MMA FanHouse http://mma.fanhouse.com MMA FanHouse http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://mma.fanhouse.com/media/feedlogo.gif MMA FanHouse http://mma.fanhouse.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/UFC 86 Classic Slugfest: Forrest Griffin Beats Quinton 'Rampage' Jacksonhttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/05/ufc-86-forrest-griffin-beats-quinton-rampage-jackson/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/05/ufc-86-forrest-griffin-beats-quinton-rampage-jackson/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/05/ufc-86-forrest-griffin-beats-quinton-rampage-jackson/#commentsFiled under: , ,

UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson lost his title to Forrest Griffin by unanimous decision in one of the all-time great fights in UFC history tonight at UFC 86 in Las Vegas.

It was a classic slugfest in which both fighters gave out and received punishment. Rampage got off to a tremendous start in the first round with a brutal uppercut, while Griffin dominated the second. On my scorecard Rampage got the better of the last three rounds and won the fight, but all three judges disagreed with me.

The key to the fight was the way Griffin hurt Rampage's knee with a big leg kick in the second round. That hindered Rampage the rest of the night.

In other UFC 86 action, Patrick Cote defeated Ricardo Almeida, Joe Stevenson beat Gleison Tibau, Josh Koscheck beat Chris Lytle, Tyson Griffin beat Marcus Aurelio, Gabriel Gonzaga beat Justin McCully, Cole Miller beat Jorge Gurgel, Melvin Guillard beat Dennis Siver and Justin Buchholz beat Corey Hill.

UFC 86 Classic Slugfest: Forrest Griffin Beats Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:59:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Forrest GriffinForrestGriffinRampage JacksonRampageJacksonUFC 86Ufc86Michael David SmithSat, 05 Jul 2008 23:59:00 EST UFC 86: What You Need to Know to Fight Rampage Jacksonhttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/04/ufc-86-what-you-need-to-know-to-fight-rampage-jackson/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/04/ufc-86-what-you-need-to-know-to-fight-rampage-jackson/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/07/04/ufc-86-what-you-need-to-know-to-fight-rampage-jackson/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


The following guest post was written by Rami Genauer, contributor at FightMetric.

Let's say you wake up one day and find yourself standing across the Octagon from Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. And it's not the jovial, wise-cracking Rampage either; it's the sneering, howling, intense Rampage who is ready to slam you into next Tuesday. Assuming that running away is not an option, what do you do?

To figure out what you'd be facing, FightMetric tracked all 20 of Rampage's fights in Pride and the UFC (and that one WFA show no one likes to talk about). Making some observations based on the statistical record, below are some things you might want to keep in mind. Forrest Griffin ought to study up before Saturday night's UFC light heavyweight title fight.

Be careful relying on the clinch

Many people have watched Rampage fall prey to the Muay Thai clinch of Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and figured that the clinch is where Rampage's game is weakest. That would be a big mistake.

Statistically, the clinch is actually the strongest part of Rampage's game.

Over the course of those 21 fights, Rampage landed 372 HiPer Strikes (meaning, the most significant kind of strikes). A total of 222 of those strikes were landed in the clinch, which comes out to 60%. That means that Rampage has landed more strikes in the clinch than toe-to-toe and on the ground combined.

It's not just volume either. His accuracy on those strikes is an astounding 82%, on 222 of 270 strikes. Rampage picks his shots well in the clinch and uses an underrated Greco clinch for maximum control.

Of course, it also helps that his opponents are distracted by the prospect of a takedown. While known as an excellent freestyle wrestler, nearly all of Rampage's takedowns come from the clinch (31 of 33 successful takedowns). And much like his striking, his takedown success rate is well above-average. Rampage landed 31 of the 46 clinch takedowns he's attempted for a success rate of 67%, compared to the average fighter who lands about 45% of his attempts.

 Protect the body

Most of those hard strikes in the clinch came in the form of knees to the midsection. It's rare you'll see Rampage in the clinch for more than a few seconds without him throwing something to the body. It doesn't matter if it's a knee, a right hook, or something else, the common denominator is that he throws it hard. While jockeying for position and control in the clinch, most fighters will throw a bunch of short little shots (we'll call them "jabs") before setting up a power strike or takedown. On average, you'd expect to see a fighter throw about twice as many jabs in the clinch as power shots. Rampage is the complete opposite. He turns that ratio on its head and throws more than twice as many power strikes as he does jabs.

The body gets no rest once on the ground either. Rampage's ground game is one of keeping exceedingly busy, constantly throwing shots to whatever part of the body is available. Since he's only an average guard-passer, that means lots of time spent sitting in guard working the body. One specific thing you might want to watch out for: the hard forearm to the solar plexus. It's a Rampage specialty and one that was instrumental in his 2003 stoppage of Chuck Liddell.

Don't bet on him running out of gas

Against many fighters, a key strategy might be to try and wear them down early in the fight and take advantage when they're gassed in the later rounds. Though not known for his cardio, this would seem an unwise strategy against Rampage. He successfully went 25 minutes against Dan Henderson and has gone 20 minutes three times. Griffin has only been past the 15-minute mark on one occasion.

There's an interesting trend you see when evaluating Rampage's longest battles: his most effective five minutes of these fights tends to be the last five minutes. FightMetric measures fighter effectiveness using an algorithm that synthesizes the events of a fight to produce an effectiveness score. Here are his round-by-round effectiveness scores against Henderson, Murilo Rua, Murilo Bustamante, and Dong Sik Yoon:

vs. Henderson: 28-48-77-89-117
vs. Rua: 106-49-88
vs. Bustamante: 38-36-63
vs. Yoon: 86-99-89

Keep in mind, the latter three fights happened in Pride, where the first round is twice as long as the second and third rounds. Against Henderson, Rua, and Bustamante, Rampage fought at his best in the last five minutes of the fight and was pretty close in the Yoon fight. Rampage doesn't drop off as the fight goes deeper, he gets better.

Consider yourself lucky the fight isn't in Japan

Knees to the head on the ground were one of Rampage's best weapons. We haven't seen enough of his ground game post-Japan to know whether the addition of elbows has made up for the lack of knees.

And of course ... watch out for the slam

No discussion about Rampage would be complete without mentioning his trademark slams. While it's true that Rampage hasn't slammed any of his last three opponents and it's been nearly two years since his last one, there are still few fighters out there who concentrate so much of their power on takedowns. True to his reputation, Rampage slams well and often.

For an average fighter, slams might make up about 10% of their successful takedowns. A good wrestler might have a slam rate of 25%. Rampage's slam rate is 58%. In practical terms, it means that if you're getting taken down by Rampage, chances are better than not that it's going to hurt.

