000 fans each night.
Fertitta said plans in 2014 include to debut shows in Mexico City, Berlin, Istanbul, Turkey, and Warsaw, Poland.
They also noted that of the companys 500 employees, 100 of them are based in places like London, Toronto and Beijing, where the company has offices.
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The legal battle between Eddie Alvarez and Bellator MMA ended on 8/13 with the announcement that Alvarez had signed a new contract with the promotion and will face rival Michael Chandler in a lightweight championship fight on the companys first PPV show, on 11/2 in Long Beach.
The match is a rematch of the November 19, 2011, fight between the two where Chandler won the lightweight title via fourth round knockout. It was one of the all-time classic fights in MMA history. It was also, by far, the most-watched fight, doing the record setting live numbers and amazing replay numbers, for the promotion during its time on MTV 2.
Chandler vs. Alvarez will be the No. 2 fight on the show, behind the Tito Ortiz vs. Rampage Jackson main event. For a number of reasons, the fight is a great one for the show. Both have star quality, Alvarez has a reputation for being in outstanding fights and with the various Countdown-like shows Spike is expected to produce to build the show, they can promote is based around that epic first fight.
Its also an answer to critics of the show, because the main event pits two fighters who are clearly past their primes. But this fight can be promoted from a sports standpoint as the biggest in company history.
Chandler, 12-0, who has looked amazing since the Alvarez fight, winning two of his last three fights in less than one minute, is generally considered Bellators best fighter.
After the first fight, because of Bellators then-rigid rules that the only way to get a title shot was to win a tournament, there was no rematch of the match that far more than any other, fans would have wanted to see. Alvarez refused to go back into a tournament where hed have to fight three times in three months, and thus, based on the rules Bellator had in place, Alvarez vs. Chandler could only be made as a non-title fight. Alvarez came back from the Chandler loss with first round knockout wins over Shinya Aoki and Patricky Pitbull Freire, and even though he had lost to Chandler, was Bellators biggest star on its roster with the pending move to Spike TV earlier this year.
Bellator earlier this year announced that in special situations, they would grant title matches to fighters who had not gone through the tournament. Bjorn Rebney at the time explained it would be limited to big rematches, which this would fit into. The strict tournament format was never going to hold up as an absolute on Spike, and the Chandler vs. Alvarez situation, long before it was a court fight, was the prime example as to why.
Alvarezs Bellator contract expired with the 10/12 win over Freire. Alvarezs original contract signed with Bellator in 2009, which paid him significantly more than a lightweight of his caliber would have gotten in UFC, at roughly $100,000 a fight, gave Bellator the right to match any terms in the event the contract expired. Alvarez had made his name in Japan, but with that scene drying up, had been interested in coming to the UFC. But Bellator, which was starting out on Fox Sports Deportes, wanted someone of Hispanic descent (Alvarez is partially Puerto Rican) to be the face of the company, chose him, and made him an offer significantly more than UFC did.
Bellator had attempted to sign Alvarez to a new deal but he wanted to test the free agent waters. His leverage was great, with Bellator moving to Spike TV. He had won nine of his previous ten fights and was the best known and probably most marketable fighter at the time on the Bellator roster. You could argue King Mo as a bigger name because of the publicity Spike gave his signing, but Mo never moved television numbers the way Alvarez had in his biggest fights. For UFC, taking the companys biggest star right before they were moving to Spike would have been a huge coup.
On 11/28, UFC offered Alvarez an eight-fight contract with these terms:
*A $250,000 signing bonus to be paid in three installments. He would be paid $85,000 after his first fight, $85,000 after his second fight and $80,000 after his third fight.
*His first fight would be on 3/16 in Montreal, where he would face the winner of the Benson Henderson vs. Nate Diaz fight for the UFC lightweight championship. It should be noted this was not guaranteed in the contract, only that is what they had planned. The 3/16 date was also listed as the target date, but also was not guaranteed. What was guaranteed was Alvarezs first fight would be on PPV and that hed get points based on buys on that show.
*His base salary would start at $70,000 guaranteed per fight with a $70,000 win bonus. With each win, his guarantee and win bonus would both increase by $5,000. With a loss, his guaranteed fight money and win bonus would stay at the level it was the previous fight.
*He would also get a PPV bonus for his first UFC fight and if he won the title, would get a similar bonus for every fight he had on PPV as champion. The bonus started at 200,000 buys. He would get $1 for every buy between 200,000 and 399,999. He would get $2 for every buy between 400,000 and 599,000. And he would get $2.50 for every buy above 600,000.
*He was also guaranteed at least one fight on FOX and would be paid to be a color commentator on at least three shows.
The key terms in the UFC deal were the guaranteeing of a Spike fight and the PPV bonus, because Bellator, theoretically, could not match those terms.
