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.
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?
I always knew Rampage could win the big one so it was great to see him finally capture the UFC light heavyweight title over the weekend. Unfortunately the result was spoiled for me before hand which I guess was a testament to the sheer amount of buzz and mainstream publicity surrounding UFC 71. In future it looks like I will need to watch more shows live or at least first thing the next morning providing Zuffa can sort out a worldwide PPV deal sometime soon. On the positive side the odds were way off on this fight so I put my money where my mouth was and made a bit of cash.
Oh and if you didn’t catch All Access Rampage last week it’s a must see.
Myself and Andrew Griffiths round up a weekend that was full of UFC action in Manchester. We have a full card run down, live reactions, fun happenings before the show and our future predictions looking forward.
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I was in total shock when Serra knocked out GSP in the first round. It was a colossal upset that nobody but Serra predicted going in. My opinion of how well fighters will fare in their upcoming bouts is usually dictated by how they have performed in the past. Serra barely beat Chris Lytle in the Ultimate Fighter Finals and as such I didn’t give him much of a chance against the guy who destroyed Matt Hughes. Of course this was wrong as Serra whipped GSP on his feet. In other sports usually younger athletes perform the best as they are in their physical prime but in MMA, where experience and confidence are just as important as anything else, the older guys are getting things done. All of the UFC’s champions are over 30 now.
If the start of this year has taught us anything it’s that any fighter can beat any other fighter on any given day. This would lead some to say that unranked fighters, as Randy Couture and Matt Serra were, should not be given title shots. Of course they earned their shots in different ways but they both rose to the occasion and proved that they belonged in that position. Just be glad they are title fights and we are not left with the mess Pride has with Gomi being beaten in non title fights.
It will be interesting to see Serra’s first defence against Matt Hughes. About the only good thing that happened on The Ultimate Fighter 4 was their feud. It never resulted in a match so hopefully they will use all that footage to build the fight. As for GSP I could see him taking on Diego Sanchez or Josh Koscheck. If GSP gets a win there he could easily be back in the title picture and ready to take on the winner of Hughes vs Serra. And with the potential for some Pride fighters being thrown into the mix things get even more interesting.
If you went into a lab, studied the strengths and weaknesses of Tim Sylvia, then built the ultimate machine to defeat him the result would be Randy Couture.
Last night Randy Couture was the perfect weapon against the monstrosity that is Tim Sylvia. It was an incredible sight to watch a 43 year old decimate this man for 5 rounds straight. HE OUT BOXED HIM. He took him down. He knew exactly what to do and it was one of the most perfectly put together plans I have ever seen in MMA. I was standing for the entire fight along with the 19,000 in attendance. This is one of those special events that those of us who saw will remember for a very long time.
This was one crazy but great show. Major upsets across the board and pro-wrestling style booking during the show made this one to remember. The constant jabs at the UFC came off as cheap and considerable damage has been done to the potential Liddell vs Silva fight now. From the pre match footage it was clear they were trying to prove that Silva is better than Rampage, Rampage is better than Liddell and therefore Silva would beat Chuck. Scratch that then.
Gomi was once again calling out GSP, Hughes and BJ Penn. Then he stepped into the ring, gassed in the first round and got choked out in the second. An amazing match (fight of the year so far) but Gomi needs to start actually training for fights before he even thinks of going 5 rounds with GSP.
Pride might be dying but this was a highly entertaining show that I recommend checking out for the main events at least.
The tickets have been booked, Manchester is the place, April 21st is the date, now we must wait. Welcome to England Mirko Cro Cop may you kick the piss out of all who stand in your way.
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