UFC 86: What You Need to Know to Fight Rampage Jackson originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>forrest griffinForrestGriffinrampage jacksonRampageJacksonUFC86Rami GenauerFri, 04 Jul 2008 07:00:00 EST EliteXC: Kimbo Slice KOs James Thompsonhttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/31/elitexc-kimbo-slice-kos-james-thompson/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/31/elitexc-kimbo-slice-kos-james-thompson/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/31/elitexc-kimbo-slice-kos-james-thompson/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson stopped James Thompson in the third round to conclude the first mixed martial arts show on prime time network television in American history.

Slice, who until tonight was best known for fighting on YouTube, showed more skill as an MMA fighter -- not just a brawler -- than anyone expected, and the mere fact that it went past the first round was an upset.

But the fight was not without controversy: In the third round, referee Dan Miragliotta stopped the fight while Slice was battering Thompson's bloodied left ear; CBS announcer Gus Johnson thought the stoppage was premature and I think Johnson was probably right.

Overall, the EliteXC show was a mixed bag. The best fighter on the card, Robbie Lawler, was given all he could handle by Scott Smith, but the fight ended in a no contest when Lawler accidentally poked Smith in the eye in the third round and the doctor said Smith couldn't continue. Gina Carano and Kaitlin Young put on a fairly entertaining show, but the other two fights on the card were lackluster one-minute knockouts.

And then there's Slice. Say this for him: His fighting isn't pretty, but his knockouts aren't lackluster.

Previously on FanHouse:
Elite XC on CBS: Gina Carano and Kaitlin Young Finally Give the Fans Reason to Cheer
First Hour of CBS EliteXC Show Contains Two Minutes of Mixed Martial Arts
Elite XC Newark Undercard Results
Elite XC in Newark Isn't UFC in Vegas

EliteXC: Kimbo Slice KOs James Thompson originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Sat, 31 May 2008 23:43:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>James ThompsonJamesThompsonKimbo SliceKimboSliceMichael David SmithSat, 31 May 2008 23:43:00 EST Sorry, Robin Leach: Tito Ortiz, Jenna Jameson and Dana White Story Too Good to Be Truehttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/27/sorry-robin-leach-tito-ortiz-jenna-jameson-and-dana-white-sto/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/27/sorry-robin-leach-tito-ortiz-jenna-jameson-and-dana-white-sto/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/27/sorry-robin-leach-tito-ortiz-jenna-jameson-and-dana-white-sto/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


I don't know where former Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous host Robin Leach gets the information for his blog, but I wish he'd stop. He's going to give responsible bloggers a bad name.

Leach breathlessly reports on the spat that took place among UFC fighter Tito Ortiz, his girlfriend Jenna Jameson, and UFC President Dana White at the post-UFC 84 press conference Saturday night. Except that Leach wasn't there, and he gets his information wrong.

I was there, and I wouldn't really care that Leach gets his information wrong, but when responsible media outlets like the Los Angeles Times then repeat that information, I feel the need to offer a correction.

Leach writes:
Four Vegas Metro police officers were called to keep Tito and UFC president Dana White apart.
Yes, there were police officers in the room. They were there as security, just as every big sporting event has police officers on hand for security purposes. (I saw police officers at the Super Bowl, too, and it would be only slightly more ridiculous to suggest that they were there to keep Roger Goodell and Bill Belichick from coming to blows.) For the record: The cops didn't need to keep Ortiz and White apart. Although Ortiz and White argued, they never came close to any type of physical confrontation, and at one point, when a reporter specifically asked if they had thought about settling their differences with a fight, they both brushed off the question as ridiculous.

But Leach wasn't done stirring things up:
When [Ortiz] started answering questions UFC media executives told him he had to leave. Jenna ordered him to stay. "It was total chaos and bedlam," said one spywitness.
No, UFC officials didn't tell Ortiz he had to leave. It's right here on tape, Robin. A UFC official told reporters to wait until the press conference started, and specifically added, "He's going to be here for his part of the press conference." As a reporter who was there to ask Ortiz questions, I found it annoying that I had to wait, but I didn't doubt that I would get to ask my questions, I didn't find it to be "chaos and bedlam," and I didn't hear Jameson "order" Ortiz to do anything. This interview I conducted with Jameson came just moments after the UFC official cut off the reporters' questions. Does it look or sound like there's chaos and bedlam going on around us?

Now Leach begins speculating about the future of MMA:
Will Tito join a rival Mixed Martial Arts league or retire and how will White take on his more bitter rivals in the XC Extreme Sports league that starts its CBS TV network coverage next Saturday night from Newark, New Jersey. If a ratings success I am reliably told three further fights would be broadcast live from Vegas.
There are so many problems with the above that I'm not sure where to start, so I'll just point out that there's no such thing as "the XC Extreme Sports league." There is an MMA organization called EliteXC that has a CBS TV card on Saturday night. As for Leach's claim that he is "reliably told" about three more fights, I wonder who his reliable source is. Could it have been the press release in which CBS and EliteXC announced that their partnership would cover four shows?
"This was almost a case of a better fight outside the ring than in it," I was told.
Well, you were told wrong, Robin. Again, Ortiz and White never even remotely came close to fighting each other, and if they had, it would obviously have been nowhere near as good a fight as anything we saw in the Octagon that night.

I don't really care about Robin Leach, but I do care about the way the media portray the sport of mixed martial arts, and I find it fascinating that the Los Angeles Times would repeat, unquestioningly, many of Leach's claims. So many members of the mainstream media operate from the assumption that MMA is nothing but pure no-holds-barred savagery that they don't even think to verify any outlandish claims that are made about the sport.

I note that the Los Angeles Times has now updated its original blog post with a quote from an MGM Grand spokesperson saying, "there was NO incident at all." I have a feeling that if this story revolved around any other sport, the Times would have asked the spokesperson for confirmation before running with the story.

Sorry, Robin Leach: Tito Ortiz, Jenna Jameson and Dana White Story Too Good to Be True originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Tue, 27 May 2008 17:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Dana WhiteDanaWhiteJenna JamesonJennaJamesonTito OrtizTitoOrtizUFC 84Ufc84Michael David SmithTue, 27 May 2008 17:01:00 EST UFC 84: At Octagonside, the Sights Are Impressive and the Sounds Even Betterhttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/25/ufc-84-at-octagonside-the-sights-are-impressive-and-the-sounds/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/25/ufc-84-at-octagonside-the-sights-are-impressive-and-the-sounds/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/25/ufc-84-at-octagonside-the-sights-are-impressive-and-the-sounds/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Notes on a trip to Las Vegas.

I had a seat about 10 feet from the Octagon for Saturday night's UFC 84 show, and what I'll take away from it, more than anything else, is the sound. Punches land to faces with thuds. Kicks land to sides with thwacks. The Octagon itself turns into a drum when a fighter is slammed to the canvas.