It was a different structure from when UFC signed Bellators middleweight champion, Hector Lombard away. Lombard was offered a $400,000 signing bonus and a guaranteed $300,000 per fight, with increases in his base salary depending on wins. Lombard didnt have Alvarezs star power, even though he had been a dominant fighter in Bellators middleweight division, and Bellator opted not to match the terms. Lombard went to UFC and has gone 1-2, and is moving down from middleweight to welterweight. He lost his first fight to Tim Boetch, ruining any chance of an Anderson Silva vs. Lombard title showdown and ultimately has been a major disappointment.
While Alvarez is a proven quality lightweight, that is the UFCs deepest division. It is impossible to predict where Alvarez or Chandler would stand in the UFC pack, other than theyd likely be competitive at the top level.
However, when Bellator got the contract, they essentially copied it word-for-word, with a few modifications. The major difference is that in Bellator, he would not be under the UFCs health insurance plan, nor would he be subjected to any drug testing UFC would opt to do. Bellator does not drug test fighters, and runs often in non-commission venues where there is no drug testing. UFC always drug tests the top fighters the day of the show, either done by the commission, or if they are out of the country, UFC does it themselves.
Bellator simply changed every wording of Zuffa to Bellator, and changed FOX to Spike, and changed the promise of a UFC lightweight title shot in his first match to the promise of a Bellator lightweight title match in his first match, which would be on PPV. They also changed the wording that any legal dispute between the two sides in the UFC contract would have to be litigated in Nevada, where Bellator changed it to New Jersey, although they told him if he wanted, they would leave Nevada as the state of venue. Bellator then claimed they had matched the terms.
Alvarez claimed they were not a match, citing that FOX was a far more valuable platform to build a name than Spike, and that Bellator had never done a PPV show, and thus, even giving an identical bonus structure, it was not a match.
Bellator also was given additional guarantees. The first was a $25,000 payoff for a Spike TV special that would be produced building him up. He was also offered $100,000 to coach on the second season of Fight Master. He was also offered a hosting position on a Spike show that would air Bellator highlights. The latter show, similar to UFC Unleashed that had been on Spike, has had a few episodes produced under the name Bellator 360.
Due to Bellator claiming they had matched rights, UFC could not sign Alvarez in time to get him on the 3/16 show. Based on the show doing an estimated 950,000 buys, Alvarez would have earned a $1,475,000 PPV bonus to go along with his $70,000 base pay on that show.
Alvarez went to court to get a ruling that would allow him to fight on 4/27 at a show in Newark. That show was last estimated at doing 550,000 buys (Ive heard talk with late reported buys that number could be as much as 600,000). On that show, he would have earned a minimum of $500,000 and possibly as much as $600,000. Obviously no Bellator show will do anywhere near that level.
The judge turned down Alvarezs request for an immediate ruling that would enable him to sign with UFC and start fighting on 4/27. The judge at the time ruled that a jury may see his points on both the PPV side and the difference in TV platforms. However, the earliest trial date Alvarez was able to get was September 15, 2014, which meant he would lose two years at the prime of his career.
Alvarez had sold a property to have the money to continue to support his family while not being able to fight, and vowed to take the fight to court. But in recent weeks, it had been clear Alvarez was looking to settle. Months ago, Dana White even said the best thing for Alvarez to do at this point was settle with Bellator and get on with his fighting career. With Bellator not taking off on Spike thus far, it has become more of a current WWE/TNA dynamic where the major promotion doesnt really feel its in a war, is not looking at necessarily raiding its top talent and has bigger things on its plate, as compared to a WWE/WCW dynamic or even a UFC/Strikeforce dynamic where Strikeforce had a lot of the top fighters and was paying them bigger money than UFC was.
However one wants to interpret matching rights, and there is no way a fight on Spike is of the value of one on FOX, nor is appearing on a Bellator PPV equivalent to a UFC PPV, nor is a shot at the Bellator title equivalent to a shot at the UFC title (which was not explicitly guaranteed in the contract, only that it was Zuffas plan for his debut). The judge in the original case even brought up the difference between FOX and Spike as an argument that the offer wasnt matching, but felt it needed to go to a full court case rather than him making a ruling immediately on it based on just a few arguments. Bellators argument at the time is that UFC had promoted PPV shows just as successfully with Spike as its platform as it did with FOX as its platform, so that was their big argument that it was matching. Alvarezs side pointed to the huge difference in ratings as a general rule, plus FOX having a wider audience reach. Still, because UFC was newer, fresher and televised events were more rare, the biggest UFC events on Spike (Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz in 2006, Dan Henderson vs. Rampage Jackson in 2007) did numbers not that far off the biggest shows on FOX.
Still, being right when it comes to value not being equal and winning a court case on it are two different things. For a fighter with a short shelf life, now 29, fighting a major company in court is never fun, and the outcome more often than not ends up disappointing, plus legal bills mount and Alvarez was bringing in no income.
To a judge, or a jury, with little understanding of the MMA business, nor the differences between UFC and Bellator when it comes to contract value, there is no guarantee how they would rule.
Dana White on a press call talked about how the Culinary Workers Union is spending their union members dues to hurt the UFC, and also said they were using womens groups and gay rights groups who cant see through them as part of their agenda, which is to try and get Station Casinos (owned by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta) unionized.
