Two large MMA shows happened this month with a lot of similarities. Both were in California, both were co-promoted with EliteXC and both were going up against free Zuffa cards on the same weekend. Last night at the HP Pavilion in San Jose Strikeforce completely schooled K-1 at promoting in California and put on one hell of a show. Not only did the much hyped main event deliver in spades but top to bottom the card was stacked with exciting fights. Cung Lee, Murilo Ninja, Josh Thompson and Paul Buentello all came out to entertain and win their fights in impressive fashion.
Somehow I feel EliteXC will be partnering with Strikeforce again and avoiding the horrendous mess that is K-1. The biggest drawing fight in that town without question would be Frank Shamrock vs Cung Lee and boy do I want to see that match after tonight. Watch this show now!
Great article here on how the UFC is being portrayed in the UK. The one thing I would argue is that Bravo can’t really be placed on the same footing as Spike TV. While they do have the same target demographic (18 - 34 year old males), Spike is available to the vast majority of homes in the US whereas Bravo is not in the UK. Cable/satellite TV while increasing its market share simply does not have the same level of penetration as it does in the US and is considered by many to be second rate compared to terrestrial broadcasting.
As it continues to grow I could see UFC fitting in well on ITV or Channel 5 in a late night time slot. Channel 5 already air American sports and though late a night, the potential viewership is far higher. ITV already show boxing on a semi regular basis but to get on that channel would involve getting past the boxing promoters which might be a tall order. Like HBO are trying to do with UFC now, ITV would also want to use their own broadcast team.
For now I think the most important thing UFC needs to do is maintain their presence on Bravo but ensure that all shows are available live on pay per view. Right now UK audiences can only purchase the local fights (70, 72), US cards are shown cut down and edited the night after which is completely unacceptable. WWE quickly realised producing localised pay per views was dumb so I hope UFC does too.
As an international sport you can’t section off areas of the world as a completely separate market. Luckily the main event of UFC 75 in London looks like it could bring both sides of the Atlantic closer together if the main event really turns out to be Quinton Jackson vs Dan Henderson. That’s a fight that British fans, American fans and Japanese fans (if they air it) will all be clamouring to see.
So in the short term I see Zuffa continuing to sell out 15,000 seat arenas a few times per year where the card and location is good (ie not UFC 72). In the long term unless they are able to improve their TV exposure and, as a result, sports media coverage it could remain a sport perpetually on the bubble.
Just a quick heads up to say that Forrest Griffin, Tyson Griffin, Martin Kampmann and Jay Hieron will all be in Belfast Wednesday night 7pm at the Odyssey Sports Complex in Belfast. You’ll be able to meet these members of Xtreme Couture, get autographs signed and have a better idea of who you should be betting on come UFC 72 on Saturday…ahem.
For more information go to xtremecouture.tv.
Awaiting the release of Forza 2 on Friday (stupid timing Microsoft) I got some time to play Tomb Raider Anniversary over the weekend and what a nice suprise that was. I’m only about half way through the PC version but already it’s clear this is the best Tomb Raider since the original. The focus on RAIDING TOMBS rather than SHOOTING GOONS makes this re-imaging feel closer to the original concept of the series than any other. The platforming elements are fluid and flexible making all the areas really fun to explore.
The one part it does fall down on is in combat which, as noted, is not what the series does well. You get to shoot your way through a plethora of endangered species such as Snow Leopards and Gorillas and it still feels as hokey as ever. While I applaud the lack of humans to kill and the severely reduced occurrences of combat I’d still like to see more done to get rid of it or change it completely. It’s only there to fill the gaps between the platforming sections with more action orientated play anyway.
Either way I believe this is well worth picking up especially with it coming out at a lower price. There are plenty of unlockables and extras to keep you coming back and the graphics look remarkably good for a PS2 game.
This show was probably the biggest non-event in MMA history. All the matches on paper were meaningless and when the show was over the MMA world was still the same.
Compare this to a UFC show where the competition is really important. After a show there is much clearer picture of where fighters stand in their respective weight classes and hopefully who the best in the world is.
K-1 featured so many debuts, low ranking fighters and freak show matches that is just didn’t matter. When you add the crap at the start (nutters jumping around on pogo sticks and trumpet players) the company that had the balls to book the biggest building they could find came off as low rent.
The one intriguing match that actually made it to the show, Royce Gracie vs Sakuraba, ended up being very slow and not appreciated by the live crowd. I partly blame this on the ref Mario Yamasaki who probably respected both guys so much that he wasn’t restarting them as much as he would normally.
I did enjoy the Yoon Dong-Sik fight. Tiny Korean judo guys beating big black dudes is always funny.
Lesnar destroyed his opponent as expected. This being the main event baffled me. At least with the Choi fight he might have had problems with the size difference but here there was no competition. With this fight concluding he becomes one of the biggest free agents in MMA, lets just hope a company that knows how to put on a good show picks him up…ahem…Dana?
![Futurama - Bender's Big Score (with Limited Edition Lenticular Sleeve) [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61THJCbOxwL._SL75_.jpg "Futurama - Bender's Big Score (with Limited Edition Lenticular Sleeve) [2008]")
![Futurama - The Beast with a Billion Backs [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511PW90lDhL._SL75_.jpg "Futurama - The Beast with a Billion Backs [2008]")
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