I'll also remember the sheer noise of it all: The fighters' entrance music, the music played between fights, the introductions and the post-fight interviews were all pumped into the MGM Grand Garden Arena at earsplitting decibels. At 31, I must be older than the target UFC demographic, because I spent much of the night thinking the music was too loud. The guy next to me in press row wore earplugs.

My own reactions to the sounds aside, UFC 84 was terrific night of fights. A few other thoughts are below.

B.J. Penn destroys Sean Sherk.
The main event lived up to its billing, at least for one of the fighters involved. Lightweight champion B.J. Penn absolutely dominated former champ Sean Sherk, making very clear that he's the best in the division and raising questions about how much of Sherk's previous success was a result of steroid use.

Penn battered, bruised and bloodied Sherk's face through the first two rounds, and then at the end of the third he knocked Sherk to the ground with a knee and bashed him several times with strikes. The bell saved Sherk from a knockout, but Sherk couldn't get up to walk to his corner, so the fight was stopped.

In a surprise move, Penn (who has taunted Sherk for weeks leading up to this fight) hugged Sherk after the fight, kissed him on the forehead, and told him he respected him. But that gesture aside, it was a humiliating loss for Sherk, who was stripped of the lightweight title belt last year because of a positive steroid test and subsequent suspension. Sherk never even looked competitive, he was taunted relentlessly by the fans, and he'll have a long way to go before anyone considers him a title contender.

Penn might not be a lightweight for long.
The most likely next step for Penn will be to defend his lightweight title against the winner of the Roger Huerta-Kennly Florian fight at UFC 87. But Penn hinted in his post-fight interview that he might instead move up to welterweight to fight champion Georges St. Pierre.

"You want B.J. Penn to fight GSP?" Penn asked. When the crowd roared, he said, "I think we have our answer."

More than any other fighter in mixed martial arts, Penn has shown an ability to move up and down in weight class and fight effectively. But I hope he stays at lightweight - he showed tonight that 155 pounds is where he's at his best.

Tito! Tito!
The fans love Tito Ortiz, the former light heavyweight champion whose loss to Lyoto Machida was billed as his last fight in the Octagon. The chants of "Tito! Tito!" were louder even than the cheers for Penn.

Ortiz entered the Octagon to Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," clearly suggesting that that's what he had done during his tenure working for UFC President Dana White. Ortiz was introduced first, and he entered the Octagon waving both an American flag and a Mexican flag while wearing a shirt reading, "I did it my way."

Unfortunately, he didn't do much his way once the fight started. The fans who were so boisterous at the start of the first round seemed by the third to be resigned to the fact that Ortiz would lose. Even Ortiz's girlfriend, Jenna Jameson, who sat about 20 feet from me, wore a look of resignation on her face in the third round, although she was upbeat when she talked to me afterward. Ortiz gave it one last submission attempt in the final minute of his final UFC fight, but Machida slipped free and won 30-27 on all three judges' cards. (Donald Trump, seated behind Jameson, tried to console her after the decision was announced.)

"I'm here for another three or four more years," Ortiz said after the fight. "Maybe not in the UFC, but I'll be fighting for a long time."

So where will we see Ortiz next? My money is on EliteXC offering him an attractive financial package, possibly planning a Kimbo Slice fight down the road. But while such a signing would give EliteXC one of UFC's most popular fighters, it would not give EliteXC one of UFC's best. Ortiz in EliteXC would be like Michael Jordan in a Washington Wizards jersey: Still popular, no longer great.

Machida: a great fighter lacking star power.
Once the fight started, Machida (who wears a gi into the Octagon as a tip of the cap to his karate background) was just too quick for Ortiz. But Machida backs away a lot, which doesn't make for particularly fun fights to watch. Yes, he always has a strategy while he's backing away, biding his time for just the right moment to attack, but the fact is that UFC is in the business of attracting fans, and until Machida becomes a more exciting fighter, he's going to have a hard time getting a title shot.

In a classy move, Ortiz gestured to the audience and told them to stop booing Machida after the fight. But the fans will never cheer Machida the way they do Ortiz, because his fighting style, while effective, is not crowd-pleasing.

We finally saw the Wanderlei Silva we've been waiting for.
Silva was once considered among the best fighters in the world, but he entered UFC 84 on a three-fight losing streak, leading many observers (myself included) to think he was past his prime and not as well suited to fighting in the Octagon as he was to fighting in Pride's ring.

But Saturday night Silva turned in an absolutely dominant performance, destroying Keith Jardine in just 36 seconds, winning the Knockout of the Night award.

"It was a big surprise because he's a very tough guy," Silva said of Jardine afterward.

After the show, the buzz at the MGM Grand was that Silva might drop 20 pounds and fight his countryman, middleweight champion Anderson Silva, later this year. That would be a great fight.

Goran Reljic: Star in the Making
Reljic, a Croat who entered the Octagon for the first time after going 7-0 fighting in small promotions, delivered several devastating high kicks on his way to a second-round TKO over Wilson Gouveia. Reljic said afterward that he was motivated by a perceived disrespect from Gouveia.

"The bad blood between me and Wilson started when he started talking bad about me on a Brazilian web site," Reljic said after the fight, which was declared the Fight of the Night. It's good to know that a Croatian fighter monitors Brazilian web sites to see if anyone is dissing him. Future opponents would be wise not to make Reljic mad.

Not all UFC fans are guys in their 20s.
Yes, that's still the target demographic for UFC, and it's the demographic that makes UFC attractive to blue-chip advertisers like Bud Light and Harley Davidson. But there's a lot more than just young men in the crowd.

For starters, the number of female fans is impressive. Some of the ladies in the audience were dragged there by their significant others, no doubt, but most of the female fans I saw seemed knowledgeable about the sport and genuinely happy to be watching it. And there were even some groups of young women without any men in sight.

Also among the fans: A few celebrities. In addition to Jameson and Trump, I spotted Shaquille O'Neal, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, David Spade and Jamie Pressly. That's not quite as star-studded a cast as you'll usually see at a big boxing match, but it's a sign that UFC fights are viewed as a good place to be seen. Entertaining shows like Saturday night's are the reason for that.

UFC 84: At Octagonside, the Sights Are Impressive and the Sounds Even Better originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Sun, 25 May 2008 09:21:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>B.J. PennB.j.PennDana WhiteDanaWhiteDonald TrumpDonaldTrumpFanHouse in Las VegasFanhouseInLasVegasGoran ReljicGoranReljicJenna JamesonJennaJamesonKeith JardineKeithJardineKimbo SliceKimboSliceLyoto MachidaLyotoMachidaSean SherkSeanSherkTito OrtizTitoOrtizUFC 84Ufc84Wanderlei SilvaWanderleiSilvaMichael David SmithSun, 25 May 2008 09:21:00 EST UFC 84 Video: Jenna Jameson on Tito Ortizhttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/25/ufc-84-video-jenna-jameson-on-tito-ortiz/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/25/ufc-84-video-jenna-jameson-on-tito-ortiz/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/25/ufc-84-video-jenna-jameson-on-tito-ortiz/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Notes on a trip to Las Vegas.