White also indicated that this weekends show in Boston may be the last one in the city in the foreseeable future. The athletic commission in Massachusetts had a regulation that all foreign fighters would need a social security card to get licensed, and told UFC about it late in the game. To get a social security card, you need a visa, and there were some fighters on the show who didnt have one. They would need them to fight, but by the time UFC found out, there was a timing issue involved. There was enough time what UFC was able to pay to get expedited visas in time to then get social security numbers, but that was one issue. The second was a hearing that wasnt held until 8/8 regarding whether Chael Sonnen, who was in the main event, would be able to fight on the show. There were two arguments, one being over the testosterone replacement use issue. The other is Unite Now, the Culinary Workers Union group, pushed the commission to ban Sonnen due to his felony mortgage fraud felony from a few years back. The commission talked about the latter issue and dropped it immediately, saying they didnt want to set a precedent of banning someone from fighting based on a prior non-violent felony conviction. The commission approved Sonnen. Had they not, it would have been disastrous to have the main event fall out that late in the game on the FS 1 debut show. When asked if this has impacted having future events in the city, White said, Id be a liar if I said no. Later, on the same subject, he said, No doubt about it. Great place to hang out with my friends and eat. Not a great place to put on fights. This is UFCs second show in the market. The debut show, in 2010 did not sell out even with a loaded show, although came close. The second show this week has sold more than 9,000 tickets, which given the card, is fine, but a hot market after three years off with this same card would have done better.
On 8/13, Boston City Council President Stephen Murphy once again spoke on the subject, saying hes proposing a law that would not allow anyone under the age of 18 to attend a UFC event in the city unless they were accompanied by a parent. Its a little bit of a tone down from his first bill proposal, where he wanted to ban anyone under 18 attending even with a parent. The bill wont affect Saturdays show, but the reception has clearly made White figure that his former home town is not going to become a regular stop. Theyre experts in martial arts, boxing, and whatever yet socially theyre promoting anti-social behavior to children. And Im coming at this trying to protect our kids. WHDH in Boston reported that the city has a law on its books that nobody had talked about that required a parent to be there for anyone under the age of 16 to attend an MMA show.
We dont have an exact number for UFC 163 on 8/3 (Jose Aldo vs. Chan Sung Jung), but its about where everyone would have expected. It looks to be well ahead of UFC 161, which did bottoming out 135,000 to 150,000 numbers. But it also looks shy of 200,000, which confirms again that the baseline numbers, even for a title fight (with one of the lighter weight titles) has dropped a little. UFC 164 on 8/31 with Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis wont be doing big numbers, but the hope would be to do substantially better than this last one. September with Jon Jones against a non-draw in Alexander Gustafsson will be a real test. If they dont hit 400,000 it would be bad for a Jones show, but anything above 450,000 for that fight Id consider real good.
There have been a lot of rumors floating around, but nothing confirmed, of a Vitor Belfort vs. Lyoto Machida fight in the fall. It was reported on UFC Tonight by Ariel Helwani, who spoke to Dana White, who said he loved the bout (to me, I cant love any match with Machida) and would like for it to be the co-main event on the 11/16 show in Las Vegas underneath GSP vs. Johny Hendricks. He also said he wanted the fight at 185 pounds, not 205. If Machida were to win such a fight at 185, hed knock Belfort out of the No. 1 contender and title shot at the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva. Theres really nobody else ready for a title shot since Michael Bisping was knocked out by Belfort. A Belfort win and he should be a sure-thing for the next shot. A loss and youre down to Machida and the winner of the Bisping vs. Mark Munoz fight on 9/26. Belfort had said he wanted to fight, but not at 185, feeling as long as he doesnt lose at 185, hell get the shot at the title and hes not risking it. Machidas side wants Belfort, feeling that him wearing a shirt at the Jon Jones fight, that read, Your son doesnt run away from a fight. They took it personally because Machida had turned down the fight with Jones based on not having enough time to do a full training camp after Jones had already beaten him once. Machidas side was agreeable to the fight at 185 or 205, but felt it was potentially big enough due to the grudge match aspect that they could hold it in a soccer stadium in Brazil. The only other near contender I see is Ronaldo Jacare Souza has looked impressive of late but he still needs to garner more name recognition.
Fabricio Werdum said that hes willing to sit it out, feeling that hes the rightful next contender to the heavyweight title against the winner of the 10/19 Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos fight. It would be him or the winner of this weeks Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne fight. If Overeem wins in devastating fashion, hed probably go ahead based on look and that he beat Werdum.
The Jake Shields vs. Demian Maia fight that had been talked about for a few weeks is likely for a 10/9 show that appears to be at the Gimnasio Poliesportivo Jose Correra in Barueri, which is near Sao Paulo. The show will air on FS 1. The two are both great at submissions, with Maia maybe having the submission edge and Shields in theory having the wrestling edge, but watching the way Maia handled Jon Fitch, that is to be determined. Maia is a genuine contender at 170, but a loss would take him out of that tier. Shields vs. Maia is scheduled as the main event, with Dong Hyun Kim vs. Erick Silva as the No. 2 fight.
