UFC Options

[Robert]

I remember both of those guys from back in the day. You have to love it, a 5 minute intro to the fight, then the actual fight only last 36 seconds.
Sadly you'll never see real worldwide matches due to the strict contracts these guys fight under. I love the UFC but Dana White is a P.O.S. bald white Don King.
For example if you've every watched the show "The Ultimate Fighter", they always talk about that golden 6 figure contract. Well it's really not that great.
It's 6 figures over 3 years. 3 fights per year with this purse.
1st year 12,000/fight with a $12,000 win bonus
2nd year 16,000/fight with a $16,000 win bonus
3rd year 22,000/fight with a $22,000 win bonus
You can win $300,000 over 3 years but you have to win every single fight, not what most people would consider a real 6 figure contract. If your good, you can make a lot of money but it's misleading how much most people make.

Someone else who is under rated right now is Forrest Griffin. Not a technical fighter, just plain 'ol badass.
In one of his early fights, while trying to make a name for himself. He suffered a separated shoulder in the 1st round, then came back an won the 2nd round by knock out.
Then in 2003 during another fight, his left arm was partial broken blocking a high kick, then completely snapped a later when it hit his opponents shoulder. He continued the round an knocked the guy out 15 seconds later. He didn't realize his arm was completely broken until after he won the fight. There is still a big knot on his left forearm where the bone didn't heal correctly. Sadly Griffin broke his hand in his last fight with Rashad Evans, he will now be out all of '09

[Genocide Junkie]

I only sort of agree with you about Dana. Yes the fights are going to be set up to make the most money but the fights that make the most money are the one's people want to see. And people want to see the best fighters fight each other. I think they have done a great job of doing this. Otherwise you wouldn't have seen BJ fight GSP etc. The UFC pays it's fighters WAY more than any other promotion. While those contracts may not be huge for the TUF guys to start with Dana pays those guys very sizable bonuses when they put on a good show regardless of their contract. Go to Sherdog and look at what guys in the WEC make. Even their top fighters don't make that much more than the TUF winners do to start with......

Blitz the UFC has gotten more "international". They bought Pride and almost all of their top fighters are now in the UFC. Many of the Brazilian guys (Machida, Silva, Vandi) are there. And the Japs are being brought in as well. There are very few top fighters who aren't in the UFC. The only decent heavy weight not in the UFC is Fedor. I agree it would be nice to see him in the UFC but he's more the exception than the rule IMO.....

[Robert]

I was mainly referring to fact you won't see worldwide matches like Blitz was talking about because of the strict contracts the UFC is built on. The biggest problems is how PPV money is divided. The PPV issue prevent any true world-wide competitions.


There have been several UFC fighters with contract problems. In the last few years the Zuffa profits have skyrocketed thanks to PPV while average fighter salary has relatively flat. Total fighter payout per show as a percentage of profits has also been flat. This has only now recently started to change due to fighters either refusing to re-sign or in some cases refusing to fight.
The UFC spotlight their golden "6 figure contract" for the winners of The Ultimate Fighter Shows. The reality is, it's not a great contract an it's main purpose to to lock the fighters long term to the UFC. Most of the TUF winners would have actually made more to start per fight, even in the smaller Pride shows than the UFC.
This is why it's a 10 fight contract versus the average 5-6 fight contract other fighters sign. There are now reports that some of the newer TUF contracts include a "championship clause". If a TUF fighter win a belt during the contract, it automatically extends the contract at the UFC's discretion.

[Robert]

Just found out another reason why UFC 98 will be a good show. The Welterweight fight will be Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra. This is a grudge match of epic proportions. As much as I would like to see Serra KO or submit Hughes, unfortunately Hughes is the current favorite to win. A lot of reports claim this will be Hughes last UFC fight. I don't see him leaving if he losses to Serra, his ego wouldn't let him.

[Genocide Junkie]

Hughes has a huge ego. But Serra is so fucking annoying. I can't stand hearing him talk. Which he seems to do non stop.

[Robert]

I didn't really know either of them until I watched TUF when they were the guest coaches. From the start of the show I thought Hughes was a good guy and Serra a punk. Then as I got to know more about them, my opinion of each changed. In their capaciy as team coaches, Hughes absolutly sucked, while Serra did a good job.
I know what you mean about Serra, his voice an accent is annoying as hell.

