UFC Discussion - Page 3

Bif Naked rocks.

I would say the money is right, and PRIDE fighters are seeing UFC as a nice cash grab.

I wouldn't be surprised if guys like Rampage have three matches or so, and if they lose one, or two, to go back. (Though I doubt Rampage loses, or atleast not for a while).

Fedor has not jumped ship, at least not yet. His contract with PRIDE allows him to have fights outside of the promotion. PRIDE allows many of its fighters to fight in other organizations like Strikeforce, Shooto, Bodog, etc. Fedor only wants to fight for Bodog because they are holding that event in St. Petersburg where he will be able to fight in front of his countrymen. His club the Red Devil Fight Team also has a contract with Bodog. But basically, he plans on staying with PRIDE.

But the reason there is rampant speculation about fighters leaving PRIDE and the organization being put up for sale is because they have been going through a rough patch. From wikipedia:

"On June 5, 2006, Fuji Network announced that they were terminating their television contract with PRIDE Fighting Championships effective immediately due to a breach of contract by DSE. This leaves PRIDE with only SKY PerfecTV, a pay-per-view carrier, as a television outlet in Japan, and the lack of the substantial revenues from the Fuji deal threatens its sustainability. DSE has been surrounded by speculation in the Japanese media, especially in Japanese tabloid Shukan Gendai, that it may be a front for the notorious yakuza crime organization."

As of today, PRIDE has still been unable to secure a new television deal. And at the same time PRIDE has been going through this, the UFC has been experiencing the peak of success in the history of the company, routinely beating PPV revenues of boxing matches and wrestling entertainment. This recent success has allowed them to offer Cro Cop a 7 figure contract that PRIDE could not match.

Recent rumors have Zuffa (UFC owners) or casino businessman Ed Fishman buying PRIDE from DSE. I don't see PRIDE making a big splash in the US so I can only speculate that they are losing money with each one of these big US shows like the one next weekend. The first event, which featured Fedor, had very disappointing PPV numbers. Even if they promote the next events really well, the casual American fans that make up the majority of the PPV buyers are not going to pay to see Wanderlei Silva, Takanori Gomi, and Mauricio Shogun. They want to see Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, and Matt Hughes. Unless PRIDE can steal one of those guys away from the UFC, they will not be able to compete here in the US.

We will have to wait and see what happens.

About Randy Coutere's upcoming attempt for heavyweight championship: Why is he fighting heavyweight, shouldn't he be in light heavy-weight?

He's had the belt for both classes.

There was a really interesting article written here speculating how the Couture vs. Sylvia and Fedor vs. Lindland fights came about in the first place and how they are connected.

Basically, it states that Bodog initially wanted to make a Couture vs. Fedor matchup for that St. Petersburg show. But the UFC didn't want that to happen so they in turn offered Randy a title fight with Sylvia. This makes sense because Brandon Vera was supposed to be the #1 contender until the recent contract dispute. And they know that a 4th matchup with Liddell would be kind of ridiculous at this point. After Randy secured the HW title fight in the UFC, he probably recommended his Quest teammate Matt Lindland to take his place to fight Fedor in Bodogfight.

Actually, Rampage is the one that is reluctant to face Chuck so soon. After his most recent fight with Eastman where he admitted he was very nervous, Joe Rogan asked him about the rematch with Chuck and he replied that he needs more fights before he will be ready.

Dana White and Zuffa are not trying to protect Chuck Liddell and his title reign. Zuffa went out of their way to purchase Rampage's contract from the WFA because both Dana White and Chuck want that rematch. They bent over backwards trying to get the Wanderlei/Chuck match to happen late last year before negotiations fell through. I'm inclined to believe PRIDE messed that up because Dana looked like an idiot after getting Wanderlei in the octagon wearing a PRIDE t-shirt like a huge PRIDE commercial on the UFC's own pay-per-view. White had to have believed that this fight was going to happen, otherwise he wouldn't have allowed that. You can't say the UFC isn't trying to put on the best fights they can. Basically, the way it works is if you're at the level of celebrity that Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, and Matt Hughes are, it doesn't matter if you lose because people are still going to buy the pay-per-view to watch you fight. They are matching up CroCop with less than stellar opponents at first because the American fans generally don't know who he is yet. White wants to build him up before setting up big money marquee fights with Sylvia, Arlovski, and possibly Couture now. But Liddell and Ortiz don't need help selling PPV buys. They're already top draws win or lose. Besides, Jackson is a marketable fighter so it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for the company if he beat Liddell and held the LW belt.

With that said, I just don't see Rampage having a repeat performance from his 2003 MW Grand Prix win over Chuck. For one, Chuck has improved and is a much more confident fighter now. Also, in 2003 Chuck was likely looking past Rampage and too focused on facing Wanderlei later on that night. That was essentially his sole purpose of entering that tournament; to fight Silva. Rampage is an excellent fighter, but I don't think he is an elite 205'er like Chuck, Shogun, Wanderlei, and Rogerio Nogueira.

Fedor and Lindland is a colossal mismatch. I don't really envision Couture fairing well against Silvia, either, but he has a chance. Fedor's gonna tear Lindland a new one. Lindland's a good fighter, but he's in way over his head.