Charles Oliveira vs. Esteven Payan has been added to the 10/19 show in Houston. Oliveira is coming off almost a star making performance in losing to Frankie Edgar on 7/6, but hes lost two straight since Cub Swanson beat him as well.
Sam Sicilia pulled out of a planned 9/4 fight with Felipe Arantes in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Arantes will now face newcomer Edimilson Souza, who is 12-3, who has seven straight knockout wins leading to him being signed by UFC.
The 19th season of TUF, in early 2014, will feature middleweights and light heavyweights. They are doing a tryout session on 8/27 in Indianapolis for the show.
John Dodson vs. debuting Darrell Montague has been added to the 10/19 show in Houston. Montague is 13-2, and was the Tachi Palace fights flyweight champion, which was considered the biggest flyweight title before UFC introduced the division, before losing the title to Ian McCall. Dodson had been clamoring for a fight, since itll be roughly ten months between fights, with his last bout being a loss to Demetrious Johnson in a title match on FOX in January.
Jimy Hettes vs. Mike Wilkinson, Jimi Manuwa vs. Ryan Jimmo and John Lineker vs. Phil Harris were added to the 10/26 FS 1 show from Manchester, England. That show is headlined by Michael Bisping vs. Mark Munoz. Manuwa, who is 13-0, faces Jimmo, now 18-2. Lineker vs. Harris was first booked for the 8/3 show in Rio de Janeiro, but Harris suffered a fractured orbital bone in training so had to pull out and Lineker beat Jose Maria.
Four UFC fighters have entered the Abu Dhabi Combat Club world submission championships which take place on 10/19 and 10/20 in Beijing, China, Dong Hyun Kim, Rousimar Palhares, Vinny Magalhaes and Fabricio Werdum. Kim will compete at 169 pounds. Palhares will compete at 193 pounds. Former UFC fighters Dean Lister (defending champion) and Jon Olav Einemo compete at 217. Magalhaes, the defending champion, and Werdum, complete in the unlimited weight class. Interesting that Magalhaes fights at 205 but is competing at more than 217. Magalhaes may not be in UFC much longer since hes in danger of being cut after his quick knockout loss to Anthony Perosh on 8/3. He also has said that if hes cut by UFC, hell retire as an MMA fighter.
Jason Mayhem Miller, 32, a former UFC, Strikeforce and Dream fighter as well as host of the TV show Bully Beatdown on MTV, was arrested on 8/11 on a charge of domestic violence in Orange County. He was held all day at the Orange County Central Jail Complex until being released after midnight after posting $50,000 bond. The police report stated that on 8/10, Orange County Sheriffs received a phone call from a woman saying she was the victim of domestic violence attack on 8/3 in Mission Viejo. A deputy came to her home. The alleged victim told him that at about 9 p.m. on 8/3, she was in an argument with Miller involving a text message she found on his cell phone. The victim was found with multiple bruises on both arms and both legs, cuts above the right eye and on the right side of the face. They went to arrest Miller but he wasnt home and they couldnt find him. By coincidence, on 8/11 at about 5:30 a.m. deputies were called to a residence about a loud party. When they got there, they found Miller yelling at his neighbors. Given the existing report from the previous day, they arrested Miller. It was almost exactly one year ago when Miller allegedly broke into a church and vandalized it, allegedly throwing bibles everywhere, tearing them up, breaking windows and furniture, and when police arrived, they found him naked. Of late, Miller has been going on twitter and blasting Dana White, often in an irrational manner.
Stephen Espinoza, who heads Showtime Sports, said this week that there would be no MMA on the station at least through the end of 2013. We are continuing to evaluate MMA opportunities, he said. But given our very busy programming slate for the rest of 2013, any new MMA programming would have to debut in 2014. Espinoza had earlier said that he wasnt sure if there was a public demand for more MMA on television. Showtime has put all its resources into boxing, including the signing of Floyd Mayweather Jr., boxings biggest star, to an unprecedented contract. There is no MMA promotion besides UFC and Bellator that really has the level of name talent that a premium network would be interested in on the mens side. Invicta would have been the best possibility, and even though nobody will publicly say it, Showtime was interested in keeping MMA and building a company around Ronda Rousey when the UFC/Showtime contract expired. Thats one of the reasons Rousey was able to strike a strong UFC deal (her deal is for a lot more money than just her base purse, obviously), because she was such a valuable commodity to both sides after the folding of Strikeforce. But without her, Showtime wouldnt have that superstar to build around.
Nothing has been heard from Invicta since its PPV show when it comes to a next show, other than an announcement this past week they had signed Felice Herrig. Herrig (9-4), has gotten something of an underground name, more for her looks than any big wins, and had fought with Bellator most recently, which looks like its dropping its womens division.