[UNDEAD]

http://www.mma-core.com/videos/_Scott_Smit...437&tid=100

[Robert]

Good Fight.
I've been a fan of Smiths since I saw him on The Ultimate Fighter show.
The fight you linked to is similar to his winning fight at TUF Finale. Great back an forth fight with Smith pulling out a great KO win after getting buckled from a body shot and his opponent make the mistake running in to try an finish Smith off with his hands down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oWiQhNe2nE



Speaking of MMA
anyone want to try an predict the winners from the upcoming UFC97 fights?

[Genocide Junkie]

Looks like Chuck is finished. Knocked out for the 3rd time in 5 fights. It was pretty bad again if you didn't see it. The other fights were terrible. The guy that fought Anderson Silva should have his purse reduced by at least 25% after that showing. I bet he dove to the mat 10 times or more just praying that Anderson would some how go into a comma and fall on him..... After he took Anderson down and got absolutely nowhere you could see him all but give up. Although in a way you can't fault Anderson for not doing anymore than he had to do to win the fight he didn't win any fans by being 100% defensive. This is two completely lack luster performances by him and another will cost him in the pocket book I would imagine. Champion or not.

[Robert]

I agree, it's pretty bad when the under card fights are better than the main event.
Six months ago when I got re-interested in MMA. I did what I always do, read everything I could concerning the subject to learn more about. Now there are several MMA related forums I frequent on an almost daily basis. I've been amazed an entertained by some of the discussion I've read about the Silva/Leites fight. I haven't seen that kind of denial or apologistic debating done by both sides since the political discussions right before the presidential elections. Many of the discussions were just as sad an pathetic as the fight itself.
I laughed whenever I read a Leites fan, describing him failing to his back as "pulling guard". Pulling guard is a sacrifice move to basically jump on your opponent in the closed guard position to pull them to the ground from the clinch. That is not what Leites was doing, he was simply falling to his back in the stupid hope Silva would be dumb enough to drop down on him. Leites didn't have the guts to get in close enough to effectively "pull guard". What he was did had more in common with a turtle ducking into his shell.
I partially agree with people defending Silva performance. Silva is the champ so it's ultimately up to the challenger to push the fight. However, it was painfully obvious Silva could have finished the fight whenever he would have wanted if he had wished to. In stead he decided to play it safe the last 3 rounds an pick up the decision. My biggest problem is...
Silva is ranked as one of the pound for pound best strikers in the world yet he rarely threw any combinations, mainly jabs to keep Leites back.
He pushed forward the majority of the time but rarely attacked beside throwing lots of weak jabs an feints.
My biggest problem with Silva would be the straight side kicks to Leites knee. It's legal but you don't see anyone else using that particular kick because it's considered by many to be a cheap shot and Silva did it repeatedly. I understand these guys are there to fight, which includes the chance of serious or permanent injury but most people don't specifically have that goal in mind. To me Silva was using that specific knee kick out of malice and frustration. In my opinion it ranks right up there with someone kicking to the groin but even worse because it has a chance to end the other guys career or seriously injure him.
Its the complete opposite of how everyone applies arm bars an leg locks. Either one of those submissions could easily break an arm or leg but RARELY ever do because the rules require slow partial force to give the opponent time to tap before risking permanent injury.


I agree with purse penalties for fights like that but you probably won't see it happen. In the Pride fights the judges have penalty cards they can use against fighters. Each card reduces the fighters purse by 10%. A common use for penalty cards is to force the fighters to stay active. Dana White an the UFC have said in the past they would not do it. The reason they gave is because Pride officials are experienced an informed fans of MMA while the UFC has whatever officials they get stuck with, many of whom have little experience with MMA.
According to rumors the more likely fix will be to force Silva to move up to the Light Heavyweight division. Personally I would love to see GSP move up to middleweight and fight Silva. I think that would be a great fight.

I was really sorry to see Liddell lose. I'm a huge fan, sad to see him leave on a loss.

Can't wait for UFC 98
Evans vs. Machida
Hughes vs. Serra
This will be the 1st an probably last PPV I will spend money on.