Agree with Borat about Liddell/Rampage. Don't expect a repeat of their first fight, Chuck will probably take Rampage out now, and would have taken Wand out also if he didn't chicken out.

Has Matt ever fought at heavyweight before? I may be wrong, but I don't believe he ever has, at least not in MMA. And his first foray into this weight class will be against the most skilled mixed martial arts fighter in the game. If he won, it would be the greatest upset ever. I respect him for taking the fight, but basically he has nothing to lose.

I'm confident that neither Chuck nor Wand would back out of their proposed fight. That was just PRIDE punking the UFC into some free promotion coinciding with their first US show late last year. They did it again during that show when Wand came out and called out Chuck Liddell in the center of the PRIDE ring. It's all promotion by PRIDE using the UFC as a springboard to get their name out here in the US.

I bet they're doing the same thing currently with these rumors about selling the company. DSE is probably telling everyone that will listen (Zuffa, WWE, Ed Fishman) that they are trying to sell PRIDE, but really have no intentions of doing so. They will only sell when they are left with absolutely no other options.

I'm a big fan of most aspects of the PRIDE Fighting Championships (the fighters, presentation/theatrics, the Grand Prix tourneys, etc.). But the people behind the company (Sakikabara, Jerry Millen) and the choices they have made (Yakuza connection, chasing away Bas Rutten, etc.) have been stupid as hell. I hope Ed Fishman buys it and gets rid of them.

I havent seen much from Bodog, only little videos, trailers and sneak peeks they have on their site... I dont want to judge the fighting, cos I havent seen much bodog. All in all, I think there are much more than the techniqes, skills and fighters. I admire the atmosphere, the excitement, the whole package.

But Bodog is c_h_e_a_p! Guns and girls, ffs! WTF they have to do with this sport? They definately dont affect the excitement or anything else. I understand the babes during the breaks, even if it is for the tradition. But, hell, I felt cheap watching girls in bikinis in the shower (even if the fighters will come out of sauna next), holding rifles and such.

I do understand some will become excited with those chicks and guns, but I think it doesnt belong to this sport.

Anyone hear the rumors of a possible match against either Chuck Lidell or Tito Ortiz fighting Kurt Angle? That dude wants to die


Borat, I don't think Lindland ever fought at heavyweight, which is why I thought when I first read it that it was a mistake. Last I actually saw and knew, he was fighting at middleweight. How on earth he is going to move up to 220 and fight a monster like Fedor is quite the question. It would, indeed, be the greatest upset of all-time, possibly in any sport, as well. Realistically, it probably won't last very long at all.

You might be right about Chuck/Wand, but, outside of his non-title, over the weight fights, Wand has seen very little tough competition over the past few years at 205. I still hold my reservations on this one. Pride has alot to do with it, sure, but I have little doubt Wand didn't mind the fight falling apart.

UFC 68:

Randy Couture... o.m.g... o.m.f.g... I laughed when the comeback announcement were made -- and a title match with Silvia. After such a domination against Monson, I though Randy wouldnt last a round. Man, I was wrong.

I felt pretty sad for Silvia after the fight. All the flaming just caugh some more gas. He could lost to Cro Cop, even Arlowski and not having much reputation lost, but after this ownage... It takes a champion to take all the * he gets in near future.

Well, next match for Randy is propably against Cro Cop. I doubt he will fight standing and surprise us, like this match. Mirko is dead effective striking with those fast legs.

Do folks take this seriously?

Considering the UFC just broke the record for pay-per-view revenue in 2006, beating any year boxing or professional wrestling grossed, I would say "yes".

But what do you mean exactly? That mixed martial arts is not a real sport? Or do you think it's fake/staged like professional wrestling?

I haven't posted about MMA on here for over two weeks. During which time there were two pretty special events.

UFC 68 would've been just okay, if it hadn't been for Couture winning the belt for the third time. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy and one of the best ambassadors for the sport. It's impossible not to root for him. My head tells me that he will get demolished by Mirko, but it would be foolish to say that with any certainty after what we saw on Saturday.

The other event was PRIDE 33: The Second Coming, and that turned out to be probably one of the top 5 MMA events ever. What looked like on paper to be another evening of exhibition matches to show off their top fighters to the American audience turned out to be anything but. There were upsets galore and every fight was exciting.

I changed my avatar last week to this old picture of the Team Quest guys hamming it up with a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instruction manual to honor Dan Henderson's tremendous feat of winning a second title belt in another weight division with his KO win over Wanderlei Silva. But it turns out now it's also in honor of Randy's big win. It's highly unlikely that the third guy in the photo will be able to join them with a victory over Fedor, but it's a fight and anything can happen as we have seen over the past two weeks.

I am shocked at Couture's victory, I didn't think he could do it being so undersized and at his age, but that's a great fighter for you. Let me be the first to say, Couture, should he remain champ, will beat Crocop. Yes, you heard it hear.

Not all surprised Henderson beat Wand. I've been telling you guys he's had soft competition. Anyone still think he'd take Chuck out?