The match is a rematch of the November 19, 2011, fight between the two where Chandler won the lightweight title via fourth round knockout. It was one of the all-time classic fights in MMA history. It was also, by far, the most-watched fight, doing the record setting live numbers and amazing replay numbers, for the promotion during its time on MTV 2.
Chandler vs. Alvarez will be the No. 2 fight on the show, behind the Tito Ortiz vs. Rampage Jackson main event. For a number of reasons, the fight is a great one for the show. Both have star quality, Alvarez has a reputation for being in outstanding fights and with the various Countdown-like shows Spike is expected to produce to build the show, they can promote is based around that epic first fight.
Its also an answer to critics of the show, because the main event pits two fighters who are clearly past their primes. But this fight can be promoted from a sports standpoint as the biggest in company history.
Chandler, 12-0, who has looked amazing since the Alvarez fight, winning two of his last three fights in less than one minute, is generally considered Bellators best fighter.
After the first fight, because of Bellators then-rigid rules that the only way to get a title shot was to win a tournament, there was no rematch of the match that far more than any other, fans would have wanted to see. Alvarez refused to go back into a tournament where hed have to fight three times in three months, and thus, based on the rules Bellator had in place, Alvarez vs. Chandler could only be made as a non-title fight. Alvarez came back from the Chandler loss with first round knockout wins over Shinya Aoki and Patricky Pitbull Freire, and even though he had lost to Chandler, was Bellators biggest star on its roster with the pending move to Spike TV earlier this year.
Bellator earlier this year announced that in special situations, they would grant title matches to fighters who had not gone through the tournament. Bjorn Rebney at the time explained it would be limited to big rematches, which this would fit into. The strict tournament format was never going to hold up as an absolute on Spike, and the Chandler vs. Alvarez situation, long before it was a court fight, was the prime example as to why.
Alvarezs Bellator contract expired with the 10/12 win over Freire. Alvarezs original contract signed with Bellator in 2009, which paid him significantly more than a lightweight of his caliber would have gotten in UFC, at roughly $100,000 a fight, gave Bellator the right to match any terms in the event the contract expired. Alvarez had made his name in Japan, but with that scene drying up, had been interested in coming to the UFC. But Bellator, which was starting out on Fox Sports Deportes, wanted someone of Hispanic descent (Alvarez is partially Puerto Rican) to be the face of the company, chose him, and made him an offer significantly more than UFC did.
Bellator had attempted to sign Alvarez to a new deal but he wanted to test the free agent waters. His leverage was great, with Bellator moving to Spike TV. He had won nine of his previous ten fights and was the best known and probably most marketable fighter at the time on the Bellator roster. You could argue King Mo as a bigger name because of the publicity Spike gave his signing, but Mo never moved television numbers the way Alvarez had in his biggest fights. For UFC, taking the companys biggest star right before they were moving to Spike would have been a huge coup.
On 11/28, UFC offered Alvarez an eight-fight contract with these terms:
*A $250,000 signing bonus to be paid in three installments. He would be paid $85,000 after his first fight, $85,000 after his second fight and $80,000 after his third fight.
*His first fight would be on 3/16 in Montreal, where he would face the winner of the Benson Henderson vs. Nate Diaz fight for the UFC lightweight championship. It should be noted this was not guaranteed in the contract, only that is what they had planned. The 3/16 date was also listed as the target date, but also was not guaranteed. What was guaranteed was Alvarezs first fight would be on PPV and that hed get points based on buys on that show.
*His base salary would start at $70,000 guaranteed per fight with a $70,000 win bonus. With each win, his guarantee and win bonus would both increase by $5,000. With a loss, his guaranteed fight money and win bonus would stay at the level it was the previous fight.
*He would also get a PPV bonus for his first UFC fight and if he won the title, would get a similar bonus for every fight he had on PPV as champion. The bonus started at 200,000 buys. He would get $1 for every buy between 200,000 and 399,999. He would get $2 for every buy between 400,000 and 599,000. And he would get $2.50 for every buy above 600,000.
*He was also guaranteed at least one fight on FOX and would be paid to be a color commentator on at least three shows.
The key terms in the UFC deal were the guaranteeing of a Spike fight and the PPV bonus, because Bellator, theoretically, could not match those terms.
It was a different structure from when UFC signed Bellators middleweight champion, Hector Lombard away. Lombard was offered a $400,000 signing bonus and a guaranteed $300,000 per fight, with increases in his base salary depending on wins. Lombard didnt have Alvarezs star power, even though he had been a dominant fighter in Bellators middleweight division, and Bellator opted not to match the terms. Lombard went to UFC and has gone 1-2, and is moving down from middleweight to welterweight. He lost his first fight to Tim Boetch, ruining any chance of an Anderson Silva vs. Lombard title showdown and ultimately has been a major disappointment.
While Alvarez is a proven quality lightweight, that is the UFCs deepest division. It is impossible to predict where Alvarez or Chandler would stand in the UFC pack, other than theyd likely be competitive at the top level.