After her boyfriend, Tito Ortiz, lost in UFC 84, Jenna Jameson talked to me about her thoughts on the fight:

Video link / Watch on YouTube

Jameson said she was pleased that the fans supported Ortiz, that she thinks Ortiz will be the star of another MMA organization now that he's leaving UFC, and that she feels both scared and proud when she watches him fight.

UFC 84 Video: Jenna Jameson on Tito Ortiz originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Sun, 25 May 2008 01:59:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>FanHouse in Las VegasFanhouseInLasVegasJenna JamesonJennaJamesonTito OrtizTitoOrtizUFC 84Ufc84Michael David SmithSun, 25 May 2008 01:59:00 EST UFC 84 Preview and Predictionshttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/21/ufc-84-preview-and-predictions/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/21/ufc-84-preview-and-predictions/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/05/21/ufc-84-preview-and-predictions/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Saturday night's UFC 84 begins what might be the best stretch of three straight weekends that American MMA fans have ever had. It's a great card in Vegas on Saturday night, and it comes just a week before EliteXC and World Extreme Cagefighting both have the biggest events in their histories, and two weeks before yet another major event, UFC 85. It's a good time to be an MMA fan.

Here are the details for Saturday night's action:

What: UFC 84: Ill Will

Who: In addition to the B.J. Penn-Sean Sherk main event for the UFC lightweight title, four light heavyweight fights are part of the televised undercard: Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida, Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine, Thiago Silva vs. Antonio Mendes and Wilson Gouveia vs. Goran Reljic.

When: Saturday, 10 p.m. ET

Where: MGM Grand, Las Vegas

How: Pay-per-view, $44.95 ($54.95 in HD), or just follow along with Josh Alper's FanHouse live blog and my coverage live from Octagonside.

Predictions after the jump.



Sean Sherk vs. B.J. Penn
Penn owns the lightweight title belt that Sherk claims was wrongly stripped of him because of a false-positive drug test. I'm in the minority here, but I think Sherk is going to get his title back.
Predicted winner: Sherk

Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida
Ortiz is stepping into the Octagon for the last time, and UFC President Dana White is cheering hard for Machida to send him out a loser. I think the undefeated Machida will do just that.
Predicted winner: Machida

Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine
Silva has had a great MMA career, but that great career has been in the Pride ring, not the UFC Octagon. He's not the same fighter he was in Japan, while Jardine appears to be improving. I think he's going to win this one and perhaps establish himself as the top contender to fight the winner of Rampage Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin for the light heavyweight title.
Predicted winner: Jardine

Thiago Silva vs. Antonio Mendes
Five of the 10 fighters on the main card are Brazilian, but this fight is the only one featuring two Brazilians in the Octagon together. This should amount to little more than sparring practice for the undefeated Silva. Mendes is stepping into the Octagon for the first time.
Predicted winner: Silva

Wilson Gouveia vs. Goran Reljic
The betting odds say this will be the most evenly matched fight, with Gouveia a very slight favorite. Gouveia is a Brazilian jiu jitsu specialist who showed surprising punching power the last time he stepped into the Octagon at UFC 80, and I think he'll hand Reljic, who is 7-0 in his MMA career, his first loss.
Predicted winner: Gouveia

More information:
 Official web site
UFC 84 at Wikipedia
Betting odds

UFC 84 Preview and Predictions originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Wed, 21 May 2008 20:55:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Antonio MendesAntonioMendesB.J. PennB.j.PennDana WhiteDanaWhiteGoran ReljicGoranReljicKeith JardineKeithJardineLyoto MachidaLyotoMachidaSean SherkSeanSherkThiago SilvaThiagoSilvaTito OrtizTitoOrtizUFC 84Ufc84Wanderlei SilvaWanderleiSilvaWilson GouveiaWilsonGouveiaMichael David SmithWed, 21 May 2008 20:55:00 EST Chuck Liddell Injured and Out of UFC 85http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/04/21/chuck-liddell-injured-and-out-of-ufc-85/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/04/21/chuck-liddell-injured-and-out-of-ufc-85/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/04/21/chuck-liddell-injured-and-out-of-ufc-85/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

UPDATED: UFC star Chuck Liddell is injured and will not be able to participate in UFC 85 on June 7 in London. The news was first reported by MMARated.com and has since been confirmed on UFC's official web site.

Liddell's inability to fight is a major blow to UFC. There's no other fighter they could put in the main event against Rashad Evans and still justify selling the fairly weak UFC 85 card. The UFC 85 main event has already been changed once, as Liddell was previously slated to fight Mauricio "Shogun" Rua before Rua pulled out with an injury. From UFC.com:
"Unfortunately, Chuck Liddell tore his right hamstring during training last week, and being the warrior that he is, he still wanted to fight, which is the reason why everyone in the world loves him," said Dana White, UFC President. "But I wouldn't let anyone fight with his leg looking that way. Let him heal and come back and fight when he is 100 percent."
White vows that he will add more fights to the UFC 85 card and that the show will go on in London.

Chuck Liddell Injured and Out of UFC 85 originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:54:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Chuck LiddellChuckLiddellUFC 85Ufc85Michael David SmithMon, 21 Apr 2008 22:54:00 EST UFC 83: Georges-St. Pierre Beats Matt Serra for Welterweight Championshiphttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/04/19/ufc-83-georges-st-pierre-beats-matt-serra-for-welterweight-cha/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/04/19/ufc-83-georges-st-pierre-beats-matt-serra-for-welterweight-cha/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/04/19/ufc-83-georges-st-pierre-beats-matt-serra-for-welterweight-cha/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Georges St-Pierre beat Matt Serra for the UFC welterweight title at UFC 83 tonight, thrilling his hometown fans in Montreal with a dominant performance to avenge his knockout loss in 2007.

St-Pierre controlled the fight throughout and won by a second round TKO. Early on he effectively went for takedowns, and as the fight went on he increasingly landed solid strikes. The referee stopped the fight late in the second when they were on the ground and Serra had no answer for St-Pierre's strikes.

Serra entered the Octagon as the champion, although St-Pierre was technically the interim champion because Serra had been out of commission with a back injury. There is now no doubt; St-Pierre is the one and only champion of the welterweight division. Some will also consider him the best fighter in the sport of MMA regardless of weight class.

The crowd was a huge factor in the first UFC card ever in Canada; we noted the crowd as we live blogged both the main event and the undercard.

St-Pierre improves his professional mixed martial arts record to 16-2; Serra falls to 9-5.