[Genocide Junkie]

The Evans Machida match up has the potential of being another snooze fest IMO. I agree about the leg kicks. One thing I found interesting was that the ref told silva "No stomps" after he tried to stomp Leites foot. That use to be a legal move but apparently they have changed it. I always thought that was a cheap move as well. The only really interesting thing I saw Silva do was some weird cross step kick with his back leg that tripped up Leites. The punches to the top of the leg were amusing as well. A complete attempt to embarrass the guy and showed that he had absolutely no fear of being hit or taken down. Which made it even more frustrating that he wouldn't engage and at least make it interesting.... His next fight will have to be paired with something outstanding for me to get it if it's not against GSP. Although as exciting as that idea is the reality is probably the same as GSP fighting Penn in that Silva will be quite a bit larger than GSP if they fight giving him a big advantage.

For the first time in a while there's really not anything on the horizon that excites me much. The Mir Lessnar fight might be ok. Being as I'd like for both of them to cave the others head in. Mir's stand up looked much sharper in his last fight and might equal things out enough to keep him from getting mauled. Otherwise I don't see him getting lucky enough to escape being Donkey Konged again and catching a lucky heel.

[Genocide Junkie]

I was watching some interviews from Frank Shamrock and I've concluded that there's a greater than 85% chance that he's gay. I've often wondered about GSP as well. I'd give him somewhere around 60% with hedged bets that he is too. Frank is pretty much past his prime so I don't think it would hurt him if he was or did come out but sadly I think it would effect GSP's perception greatly. Given that they both have been very good fighters I think it would be a big step in knocking out sterotypes. It would for sure be interesting to see the reaction of other fighters given the close contact of the fights. Just curious if anyone else has wondered about them.

[Robert]

I would have to strongly disagree with you about there being any chance Evans/Machida could be as bad as Silva/Leites fight. Granted, Machida is another counter-striker like Silva an tends to back away a lot but Machida is always more active.
I think Evans/Machida is going to be a up and down, back an forth war, I can't wait

The newest rumor on several different MMA news sites is Anderson Silva will replace Thiago Silva for UFC101. This is unconfirmed but there was already a lot of talk about forcing Anderson Silva up to the LW division. If so, his 1st fight will be with Forrest Griffin. Which I think would be a great match-up.

I don't know if you were joking about Shamrock. I did find it funny he finally won his 1st match in years to only have it overturned because he tested positive of steroids. His brother Frank recently gave an interview were he said Ken had been using steroids off an on his whole life. So much for Ken's legacy in MMA.

Speaking of GSP, I don't know if you followed the whole controversy concerning BJ Penn's accusations of greasing by GSP. I use to be a fan of Penn's but he's destroyed his legacy by crying like a bitch even after he lost his case with the athletics commission. Here is a funny clip from a interview GSP did where he discusses the cheating/greasing accusations.
http://www.mmahq.com/2009/03/21/georges-st...ting-at-ufc-94/
I laughed my ass off.

[Genocide Junkie]

The Forrest/Silva fight is on. Now I've got something to be excited about!

[Robert]

I think Forrest/Silva was a marketing brainstorm by Dana White. It had to suck to me him after the last fight, without a doubt one of the best fighters in the world ( Silva ) but no one would pay to see him after 2 poor crappy back to back fights.
I'm not sure how well Forrest will do after being out for so long with a broken hand. What I do know is Forrest is one of the few in the 205lb division who is guaranteed to push Silva.
One small problem is what will happen if Machida wins his next fight because he and Silva said they will not fight each other as they as friends and training partners. So if Machida wins an becomes the LHW champ, Silva will be fighting in a weight class where he can't challenge for the belt. I would hate to see Silva keep the Middleweight belt while doing most of his fighting in the next weight class. It would be very unfair for the rest of the fighters in the Middleweight division. Same as what BJ Penn is doing in the Lightweight division. Penn holds the LW belt but rarely defends it because he is busy fighting in a different weight class.
Penn's last LW title fight was in May of 2008, his next one won't be until Aug 2009, 15 months without a title fight in the LW division. Damn unfair to everyone else in the division.
Roger Huerta was ready an deserved a title shot with his 22-1 record but Penn was busy fighting in another weight class.
I would love to see a rule where any title holder has to defend their title at least once a year or lose the belt.

I've recently started going through all of Dana White's video blogs, very interesting behind the scenes look at the UFC