However, when Bellator got the contract, they essentially copied it word-for-word, with a few modifications. The major difference is that in Bellator, he would not be under the UFCs health insurance plan, nor would he be subjected to any drug testing UFC would opt to do. Bellator does not drug test fighters, and runs often in non-commission venues where there is no drug testing. UFC always drug tests the top fighters the day of the show, either done by the commission, or if they are out of the country, UFC does it themselves.
Bellator simply changed every wording of Zuffa to Bellator, and changed FOX to Spike, and changed the promise of a UFC lightweight title shot in his first match to the promise of a Bellator lightweight title match in his first match, which would be on PPV. They also changed the wording that any legal dispute between the two sides in the UFC contract would have to be litigated in Nevada, where Bellator changed it to New Jersey, although they told him if he wanted, they would leave Nevada as the state of venue. Bellator then claimed they had matched the terms.
Alvarez claimed they were not a match, citing that FOX was a far more valuable platform to build a name than Spike, and that Bellator had never done a PPV show, and thus, even giving an identical bonus structure, it was not a match.
Bellator also was given additional guarantees. The first was a $25,000 payoff for a Spike TV special that would be produced building him up. He was also offered $100,000 to coach on the second season of Fight Master. He was also offered a hosting position on a Spike show that would air Bellator highlights. The latter show, similar to UFC Unleashed that had been on Spike, has had a few episodes produced under the name Bellator 360.
Due to Bellator claiming they had matched rights, UFC could not sign Alvarez in time to get him on the 3/16 show. Based on the show doing an estimated 950,000 buys, Alvarez would have earned a $1,475,000 PPV bonus to go along with his $70,000 base pay on that show.
Alvarez went to court to get a ruling that would allow him to fight on 4/27 at a show in Newark. That show was last estimated at doing 550,000 buys (Ive heard talk with late reported buys that number could be as much as 600,000). On that show, he would have earned a minimum of $500,000 and possibly as much as $600,000. Obviously no Bellator show will do anywhere near that level.
The judge turned down Alvarezs request for an immediate ruling that would enable him to sign with UFC and start fighting on 4/27. The judge at the time ruled that a jury may see his points on both the PPV side and the difference in TV platforms. However, the earliest trial date Alvarez was able to get was September 15, 2014, which meant he would lose two years at the prime of his career.
Alvarez had sold a property to have the money to continue to support his family while not being able to fight, and vowed to take the fight to court. But in recent weeks, it had been clear Alvarez was looking to settle. Months ago, Dana White even said the best thing for Alvarez to do at this point was settle with Bellator and get on with his fighting career. With Bellator not taking off on Spike thus far, it has become more of a current WWE/TNA dynamic where the major promotion doesnt really feel its in a war, is not looking at necessarily raiding its top talent and has bigger things on its plate, as compared to a WWE/WCW dynamic or even a UFC/Strikeforce dynamic where Strikeforce had a lot of the top fighters and was paying them bigger money than UFC was.
However one wants to interpret matching rights, and there is no way a fight on Spike is of the value of one on FOX, nor is appearing on a Bellator PPV equivalent to a UFC PPV, nor is a shot at the Bellator title equivalent to a shot at the UFC title (which was not explicitly guaranteed in the contract, only that it was Zuffas plan for his debut). The judge in the original case even brought up the difference between FOX and Spike as an argument that the offer wasnt matching, but felt it needed to go to a full court case rather than him making a ruling immediately on it based on just a few arguments. Bellators argument at the time is that UFC had promoted PPV shows just as successfully with Spike as its platform as it did with FOX as its platform, so that was their big argument that it was matching. Alvarezs side pointed to the huge difference in ratings as a general rule, plus FOX having a wider audience reach. Still, because UFC was newer, fresher and televised events were more rare, the biggest UFC events on Spike (Ken Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz in 2006, Dan Henderson vs. Rampage Jackson in 2007) did numbers not that far off the biggest shows on FOX.
Still, being right when it comes to value not being equal and winning a court case on it are two different things. For a fighter with a short shelf life, now 29, fighting a major company in court is never fun, and the outcome more often than not ends up disappointing, plus legal bills mount and Alvarez was bringing in no income.
To a judge, or a jury, with little understanding of the MMA business, nor the differences between UFC and Bellator when it comes to contract value, there is no guarantee how they would rule.
Dana White on a press call talked about how the Culinary Workers Union is spending their union members dues to hurt the UFC, and also said they were using womens groups and gay rights groups who cant see through them as part of their agenda, which is to try and get Station Casinos (owned by Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta) unionized.