UFC 83: Georges-St. Pierre Beats Matt Serra for Welterweight Championship originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:59:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Georges St-PierreGeorgesSt-pierreMatt SerraMattSerraUFC 83Ufc83Michael David SmithSat, 19 Apr 2008 23:59:00 EST UFC 83: Georges St.-Pierre vs. Matt Serra 2 Preview and Predictionshttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/04/15/ufc-83-georges-st-pierre-vs-matt-serra-2-preview-and-predicti/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/04/15/ufc-83-georges-st-pierre-vs-matt-serra-2-preview-and-predicti/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/04/15/ufc-83-georges-st-pierre-vs-matt-serra-2-preview-and-predicti/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Saturday night's UFC 83 is headlined by one of the most anticipated mixed martial arts fights in North American history, as UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra takes on Georges St-Pierre, the man he beat a year ago to take the title belt.

The fight is a big one not just for Serra and St-Pierre, but for UFC itself, which has a lot riding on its first ever show in Canada. Fighting in his home town of Montreal, St-Pierre will be the overwhelming fan favorite for what should be the biggest crowd in UFC history.

Here are the details:

What: UFC 83: Serra vs. St-Pierre 2

Who: In addition to the Serra vs. St-Pierre main event, the televised portion of the undercard features Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter, Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy, Mark Bocek vs. Mac Danzig and Kalib Starnes vs. Nate Quarry.

When: Saturday, 10 p.m. ET

Where: Bell Centre, Montreal

How: Pay-per-view, $44.95 ($54.95 in HD), or just follow along with the FanHouse live blog.

Predictions after the jump.



Matt Serra vs. Georges St-Pierre
Serra hates it when people suggest that he was lucky when he beat St-Pierre last year, or that he's somehow not a legitimate champion. I agree with him there. But I also agree with those who say that if St-Pierre and Serra fought 10 times, St-Pierre would probably win seven or eight of them. St-Pierre is a more complete fighter than Serra and should avenge his loss.
Predicted winner: St-Pierre

Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter
Both fighters are coming off 2007 losses to Anderson Silva, although Lutter's layoff has been much longer. Lutter is under the impression that he's better than Silva, but I think Franklin beats him easily.
Predicted winner: Franklin

Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy
The 14-1 Bisping is coming back from the first loss of his career, a close split decision to Rashad Evans at UFC 78. I expect him to win handily against McCarthy, who's fighting for the first time since the finale of The Ultimate Fighter 4.
Predicted winner: Bisping

Mark Bocek vs. Mac Danzig
Danzig was the winner of The Ultimate Fighter 6, and UFC wants Ultimate Fighter winners to do well professionally. So it's no surprise that they've matched him with Bocek, who's inexperienced and only on the card because he's Canadian.
Predicted winner: Danzig

Kalib Starnes vs. Nate Quarry
I like Quarry a lot and think he could have had a very good MMA career if he hadn't gotten into the fight game so late in life (he's 36 and has only 11 pro matches). He should beat Starnes, another Canadian who will have the crowd behind him.
Predicted winner: Quarry

More information:
 Official web site
UFC 81 at Wikipedia
Betting odds

UFC 83: Georges St.-Pierre vs. Matt Serra 2 Preview and Predictions originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:10:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Georges St-PierreGeorgesSt-pierreMatt SerraMattSerraUFC 83Ufc83Michael David SmithTue, 15 Apr 2008 19:10:00 EST Is MMA Ready for the Moneyball Era?http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/04/04/is-mma-ready-for-the-moneyball-era/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/04/04/is-mma-ready-for-the-moneyball-era/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/04/04/is-mma-ready-for-the-moneyball-era/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Advanced statistical analysis has made a huge impact on baseball, and it's making inroads in football and basketball as well. Soon enough, it's going to come to mixed martial arts.

There will be skeptics -- the MMA versions of the old-school baseball people who were sure that they knew more than Bill James and that Moneyball was a sham -- arguing that the sport is "fought in a cage, not in a spreadsheet."

But Rami Genauer, who runs the innovative FightMetric.com, thinks MMA is ready for advanced stats. (I agree.) His web site is billed as the first-ever comprehensive mixed martial arts evaluation system, and the work he's doing has the potential to change the way we view the sport.

In a wide-ranging Q&A, I posed some questions to Genauer, starting with why MMA needs advanced stats.

Why does MMA need advanced statistical analysis?
Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Before we get to advanced statistical analysis we need basic statistical analysis and before that, we need statistics.

People have compared what we're doing to the early days of statistical analysis in baseball, but Bill James and the early guys at SABR (Society for Advanced Baseball Research) had a huge head start: Information already existed, in the form of box scores and other resources, so they could easily populate a database with nearly 100 years of baseball statistics. The genius of those people was in taking the information that everyone knew and creating meaningful metrics people had never thought of, like Runs Created and VORP.

MMA, on the other hand, doesn't have anything. There is no database. Every major fight in MMA history must be re-watched and fully scored.

But just imagine what one would do with all of that information. For instance, I'd be curious to see if fighters who have absorbed a large number of leg kicks early in the fight are less successful with their takedown attempts in the later rounds (normalized against those fighters' traditional late-round takedown success rates). It's exactly stats like those that will allow us to challenge orthodoxies and find statistical truths. But until we have that big database, things are limited.

Will we some day reach a point where we discuss an MMA fighter's stats the same way we discuss a football player's touchdowns or a baseball player's home runs? If so, which stats will we discuss the most?
I think it's reasonable to assume that some stats will catch on. While I'd love to believe that casual MMA fans will discuss some of the more innovative, comprehensive stats we've created, the reality is that people are most concerned with volume and accuracy. How many strikes or takedowns did a guy land and what was his success rate?

The problem is, there is not even consensus on what are the kinds of things that should be measured. Imagine if Bill James would have first had to convince the world that batting average should be Hits/At Bats instead of something like Hits/Total Swings. That's where MMA is currently. FightMetric has its designated 67 statistical categories, but we're fully aware that there are other systems measuring completely different things. As an example, we believe there is no qualitative difference between a punch or a kick of equal power to the same target; it doesn't matter what you strike with, only where you strike to and how hard. So while some folks will concentrate on a fighter's kick accuracy, we think that's a meaningless statistic based on a purely cosmetic factor.

In general, does statistical analysis lend itself more to team sports like football and baseball or to individual sports like MMA? Will statistical analysis in MMA ever reach the heights it has reached in baseball?
I don't think it has to do with teams vs. individuals. The issue is that MMA is a mess in terms of creating comparable data sets. For example, every major professional baseball game is nine innings long and the way to beat your opponent is by scoring more runs than they do. MMA has variable match lengths; some last 20 minutes, some last 20 seconds but result in the same outcome. MMA has variable rules and judging criteria; what won fights in Pride wouldn't work in the UFC. To make things worse, MMA has multiple victory methods or differing quality; you can dominate your opponent or score a lucky cut stoppage or eke out a bogus decision and they all equal a win on your record. Some would look at those factors and say MMA and stats are incompatible. I think it means we have to think more creatively.