White also indicated that this weekends show in Boston may be the last one in the city in the foreseeable future. The athletic commission in Massachusetts had a regulation that all foreign fighters would need a social security card to get licensed, and told UFC about it late in the game. To get a social security card, you need a visa, and there were some fighters on the show who didnt have one. They would need them to fight, but by the time UFC found out, there was a timing issue involved. There was enough time what UFC was able to pay to get expedited visas in time to then get social security numbers, but that was one issue. The second was a hearing that wasnt held until 8/8 regarding whether Chael Sonnen, who was in the main event, would be able to fight on the show. There were two arguments, one being over the testosterone replacement use issue. The other is Unite Now, the Culinary Workers Union group, pushed the commission to ban Sonnen due to his felony mortgage fraud felony from a few years back. The commission talked about the latter issue and dropped it immediately, saying they didnt want to set a precedent of banning someone from fighting based on a prior non-violent felony conviction. The commission approved Sonnen. Had they not, it would have been disastrous to have the main event fall out that late in the game on the FS 1 debut show. When asked if this has impacted having future events in the city, White said, Id be a liar if I said no. Later, on the same subject, he said, No doubt about it. Great place to hang out with my friends and eat. Not a great place to put on fights. This is UFCs second show in the market. The debut show, in 2010 did not sell out even with a loaded show, although came close. The second show this week has sold more than 9,000 tickets, which given the card, is fine, but a hot market after three years off with this same card would have done better.
On 8/13, Boston City Council President Stephen Murphy once again spoke on the subject, saying hes proposing a law that would not allow anyone under the age of 18 to attend a UFC event in the city unless they were accompanied by a parent. Its a little bit of a tone down from his first bill proposal, where he wanted to ban anyone under 18 attending even with a parent. The bill wont affect Saturdays show, but the reception has clearly made White figure that his former home town is not going to become a regular stop. Theyre experts in martial arts, boxing, and whatever yet socially theyre promoting anti-social behavior to children. And Im coming at this trying to protect our kids. WHDH in Boston reported that the city has a law on its books that nobody had talked about that required a parent to be there for anyone under the age of 16 to attend an MMA show.
We dont have an exact number for UFC 163 on 8/3 (Jose Aldo vs. Chan Sung Jung), but its about where everyone would have expected. It looks to be well ahead of UFC 161, which did bottoming out 135,000 to 150,000 numbers. But it also looks shy of 200,000, which confirms again that the baseline numbers, even for a title fight (with one of the lighter weight titles) has dropped a little. UFC 164 on 8/31 with Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis wont be doing big numbers, but the hope would be to do substantially better than this last one. September with Jon Jones against a non-draw in Alexander Gustafsson will be a real test. If they dont hit 400,000 it would be bad for a Jones show, but anything above 450,000 for that fight Id consider real good.
There have been a lot of rumors floating around, but nothing confirmed, of a Vitor Belfort vs. Lyoto Machida fight in the fall. It was reported on UFC Tonight by Ariel Helwani, who spoke to Dana White, who said he loved the bout (to me, I cant love any match with Machida) and would like for it to be the co-main event on the 11/16 show in Las Vegas underneath GSP vs. Johny Hendricks. He also said he wanted the fight at 185 pounds, not 205. If Machida were to win such a fight at 185, hed knock Belfort out of the No. 1 contender and title shot at the winner of Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva. Theres really nobody else ready for a title shot since Michael Bisping was knocked out by Belfort. A Belfort win and he should be a sure-thing for the next shot. A loss and youre down to Machida and the winner of the Bisping vs. Mark Munoz fight on 9/26. Belfort had said he wanted to fight, but not at 185, feeling as long as he doesnt lose at 185, hell get the shot at the title and hes not risking it. Machidas side wants Belfort, feeling that him wearing a shirt at the Jon Jones fight, that read, Your son doesnt run away from a fight. They took it personally because Machida had turned down the fight with Jones based on not having enough time to do a full training camp after Jones had already beaten him once. Machidas side was agreeable to the fight at 185 or 205, but felt it was potentially big enough due to the grudge match aspect that they could hold it in a soccer stadium in Brazil. The only other near contender I see is Ronaldo Jacare Souza has looked impressive of late but he still needs to garner more name recognition.
Fabricio Werdum said that hes willing to sit it out, feeling that hes the rightful next contender to the heavyweight title against the winner of the 10/19 Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos fight. It would be him or the winner of this weeks Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne fight. If Overeem wins in devastating fashion, hed probably go ahead based on look and that he beat Werdum.
The Jake Shields vs. Demian Maia fight that had been talked about for a few weeks is likely for a 10/9 show that appears to be at the Gimnasio Poliesportivo Jose Correra in Barueri, which is near Sao Paulo. The show will air on FS 1. The two are both great at submissions, with Maia maybe having the submission edge and Shields in theory having the wrestling edge, but watching the way Maia handled Jon Fitch, that is to be determined. Maia is a genuine contender at 170, but a loss would take him out of that tier. Shields vs. Maia is scheduled as the main event, with Dong Hyun Kim vs. Erick Silva as the No. 2 fight.
Charles Oliveira vs. Esteven Payan has been added to the 10/19 show in Houston. Oliveira is coming off almost a star making performance in losing to Frankie Edgar on 7/6, but hes lost two straight since Cub Swanson beat him as well.