What is your sense for how receptive the MMA establishment would be to statistical analysis?
There will be people who love it and people who hate it, same as for every sport. Baseball has its statheads and its people who still think Billy Beane wrote Moneyball. I do think that acceptance of stats will be a bit harder for MMA than for other sports. I've encountered people who are not comfortable with the idea that math can be used to measure something as primal as fighting. While I understand the urge to want to believe that you can't measure things like this because "in a fight, anything can happen," I completely disagree with it. If you asked them to, an actuary could tell you what the chances are that you will be killed on a Tuesday while choking on some Fruity Pebbles based on factors like frequency of Tuesday Fruity Pebble consumption and the ratio of average Pebble size to the circumference of your esophagus. Just because anything can happen, doesn't mean we can't measure it.

To what extent does statistical analysis help you predict the results of future fights? Could a person consistently make money in Vegas by using stats to pick winners?
If you subscribe to my newsletter, I can reveal to you the miracle secret THEY don't want you to know about., which will triple your gambling winnings with no risk...

Just kidding.

One thing I should say is that stats can't make predictions, but they can make probability-based projections. You could say that Fighter X should beat Fighter Y 80% of the time, but that doesn't mean that Fighter X is going to win.

As for the Vegas part, I am fascinated by sports gambling from an economics perspective. The reason is that it's not like betting on red or black on a roulette wheel, where a known probability (47%) produces a standard payout (1:1). Fight odds are based on the public's perception of how close a matchup is. The oddsmaker needs to keep the odds at a place where bettors have the incentive to bet equally on both fighters. If someone came along with great stats that could predict winners with a high degree of confidence, all it would do would be to make the favorite a bigger favorite and the underdog a bigger underdog. If everyone had access to this information, the net gain in money for gamblers would be zero compared to what they have now. The market would correct for any improvement in information. The only way to beat the system is not to play.

If you're curious, I did a study of betting lines before and after the debut of The Ultimate Fighter and found that spreads have gotten wider in the last few years, as newer fans put disproportionate money on (usually better marketed) favorites.

Every college football fan understands that Hawaii's 12-1 finish last season was nowhere near as impressive as LSU's 12-2 finish, and we have metrics like the Sagarin ratings that help us assess teams' schedules. But do we have anything like that in MMA? Do we have any way of objectively comparing two fighters who have the same record against two totally different slates of opponents?
Not yet, but we're working on it. The goal is for it to function like the BCS, but less evil.

Has your statistical analysis led you to conclude that any particular fighter is overrated or underrated?
I can't speak to whether fighters are over- or underrated, but I know what kinds of fighters the system does and doesn't like. Lay-and-pray fighters do not get high performance quality ratings from our system because we don't give points for simply maintaining positions. You have to do something to earn points. On the flip side, the system loves quick finishers like Anderson Silva and hyperactive guys. Clay Guida and Karo Parisyan, win or lose, are two good examples.

What is your opinion of Kimbo Slice?
Don't have a large enough sample size to say anything statistically, but I admire the fortitude it takes to grow a beard like that in the face of what must have been constant pressure to shave.

Do you hear MMA announcers say things that your statistical analysis has proven wrong?
Sometimes you'll hear things that are based more on reputation than fact. For instance, every indicator we have says that Georges St. Pierre is a better MMA wrestler than Matt Hughes. But since Hughes is known as a great wrestler, that was considered a controversial statement.

What does the mainstream media consistently get wrong about MMA?
The general issue is that media is an echo chamber. When I worked as a journalist, I would often have to write a story about a topic with which I wasn't familiar and I didn't have a lot of time to become an expert. The way I educated myself was by reading articles others had written on the topic. While I didn't copy their work and I certainly conducted my own interviews, my article was based on their article, which was based on another, etc., etc. The fact that Senator McCain once called MMA "human cockfighting" is a worn out cliché, an opinion which he has since recanted. Yet you'll still see it mentioned in every new MMA piece as if it were news because the journalist who wrote it read that same thing in all the other articles he's seen. There's a reason why articles about MMA sound so similar. In fact, as a joke, I created some Mad Libs for MMA articles, one cautiously optimistic, the other a hatchet job. I've been curious to see if someone could really fill one out and get it published in the traditional media.

Is MMA Ready for the Moneyball Era? originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:48:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Anderson SilvaAndersonSilvaBill JamesBillJamesRami GenauerRamiGenauerMichael David SmithFri, 04 Apr 2008 15:48:00 EST Chuck Liddell: 'I'd Like to Fight Fedor'http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/03/07/chuck-liddell-id-like-to-fight-fedor/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/03/07/chuck-liddell-id-like-to-fight-fedor/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/03/07/chuck-liddell-id-like-to-fight-fedor/#commentsFiled under: , ,

UFC's Chuck Liddell was asked to name his "dream match," and he answered that he wants to fight Fedo Emelianenko:

"I'd like to fight Fedor because I think he's overrated. He matches up stylistically with me. Fedor's a good ground-and-pound guy, he doesn't have one-punch power from his feet, so it'd be fun to fight him."

Yesterday I would have assumed that such a fight would be contractually impossible, but it now looks like Emelianenko could actually fight in UFC. So how would a fight with Liddell go?

I like Liddell, but I must say, Emelianenko would absolutely destroy him. Emelianenko outweighs Liddell by 30 pounds or so, and Emelianenko is in his prime while Liddell is past his. This fight won't happen. It is fun to think about, though.

Chuck Liddell: 'I'd Like to Fight Fedor' originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:59:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Chuck LiddellChuckLiddellFedo EmelianenkoFedoEmelianenkoMichael David SmithFri, 07 Mar 2008 17:59:00 EST Randy Couture vs. Fedor Emelianenko in UFC?http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/03/07/randy-couture-vs-fedor-emelianenko-in-ufc/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/03/07/randy-couture-vs-fedor-emelianenko-in-ufc/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/03/07/randy-couture-vs-fedor-emelianenko-in-ufc/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Well, this is weird. We've been hearing for ages that the top heavyweights in mixed martial arts, Randy Couture and Fedor Emelianenko, won't fight each other in UFC because they think UFC rips off its fighters, and that they can't fight each other elsewhere because Couture's contract with UFC won't allow it.

But now ESPN the Magazine reports that a Couture-Emelianenko fight, under the UFC banner, is a real possibility.

According to the report, Emelianenko is about to get out of his M-1 Global contract, and, in the words of his manager, "Officially, yes, Fedor will be a free agent." UFC President Dana White responded to that news by saying he would try to sign Emelianenko, "Absolutely, 100 percent, in a heartbeat. ... People think he's the best -- I don't, not even close. But if it's somehow possible, I would make it happen."

And that, according to ESPN the Magazine, means a Couture-Emelianenko fight could happen in UFC. But there's just one problem not addressed in ESPN the Magazine's report: Mark Cuban. Although Couture's contract with UFC has prevented Cuban from signing him as a fighter, the two do have a deal in place that has included Couture appearing in a non-fighting role on Cuban's HDNet, and everyone assumes that as soon as Couture is free of UFC, he'll fight for Cuban. I can't imagine that Cuban would just sit by and watch as Couture re-joins UFC and takes the biggest fight of the year out from underneath him.

Ultimately, a Cuban-White fight in the courtroom is going to precede any Couture-Emelianenko fight in the cage.

Randy Couture vs. Fedor Emelianenko in UFC? originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:51:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Dana WhiteDanaWhiteFedor EmelianenkoFedorEmelianenkoMark CubanMarkCubanRandy CoutureRandyCoutureMichael David SmithFri, 07 Mar 2008 06:51:00 EST UFC 82: Anderson Silva Beats Dan Henderson for UFC and Pride Title Beltshttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/03/01/ufc-82-anderson-silva-beats-dan-henderson-for-ufc-and-pride-tit/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/03/01/ufc-82-anderson-silva-beats-dan-henderson-for-ufc-and-pride-tit/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/03/01/ufc-82-anderson-silva-beats-dan-henderson-for-ufc-and-pride-tit/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

UFC champion Anderson Silva defeated Pride champion Dan Henderson at UFC 82 tonight, winning both belts in the 185-pound weight class and clearly establishing himself as both the best fighter in his weight class and maybe the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Henderson had a very good first round and got off to a fine start in the second, but Silva landed a devastating knee midway through the second round, and when they went to the ground it was just a matter of time. Silva eventually got Henderson to tap with a rear-naked choke with just seven seconds left in the second round.

Before the fight, it had been billed as the best 185-pound matchup in the history of mixed martial arts. That might very well be true, but Silva won handily, and it raises the question of whether anyone can stop the Brazilian Spider. He's just so dominant right now, it's hard to think of anyone who could even challenge him.

Previously on FanHouse:
As MMA Goes Legit, Detractors Will Continue to Miss the Real Issues for Fans
UFC 82: Anderson Silva-Dan Henderson Live
UFC 82 Undercard Live Blog: Tanner-Okami, Kongo-Herring, Fitch-Wilson, Leben-Sakara
UFC: Mark Coleman Will Fight Brock Lesnar

UFC 82: Anderson Silva Beats Dan Henderson for UFC and Pride Title Belts originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Sat, 01 Mar 2008 23:59:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Anderson SilvaAndersonSilvaDan HendersonDanHendersonUFC 82Ufc82Michael David SmithSat, 01 Mar 2008 23:59:00 EST If Brock Lesnar Beats Frank Mir, It's Good for UFC and Bad for MMAhttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/01/12/if-brock-lesnar-beats-frank-mir-its-good-for-ufc-and-bad-for-m/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/01/12/if-brock-lesnar-beats-frank-mir-its-good-for-ufc-and-bad-for-m/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/01/12/if-brock-lesnar-beats-frank-mir-its-good-for-ufc-and-bad-for-m/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

At UFC 81, former WWE pro wrestler Brock Lesnar will make his UFC debut against Frank Mir, a former UFC heavyweight champ. Here's how UFC is promoting the event:

UFC President Dana White says in that promotional video, "If Brock Lesnar can back up all the things he's saying, he might become the biggest star in mixed martial arts."

White might be right about that -- Lesnar is already a big star among wrestling fans, and he's probably the second-most famous fighter UFC has under contract -- but making Lesnar a UFC star would be bad for the sport of mixed martial arts.

For MMA as a sport to be taken seriously by the general public, it needs the general public to think the best fighters in the sport are legitimate athletes. If someone like Lesnar can make a transition from pro wrestling to MMA stardom, it will be hard for the sport to be taken any more seriously than wrestling is. I realize that Lesnar has credentials as a real athlete in collegiate wrestling, I'm glad White got Lesnar to sign up with UFC, and I'm curious to see how Lesnar does. But I'm concerned that if Lesnar succeeds, he'll be doing it at the expense of the sport of mixed martial arts.

If Brock Lesnar Beats Frank Mir, It's Good for UFC and Bad for MMA originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Sat, 12 Jan 2008 12:06:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Brock LesnarBrockLesnarDana WhiteDanaWhiteFrank MirFrankMirUFC 81Ufc81Michael David SmithSat, 12 Jan 2008 12:06:00 EST UFC 79: Matt Serra-Matt Hughes Called Offhttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/11/23/ufc-79-matt-serra-matt-hughes-called-off/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/11/23/ufc-79-matt-serra-matt-hughes-called-off/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/11/23/ufc-79-matt-serra-matt-hughes-called-off/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

December's UFC 79 card was dealt a major blow today with the news that welterweight champion Matt Serra is injured and will not be able to fight Matt Hughes.

UFC announced on its official web site that Serra suffered a herniated disc in his back during routine training on Monday. UFC President Dana White acknowledged that it's grim news for his organization:
"This is devastating news because they were so looking forward to fighting each other, said White.

"Unfortunately injuries happen and I look forward to Serra recovering quickly, and to getting him back into the Octagon."

UFC has heavily promoted the Serra-Hughes fight as the centerpiece of UFC 79, which takes place on Dec. 29. Without that fight, the Chuck Liddell-Wanderlei Silva fight becomes the main event, and UFC 79 becomes a lot less interesting.

UFC 79: Matt Serra-Matt Hughes Called Off originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:14:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Matt HughesMatt SerraMattHughesMattSerraMichael David SmithFri, 23 Nov 2007 11:14:00 EST Is Dana White Bad for Mixed Martial Arts?http://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/10/12/is-dana-white-bad-for-mixed-martial-arts/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/10/12/is-dana-white-bad-for-mixed-martial-arts/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/10/12/is-dana-white-bad-for-mixed-martial-arts/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Imagine if, in October of 1993, Michael Jordan had said he was retiring from the NBA not just because he had nothing left to prove in basketball, but because he was sick of the lack of respect that Commissioner David Stern had shown him. And then imagine if Stern had responded by saying Jordan was retiring because of his "scumbag agent," whom Stern claimed he had "bitch slapped."

If that had happened, there would have been a whole lot of people saying it was time for Stern to go. Sports leagues are big businesses. The heads of big businesses aren't supposed to drive valued employees away, and they're supposed to conduct themselves with some decorum.

But that's exactly what has happened in the UFC this week. Its best and most popular fighter, Randy Couture, has retired, and he cited his belief that UFC President Dana White takes advantage of him. White responded by calling Couture's agent a "scumbag" and saying he had "bitch-slapped" him.