Sam Sicilia pulled out of a planned 9/4 fight with Felipe Arantes in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Arantes will now face newcomer Edimilson Souza, who is 12-3, who has seven straight knockout wins leading to him being signed by UFC.
The 19th season of TUF, in early 2014, will feature middleweights and light heavyweights. They are doing a tryout session on 8/27 in Indianapolis for the show.
John Dodson vs. debuting Darrell Montague has been added to the 10/19 show in Houston. Montague is 13-2, and was the Tachi Palace fights flyweight champion, which was considered the biggest flyweight title before UFC introduced the division, before losing the title to Ian McCall. Dodson had been clamoring for a fight, since itll be roughly ten months between fights, with his last bout being a loss to Demetrious Johnson in a title match on FOX in January.
Jimy Hettes vs. Mike Wilkinson, Jimi Manuwa vs. Ryan Jimmo and John Lineker vs. Phil Harris were added to the 10/26 FS 1 show from Manchester, England. That show is headlined by Michael Bisping vs. Mark Munoz. Manuwa, who is 13-0, faces Jimmo, now 18-2. Lineker vs. Harris was first booked for the 8/3 show in Rio de Janeiro, but Harris suffered a fractured orbital bone in training so had to pull out and Lineker beat Jose Maria.
Four UFC fighters have entered the Abu Dhabi Combat Club world submission championships which take place on 10/19 and 10/20 in Beijing, China, Dong Hyun Kim, Rousimar Palhares, Vinny Magalhaes and Fabricio Werdum. Kim will compete at 169 pounds. Palhares will compete at 193 pounds. Former UFC fighters Dean Lister (defending champion) and Jon Olav Einemo compete at 217. Magalhaes, the defending champion, and Werdum, complete in the unlimited weight class. Interesting that Magalhaes fights at 205 but is competing at more than 217. Magalhaes may not be in UFC much longer since hes in danger of being cut after his quick knockout loss to Anthony Perosh on 8/3. He also has said that if hes cut by UFC, hell retire as an MMA fighter.
Jason Mayhem Miller, 32, a former UFC, Strikeforce and Dream fighter as well as host of the TV show Bully Beatdown on MTV, was arrested on 8/11 on a charge of domestic violence in Orange County. He was held all day at the Orange County Central Jail Complex until being released after midnight after posting $50,000 bond. The police report stated that on 8/10, Orange County Sheriffs received a phone call from a woman saying she was the victim of domestic violence attack on 8/3 in Mission Viejo. A deputy came to her home. The alleged victim told him that at about 9 p.m. on 8/3, she was in an argument with Miller involving a text message she found on his cell phone. The victim was found with multiple bruises on both arms and both legs, cuts above the right eye and on the right side of the face. They went to arrest Miller but he wasnt home and they couldnt find him. By coincidence, on 8/11 at about 5:30 a.m. deputies were called to a residence about a loud party. When they got there, they found Miller yelling at his neighbors. Given the existing report from the previous day, they arrested Miller. It was almost exactly one year ago when Miller allegedly broke into a church and vandalized it, allegedly throwing bibles everywhere, tearing them up, breaking windows and furniture, and when police arrived, they found him naked. Of late, Miller has been going on twitter and blasting Dana White, often in an irrational manner.
Stephen Espinoza, who heads Showtime Sports, said this week that there would be no MMA on the station at least through the end of 2013. We are continuing to evaluate MMA opportunities, he said. But given our very busy programming slate for the rest of 2013, any new MMA programming would have to debut in 2014. Espinoza had earlier said that he wasnt sure if there was a public demand for more MMA on television. Showtime has put all its resources into boxing, including the signing of Floyd Mayweather Jr., boxings biggest star, to an unprecedented contract. There is no MMA promotion besides UFC and Bellator that really has the level of name talent that a premium network would be interested in on the mens side. Invicta would have been the best possibility, and even though nobody will publicly say it, Showtime was interested in keeping MMA and building a company around Ronda Rousey when the UFC/Showtime contract expired. Thats one of the reasons Rousey was able to strike a strong UFC deal (her deal is for a lot more money than just her base purse, obviously), because she was such a valuable commodity to both sides after the folding of Strikeforce. But without her, Showtime wouldnt have that superstar to build around.
Nothing has been heard from Invicta since its PPV show when it comes to a next show, other than an announcement this past week they had signed Felice Herrig. Herrig (9-4), has gotten something of an underground name, more for her looks than any big wins, and had fought with Bellator most recently, which looks like its dropping its womens division.
bone_and_sinew
breaking down barriers in gratuitous nudity
Bad Kickboxing on AXS TV and Glory being on Spike will satiate the bloodlust that the stagnant UFC has been unable to fulfill.
Maklershed
Member
Who is gonna win this, Heel?
Host Samurai
Member
lol I would as well. Fight has fireworks written all over it....fucking Krazy
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Forrest Griffin is apparently coming to Taiwan for seminars/PR stuff. I guess this is related to promoting TUF Macau in some way.
It seems dream's essay has old information
http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/8/1...-reached-crucial-carriage-deals-before-launch
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