White has been great for UFC and the sport of mixed martial arts. In fact, the sport of mixed martial arts literally might not even exist in the United States if it weren't for White, who saved it when legislators were calling it "human cockfighting" and threatening to make it illegal. But just as the kid who launches an internet start-up out of his parents' basement eventually needs to bring in an MBA if he really wants to turn it into a legitimate business, the sport of mixed martial arts might now need to push White aside.


That's not to say UFC can push White aside, because in many respects White is UFC. I guess it's technically possible that the Fertitta brothers, the co-owners of UFC, could force White out, but that's not going to happen.

But maybe another mixed martial arts organization needs to hire a commissioner in the David Stern / Roger Goodell mode, someone who's a businessman and a marketer, someone who understands how the head of a sports league needs to conduct himself. Someone who can attract the best mixed martial arts talent, pay the fighters a fair wage while still running a profitable enterprise, and not infuriate the talent.

Randy Couture is the best thing going in the sport of mixed martial arts, a guy who's smart, articulate, great at what he does and doing something absolutely extraordinary, stepping into the Octagon at the age of 44 and beating guys who are 20 years younger than him. If Dana White has driven Couture out of the sport, then Dana White is bad for the sport.

Is Dana White Bad for Mixed Martial Arts? originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:38:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Dana WhiteDanaWhiteRandy CoutureRandyCoutureMichael David SmithFri, 12 Oct 2007 09:38:00 EST UFC Didn't Pay Randy Couture Enoughhttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/10/12/ufc-didnt-pay-randy-couture-enough/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/10/12/ufc-didnt-pay-randy-couture-enough/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/10/12/ufc-didnt-pay-randy-couture-enough/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Although mixed martial arts has nearly closed the gap on boxing in terms of popularity and pay per view buys in the United States, UFC fighters don't make anywhere close to the kind of money that boxers make.

And the most popular UFC fighter, heavyweight champion Randy Couture, says that even within the pay structure of UFC, he was woefully underpaid by UFC president Dana White.

"I think the final straw for me was meeting with Dana and Lorenzo (Fertitta, UFC co-owner) where they claimed I was the No. 2 paid athlete in the organization, which I know is a bold-faced lie," Couture said. Polling other athletes, said Couture, he learned that his compensation -- some $250,000 a fight with pay-per-view bonuses, according to the Couture camp -- was nowhere near what other top UFC fighters were making.

One of the reasons mixed martial arts has grown in popularity while boxing has declined is that MMA has a governing body -- UFC -- that's only interested in putting together the best fights, while boxing is more or less run by the boxers themselves, and they're looking for the biggest payday, not the best fight.

But having said that, paying Couture $250,000 a fight -- even if those pay-per-view bonuses were substantial -- is absurd. Couture's presence can convince hundreds of thousands of people to spend $40 apiece on pay per view, and he ought to be paid accordingly.

UFC Didn't Pay Randy Couture Enough originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Fri, 12 Oct 2007 07:08:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Michael David SmithFri, 12 Oct 2007 07:08:00 EST Randy Couture on Leaving UFC: 'I'm Tired of Being Taken Advantage Of'http://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/10/11/randy-couture-on-leaving-ufc-im-tired-of-being-taken-advantag/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/10/11/randy-couture-on-leaving-ufc-im-tired-of-being-taken-advantag/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/10/11/randy-couture-on-leaving-ufc-im-tired-of-being-taken-advantag/#commentsFiled under: , ,

UFC heayweight champion Randy Couture is severing all ties with the organization, giving up his title belt as well as his role as an announcer.

One reason that he's walking away is simply that he's running out of opponents, and the one guy everyone wanted to see him fight, Fedor Emelianenko, isn't coming to UFC. But the other reason is interesting: He doesn't like how his boss is treating him.
"I know Fedor (Emelianenko) just signed with another organization and that's the only real fight that makes sense for me at 44 years old as the heavyweight champion of the UFC. That's the fight I wanted and if that can't happen it doesn't make sense for me to compete with all these other guys. And then obviously that's not going to happen now. And, two, I'm tired of being taken advantage of, played as the nice guy and basically swimming against the current with the management of the UFC. I have a lot of other things going on in my life that I'm doing just fine with. I don't need the problems. I don't feel like I get the respect I deserve from the organization, and that's motivation No. 2 for the letter of resignation that was sent today."

There have long been rumblings that fighters didn't like the way they were treated by UFC president Dana White. But White is now losing his most popular fighter, which means he really needs to work on his people skills.

Previously on FanHouse:
Randy Couture Finished Off Gabriel Gonzaga Despite a Broken Arm
UFC 74: Randy Couture Beats Gabriel Gonzaga, Keeps Heavyweight Title
Randy Couture Defends UFC Steroids Policy
UFC 74: Randy Couture Gabriel Gonzaga Live Round-By-Round Results

Photos: UFC Stars

Randy Couture on Leaving UFC: 'I'm Tired of Being Taken Advantage Of' originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:10:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Michael David SmithThu, 11 Oct 2007 17:10:00 EST Randy Couture Quits UFChttp://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/10/11/report-randy-couture-quits-ufc/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/10/11/report-randy-couture-quits-ufc/http://mma.fanhouse.com/2007/10/11/report-randy-couture-quits-ufc/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

In a stunning move that has the potential to seriously damage the popularity of the world's most popular mixed martial arts organization, heavyweight champion Randy Couture is quitting the Ultimate Fighting Championship, The Fight Network is reporting.
Couture announced his resignation from the Las Vegas-based promotion, leaving two contracted fights, his job as an on-air analyst and his heavyweight crown on the table.

In South Africa shooting scenes for his lead role in the upcoming feature film "The Scorpion King - Rise of the Akkadian," Couture made the announcement official in a letter to UFC president Dana White. The UFC's inability to land PRIDE heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko played a prominent role in the decision to walk away, according to Couture.

"I appreciate this opportunity the sport of MMA and the UFC has given me," the UFC Hall-of-Famer said. "However, I'm tired of swimming upstream at this stage with the management of the UFC. It only makes sense at this point in my career to fight Fedor Emelianenko, and since he's now signed with another organization, I feel like it's time to resign and focus on my other endeavors."
It's not clear what else Couture might be doing next, but it is clear that this strikes a major blow to UFC.

Previously on FanHouse:
Randy Couture Finished Off Gabriel Gonzaga Despite a Broken Arm
UFC 74: Randy Couture Beats Gabriel Gonzaga, Keeps Heavyweight Title
Randy Couture Defends UFC Steroids Policy
UFC 74: Randy Couture Gabriel Gonzaga Live Round-By-Round Results
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Hat tip: Sports by Brooks.

Randy Couture Quits UFC originally appeared on MMA FanHouse on Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:10:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Randy CoutureRandyCoutureUFCMichael David SmithThu, 11 Oct 2007 16:10:00 EST